What would happen if you actually believed that Jesus was alive in you, that he's not down on you, that he wants to be your best friend, that he has an amazing plan for your life, and that this whole Christmas season is about teaching you what he wants the most? That's today. Living on the Edge features the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram on this daily discipleship program.
I'm Dave Druey. And in this program, Chip wraps up his series, What Child is This?, with an encouraging message that's sure to give you a fresh perspective for Christmas this year. Now just a quick reminder, if you've missed any of the previous messages in this series, they're all available on the Chip Ingram app.
So the app is a great way to stay connected and catch up anytime. If you have a Bible, open it now to Colossians chapter 1, and let's join Chip for part 2 of his message, What Does He Want? Here's the truth. Jesus lives inside of every true believer. This isn't a formula.
It's not a concept. He lives inside every true believer. What's the response?
The response is we must make room for Him daily. When you come to know Christ, His Spirit comes and dwells actually inside of your body. Now I don't know about you, but again, I didn't grow up in church, and I remember probably the second verse that I ever memorized, and you can jot this one down because if you've never memorized one, at least get this one down, Galatians 2.20.
Because I read this. I remember the first few months I was a Christian. I was like 18, a freshman in college, and I'm reading through this New Testament, and it's all new, and I've never read it before. And I got to this Galatians 2.20, and Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me, inside of me. And this life that I live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
I would walk around campus and think, like, are you kidding me? I mean, to me, God was always out there, and the bar was high, and you know, He had like seven or eight commands that I didn't really think that much of, because I wanted to do this, and He wanted me to do that, but my way wasn't working very well, and you know, all the religious people I were ever around, they didn't impress me very much. Wait a second, this is a relationship? God wants to be my friend?
He lives in me? What would happen if you believed, as a believer and follower of Jesus, that He actually lives in you, that He's not down on you, that He's the best friend that you would ever have, that He knows what's going to happen next week, next year, that He has a plan for you, that the unlimited resources of all of heaven, the one who created and spoke everything into existence, would like to make you holy and whole, and every single day direct you about that decision, help you work out that issue in your marriage, bring you peace as you wrestle with, are you going to be single, is God going to bring someone into your life, give you discernment about what role and what job, what to do with one of your kids that's having a struggle, that He would be a father and a friend and a lover of your soul, and you would never have to like get in line. God and others, like seven, almost seven billion people, oh wow, it doesn't work that way. In fact, Jesus was explaining this to His disciples, and for some of us, you know, you've been a Christian for a while, and you've read the New Testament, and oh yeah, yeah, well it wasn't oh yeah, yeah for them. Now imagine this itinerant preacher, he comes and starts speaking, and all the religious people say he's a wacko, and you know, he's a liar and a blasphemer, but you know, once you see a handful of people raised from the dead, and you know, walks on water, and he fulfills all these Old Testament passages, and pretty soon you're realizing, I think this is the real deal, and so unlike a lot of people, you follow him wholeheartedly, I mean you are in, and the kingdom's coming, and he's the Messiah, and I mean you see things that people have never seen, and you know, maybe you're Peter, John, or James, and literally, I mean the cloud came down, you heard God's actual voice, and you're thinking this is awesome, and then he gets near the end, and he goes, you know what, the plan is a little different than you guys.
So you guys only want to read half of that Old Testament, yes I am the Messiah, but the Messiah's a suffering servant, and I'm going to die for the sins of people, and then in three days I'll be risen from the dead, and I will come back a second time, but there's a little delay here. And if you're these guys, you're thinking, I don't really think this is a great plan. And he goes, no, no, it's really better for you.
Well how's that? And I mean they're trembling, and they're realizing, you know, public opinion is going south, religious leaders and rumors about an assassination are everywhere, and he gets them in this room, and they take the Lord's Supper, and he washes their feet, and they sing a hymn, and he takes them out to this place where they've been hanging out and praying, Mount of Olives, and he says, don't let your heart be troubled, don't be uptight, you believe in God, believe also in me. You know, and then he goes on, if it were true, I wouldn't have said it, and he goes, you know, you understand that I'm going to the Father, and I love it, I can just picture Thomas raising his hand, he goes, you know what, I don't really get this, okay, if these other guys do fine, I don't get it. What do you mean if we've seen you, we've seen your Father? None of this makes sense, would you talk like English, or Aramaic, or Hebrew, or whatever you're talking, but like shoot it straight, because this makes no sense to me. And then he says, Thomas, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, it's better that I go. And then he begins to explain, he goes, in fact, there's another one, it's a very interesting word, another of the same kind, like me, and he's not going to come until I leave, and he's the Spirit of Truth, and when I leave, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, is going to come and dwell inside of you, and you have access 24-7, and he'll bring to you remembrance the things that I taught, and he'll direct you, he'll convict you, he'll empower you, whatever you need, my Father and I, as you trust and remain and abide in me, we will be with you, we'll never forsake you, and you have access and you have intimate relationship with the Creator and the Savior of the world, 24-7, 365. And I think at that point they're starting to get it, but then in John chapter 15, because this is the way God works, he always speaks in a way we can understand.
It's an agricultural world. They understand about grapes and, you know, pruning and vine dressers, and so on that very last night he goes, look, my Father is the vine dresser. I am the true vine. You are the branches. And then he gives them this parallel about how the, you know, the life comes through the vine into the branches, and the supervision of the vine dresser who's the Father. And in John 15 he says to them, this is how the intimacy will go on.
He says, abide or remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine. You are the branches. If a man, if a woman, if a student remains, abides, stays in connected to me and I and him, you'll bear much fruit because apart from me you can't do anything. And if anyone doesn't abide in me as a branch, he's like a branch that's thrown away and withers and such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire. But if you remain and abide and stay connected to me, you can ask whatever you wish. If my words are in you and you are in me, you can ask whatever you wish and I'll give it to you. That's what God wants.
And so he says you need to make room for him every day. That's the response. I meet Christians all the time and we all have struggles.
But I meet Christians all the time and I get it. I'm busy. You're busy.
There's demands. But I will tell you what, if you would remain and be connected to Jesus the vine in this next year, your whole world would change. If you began and just said, you know something, 20 minutes that will change not only my life but probably my eternity.
If you said the first 20 minutes of every day, I'm going to abide or remain. And then if you're really a friend, I don't know about this religious stuff. I'm just going to talk to you like a friend.
No these, no that, no jargon. Hey, this is me. I'm really angry about this.
I'm really struggling about this and this marriage isn't going the way I think. Will you help me? One of my kids is going through a really tough time in school and I don't know what to do. Would you help me? And by the way, thanks for what you did yesterday.
And here's some dreams I have on my heart. And you just begin to talk to a friend. And you read it, and by the way, I don't get it all but if you show me something to do, I'll do it, okay? I can't do it on my own but I'll do it.
You spend the first 20 minutes and then each time you pull out your phone, make that just a little memory. Oh, you know, I'm going to check in. I'm going to check in. Some of you will be praying a lot. You know what will happen? You'll abide. You'll be connected. The spirit will flow.
The truth will flow. Temptations will lessen. Marriages will improve. Your perspective changes. All of a sudden, some things that you love to do that were a little questionable.
Yeah, I don't get it. You won't have the desire. It won't be about external things. It will be God changing you from the inside out. He wants you to receive His pardon. He wants you to become whole and holy. He wants you to be certain. You can be certain of heaven if Christ lives in you. And fourth, Jesus wants you to be spiritually mature.
He wants you to be a grown up. Look at verse 28, 29. The apostle Paul writing says for him and Timothy, we proclaim Him Jesus. In other words, they tell people.
They're bold. We want you to know about Jesus, the Savior of the world. He's come.
Emmanuel. And we don't just proclaim and tell people the story. We are admonishing everyone and we're teaching everyone that we on a certain day at a certain time could present them before God is complete or mature. And by the way, he says, you know what? This is my passion. For this purpose, I labor, struggling according to His power that mildly works within me. In other words, I'm pressing out. I'm working hard.
I'm energized. I'm focused because here's what I want to do. I don't want you all just to come and make a decision and have Christ live in you. That process of becoming mature, that's God's dream. I want to be a part of you becoming all God made you to be. The truth is God wants you to be spiritually mature. Notice the truth. God uses His word, His people, and every circumstance to make you like His Son.
I mean, He's actually working every moment of every day. A lot of it's, you know, have you ever had like you go to 3D movies and you're watching the movie and it's kind of like this and it's real weird and someone just gives you glasses and you put it on and all of a sudden, whoa. He's saying, I want you to get on new glasses that you see life in a completely different way. You start listening and learning and applying. In fact, that's the application. We must habitually listen, learn, and apply God's word and notice it's in the context of community. You do it with people. Some of you maybe have been like me. I've coached little league and I've coached high school and coached various sports and some of you are supervisors in your work or you're a boss or you're a parent. And if you ever had maybe someone come to work or, you know, a kid on one of your teams, I've had this happen multiple times, and you just want to go to someone you really trust and say this is unbelievable. This kid or this worker, I mean, they've got gift oozing out of their ears. Like in the workplace, it's like, man, she is smart. She's quick. She's got people skills. I mean, it's just unbelievable.
I mean, she could run this place in five or ten years. Or like in my world, it was like, my lens, are you kidding me? You're in eighth grade. You've got a 38 vertical jump. You can do a crossover dribble. You've got great hands. You understand the game.
This kid's going to be in the NBA. And there's all this gift. And yet, if you've been around very long, you've seen people with all this gift and all this potential and they kind of ride their gift. And they get promoted because of their gift. But they don't discipline themselves. They don't structure. They don't work hard like other people. And then they crest early. And what you knew was their potential was here and they landed here in work.
There's a lot of marriages like that. There's a lot of kids. This was their potential.
This is where they landed. And as a boss or a coach, as a parent, is there anything that makes you more sad than when you see the potential that could be and then you just see, wow. That's how God feels. He wants you to be spiritually mature. That word mature is teleos. We get a word telescope.
A telescope is something that looks far into the distance. It's the idea of God wants you to personally fulfill his ultimate design. That what he made you to do, who he made you to become.
That you would have the kind of character and the kind of love, the kind of skills that you would discover the plan and that you would just mature. That's what he wants for Christmas. He wants to pardon you. He wants to make you holy. He wants to remove all fears so that you would know every day, I'm on my way to heaven.
Not because of what I've done but I'm tasting it because I'm abiding and I'm walking. In fact, I love the last portion of John when he's talking to these disciples and he's trying to help them. I mean, he's really trying to help them get it because this was very foreign to them.
We got a couple thousand years to look back to say, hey, this really works but they didn't. And so when he sums it up, he says to them in John 15 beginning of verse 8, this is my Father's glory and that's one of those Bible words that this is what enhances the Father's reputation. This is what lights it up. This is what brings him joy. This is what helps people see him for who he really is. This is my Father's glory that you bear much fruit showing or demonstrating or proving yourselves to be my disciples.
That's what it means to be mature. You bear much fruit. And in the Bible, there's two kinds of fruit. One kind of fruit is love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness and self-control.
It's character. And the other kind of fruit is that you accomplish things for the living God and they used to be like this but now they're like this because of you. And you bear much fruit. And then he gives the motivation. He says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now, here's our word again, abide or remain or stay connected in my love. And then he tells you how.
It's really simple. If you obey my commands, you'll remain in my love just as I have obeyed the Father's commands and remain in his love. And then verse 11 is one of my favorite in all the Bible.
It's his motives. These things, think of that early first day, I say to you, disciples, and I know you're scared to death. These things I'm saying to you about the Father and the vine and the branches and abiding, that my joy could be inside of you and that your joy could be full to the brim. God wants to be your friend. He wants to make you whole. He wants you to taste heaven every single day. And he wants you to grow up and be who he made and designed and deep in your heart and spirit you long to become. That's what he wants.
It's pretty cool. Christmas present to give to him. When we talk about Christmas and what God wants, that's all what he wants for you. And I just want to touch on what he wants from you. Because as you know, sometimes receiving things is really, really, really, really awesome. But there's something about at times when you can give some things that it's equally awesome and sometimes even more powerful.
So let me just highlight and I've given you some passages to check out. Here's four things he wants from you. One, Jesus wants you to share in his suffering for his body, the church.
Paul said he rejoiced. See, we've got a whole world that suffer, suffer, suffer. Anything that's painful, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it.
And we've missed the point. You're going to suffer. It's a fallen world. There's pain. There's difficulty. People mess up. They'll betray you. There's injustice.
There's corruption, right? You're going to suffer. Jesus says, why don't you suffer for me and for what really counts? Why don't you join in my suffering? Why don't you get your expectations out of, is everything going right for me all the time?
And why don't you take the difficulty of life and why don't you turn it around and leverage it and do it for me? I built a relationship with a lady. I didn't know much about her and she began to write me.
She listened on the radio probably 15, 16 years ago and we began to write back and forth and she had this beautiful handwriting and was an artist who would send me a picture. Over time I learned that she was a nun and she was a nun up in San Francisco. She would get up at 4.30 in the morning and copy the message on these little cassettes and then give it to Mother Superior and to other nuns.
Apparently Living on the Edge was going hot. I think it's called a cloister. It was a special group of nuns that never left this place. One day a year they went out of this place and she shared her life story. She went in as an early woman in her 20s and she was in her 80s by the time we finally met. She was in her 80s and we didn't agree on everything but she was born again and loved God and she was a spirit about her that was sweet.
I mean super sweet. I got where I could call her on the phone and they'd bring her to this phone and we would talk. Then she had some sort of bone deterioration, had extraordinary pain and had real problems.
Teresa and I drove up to see her and they had these sort of bars type place and she could be on one side and we were sort of like prison. It was a little weird to tell you the truth. You know, I don't always get, it's amazing God does a lot of amazing things in lots of different groups. But she had spent her whole life praying and worshiping and loving God and praying for people. And she was in excruciating pain and I said, her name was Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit. And I accidentally, early in our relationship, I called her and I said, well Sister Mary, she just stopped me. My name is not Sister Mary. My name is Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit. I said okay, you know.
I guess you get to choose your name in there, you know. But she was precious and I remember asking her about it and it was excruciating and they've tried this, they've tried that. And she said something I don't think I've ever heard the most famous Christian leader in the world say.
She said, every time I have sharp pains that shoot up the back of my neck and then it goes down my leg and many nights I can't sleep. I just lay there and I think of how much Jesus has suffered for me. And I think of even in my physical body that I could in any way identify with the fellowship of his suffering. And if I could take any of these things and allow these suffering moments to be prayers that I offer up to other people. I think, oh that I would be worthy to suffer and experience a small portion of what he suffered so that I could understand how much he loves me. And I thought I never preached that one before. And I learned a lot from Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit. Would you be willing to sign up for some suffering for the right reason and the right way and leverage your difficulty instead of running from it, avoiding it or complaining to God that everything isn't just the way you want it.
That would be a nice gift to give him this year. The second thing he wants from you is he wants you to be a servant to present God's word to your world. Paul said, I became a servant to present his word in all of its fullness. There's two types of Christians. Some are fans and some are followers. Fans are like a 49er game.
I can be a fan. I go to the store. I go to Jersey. I put this number on it. I get a baseball hat.
I put it on backwards. I buy season tickets. I go to the game.
They play the game. Yeah. Go.
Yeah. Go to the tailgating party. Oh, man. I'm a 49er.
This is awesome. You are a fan. When you're on the team, you go to two-a-days. You go to the weight room. You come back from injuries. You prioritize your life around what does it take for this team to be all that it is supposed to be and what's my role on this team.
How do I make my teammates better? And I will pay the price of whatever it takes for this team to win. And Paul said, that's what I was, a servant. I'm not asking God, how can you make my life work out for me? I'm asking God as your servant, what would you like to do in me and through me to fulfill your purposes on this little ball that spins around in space called planet Earth until all things are reconciled unto you? That would be a good gift to give to Jesus. The third thing he wants is Jesus wants you to help others become spiritually mature. In other words, he wants you to be a disciple maker.
So often you hear, join a small group or for your own benefit. It would be really good to get into the Bible or talk with God. And here's how we, you know, if you've been through this, we have a program for that. If you've been through that, we have something to help you here. Here's what I can tell you.
All those things are wonderful. But he wants every single person in whom the Spirit of God lives that your vocation is to make disciples, helping other people come to know Christ. And then once they come to know Christ, you admonish them. It just means you coach them. I mean, you help them figure out what do they do in the difficult relationship and what do they do with all their debt and what do they do with the thoughts and issues and pains from the past and their dysfunctional family. And then you instruct them and you spend time with them and you mentor them and you go through thick and thin.
And you know what happens? They become more and more and more and more like Jesus. And you do too as you make disciples. Didn't Jesus say, did Jesus say, go therefore into all the world in big, big churches. Go therefore into all the world and pray a prayer.
Go into all the world and be nice, moral people. What did Jesus say? Go into all the world and make disciples, followers.
And then he says there's a special time where they'll actually go public baptizing them and there's certainly water there for sure, but the idea was identification from their old life to a new life. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and then just don't leave it and then teach them everything I taught you. Well, what did Jesus teach us about time? What did he teach us about money? What did he teach us about marriage? What did he teach us about our enemies? You teach them everything I taught you. So that we have these little Christs, these little mirrors in a fallen world and they meet moms and dads and workers and business people and students who are very imperfect but just keep reflecting progressively more and more what Jesus is like. And then people start thinking, you know what, there may be something to this, not religion, but to the person of Jesus and who they're talking about. Finally, what you could give him for Christmas is he wants you to exert energy and work hard in his power to help Christians live like Christians.
You know, sometimes we just so want everything easy. The greatest disciple maker I've ever known is a bricklayer who helped me when I went to college. He had a high school education. His job was lighting brick, his vocation was making disciples and I went into his living room with three or four other guys.
Three years later there was 250 college students. He then moved his family, not for a job, but to start it on another campus as he laid brick during the day, asked me to join him. I ate with his family.
I stayed in the garage apartment in the back. I worked for him and learned what work looks like. We did Bible studies together. He gave me books to read. I watched him raise his kids.
I think it was for me I really needed this because I was so intent on wanting to be cool. He was very uncool. He didn't dress cool. He didn't talk cool. He wasn't dynamic. In fact, some of the Bible studies were just downright boring and biblical. And you know, after about three or four years around him, I didn't know whether God wanted me to be a lawyer or a basketball coach or a scientist because I changed my major or tried them all. But I knew one thing.
It really wouldn't matter much. What I want to be is I want to be a man of God like Dave. I want to have a marriage like Dave. I want to be a dad like Dave. And I want to be a Christian like Dave. And I want you to know that your job description is to make disciples. And you can do that as a stay-at-home mom, a CEO, a construction worker.
You can do that as a student. That reorientation is what we give to him in response to all he's given us. Chip's going to be back with his application. But just a quick reminder, this message is from Chip's series, What Child Is This? For most of us, the Christmas story is pretty familiar.
So there's a chance we've forgotten the mystery and awe of Jesus leaving heaven and coming to earth. In this three-part series, you'll become more aware of the significance of Christmas as Chip asks three simple questions. Why did he come? Who is he?
And what does he want? The answers may actually lead you to make a few changes in the way you celebrate this year. To listen again or share any of these messages with a friend, the Chip Ingram map is the way to go. Everything's there, including Chip's message notes. For more information about Chip's series, What Child Is This?, give us a call at 888-333-6003 or visit us online at livingontheedge.org. Well, Chip, we're going to get to your application, but you know, sometimes you talk really fast and it's easy to miss details.
As you've been talking about the importance of our December match, I think some folks might be wondering, is there a simple overview we could look at and then see what you're planning for this coming year? Absolutely, Dave. In fact, we believe that those people that have prayed and given to the ministry deserve what we call an ROI.
What's your spiritual and eternal return on your investment? And so, it's very brief. It's very easy to read. Probably in under five minutes, you can get a quick overview. This is all that God did through the team of Living on the Edge and their ministry partners. And so, let me encourage you to check out the report.
It won't take long. Dave, can you give them a web address about how they can click on and read it right now? You bet. To check out everything the ministry has accomplished over this last year and where we believe the Lord is leading us in 2022, just go to livingontheedge.org and click on the banner there for the vision report. It's an easy-to-read overview with photos and testimonies that will help you see there are still great things happening here and literally around the world. Again, just go to livingontheedge.org to find the vision report and then consider joining us for what's planned in 2022. Hey, as we close today's broadcast and actually wrap up this whole series, I want to encourage you, just some perspective, okay?
Just lean back and relax a little bit. Giving God what He wants the most is not like a sense of drudgery or poverty or, oh, I'm going to become this super religious person who's just, you know, weird. When you give God what He wants the most, which is you, it really opens the door to the life, the life that's really life. You know, I didn't grow up as a Christian, and as a result of that, I chased a lot of things to try and find life that's really life.
You know, I tried to find it in the opposite sex or in sports or in fame or success or pleasing people or doing my work faster or better than other people. Here's what I want you to know. Everybody has a Lord. Everybody has something that you believe is going to save you or make you. And Jesus comes and says, they're idols.
They'll let you down. I made you. I created you. I died for you. I came as a baby, but I rose from the dead.
I have a life that's really life, and true life is found when you surrender to Me, not just receive My forgiveness, but remember what Jesus said to those disciples? Follow Me. Follow Me. And you know, He has a purpose. He has meaning. I'll make you a fisher of men. I'll show you why I put you on the earth.
I'll use you in ways that you'll see other people's lives change that will bring you incredible joy. There's something that's hard to grasp, but when you give your life away, you actually find it. You know, we get a taste of it every Christmas as we think about other people and do some things to help others that normally we wouldn't help. There's a joy that wells up inside of us. God wants you to know that the child that came is really the Son of God and that He gave His life for you, that you might live no longer for yourself, but for Him who gave His life for you. And in so doing, you will discover and enjoy the life that's truly life. On behalf of everyone here, thanks in advance for your generosity. Well, until next time, for everyone here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.
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