Today, I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. In this crazy, chaotic world, Where's your hope? What keeps you grounded and unshaken?
Well today I'm going to tell you how to get that kind of hope. by sharing the incredible testimony of a good friend. whose faith in the face of dire circumstances deeply inspired me. Stay with me. You're gonna be encouraged today.
Real hope isn't wishful thinking. It's something scripture says you can build your whole life on. Today, on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram continues our series called Free at Last, How to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle. Remember, you can catch up on any message you've missed at livingonthege.org. Chip opens today's lesson from Philippians chapter 1, but he starts somewhere unexpected with the story of his friend Kevin.
A young father who journaled his way through a stage four cancer diagnosis. What Kevin discovered changed how Chip understands hope itself. Here's his message titled, Understanding the Power of Hope. Kevin shared what it's like to be a young dad with four kids, stage four lymphoma, and battling, wandering. the real challenges of Am I going to live or am I going to die and how am I going to go through this?
I read every time on Caring Bridge as Kevin journaled through this process. And I kind of followed him with the ups and the downs and you know, this prognosis and then that one and then how he's feeling and And I wanted to share with you the four things that I learned. from going through this journey with Kevin that I hope Will be helpful for you. The first thing I learned was that facing more our mortality is both scary and clarifying. As I would read his journal, it just reminded me that I'm going to die.
It reminded me of just life is really short. It reminded me of the battle and the victory that we went through with cancer with my wife. Just reminded me, gosh. The second thing was that Um Very few things in life matter very much. Just as I would read these journal entries and he wasn't worried about remodeling the kitchen or whether he was going to get a raise.
He wasn't concerned about is he going to get 49er tickets. His fantasy football team wasn't really a big issue for him, right? And the same thing, it just brought back all those memories that when we went through cancer, how.
Okay. Projects, demands, what people think, what they don't think, nothing really matters. Life is very, very simple when you get really, really close to death. The third thing is that as I've listened to Kevin and watched is that C plus P really does equal E. Our circumstances plus our perspective determines our experience.
And as you listen, if you read the journals, if you went through it in real time with him, there were ups and downs, and he was brutally honest. Brutally honest about fears, brutally honest about doubts and struggles, but also it was an unwavering, I'm going to trust God. I believe there's a heaven, I believe the Bible's true, I believe there's God's character, His Spirit lives within me, there's a certainty, there's a hope. And I'm going to have an upward focus and an outward focus. And I'm going to use this for God's purposes.
Those nurses are going to hear and see Christ. Other patients are going to hear and see Christ. Not because I've got it in me, but Christ in me. I watched his life prove that. And finally, I think the thing I learned from Kevin is that only an eternal P perspective can produce peace and joy.
one facing death. I mean, when you look at life through just the lens of now is all there is, I'll tell you what. You cannot sustain it. In fact, this wall for me is a lot like life, and these are the circumstances. And you know, sometimes they're great, but sometimes it's a brick wall.
And you know, you got a marriage problem here, and a singleness, and you want to be married here, and cancer biopsy here, and you lose your job over here, and you're clinically depressed over here. And you just keep butting against this wall, and you're looking for hope, and you're looking for hope, and you lose it, and you lose it, and you lose it, and you lose it, and after a while, you just give up. And you just start doing stuff that you didn't think you would ever do. Because hope is the oxygen of the soul. If you don't have hope, you die.
You can go without food for seven days and water for about three. You can't go without any hope for probably more than three or four minutes.
Now then, fix it, Billy. Woo!
So what do you do? Here's what Kevin did. Kevin said, I can't take it. I don't know what's going to happen.
So I'm going to rise above my circumstances and I'm going to look at eternity. That which is seen temporal circumstances, I can't change. And it's not a picture half full. It's completely full. It's heaven waiting.
It's Christ. It's all of His promises. It's a sovereign God. It's this life is not all there is. And I can look at that and I cling to that, and it's the anchor of my soul, and it gives me the grace, and the perspective, and the perseverance.
to keep going. It takes an eternal perspective. Here's the question. How When life is crashing in, Do you develop that eternal perspective that gives you the kind of hope that allows you to go through anything? That allows you not to give up, not to give in, not to get inwardly focused, not become a victim, not blame everybody else, not blame God, but be the kind of person in the midst of you don't know if you're gonna live or die, and there's pain and there's children, and there's a wife, and there's a concern where nurses wanna come in and go, I don't know what's going on in this room, but we'll hang out here.
