Unstoppable - Baby Steps that Change the World, Part 1

Do you long for a life of joy and focus and actually impact? I mean, everyone wants to make a difference, but how does it really work?

What are the baby steps that you could take today that would actually bring joy to your heart and change the world? If that's your question, stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Druey, and Chip's our Bible teacher for this daily discipleship program, Motivating Christians to Live Like Christians. If you've ever seen a baby learn to walk, their steps are wobbly, and their feet are clumsy, and they fall a lot.

But over time, they become more confident, and those baby steps turn into running. As Chip continues his series Unstoppable, he explains the baby step process of faith to develop God-sized dreams in our hearts. As always, after the teaching, Chip will be back in studio to share some additional thoughts about today's teaching, so be sure to stick around for that. With all that said, if you have a Bible ready, turn to Acts chapter 3 for Chip's message, Baby Steps that Change the World. What's the dream inside your heart that if you had unlimited resources, you could see anything happen in the entire world that you knew would glorify God and help people and bring about real change, what would it be? What would be the dream inside your heart that you'd want to see God do in your lifetime? My dream is that God would launch a movement first in this church and around America where Christians would live like Christians.

Sounds kind of novel, wouldn't it? And then I thought about the kind of churches that would produce, churches that would be warm, caring, non-legalistic, non-self-righteous, authentic, passionate followers of Christ. The broken, the irreligious, the people that are different, the people that are unlovely would come to churches like that and feel loved and welcome. I'm dreaming of a day when churches would measure success by the depth of their love, not by the size of the church, the beauty of their buildings, the size of their budgets. I'm dreaming of a day when Christians would stay married when things get tough, that forgiveness would be sought and granted and those predictable struggles that we all have in our marriage would be followed by getting wise counsel, heeding God's word, getting some help and making it through the struggles. I'm dreaming of a day when parents would model holiness and purity and set boundaries for their children to protect them from the seduction of the world that promises them everything and delivers death. I'm dreaming of a day when parents would eat together, novel idea, with their kids, that they'd laugh, they'd tell stories at bedtime, they'd tickle each other to the point of tears, they'd spill popcorn on the floor and together as a family they'd pray about everything.

They'd pray about their neighbors, they'd pray about tests, they'd pray about friends, they'd pray about sports, pray about grandpa and grandma and other people that don't know the Lord yet and that their house would be the most fun and exciting place on the entire block to be. I'm dreaming of a day when Christians know their neighbors and have hamburgers in the backyard and where people would get the idea that these Christian people are just friendly and kind and when you have a crisis they're always available it seems. I'm praying for a day when churches would work together to paint schools and clean parks and build houses in the tough part of town and no one would care who gets the credit. A day when Christians would be known for what we're for instead of what we're against and a day when we would actually believe that prayer is more powerful than politics and people would be valued and treated with dignity even if how they live and what they believe is the exact opposite of everything that Christ said and stands for. I'm dreaming of a day when Christians would cease to be so concerned about being in and cool and hip and relevant and just be flat out consistent caring and committed to be like Jesus and do what he says. I have a picture in my mind of a day when nine out of ten Christians in this church and around America and then around the world would think it abnormal and strange if they didn't come before God every day.

If they didn't do life in community authentically in a small group and if they didn't see themselves as on mission 24-7 getting up every day in their home in their dorm at work in their neighborhood and say God what's the assignment you live inside of me. I'm dreaming a day that the world would really change and I got to tell you I can't shake this. I wake up thinking this when I pray deeply I think it.

I know it's humanly impossible. I know I don't have the resources the power in and of myself in any way for this dream to become a reality but it's the passion of my heart and I will tell you this I think it's the passion of my heart because it literally isn't my dream at all. This is Jesus dream for his church isn't it? This is his dream for you.

