Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. When you look at life and circumstances, do you tend to look at the positive, the upside, or do you tend to look at the negative side? You may not think it makes much difference, but after today's broadcast, you might learn it makes all the difference in the world. Stay with me. You know, so often it seems like our lives are dictated by what's happening to us.
But today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram shows us that our focus has far more impact than our circumstances. We're in the middle of a series called Free at Last, How to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle. And today, Chip introduces a simple formula that can change how you experience absolutely everything. And in case you missed an earlier message from this impactful study, let me remind you that you can always get caught up by going online to livingontheedge.org.
Well now here's Chip with his message, understanding the power of focus. You know, it's pretty easy to choose joy when things are going well. But it is pretty tough to choose joy. when circumstances are very, very difficult. And what we're going to learn in this series is that it really is a choice.
That God will give us everything that we need, regardless of how devastating the circumstances. Tell you what, when it's really, really hard, it's just easy to look inward, to fall into self-pity. and just watch your life spiral down. And what we're going to learn, it doesn't have to be that way, but... We're going to talk about the power of focus.
I brought A little pitcher of water. And if we took a little contest, and if I said, is the pitcher half full? Or is the pitcher half empty? The answer is yes. Right?
Some people will spend their entire life, no matter what's happening, focused on what they don't have, what's wrong, what they wish were better. On and on and on with what they don't have, what God hasn't provided, and what they think. would bring joy and happiness. Other people have learned to focus on what they do have, and they recognize that everybody's life has some emptiness. Everybody has struggles.
Everyone's going to suffer. Everyone has some problem relationships. Everyone eventually will have some health issues. Everyone has struggles at work. They either define you or You learn how to focus and to think and to trust God in such a way in order to choose joy.
Pull out your notes, if you will, and I've got to tell you a true story that at times I can hardly believe it's true. He was a neighbor, he was a friend. We got pretty close, got to talk about a lot of things. In private conversation at this point, he wouldn't care that I share this. He was a backslidden Christian.
I mean, he knew God. He used to go to church regularly. He used to serve in a church. And he kind of had slidden away from all of that. And poor guy got, you know, his new neighbor was a pastor, me.
And so we get to know one another, and he's a great guy, very gregarious. He just lived right across the street from Teresa and myself. And so he's out in the yard, we got to know each other well, and I'll never forget the day that he got a phone call, walked out in the yard, and he had found out that someone had, he was a cabinet maker, and I mean top-of-the-line cabinet maker, and put in these, I mean, super expensive cabinets into these super luxury homes. And he had hundreds of thousands of dollars of his cabinets that he'd already made that he was going to be putting in these homes along with his material and someone arsoned his warehouse, he lost everything and had no insurance. And I saw him out in his front yard, and he looked like someone literally had just died.
And he went into clinical depression. He ended up having to go to the doctor. I remember I would take walks around the block, and he had a big bay window. And if you've ever seen someone like sit in a chair like this, I mean, life was over. He hadn't I mean, it was everything he had was gone.
Fast forward three and a half years, he's a pretty resilient guy, quite the entrepreneur. And so he built his business up again and got another big contract, made a bunch of money again. And you know, there's people that kind of have this gift. And so he's got, you know, 12 or 14 master craftsmans, and he's got another big set of super luxury homes, and he has a big warehouse again. Are you ready?
You guys, anybody feeling what's coming here?
So one of his employees, they really love him, he's great to get along with.
So he goes in to help out. And so he sweeps up all the sawdust. And then there was one of those things that you torch, whatever you call it, when you weld things. And he was cleaning some stuff out. And so he lit that to empty something, and it sparked.
It hit the sawdust. and within minutes everything he had again was gone. His wife, I still remember the morning, I think it was a Sunday because I was pulling out and she comes out, you know, and this is what's happened. And he had a tiny bit of insurance. He didn't get clinically depressed this time.
He said, I heard the news. I've been through this before. My whole life was about things before, and I realized they couldn't satisfy. And he says, Everything in me just wanted to break down, and I just decided, I told my wife. Stay right here.
I'm going to walk around the block. He said, I started to walk around the block and I don't know why, but this came into my mind. Naked I come into the world. and naked I will return. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. And he said, for 30 minutes, I kept walking and I started, thank you, I have a wife that's loyal and that cares with me. Thank you for my son. Thank you for my grandson. He said, I just started choosing, and all I did was for 30 or 40 minutes, I just focused on what I actually did have.
The four has Other workers were, everyone was discouraged, everyone was out of work. Within 48 hours, he had found jobs with his competitors for all 12 of his craftsmen. I'll never forget out in the front yard less than a week later, when before he was in a canatotic state of just depression, and he was out in the front yard playing with his little grandson, who was about three or four at the time. And I said, Gary, how are you doing? He goes, You know, it's hard.
And then he looked at me and he looked down at that little boy. And he said, but I got a lot. I got a lot. What's the difference? Fire number one, his focus is inward.
Fire number two. It's upward. And then it's outward. question. Where's your focus?
How do you deal with the tough circumstances in your life? Notice on the front, there's a little divine equation. The divine equation is C plus P equals E. I mean, I want you to get that.
Some of you might, you know, write that somewhere, put it on a card, put it in lipstick on a mirror. C plus P equals E. Circumstance plus perspective equals your experience. Living above my circumstances occurs when my perspective interprets my circumstances rather than my circumstances determining my perspective. It's true, isn't it?
Either I look at life Through the lens of, this is my circumstances. When they're kind of good, I'm kind of happy. When they're kind of bad, I'm kind of sad. Or I look at my circumstances through the perspective of the lens of God's promises. God's power.
The lens of a sovereign God, a good God, who's going to take even the worst and most difficult things. And he's going to use them for my good. The fundamental question is: how can we develop the kind of perspective that transcends our circumstances? How do you do that? I'm going to suggest that it's going to be C plus P equals E.
And we're going to learn from a man who models this for us. Like nobody's business. Key number one, jot the word in. Focus. The question is, where is your Focus.
Now, I want you on the left side of your notes, I want you to put a little box, and I want you to imagine that's a whiteboard in your mind, and I want you to write one or two words. And if you're next to Someone that happens to be the problem that goes into that box. I would maybe not do that right now. But what I want you to do is actually think of what's the most difficult, challenging circumstance or relationship that you have right now. I mean, what is it that gets you down?
That if you could say, God, either fix it or take it away, what would be in that box? Have you got it?
Now, we're going to look at Philippians chapter 1. But before we read it, I want you to get the circumstances of the author. It's A.D. 62-63, he's in a Roman prison. He's a little past midlife.
He has already been beaten three times. He's been overnight in the sea. He's been stoned and left for dead once. He got some revelation in Arabia. He is taking the gospel, and his mission, his plan, his circumstances are: God has called me to take this message to the whole Gentile world.
And instead of going to the whole Gentile world, he's stuck in a cell. Which what we know is he ends up writing a lot of letters that reach the whole world, but he doesn't know that. All he knows is God told me to do this. I wanted to do that. Every time I try and do it, people beat me up or they stick me in prison.
And you would think Paul would be discouraged. And he would be if he looked through the lens of Circumstance. But his perspective is not that. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and there's more coming up in a moment, so stay with us. Beyond this broadcast, Chip's teaching also lives on the Living on the Edge YouTube channel.
Full sermons, short clips you can send to a friend, and entire series you can work through at your own pace. Just search Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram on YouTube and subscribe so you don't miss what's next.
Now let's continue today's lesson. Follow along Paul's circumstance. Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and the deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, this is a church that he has a real heart connection with. And they've heard you're in prison and they're concerned about him. And so they send a financial gift through one of their members of Aphroditus. And this is really a thank you letter, and they want to know: well, how are you doing? And so Paul's going to explain his circumstances here.
He says in verse 3: I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy. In my every prayer for you all.
Well, why? In view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I'm confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you. We'll perfect it. until the day of Christ Jesus.
I'd like you to circle the word thank. I'd like you to circle the word remembrance. I'd like you to circle the word prayer with joy. I guess that's a phrase. Circle the phrase prayer for you all.
And then circle the word confident. This is Paul's upward focus. He's in jail, his circumstances, where's his heart, where's his mind? He says, I pray. Did you notice how?
I pray with joy. I'm remembering what it was like with Lydia. I remember when the little church was birthed. I remember that night when that jailer was ready to kill himself. Stop, don't do it, stop, don't do it.
We're all here. And we went into his house and he cleaned me up, and his whole house was baptized. And we don't know all the story, but it's a church where God did a great thing. And he says, I pray with joy in all my remembrance of you. And it wasn't just what he did.
He says: in view of your participation in the gospel, we were in it together. We saw God work in that Roman colony in Philippi.
Okay. And it just focuses God, thank you for them. And then his focus is still about them. I'm confident of this. You know, God's in control.
Where's his concern? His concern isn't, well, it's really tough. There's a lot of rats. I'm chained to this guy. It wasn't really fair.
I'm completely innocent. There's no blaming, doesn't blame God, doesn't blame people. His concern is, I'm confident of this very thing that He, Jesus, who began a good work in you. He's going to perfect it. until he comes back.
Where's his focus? It's upward. And it's outward. Notice his focus continues. Paul's outward focus.
He says, for it is only right for me to feel this way about you all. Why? Because I have you in my heart. Since, in both my imprisonment and the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
I'm going to ask you to do Bible study one more time here. Circle the word feel. Then circle the word heart. Circle the word partakers. It's a Greek word that means people are connected to one another.
Circle the word lung. And then circle the word affection. And what I want you to get is Can you Can you imagine someone Maybe in our day, in bondage, in a hellacious prison, maybe in another country. Who's discovered they have cancer, and you write to ask how they're doing. And you get this letter back.
Oh, every time I think of you, I'm praying for you. I remember when we spent this time together. And then to say, I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. I memorized this passage many, many, many years ago, and I remember praying, Lord, I don't know that I could ever say that to anyone, but I would love to be able to say that somehow, someday. To love someone, to long and care for someone.
in the same way that Christ cares for me. This guy is filled up with his love for other people, so much so, he just seems to be almost unaware of the difficulty of his own circumstance. Finally, out of his outward focus and love, notice he prays for them.
So he takes his concern and he goes, And this I pray, that your love. may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. And then there's what A result, sew that, put a little box around the sew that, it's very important.
So he says, Here's what I'm praying. I'm in prison. My focus isn't on me. It's on God, but it's on you. And when I'm praying for you, I want you to know this is what I'm praying.
I'm praying that your love and your relationship would grow deeper and deeper in the, it's a really powerful word, in the epigonosco, in other words, in the experiential knowledge of God, and that you would have all discernment. In other words, that you would get so close to God in the midst of this corrupt Roman Empire and all the junk coming at you, so that. Why? You could approve the things that are excellent. In other words, so when the world's coming at you, you would know this is right, this is wrong, this is true, this isn't true.
So you would have discernment to know how to live your life. And then there's a purpose clause in order that you can be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. Underline sincere and underline blameless. We'll come back to this just a little bit later. Having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ.
to the glory of God.
So all I want you to see Paul's circumstances, I'm guessing, are as bad as anybody's in this room of any kind. In fact, what we're going to learn a little bit later is He he's sort of right on the crossroads of Yeah. Am I going to be executed or not executed? He doesn't know. And in the midst of imprisonment, facing execution Upward focus.
God, I thank you. outward focus I'm confident of this. I remember you. God's for you. I'm praying for you.
That you become the kind of followers of Christ that understand what's wise, what's unwise, and that your lives would be so transformed. Outward focus.
Now, what I want to do is kind of roll up our sleeves and ask ourselves two or three questions to help us get. Hey, Paul, I'm glad you can look at it that way. It's pretty tough for me, right? How do you develop an upward focus? And I'm going to suggest right from this passage: number one, it's a choice.
It's a choice. And the choice is gratitude. And the way you do it is, you choose to remember and you thank God for significant relationships. In the mornings, our whole staff comes down here and we have a A prayer time. And different pastors, actually different people on the staff lead it.
And we all sit here, and he goes, Here's what we're going to do for the first 20 minutes. I want you to write on these three by five cards. Everything that you can possibly thank God for. in 20 minutes. Just don't stop writing.
I filled out five. God, thank you that you forgave me. God, thank you for your word. Thank you that your spirit lives within me. Thank you for Teresa.
Thank you for Eric. Thank you for Jason. Thank you for Ryan. Thank you. God, thank you for this church.
Thank you for the people I get to work with. God, thank you that, you know, in the midst of a. Crazy world. This is where we live. I mean, it was easy.
I had five of these filled front and back. And I had this weird experience afterwards. I had a great attitude that day. Hey, hey, hey. It's just a weird experience, you know?
You know, hey, you know, why? Here's why. I spent 20 minutes focusing on what God has provided. Instead of my humanness like yours, is to always focus on what? is missing.
Second, it's an action prayer. Prayer. By the way, remember he said, I willfully chose. Willfully chose. To remember the past youthfulness and the partnership.
See, I think we think prayer is always going to be some ooey-gooey feelings and these wonderful great connections with God. Part of my rehab on this fusion on my back was walking, walking, walking, walking until I could walk for an hour. That's a lot of walking. And I just have to tell you, there's times where I, one, I didn't want to walk. Two, I bummed out.
And just, I mean, honestly, a little pity party, God, you know, why me? Trying to serve you with all my heart and... Wimpy, wimpy, chippy, chippy, you know. Just like you guys do. And then I remember, I'd walk in and I'd listen to some worship songs, and I'd pull out those earplugs.
Father, I thank you, and I started quoting verses, and then I started praying for people. I just started praying for people. I started praying for a lot of you. I prayed for our staff. I prayed for this city.
All of a sudden, I realized: you know something? This isn't the best time praying I've had in a lot of years. Why? Because I had to walk. I don't know what you're going through, but it's not an accident.
You can develop an upward focus by choosing to give thanks. And by the action of prayer, And third, there's an attitude, and the attitude is confidence. You know, I remember like toward the end of my walks, what I realized was, You know, I've been through a lot of hard times. I'm getting older. And I've had God's promises and God's character.
God's promises and God's character. And I have these little packets where I've memorized verses over the years. And I started reading some of these old verses and I found one, 1978: God's Promises for Chip and Teresa. I mean, that was like a month before we got married. And God gave me this passage, this Old Testament passage, and I was reading through that, and I thought, Like, are you kidding me?
I mean, my life is like 100x better than I ever, ever, ever dreamed. But it doesn't matter how good it is, because if I have a really great day today, left to myself, I just want it a little bit. Better. Right?
And so do you. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and a message called Understanding the Power of Focus. It's part of Chip's larger series called Free at Last: How to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle, and will continue tomorrow. In this study about breaking free from our old selves, we've been learning how it really isn't about our circumstances or personal strengths. It's about letting God transform us from the inside out.
And that pivotal truth is what Chip unpacks even further in his book titled Yes, You Really Can Change. It's an honest Bible-based guide on what genuine transformation actually requires. And right now, we're including a second copy with every purchase so you can share the reading experience with someone seeking real change. Make an investment in yourself and someone around you by getting your copies today. Just look for Chip's book, Yes, You Really Can Change, online at livingonthege.org/slash offers.
As a listener-supported ministry, it really is your generosity that makes this Bible teaching program possible. If Living on the Edge has been meaningful in your life, we invite you to help us keep going strong. Your gift of any amount helps us reach more people with life-changing. Truth. Give online at livingonthege.org or call us at triple eight three three three six zero zero three.
You can also give through the mail by writing to us at Living on the Edge PO Box 3007 Suane, Georgia, three zero zero two four. And don't forget each of these daily messages are also available on the Living on the Edge podcast. That way you can listen at your own pace on your own schedule. And for the full sermon, unedited, subscribe to the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
Well now here's Chip. As we wrap up today's program, let me just ask you, where is your focus today, right now? I mean, just in general life right now. We talked about C plus P equals E. Circumstances plus your perspective equal your experience.
And we talked about our focus can be one of three places. It's either inward, right? I mean, you know, things are happening, so you get mad or you complain or you sink, you get discouraged, you get depressed, or it's either upward and outward. And we're going to talk about how to actually go into training to help our minds and our attitudes, even when things are difficult, even when people around us are being less than kind, less than fair. that our focus can be upward and outward in a way that we actually choose joy.
And we're going to go through that journey and talk about how circumstances will change over and over and over. But what God can give us is the ability to look upward, to be grateful, to thank Him, to see what we, are you ready? The part of the glass that's half full, what we do have, instead of focusing on what we don't have. Hey, it will take some practice, but let me encourage you, stay with us for this whole series. You actually can learn to experience joy regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in.
I'm your host, Dave Drewy. Join us next time as Chip continues understanding the power of focus right here on Living on the Edge. Wow. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh
