Leaving a Legacy that Lasts Forever - Teach Them to Make Wise Choices, Part 2

How do you get God's best for your life? You know, you see some believers and you sense, boy, they're in the right relationship. They make wise decisions about money. They're getting God's best. I want that.

How does it work? Today, I will give you four biblical principles that will help you discover how you can get God's best for your life. Stay with us. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. I'm Dave Drewy, and we're in the middle of Chip's series, Leaving a Legacy that Lasts Forever. On this program, he continues talking about the importance of making wise choices. And as we learned last time, when we come to a tough fork in the road, we have to ask ourselves, which decision makes me more like Jesus? In just a minute, Chip shares practical ways we can adopt that mentality and then model it for our kids and grandkids.

Before we get started, if you're new to Living on the Edge or missed any of this series, you can always catch up on the Chip Ingram app. Well, with that, here's part two of Chip's message, Teach Them to Make Wise Choices. Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 3, when he's talking about the difference between the Old and the New Covenant, he goes, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding us in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. Process from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit. And his point is, as we get these glimpses of who God really is, how loving He is, how holy He is, how pure He is.

You know what? And when you have that attitude, it's not like I get, okay, I can read a chapter a day to keep the devil away. Or I read five chapters, I feel really holy today, God, what do you think?

Can I get a little star in the refrigerator up there? I prayed for 15.7 minutes. I fasted for two whole days.

Those are all performance mentalities. I read because I love you. Would you speak to me?

I fasted because I'm not clear and I don't know what to do. And I want to eliminate the distractions. I get no brownie points.

I'm not better than anyone else. I just need to pull away from the world because I need to hear your voice. Will you speak to me? I love you. I want to sing to God because He's my Savior and what He's done.

And I forget that. That's what holiness looks like. And then you begin to pass on and give to others what God has given to you.

On the application it says, I, I'd like you if you would be so bold to write your name in there, commit to learn how to discern good from evil. That's the heart of becoming holy. See, the problem is we have a real, real hard time in our day.

You're living in a mirage, in a mirage of lies and appearances. And Paul would pray, we'll look at it a little bit later in Philippians 1, he would pray that God would grant them the ability to discern good from evil. Isaiah in his day would say the world and the religious leaders, he would say, you know, what's happened is now we're calling evil good and good evil.

And I don't know about you, but I see that today everywhere. So how do you pass this on? And how do you pass on this view of God, this sense of holiness? Because if holiness has to do with being whole and health, and if God, because of the nature of who he is, demands holiness for the health of his universe, and when people violate that holiness, there's consequences because God is pure. When a parent lets anyone do something that's harmful for them over and over without consequences, you don't love them. Proverbs says the evidence of love in Hebrews 12 says the evidence of real love is when a parent disciplines. So when we step outside of God's moral law and boundaries and he brings consequences, what he's saying is I love you because you keep doing that, you're going to get hurt badly. You're going to get hurt real badly. That attitude is going to bring pain. That behavior is going to bring pain. You keep logging on to that site, you're going to lose affection for your wife.

You keep chatting around and reading those romance novels and creating this ultra world that you hide in and have this virtual world, I'll tell you what, it'll ruin your marriage. You keep letting your kids hang out with that group, I will tell you, they're going to land in the ditch. And so he says there's a standard of holiness, but the standard of holiness is built out of blocks or bricks of love to bring about health and wholeness. So let's talk about maybe some practical ways, how do we pass this on so they can make wise decisions?

Number one, encourage them to saturate their mind with truth. The Bible, great books, videos, you have in your notes, this is one of my favorite passages, Romans chapter 8 verses 5 through 8. It says, those who live according to the flesh have their mind set on the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit have their mind set on what the spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

And those who are controlled by the sinful nature of the flesh cannot please God. All I want you to get is where do you set your mind? Where do you set your mind? First and foremost, we have to model this, but we have got to pass on to our kids, to those that we're discipling, to our grandkids, to the groups that we hang out with. I'll tell you what, I've been in small groups where the Bible's never opened, truth is never discussed, but we know a lot about what's on sale, what sport teams are doing different, we have a good social time, and I think that social interaction is great.

It just doesn't transform your life. The great majority, I don't do counseling per se, and I was kind of joking, but when I get done speaking at different places, they're usually a line, a long line of people, and they come up and tell me stuff, I don't know why, but I'm thinking I would never tell anybody that. And they tell me all kind of really painful, horrendous, difficult marriages, homosexual affairs, drugs, addicts, on and on and on and on. And me, very sincere believers who never dreamed this could happen to them. And I, despite what I told you about myself when I first meet people, I ask God for great compassion, and I listen attentively, and I ask questions, and I try to discover what's going on, but I have learned over the years, I always ask one question, would you tell me, I mean I know you've been a believer so long, I know you never thought this could happen to you, and you know, that someone like you could never have an affair, and you're a leader in the church, et cetera, et cetera, would you tell me right now a little bit about your personal time in God's Word?

And I can, I know, I almost know the answer 100% of the time, and I will tell you, it goes like this. Well, I used to, but, well, I go to church regularly, I didn't ask you if I went to church regularly. Well, I listen to Christian radio now, and then, well, yeah, great, God bless, you know, some of those guys are okay. I ask you about your personal time in God's Word, where God speaks to you, and it's a heart relationship. You gotta pass that on.

The great majority of Christians do not spend personal time in God's Word, and therefore are powerless to break the bonds of sin, and are duped and seduced because they're not armed with the truth. And we gotta model that first, and then you gotta pass that on. And it's gotta be passed on, not as a club, you know? Okay, kids, get around the table right now, it's breakfast time, or supper time, all right. Nathaniel, open Proverbs chapter one, it's the first day of the month, isn't it? Read it, now. Ethel, shut up, listen to your brother, he's reading God's Word.

I can tell you where these kids are gonna be at about 18. It will not be in church, or much to do with God. But in winsome ways, early on, I remember my wife, she has read to all of our kids, they became readers. And I mean, she read all the Chronicles of Narnia, and then she read other things. And she read to them, even at times where they got old enough, it would have been embarrassing, so we didn't talk about it, you know, especially the boys. And then I was much more concerned, little by little by little, I met with my kids and kind of taught them how to spend some time with God, and Teresa and I would just try and share the love, and what was happening, you know, in our struggles, in our journey, but with God. So, and I wanted my kids far more to begin to meet with God on their own than us have sort of perfunctory family devotions, although, you know, we met and did that. And I talk to my kids now, my one son is a pastor, I said, well, Ryan, what was it that really clicked for you in terms of, how did God lead you that way? And I'm thinking, maybe it's one of my great messages, I'm sure, you know. But this is my kids, he said, well, that is really pretty easy, you know, I don't know how many times, you know, when you're a little kid and you get up and go to the bathroom and you think it's the middle of the night because it's like five o'clock, and for you it's the middle of the night, and there's a light on, and mom's on her knees praying, or she's sitting in the chair with a cup of coffee reading God's word, and I just grew up watching you and mom, that's what mattered.

And when we drove in the car and we were in the backseat and you guys were just, you know, it didn't sound spiritual, it just sounded like kind of what you were doing in life. That's what they catch. And so you have to create when they're little and then when they're older. I will tell you, I didn't pay my kids to do the chores, remember we talked about, I paid them for extra stuff, I paid them to read books. You say, let's bribe them, absolutely, did it on purpose. I mean, when my kids got in high school and now they're getting all these world views, James Cyrus windows, okay, tell you what, I give you 10 bucks to read that and write me a report on it.

Here's a thicker one, I'll give you 15 bucks to read that one and we'll discuss it. I mean, hey, they wanted money, I wanted truth to get in their mind. But you gotta saturate their mind with truth, encourage that.

The second is encourage them to hang out regularly with wise, godly people. Proverbs 13 20, he who dwells with wise men will be wise but the companion of a fool will suffer harm. There's a great line, I got this from, it was in a casual conversation and it was with a vice president of a guy that I work with and his wife was there and we were talking about the influence of kids and you know, you're always worried about who to hang out with and she just turned to all of us and said, well, I'll tell you, you show me your friends, I'll show you your future. I mean, I don't know where she, I wrote that down, I've been using it since and when I can remember to give her credit, I do, like now. But I mean, it's true.

Think of who you're investing in, you need, if you have control, you need to be very careful about who they hang out with. You know, some guys I've had the opportunity to help and disciple, you know, I've really talked about, hey brother, you know, I got news for you, I love you, I care for you, we're playing hoop, you're a new Christian, you're making progress. Now tell me again about what you came out of, it was new age and cocaine, right? Okay, and you used to smoke this stuff and sell it, yeah, okay. Yeah, and you're telling me you're struggling, right? Okay, why are you struggling? Okay, now tell me who you're hanging out with. Two other dealers. Now, help me with this.

I mean, I'm in Santa Cruz, California, I mean, this is normal. Help me with this. You think you're not going to do that hanging out with them? Well, they're my friends and I want to lead them to Christ.

Hey, you lead people to Christ on neutral turf. You know what, you don't go over there and they probably are going to come to church, but let's find some neutral places where let's have them hang out and you can influence them instead of them influence you. More than one time, when my kids, I said, you can't play with those two kids anymore. But dad, dad, no, you can't play with them anymore. They can come to our house and hang out, but you're not going to their house. No one's home, I know what happens, you're just not going to do it. Well, yeah, of course. Some of us need to be, those of you that have smaller children or teenagers, it's okay to be the bad person.

It's okay. They can, I don't love you anymore, let them slam the door. You know, who are you to tell me who I can be friends with? Your parent, that's who.

I don't love you. Now, here's what I hear and I've got a number of cases, you know, it's anecdotal, but here's what I hear. Well, if we set those boundaries too tight, then they'll rebel, especially in the area of teenagers dating unbelievers. And I hear, oh, we can't do that because we've got to be real careful. I got news for you. Their heart gets connected to an unbeliever that's not walking with God.

They're going to go down the tubes. So draw the line lovingly and catch it early. And I know there's a handful of success stories where that gal or that girl finally came to Christ and all the rest.

Let me tell you, I got a hundred other stories for every success story you can give me. The number one thing that causes young people to fall and fall away from their faith. And when they go to college, the reason they change their morals is not they really change their theology, but they have to change their theology to adapt their lifestyle. And when your emotions kick in and you fall in love and you get to have sex, I mean, let's see, do I really believe in God and the Bible and some of this old fashioned stuff or this? Hmm.

That's a no brainer. And we can't figure out why. I mean, the statistics are alarming of the percentage of all of our quote young Christian youth who go away to school about 10 to 12 percent keep their faith five years later. And I've had some deep, deep conflict with my children in that journey. And I was a really, really bad guy. And it wasn't always pretty.

And I didn't always do it right. But I will tell you, that is a non-negotiable. You're the parent.

With that said, you're having lots of fun investing in their life and doing lots of great things that other parents don't do with them. Because you can, you know, the bridge of truth is relationship. And the more relationship you have, the more love, the more deposits, the more truth that they can hold. Because at the end of the day, they don't want to disappoint you. They really don't.

But it's in a tug of war at times. Third, model for them how to ask God for discernment and wisdom. It's really important for those you're trying to help that you don't become like the answer man or the answer woman. And well, what should I do about this? And you know more than me. Well, can you tell me? And you say, well, do this or do that.

Model for them. You know what? Here's a passage in James chapter one, verse five, okay? If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men generously and without reproach. But let him, when you ask, let him ask in faith for the one who doubts is like a double-minded man who's tossed here and there by the waves. Don't let that person expect to receive anything from the Lord. And then you explain to him. Wisdom is doing life God's way according to his design.

He'll always show you what to do. I mean, the Bible doesn't tell you what state to live in. The Bible doesn't tell you what vocation. The Bible doesn't say you need to go to Christian school or non-Christian school. You need wisdom from God. And so what you want to model for them is I don't have the answer to that, but God makes a promise. And if we had time to develop that whole text, the thesis of that text of not ever doubting is not that you ever have doubts about God. Everyone has doubts. We get our word schizophrenic.

It's a double-minded person. When you pray, God, will you show me your will so I can consider it as one of the options? God says no. Did you catch that? Let me just go over a little slower.

Some of you went. When you pray, and you don't do it like this intentionally, but it's what we do. God, I really want to know what your will is about this relationship. And then when I know your will, I'll decide whether I'll take it or not.

Guess what? God says, you know what? I don't answer this kind of prayers. But what he says is, God, I don't know about what to do about this relationship. I don't know what to do about this money situation. I don't know what to do about this marriage crisis.

I don't know what to do about this wayward son or wayward daughter. God, I don't know about my calling whether I should get out of this work and go to that work. Here's the promise of James 1-5. If I will come and say, God, I want you to know that I've signed my name on the bottom of the check. I want you to know that I've signed my name on the bottom of the check.

And I've turned it like this and put it under the throne room of heaven. I will do, no matter what it is, whatever you tell me, you fill in the top, and I'll do it. He says 100% of the time, I'll fill in the top.

You need to know. And now, how is he going to show you? It might be through a person, through the scripture as you pray, wise counsel. But he promises he will show you what to do. 90% of the will of God is being able to do whatever God says. Most of us, myself completely included, I kind of want to get God lined up to get him to do what I want because I think I know what's best. It's that surrender to be willing to do it.

And you have to model that. This is where, when they, you know, don't say stuff like my kids when they were hitting the mid-teens would be something like, hey, you know, I want to do this or that or go to this movie or do that. And I would think, you know, that's not right. Am I going to keep making every decision and we're going to be in trouble? And so I would often say, well, would you do me a favor?

Yeah. I said, well, pray about it for 24 hours. And just really think it through.

Do you believe God wants you to go to that? Well, Dad, you know, I know, hey, don't argue with me. If, you know, just talk to God about it. I'm just asking you. And again, you take that responsibility instead of the power trip.

I said no. What you want to do is start helping them. You know, I want to buy this. I want to go here.

I want to do that. And if you're not sure, but down deep in your heart, you think, you know, it's probably not a very good thing, but it won't kill them whatever they do. I always wanted to give them a lot more rope and say, why don't you pray about it? And by the way, this parental thing we have of wanting to protect our kids from pain is not real smart.

What you want to do is not protect them from small pain. So it hurts really badly. You know, like, gosh, I just spent $25 on this wacky thing and it looks so dumb. And now I wore it to school and it wasn't even cool. And I blew 25 bucks. Good.

Or, you know, I decided to go on this thing and man, everyone did this terrible stuff and I wish I would have never there. And good. See, if you always tell them what to do and you always keep them inside your bounds, then what happens is they can't wait to get away to go try some stuff. So you want to develop them hearing God's voice.

You want to model for them how to get wisdom, how to discern. Another practical thing with your kids is, you know that little clicker when you're watching something? As much as I'll talk a little bit later about limiting media, my kids, it was like, I believe every moment is a teachable moment. And you don't go overboard, but I mean, okay, you're watching the Super Bowl, right? And so these commercials come on. And then you know what? And I mean, they spent what? How many zillion dollars to create this commercial? They're paying $1.5 million for 30 seconds. And there's a girl that she's got it cut down to here and pushed up to there and pulled down to here. And another guy that's been on steroids and he's got his chorus light and this, that, this, that, and the music comes on, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

And they stop. Okay, before we watch the rest of the game, what was the message of that? Okay, where are they coming at us and why?

What do they sell them to us? What do you think? Okay, why do you think she's dressed that way?

Okay, why does he have that? What's the message? And you, what are you doing? You're helping him discern good from evil. And so you, and then you watch this real soaky movie and it makes you cry and it's really good and it's really warm and there's no sex in it and there's no violence in it. The only problem is in this movie, the person that you identify with is married to this not very nice person. And so this person married to the not very nice person falls in love with someone else and they have an affair and they have, you know, there's music and they're going out and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And we're all crying and thinking, oh, I'm glad she finally found love in her life. And it was a popular movie and everyone loves it. And you stop the thing.

And you say, wait a second, wait a second. I got sucked in just like you, but what did she do? I mean, we all love her and she was the pretty one.

And you know, the music was really playing and all the violins and, you know, her life was so hard before, right? You know, okay, let's rewind. It's called adultery. So how does that play out in real life?

Let's go through some families in the church where someone committed adultery. Let's remember what that looked like. Let's remember what it did to the, do you understand what I'm saying? That's what you do. So it's not a classroom.

It's every moment. Now, by the way, don't stop at every commercial. Some of your kids are going, hey, you know, get out of here. But you get it. Finally, teach them to monitor their exposure to the media.

Teach them to monitor their exposure to the media. Romans 12, we touched on it earlier. Do not be conformed to this world, this present world system, not the physical world. It's the cosmos. It's the world system.

And 1 John tells us what it's made of, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The way to help your kids is this is like Fortune, Cosmo, and People Magazine, okay? That's the world. If you can have her body like that, Cosmo or Seventeen or what else, then, or, you know, Muscle Magazine, Men's Fitness, you get tight abs, baby, in six seconds a day, you know? And with the right drugs. Or people, if you can just be famous, right? The whole goal is to be an American idol. I'm going to be famous. I want people to know me. I will say ridiculous things on TV. I will go on reality shows and make a complete fool of myself doing things with a camera that I would never do privately even in my own home. But I have to because I'm on TV. And isn't that like the epitome of all of life? I'm famous now.

No, you're an idiot now. But your kids, your grandkids, the people you're discipling are getting boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. They're bombarded. And so when they go to buy something, what is it? You know, the clothes are that way. The media is that way.

The magazines are that way. You will never be whole and healthy instead of being deceived and seduced unless you say, stop allowing yourself to be molded by this world system. So you got to put a real barrier in media and how much you watch and what you watch.

My kids heard it a zillion times and the people I've had an opportunity to help disciple. What you allow to go into your mind is the most important decision you make every day. Way more than what goes into your mouth. Like my wife is really healthy. You know, this is organic.

And you know, this doesn't have any pesticides. And you know, I mean, we're really into eating good, healthy things. But boy, you got to put healthy stuff in your brain. You are the product of your thought life. You understand that. As a man thinks, as a woman thinks in his heart, so you become. You watch enough TV. You rent enough videos. You glance through enough magazines.

It will create desires that you can never fulfill and you'll never be satisfied and you'll get sucked in and the lure riding and bam. And so, and by the way, when you live this kind of life, this is where people will start thinking you're weird. Because we're living a day where according to Barna, I don't know how accurate, but according to Barna, about one out of every 10 or one out of every 12 people who say, I'm a Christian. I'm born again.

I've prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my savior. About one out of every 10 or 12 are living the life. The others have either a mental or, now I'm not saying they're not believers. I don't know.

I'm just saying that they may have the living spirit of the living God living in them, but their external behavior, their values, their honesty, their commitment to marriage, their lifestyle, their speech, their priorities, and their values are exactly the same as their non-Christian friends. Because you are what you eat. And if you don't believe me, this is a mature group, so I will go way out on the limb. For you younger ones who want a mild challenge, go on a three-day media fast. Okay, no rent, no TV, don't get on surf the internet, media fast. Get in the car, no talk radio.

You know, you can, positive music, teaching, okay. Three days, no TV, no media. You'll get antsy. Some of you will find you have an addiction, because when you walk in, you turn it on. Some of you are like me, that when I do watch TV, and as soon as a commercial comes on board, so I can watch four shows at one time. To relax, of course. And then I'm exhausted when I'm done. I mean, I have to be this game, this game, this game, a high state's doing this and this, and part of this movie, and this, you know what I mean.

Because, hmm. You, you, you go on a three-day media fast, and I will tell you, you, you will be, one, you'll have all this time you didn't think you had. Go on a 10-day media fast. For some of you, you'll try, and you'll, it'll be scary, because you can't do it.

Go on a 10-day media fast, then sit down and watch just general prime time TV. You will be shocked. That's how desensitized we've become. You'll be shocked at what comes out of people's mouth. You'll be shocked at the sexual innuendo. You'll be shocked at, and you'll see stuff that you've grown accustomed to in terms of, you know, how people are dressed and different things that will stir your flesh, that you don't, doesn't even register now.

And it's the classic, what's the illustration that you put the frog in the water, and if you heat it up real slowly, it won't jump out. We got a whole generation that ain't jumping out. And here's the sadness, then we reap the consequences. Even though it's not a willful, volitional, I hate God sin, you just reap the consequences of a unwhole and unholy life, because holiness is the demand of God to keep his universe healthy. So there's consequences when I put junk in my mouth, junk in my head. It creates a set of desires. And so limiting the video games, the violence, the sexuality, I mean, you are just going to be a spiritual salmon swimming upstream with your fellow friends and other people thinking you are wired. Now, is this never watch TV? Of course not. This is really asking yourself, is this good, honorable, right, praiseworthy?

Is this in a Philippians 4, 8 criteria? Does this draw me closer to God or pull me farther away? And by the way, for me, sometimes it's just good stuff. I just have a limit.

After about two hours of TV, even a great game, and I love sports. I just find I get spiritually desensitized. And I'm different than you.

I don't know, maybe some of you can take a lot more than me. But if you take seriously what goes into your mind and then substitute it, you will see dramatic life change, dramatic life change. What's the message? Living holy lives is how we get God's best. Holy living allows you to experience God's best for your life.

Let's move holiness out of this idea of the otherworldly, dark robes, something weird. And let's move it into becoming whole, healthy, pure, winsome, loving, and receiving sort of that chalet life that God has every relationship and every area of your life. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, Teach Them to Make Wise Choices.

You're listening to Living on the Edge, and we're in the middle of Chip's series, Leaving a Legacy That Lasts Forever. The concept of passing on your faith that we're talking about in this series isn't new. Parents from the very beginning were instructed to teach their children about God and His faithfulness, and were expected to build that same godly legacy from generation to generation. The five biblical habits Chip's been teaching are key to living a more Christ-centered, joy-filled life. So whether you're a parent, grandparent, or a mentor, this series will help you connect in meaningful ways with the young people you love.

To check out the resource options for Leaving a Legacy That Lasts Forever, go to livingontheedge.org, call 888-333-6003, that's 888-333-6003, or click on Special Offers on the Chip Ingram app. Chip, in this series, we're talking about passing on a godly legacy to the next generation. And for most parents, reading Bible stories to their young children is easy because they're so receptive. But the real struggle comes when those kids get older, the relationship dynamics change, and the tension can build, can't it? Dave, I find that relationships with adult children are ones where there's parents that so want something for their kids that they just keep doing it for them, or there's such frustration when they don't share their values, even some biblical values or biblical morality, that they so want them to change.

It creates incredible tension and conflict. And I don't think we've had a lot of good teaching about how do you move from being the parent that's in control, to being the coach as they're growing up, to learning how to be a wise consultant to your grown kids who have to make their own decisions and their own consequences. And that means learning how to deal with financial issues, what you should do and what you shouldn't do, when to speak and when not to speak, when to criticize and when to keep your mouth shut, when to say it's a minor issue and you let it pass, and when you have to speak the truth and confront. And so we've gotten more feedback and more requests about navigating life with adult children, that I got together with a parenting expert and friend, Jim Burns. He's the founder and the leader of the ministry called Homeward, and we put together, I think, a course that will really help navigate you through those kind of issues.

Few things will cause more long term conflict than mismanaging finances, helping your kids, or trying to control situations that you can't control, and the more you do it, it causes conflict. This is a course that I will say everyone ought to go through. It's short, it's interesting, and it's helpful. Well, this online video course from Chip and Jim Burns is called How to Navigate Life with Your Adult Children. It's absolutely free, and it's available now on either the Chip Ingram app or our website, livingontheedge.org, because we know that some of the most painful, challenging relationships can be between parents and adult children.

This resource gives you practical, biblical wisdom for how to successfully navigate this particularly challenging season of life. You can do these six sessions at your own pace by yourself or with a few friends. Just go online to livingontheedge.org or tap special offers on the app and take your next step toward building healthy relationships with the adult children in your life. Well, now here's Chip with a final thought. As we close today's program, let me do a brief review, because this is so important. And by the way, as I'm going through this brief review, I want to remind you that the very notes I'm reading off of, you can get absolutely free.

Go on the website, livingontheedge.org, and you can download the notes for free. And by the way, you know, use them. I mean, pass them on. The whole goal is to put tools in your hands to help you grow. Now, we want to get God's best, and so number one, we talked about renewing our mind. You'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free. You've got to be in the scriptures. Number two, hang out regularly with wise people.

More is caught than taught. Just find someone who's more godly, more loving, has a better marriage, is a pure single person, whatever, and just hang out with them. Three is ask God for discernment and wisdom.

I mean, sometimes we get talking and praying about so many things in different directions. Ask God for some big stuff. God, make me wise. God, give me courage.

God, show me what to do in this situation. Number four, limit your exposure to the media. You will be the product of your thought life, and even good television or good movies, if there's too much of it, I will tell you, it will deaden your spirit. It will begin to cause your soul to shrivel. You have to keep your mind, your heart, and your soul active, and the way you do that is you have to limit how much bombardment you get of media. So let me ask you, in light of those things, what one step does God want you to take?

Is it limiting media, maybe do a one or two day fast? Is it, you know something, I was reading the Bible pretty regularly, and I sort of slipped, I need to get back to that. Is it calling someone today, maybe on your cell phone, and just say, hey, could we meet for lunch? You know, one of those wise godly people. Take one action step, and then watch God work. As we wrap up, I want to say thanks to those who make this program possible through your generous financial support. Your gifts help us create programs, purchase airtime, and develop additional resources to help Christians live like Christians. Now if you've been blessed by the Ministry of Living on the Edge, would you consider sending a gift today? You can call us at 888-333-6003, tap the donate button, or donate online at livingontheedge.org. Your support is greatly appreciated. Well be sure to join us next time when Chip continues his series, Leaving a Legacy That Lasts Forever. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.