This is his dream for me. When he said when he taught his early disciples to pray what did he say? Ask the father for his kingdom to come and his will to be done. How? On earth the same way it gets done in heaven and to me that's just us Christians living like Christians and when we do that individually not that we're perfect but we make progress and when we blow it we own it and we're authentic and we're real and we're changing everyone in this room everyone in this church has the potential to literally transform the world around you and the question I want to talk about is how does that happen? How does that really work right? I mean is that just pie in the sky?

Is that just rhetoric like oh well wouldn't that be great someday someway? How actually does God change the world and I want to suggest that God by the Holy Spirit puts inside of you and inside of me dreams and desires and opportunities and that there isn't some great hero coming someday someway to make all that happen that it happens organically and small like a little mustard seed through ordinary people that's why Jesus chose the disciples that he did. I mean you do some hard study of the background of those people you're thinking this is not a good group to change the world with they're not educated they don't have much leverage they don't have any political power they don't have any money so that everything that happened we could know it's God at work in them he sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of them and in living inside of them instead of Jesus walking on the earth and loving and caring and feeding he came inside of every true Christ follower so Jesus is living out all those people and so 120 turned into 3,000 devout followers that he planted these dreams and these desires and placed them in all these different backgrounds and they begin to change the world but I'm going to talk today about well how does it really work? I mean we're sitting here 2,000 plus years later billions of people have followed Christ and are making a difference in the world how in the world did we go from 120 scared people in the upper room who the Holy Spirit comes upon into what you see today? Acts chapter 3 is the answer what you're going to see is just are you ready? The answer is baby steps the answer is not some big thing some day some way how many people have seen the movie What About Bob sort of the classic if you haven't run it it's clean it's great but there's this great line in this movie and this is it's a story of a guy with deep psychological problems that makes this psychiatrist crazy and the one thing he gets is baby steps you know how am I going to change how am I going to change he has all these issues and so just baby steps and you know something that's how God works just you know all you need to do is say you know what there's a big picture and chipset all those big things and all these churches and all that well you know what you know where it starts baby steps open to Acts chapter 3 and what we're going to see is how God begins with Peter and John and helps them take baby steps and he's going to give them just a very specific baby step game plan and they change their world he just lays it out for us the chapter is broken into two parts the first all fourteen or fifteen verses are a story and what we're going to find is that Peter and John you know it's like Monday morning everybody has a Monday morning and they're just doing what you're supposed to do on Monday morning in their case it's a prayer meeting they're going to and something happens and then the second half is what happens is going to create a stir and thousands of people are going to be drawn to this temple open area much like maybe a big park open area like Times Square and thousands of people are kind of pouring in because of this event and Peter uses it and then he gives a sermon his second sermon so follow along because what I'm going to do is there's four baby steps that we learn from the story and there's one or two baby steps we'll look at in terms of a sermon one day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon now a crippled man from birth was being carried to the temple gate called beautiful where he was put every day to beg from those who were going to the temple courts when he saw Peter and John about to enter he asked them for money and Peter looked straight at him as did John and then Peter said look at us so the man gave him his attention and he expected to get something from them then Peter said silver or gold I do not have but what I do have I will give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk taking him up by his right hand he helped him up and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong and he jumped to his feet and he began to walk and then he went jumping and into the temple courts and walking and leaping and praising God and when all the people saw him walking and praising God they recognized him as the same man who used to beg sitting at the temple gate called beautiful and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what was happening to him baby steps step number one for us regular people who have desires in our hearts that God wants to use to change the world is simply draw near to God verses one and two where are Peter and John going now in Judaism at the time they had a prayer time at nine a prayer time at noon and a prayer time at three o'clock Peter and John right the spirit lives in them but it's like it's Monday they're just doing what they normally do they're doing the mundane of life they're just doing what they would do on any Monday but they are faithful in just the little things they're just on their way I got news for you this guy's been crippled from birth we learned later he's 40 years old the disciples most of them were in their late teens or mid-20s at best Peter's walked by this guy a thousand times or more he's been at the same gate forever and ever and ever and ever and yet Peter's just on his way doing what he's supposed to do see being faithful in a very little thing is the key to being faithful in great things we think God does things from like a little seed into some huge tree of fruitfulness and the fact is here's what you need to remember it's faithfulness in the ordinary that prepares us for the extraordinary Luke 16 10 says he was faithful in a very little thing is faithful also much and he was unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also much you know these dreams and desires the way God works is he's going to change you first and you got to be with him for him to change you the promise of scriptures if you draw near to God he'll draw near to you Peter doesn't have any more power and John doesn't have any more power than ordinary people like us the difference is they got near to him and what they were doing is they were just being faithful we talk a lot about praying or spending time in God's word that's not so you check a box and don't feel guilty has nothing to do with that it's about relationship it's like recalibrating your soul it's about understanding oh you know God has an assignment for me today I want to be in tune I want my intended to be up with the spirit of God and the will of God for my life and all I want you to know God does extraordinary things through ordinary people but it always begins with just being faithful in the ordinary things I don't know about you but I get up there's some mornings and like the last thing I feel like doing is reading the Bible the last thing at times I feel like doing is praying right don't you have some late nights and get kind of worn out and have some pressure over here and a problem over there you know this morning I mean my mind was a bit in the fog and I went out and I got a cup of coffee and I read my Bible and I didn't have any ooey gooey amazing feelings and I thought well what's going on in here and I just sat down I wrote down this morning what I was feeling and what I was thinking and then I took the top four or five things that I was wrestling with and I said God these are yours and then as I did then I wrote out a couple verses that spoke to me and it's interesting just things started to change walk with God draw near to him step one it's a baby step second is look through Jesus eyes Peter is going to the temple he's been there he's just doing what he's supposed to do but the Spirit of God lives inside of him now now he saw Jesus example the Christian life is not seeing that Jesus was this marvelous person and trying to be like him in your own power that is not Christianity that's not what Jesus taught the fact is a revolution occurs and the old you dies and the Spirit of God comes and literally Jesus lives inside of us by the Holy Spirit well now Peter is walking and instead of seeing a beggar who's always there who needs some help and maybe he's even giving him a little money here and there all of a sudden he sees him through Jesus eyes Jesus sees his deeper need not just physically but spiritually and Jesus sees him through the eyes of this unlimited resource remember the last thing Jesus said to the guys all authority dunamis our word for dynamite all power all authority is been given to me and I'm going to be with you always so Peter is not going there thinking what can Peter do Peter is walking by this guy who has a desperate need and he realizes Jesus has unlimited resources and he lives in me and then something happens and he takes a step of faith here's what I want you to remember never assume the way it is is the way it's got to be that's death Ephesians 3 20 says now to him who is able to do abundantly beyond anything that we could ask or think Jesus he's able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what you and I think pretty soon if you're not careful you start thinking this marriage is going to be now the way it is and ever shall be you know this struggle with one of my kids my singleness I'm single I'm discouraged I'll always be single you know no one really is open at work I don't think anything's ever going to change it's a dark place we start living as though the way things are today is the way they'll always be and that just eliminates faith this guy was absolutely helpless they had to carry men and he was absolutely hopeless God wants to do miracles and you know who he does them through ordinary people later on we're going to learn when they're going to get thrown in jail for this the intellects of the day will look at Peter and John and go these are untrained and uneducated men but they recognize them as having been with Jesus the thing that makes a difference isn't your personality or your gifts or what you bring to the table all that under the direction of the Holy Spirit's great but it's Christ in you don't assume the way it is is the way it's always got to be but you need to look you need to start looking at your work through new eyes you need to look at people in your family through new eyes you need to look at needs through new eyes you need to start walking around and realizing Jesus through the Spirit of