That's the presence of God. That's the power of God. That's a joy, not a happiness. That's a reality experienced in the midst of. crushing circumstances.
Well, if you open your notes, we're going to learn the answer to finding that kind of hope. And the answer is in a very simple yet profound word. And it's the key to eternal perspective. And the key word of the lens you need to look at is the lens of hope. And the question to ask yourself when you're really struggling is not just where's my focus and not just what's my purpose.
But where's my hope? What's my hope rooted in? And by the way, when we use the word hope, English word hope has one meaning. The biblical word hope is a little bit different. When we use the word hope, we often, you know, I hope it doesn't rain.
I hope the 49ers win. I hope I get a good job. I hope someday I get married. We use the word hope in a good way, but it's almost wishful thinking. We hope for something positive in the future.
It's a good definition, there's nothing wrong with that kind of hope. But that's not the word in the Bible.
Okay. The word in the Bible for hope is an absolute certainty that you can bank on that will never change. Christ's return is the hope. Heaven is our hope. God's promises to our hope.
Jesus said that I will give you all the grace you need to get through any situation. It's a hope. In other words, it's the anchor of your soul. Biblical hope isn't a Possibility, it's a guarantee of something unseen. The Apostle Paul will later say: that which is seen is temporal.
That which is unseen is eternal. And it is both a skill and an act of faith to learn. how to look at the unseen hope. that sustains you. We pick up the story of the Apostle Paul, and it is now his third lesson.
The context for those that might be just joining us, he's in Rome. He's chained to a Praetorian guard that changes every six hours. It is not a good situation. He's on trial, and at the end of the trial, he's either going to be released and found innocent, or he's going to be found guilty and be executed. And when we pick up the story, he's in a situation where I don't know what's going to happen.
Imagine more than a little anxiety for most of us.
So what's his perspective in facing death? It's crazy. It's joy. It's joy. He actually has a joyful attitude facing death.
He has an eternal perspective. Notice in verse 18 it says, Yes, and I will continue to rejoice. The question is: why and how could any individual, unless they're playing just mind games, how could you have joy? In a terrible situation, you've been betrayed by your friends, there's political issues happening in the church, you're. Humanly thinking, God, you sent me to go to all the world, and instead, here I am in this prison.
Little did he know that all these letters that he would write would change. the course of history. He didn't know that. What was it that allowed him To have this amazing attitude in circumstances that would absolutely crush 99.9% of the people. He gives us two reasons in Philippians chapter 1.
Verses 19 to 25. Reason number one is that his deliverance is certain. His deliverance. is certain. Underline the word deliverance.
Follow along as I read, for I know... That this shall turn out for my deliverance.
Well, how? Through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything. But that with all boldness, Christ, even now as always, will be exalted in my body.
Well, how? whether by life, or by death. Paul is completely convinced that he's going to be delivered. There's more in just a moment here on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Before we continue, if you've never been to Chip Ingram's YouTube channel, you're missing out on a whole library of teaching you won't see anywhere else.
Series like BIO, Three Essential Practices to Becoming Like Jesus, and even messages like the one you're hearing today. Whether you want to dig deeper into a topic or pass something along to a friend, it's all right there. Just look up Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram on YouTube and subscribe.
Now, let's get back to our message.
Now, I want to do something with you. It's kind of fun. The Apostle Paul. I really like him because he has run-on sentences. And so I've written the notes in a way so you can see the structure of them.
But let me give you just his sentence. And so, what I want you to do is: for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance, put a line underneath that.
Okay, you got it? And then I want you to skip down. Where it says, according to my earnest expectation, just underline the word just that. And then I want you to skip down a little bit farther. and underline Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body.
His simple sentence is I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance, that Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body. And everything else is the whys, the wherefores, the hows, and all those clauses to explain it. But they're really important. First of all, put a box around the first word that says, for I know. There's two Greek words for know.
One is you know by way of experience. Powerful word, but that's not this word. The other word is like you know, like physics. You know that water boils at such and such degrees, or 2 plus 2 is 4. That's this word.
In other words, there's empirical facts. Paul says, I have an empirical fact that doesn't change, that I will be delivered. and put a box around the word deliverance, we get our word salvation. It means to be delivered out of. In the Old Testament, you know, when the Red Sea parted, they were delivered.
So he says, I know for certain I'm going to be delivered. That Christ is going to be exalted. I want you to note. His perspective on this. He says there's two reasons why I know I'm going to be delivered.
One is the responsibility of man and the other is the sovereignty of God. Did did you pick it up? He says, I know I'm going to be delivered through A, your prayers. and be the provision of the Spirit of God. You know, despite anybody's theology anywhere, the Apostle Paul actually believed.
when men and women, ordinary people like us, would come to God earnestly in faith and claim His promises and in our heart at least and get down on our knees and intercede for the life of another person, it actually makes a difference. He's certain of his deliverance. And for the provision, put a circle around the road, provision. It's uh It's an interesting word. We get our word.
Are you ready? It's weird. We get our word chorus. you know, like a singing group. And historically, it's kind of fun to give you a little background on this because in the ancient world, if you were a very, very wealthy person in a smaller town, then there was entertainment.
And so the theater was very big, and they had these outdoor amphitheaters. And if you were very wealthy, it was expected that you would bring a theater group, that you would pay the theater group, that you would rent the amphitheater, and everything that had to happen for their costumes, the group, the entrance, everything, so that you could entertain the city. And it's this word chorus. Over time, it came to mean whatever it takes to pull this thing off, all the provision, the money, the time, the energy, the leadership, everything it takes to pull something off, that's what this word became. And Paul says, I'm convinced of my deliverance because you all are praying, and the whatever it takes that the Spirit of God is going to bring into my life.
But notice, he doesn't think his deliverance is necessarily out of his circumstances. He doesn't say that I'm going to be delivered and I'll be released, that I'm going to be executed, that God's going to just deliver me out of it. He says, I'm convinced of my deliverance. That Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or whether I die. And then notice he says, according to my earnest expectation.
It's another very interesting word that has a picture of someone who blocks everything out and brings a level of focus. Imagine, if you will, the runner. And you know what? He's like... Two, three yards, and everyone's leaning in on the 100-meter dash, and he leans forward.
The crowd is gone, the noise is gone, and it's a word that says, Paul saying, my Eager expectation, my absolute focus. In other words, I believe in this deliverance. I believe because of your prayers. I believe God's going to come through. And I have a laser-like focus in the promises and the character of God.
And I have a Hope. Jesus promised, I have a hope. Heaven's real. I have a hope. God's in control.
I have a hope. God's goodness says that whether I live or whether I die, His highest and best purposes, His hope is in the character, the promises, and the reality. of God's goodness and That the worst that can happen is he goes to heaven And so he says, earnest expectation, hope. His biggest concern is that he would be put to shame. But he says with all boldness that Christ even now will be exalted in my body.
whether by life or by death. Notice He prayed. that what he would be delivered from is failure to represent Christ well. in the midst of crushing circumstances. His biggest concern wasn't whether he lived or died.
His biggest concern was Christ's reputation. Whoa. Um There's three ways in scripture that God delivers us, and we tend to only think of one.
So, get your pencil out. This will be helpful one day in your life. Yeah. Uh I'm going to give it God's plan A. God's plan B.
God's plan C or actually it's more probably accurate to say our plan A, our plan B, and our plan C. Plan A, when God uses the word deliverance, He delivers you out of something, He does a miracle. I've had times where we have anointed people with oil, prayed for them, and seen a brain tumor miraculously go, delivered them out of it. Praise God, he still does miracles. But we've prayed for people and three weeks later they've died.
Deliverance number one, he delivers us out. of the adversity or the difficulty. Number two. is he delivers us through them. Jot down 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
Verses 9 and 10, this is what Paul is experiencing. He tells us that he had this amazing experience, and so that he wouldn't get proud, he was given a thorn in his flesh. Everyone postulates and guesses: is it malaria? Is it an eye disease? We don't know what it is, but all we know is that there was a.
A bad back situation that he was struggling with, and he was in pain all the time. And God did not, and he prayed. I mean, Paul's got a pretty effective prayer life, wouldn't you agree? And he asked God in faith, believing, Take it away, take it away, take it away. And God said, no, no, no.
My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. And then Paul's attitude changed and realized sometimes God wants to do a deeper thing in us and he doesn't deliver us out of it. He delivers us through it. And as he delivers us through it, he refines us and our faith grows and our character changes and it's very difficult and he gives us a joy and a contentment and a peace that's unexplainable externally apart from a living God doing something inside of you. The third way that God delivers us is unto himself.
We were talking about this as pastors. We were going over the study earlier. One of the guys in the group said, you know what's kind of odd? Is that In our day, we think the worst thing that could ever happen to a person is they die. And that doesn't seem to be Paul's perspective.
Christ gets exalted whether I live or whether I die. And a little bit later, we're going to read that he's not sure whether he's going to stick around or die. The dilemma, he thinks it's far better to be with Christ. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and today's message is titled Understanding the Power of Hope. It comes from our series called Free at Last How to Break Out of a Destructive Life Style, which you can revisit any time by going online to livingontheedge.
org. Kevin's hope didn't come from knowing how his story would end. It came from knowing who was holding it. That's the same anchor Chip's book, Yes You Really Can Change, points you toward. Not circumstances that finally cooperate, but a settled confidence in God that actually transforms you and the life you're living.
And because hope is something worth passing along, every order this week comes with a second copy, so you can put one directly into someone else's hands.
So get both copies today by going to livingontheedge.org slash offers. Stories like what we heard today reach people because listeners like you keep this teaching on the air. If today's message gave you something to hold on to, would you help make sure someone else gets to hear it too? Join us at livingonthege.org or give us a call at 888-333-6003. You're also welcome to mail your gift to LivingOnTheEdge, P.O.
Box 3007, Suwami, Georgia, 30024.
Well, now here's Chip to close us out. As we wrap up today's program, I think we learned something that is so valuable. and so neglected by us, Who are followers of Christ. You know, Paul says, my earnest expectation and hope, and He's talking about that he's going to be delivered. But the deliverance isn't that everything's going to go great.
You know, I talked about the one kind of deliverance where God delivers us out of things and it's a miracle. And in our next broadcast, I can't wait to share with you how He delivers us through things or unto Himself. But It's so interesting that heaven was so real. Eternal life wasn't like some formula or some vague distant things that happened someday, some way. And I think that's why I wanted to share Kevin's story with you.
You know, I walked very closely through that with him. And I'd like to ask you: when you think about problems and struggles and what you're facing, and it's so often day to day. Uh have you faced your mortality? recently. Have you ever really thought about dying?
How clarifying? Scary, yes. But how clarifying? Uh have you realized you know, when those huge things happen, how few things really matter? I mean, things that you're so uptight about that seem so urgent.
I will never forget when my wife had cancer. And I mean, I remember the day before I have a book manuscript due, and I've got to travel here, and I've got to do that, and I'm overwhelmed, and I have all these commitments. And we prayed. and cried sitting on our couch after we heard that the biopsy was positive and she had cancer. And I remember twenty four hours later Nothing really mattered.
I canceled things that didn't matter. What people thought, it really didn't matter. I'm just going to ask you to do something. Could you step back today? and think about If you're a follower of Christ, Heaven is sure.
He's preparing a place for you. It's a real place. Jesus loves you, He's for you. And he wants you to know that these circumstances that you're facing, they're going to come and they're going to go, and next year, this time, if we're all here, there'll be new ones. And you can either live on the ups and downs of the waves of circumstances and people's responses, or you can have an anchor.
You can have an anchor in your soul. There is a hope that no one can take away and that you don't have to be afraid. I learned that from Paul. I learned that from Kevin, and I learned that in my journey with Teresa. God wants you to learn it and believe it today.
Heaven's Real. It's your ultimate hope. Trust him.
Well next time Chipping Gram unpacks the second reason Paul could face life or death with joy and shows you what it looks like to build your whole life around Christ instead of your circumstances. Continue the study of understanding the power of hope next time on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge. Uh