God lives inside of me and if you could just like take these glasses or you could take a contact and put I want a Jesus lens I'm going to start looking at people at work at people on the highway people that cut in front of me people that give me a hard time people that in my neighborhood I want to look at them the way Jesus would look at them if he lived inside my body and then I want you to just take a quick gulp and say oh he does he does and it's exciting to see what happens when you do that the third baby step now those aren't too hard really is it I mean how hard is it to draw near to God and then just to look through Jesus eyes third is act on your good impulses now I don't want to read too much into this and I don't want you to go tell people Chip can read Peter's mind and he know what exactly was happening I can't but this is a regular guy right he's failed before I like big time and so okay Jesus lives inside of him now through the Spirit and he sees this Baker and I got to assume that his thought process changed now we're going to learn a little bit later that this early church was completely Jewish and when the Spirit of God came they were expecting the restoration of the kingdom and him to come back very immediately that's why they pulled their resources very voluntarily they you know if the nation would have accepted the Messiah they would see him coming back very very very soon we'll learn that the nation rejects the Messiah the nation of Israel does and they didn't know about this mystery called the church which they were but you know Peter's walking by this guy and he has the thought had to come to his mind you know I don't have anything to give him but I don't seem like I used to see him and then this thought had to be we've got this unlimited power I mean I bet went through his mind like real quickly like I think I'm going to tell him walk that'd be cool what if I say it and nothing happens what if I say it and maybe this isn't me you know I'm you know I'm kind of new at listening to the Spirit maybe this is just sort of a fabricated thought in my mind see he came to a little point of time where he had an impulse a nudging from the Holy Spirit to take a step of faith outside his comfort zone that was really going to help someone and a miracle is going to occur and just like you and me he's right on the edge of am I going to obey this prompting or not you've got him haven't you you know like that weird thought like you're driving by and you see someone walking and there's this thought like I should turn around and help that person and then the next thought is well you know I'm really kind of busy and I have to do a u-turn and I'll help them later or someone out of the blue like you're praying or you're driving in your car and somebody haven't thought about you ought to call this person and sometimes you do and then and what do they say stuff like how in the world did you know right the Spirit's still prompting here's here's the next baby step act on your good impulses when you have an impulse that comes to you that loves someone that glorifies God that helps them that takes you out of your comfort zone that probably cost you something and you're a little afraid to do it that's probably not you right I mean recently I was in line somewhere and it was like buy these people's groceries behind you yeah yeah yeah you know and this lady's gonna you know why I don't know I don't have to know and I if this was just last week and and they were checking out and the lady oh I'm sorry and I could tell a little struggle with her son and I don't have my credit card and God I mean got louder just buy her groceries just just just be my presence and so okay this this will help you so finally she found her credit card and I couldn't get rid so now I'm acting like I'm looking at the tomatoes over here and and you know just like I don't want to do it she's gonna think I'm some weirdo and this kids over there and so I'm chicken out don't chicken out don't chicken out so finally you know and then I finally okay I'm gonna do it and I walk up and it's very uncomfortable and she gives a credit card I blew it oh Lord I'm sorry and then he said do you have cash yes well giver so anyway I kind of saw about what it was like and her little boy got in their car and I don't want to read too much in it but from body language the boy the lack of a wedding band you know if I was gonna make up a story it looked like a divorced mom going through a hard time who was really struggling about how she was gonna pay for this and I drove around in my car and I said excuse me I rolled down the window I assure you I'm not some weird guy stalking you or your son okay but I just got this really weird prompting from God and he wants you to know that he loves you and he wants to take care of your groceries today and I just gave her 40 bucks and I said can I give this to your son and the light on her face was like it wasn't like oh no no I mean it was like thank you I said I'll see you later God is giving you and me those kind of promptings all the time what if we acted on him what if we acted on him act on those good promptings notice what it says to remember God daily prepares divine appointments for you to be the answer to someone's prayer let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven you've been listening to part one of Chip's message baby steps that changed the world he'll be right back with his application for this teaching from his series unstoppable god's agenda for planet earth including you chip's teaching through the first five chapters of the book of acts revealing god's plan to rescue this lost world we're learning how god raised up the early church and the apostles to carry out this mission and more than 2 000 years later we're continuing that assignment through this series chip highlights the growing pains and hardships of the first christians it explains what we can learn from them to be better christ followers and disciple makers today now to check out all the resource details for unstoppable go to livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003 that's 888-333-6003 app listeners simply tap special offers well chip we're at the end of our first week of our mid-year match there may be some people out there who don't know what the mid-year match is or why we do it could you take just a minute and explain that dave absolutely you know this is something that we've done for a number of years that literally spontaneously happened about eight or nine years ago and a small group of our ministry partners have this passion to support the ministry but also to inspire others to support the ministry and actually even beyond our ministry to learn to be generous and so this month dollar for dollar every dollar a person gives all the way through july 6 will be matched so you know one becomes two 100 becomes 200 you get the idea and what a lot of people don't know is that you know like 30 40 percent of the total giving income comes out of this mid-year match and so it supports everything from the daily broadcast to staff to pastoral training and we'll talk throughout the month about what it does and the impact that it has but i just want to encourage people as they kind of get this broadcast and whether it's on the app or a podcast or they order something from Living on the Edge at our headquarters this match is critical to the mission of Living on the Edge of helping christians live like christians and so my prayer is that as the Living on the Edge family listens that they would really become a a part of the family and help us help others so thanks for asking dave thanks jip so if god has been ministering to you through Living on the Edge and you want to get in on supporting the ministry now would be the perfect time to join the team every gift will be doubled thanks to the generosity of a group of ministry partners to send a gift you can either call us at 888-333-6003 that's 888-333-6003 or go online to LivingontheEdge.org app listeners just tap donate thanks in advance for asking god what he would have you do and then partnering with us however he leads well now here's chip with his final application for today as we close today's program i want to go back to the little story that i told you at the very end of the teaching time where god prompted me i mean so clearly and i didn't listen i didn't listen and then i got so embarrassed i actually found the lady and her son in the parking lot and gave him the money that god showed me to give him and the response just blew me out of the water you know that it was wasn't oh no no no no it was they really needed it and god was prompting me and it was just so amazing that um how i felt afterwards which was really great the look on their face which was really great but i think the bigger picture is what peter and john did in acts chapter three was they let their light so shine before men that the people saw who god really was and glorified him in heaven what really communicates the reality of christ his power and his love it's not just what we say what we say is important and how we say it is very important but it's actual acts of service um end of the book of galatians he says you know don't be misled you know we're going to reap as we sow and then he immediately talks about doing good to all men and then especially the household of the faith brothers and sisters in christ and what i want to encourage you right now in this current climate is what peter said let's close the mouth of our critics by just taking multiple baby steps there's probably a million people are going to listen to me right now this week this message are you ready what if each one of us i mean ten dollars twenty dollars fifty dollars hundred dollars uh... i don't care what the amount is but what if every single one of us today or tomorrow i'll give you forty eight hours all right today or tomorrow you get your antenna up and you say lord i'm going to love someone you direct me i'm gonna love someone that takes me out of my comfort zone i'm gonna meet a need i'm gonna take the homeless person in and give him a hamburger i'm gonna do something for my neighbors i'm going to take a step that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable that exercises your concern and your compassion for people and i'm going to do this for you and lord i pray it would open the door and that people could see the light of christ let's stop talking about the world and criticism and and what we're not getting and what's fair and what's not fair let's take baby steps today every single one of us and then let's watch god work that's a great idea chip thanks as we wrap up let me quickly tell you about a great way to listen to our extended teaching podcast here chip anytime on your echo or echo dot to get started ask alexa to enable the chip ingram podcast then just say alexa play the chip ingram podcast it's that easy we'll join us again next time as chip continues in his series unstoppable until then this is dave druy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge