Authentic - The Best Advice I Ever Took, Part 2

Do you find yourself trying really hard to live the Christian life, but you're struggling? I mean, you're like stuck in a rut. There are certain things that just aren't changing and you're getting kind of sick of it, frustrated. I want to give you some help. Some things don't change by trying harder. I want to give you three habits. They will take time, they'll take energy, but three new channels through which God can get you out of the rut and you can see lasting, positive, authentic change.

Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Druey, and Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. And that idea of really living like Christians is where we're going in this program. In just a minute, Chip picks up where he left off, identifying five simple habits that will completely transform your life. He covered the first two last times, so let me encourage you to go back and listen to part one through the Chip Ingram app.

There, you can also easily share this message with those who need to hear it. Okay, let's join Chip now for the second half of his talk. I'm talking about learning to be faithful in the little things of being responsible. I went to a summer training program with a parachurch organization, and I had a team leader named John. And we all got in the station wagon, it was called a faith trip, and we took no money, and kind of that passage, you know, don't take any money or anything. So we drove, I don't know, about 100 miles and served people, and we're taking care of them, just watched God work.

So we don't have any money, we don't have any food, we're in this gas station, and splitting our money, then breaking the crackers in half hoping God will multiply them, and we don't starve to death. We did some wacky things, but we learned some good things from it. But I'll never forget, and take this in the right spirit, I don't mean that, I was washing my hands, okay, you know, picture a good old, you know, bathroom in a gas station, you know, and you got the mirror, you got the little sink here, and a couple stalls here, and guy's done and everything, and the stall's open, and this guy's taking toilet paper, and he's wiping off the seat. And you know, I'm just washing my hands going, that's different, you know. Okay, and then, so I wash my hands in a double sinker, and he washes his hands and does it, and then he takes a little extra paper, and you know, I've left water and something over in the corner, and he washes off the sink and puts it together, and so we get in the car and I'm thinking, this is a teachable moment.

I'm not sure for whom, but this has got to be a teachable moment. And he's my spiritual leader for the summer. I'm now questioning his sanity, but he's my spiritual leader for the summer. You know, I want to say, you have an obsessive compulsive disorder, John? And I'm teasing, he was a very, very godly man. And we got in the car and I said, John, I couldn't help but notice that, you know, we left, I mean, it was a gas station, man.

I mean, they pay people to do that stuff. What are you doing? And I'll never forget, he just looked me right in the eye and said, Chip, don't you understand? A disciple of Jesus Christ always leaves everything better than he found it. He said, Chip, someone's going to come in that gas station, and you know what, I don't know their condition, I don't know how they'll feel, I don't know where they've been, but when they open that stall, they will have a clean place instead of walking in like many of us have to a filthy place going, ugh, I guess we got to keep driving. He said, I've just decided to be a light, remember the verse, let your light so shine before men that you might see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven, Matthew 5, 16. He said, I decided that, you know, we think we're going to do that in big ways and save people from cars. He said, I decided I need to learn to do it in little things. Luke 16, 10, he was faithful in a very little thing, will be faithful also in much. The context is about money, but it's a timeless axiom.

If you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful in much. And you know what we have? We have a whole generation of Americans that think someone else is going to take care of them. You can go into organizations, you can go to Christian organizations, you can go to homes, you have kids growing up in our day, they think that, you know, they drink something out of here and they take the chips out of here, they leave the bag over here, they take off their clothes, they leave the clothes over here, even some men do that. There's people who sleep in beds and throw the covers over here. They think there's genies and fairies that tiptoe in from heaven. And while they're gone, clean up everybody's dishes, pick up everyone's paper.

And you know what we have is? We have a world of people that think someone else is going to do your dishes. Do your own dishes. Do first things first.

Do them well. It's the principle of responsibility. And I want to encourage you, grace when you are faithful in little things. And by the way, I'm joking, if you are a little bit obsessive compulsive, let a few dishes get in there. You know, this is not about, oh, there's one glass.

I've been in some homes where, you know, you take a drink and you got a little bit left and you leave it there, whoa, it's gone, it's clean, it's back again. Number four, write it down. The first is you're going to buy an alarm clock. Second, you're going to take out the trash. Third, you're going to do your own dishes. And you know, you, you, you know, you pray, ask God to show you what's it look like in the little things.

You'd be surprised how good it makes you to feel to get on bed, make your bed, how good it is to do little things and it'll create momentum and grace and motivation. Number four is the pen. This is the mighty pen.

It is mightier than the sword but here's what I mean by it. Write it down. And here we're talking about the principle of clarity.

Many, many people long to get clear on these first three habits but they still feel overwhelmed. I've got the kids, I've got the carpool, I've got the job, I'm on the committee at church, I'm teaching Sunday school next week, no, it's the other week because I do every other week. We've got to go out of town next week. Okay, I'm trying to read my Bible.

I promised Judy I would meet. And you know what? We have people that are overloaded, overextended. You know what worldliness is? In the 50s, people thought worldliness was, you know, outward things like lipstick and playing cards and going to the theater. You know what genuine worldliness is in this millennium?

B-U-S-Y-N-E-S-S. For those of you who are not visual thinkers, go on. Busy, uh, busyness. Busyness. Why are we so busy? And we take pride in it.

How many times have you in the foyer at the church or seen someone at Starbucks or you run into them in the grocery store, you really have a good relationship, you really want to get together and you say, hey, we really ought to get together. Yeah, we will. And then, okay, do I have to even fill it in? I'm so busy. We're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this. I mean, I think the average quality family time is during the drive through at Burger King, Taco Bell, and McDonald's as you go from ballet to soccer to softball to baseball practice all in the same week. In the name of loving our kids. Whatever happened, this will sound old-fashioned. Whatever happened to saying, God needs to be at the center, our family matters, we're going to write down what's important, we're going to prioritize, and at least three or four times a week, we're going to sit around a table with the TV off and have a cooked meal, maybe quickly cooked but cooked, and we're going to eat food and then we're going to talk about what we're learning and how we're growing and we're going to take five to seven minutes, join hands, pray for one another, and ask for God's help.

Do you understand what that would do for your family life? Proverbs 25 says the plan and the heart of the man is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out. You've got plans and dreams and how you want your kids to turn out and where you want your marriages to go and how ministries can be launched and the kind of person you want to be and things you want to develop, but you can't be scattered going everywhere because what you'll be is just like you are now. You can't keep thinking the way you're presently thinking and expect something to change and you can't keep doing what you're presently doing and expecting something to be different next week, next month, or next year. The plans, the dreams, what God has in your heart, they're like deep water. A wise person writes them out, gets clear.

Let me give you three or four quick ways that have been helpful to me. Number one, I think three by five cards are like miraculous. It's the power of clear-cut objectives. And if you're right next to that, 1 Corinthians 9, 25 to 27, the power of clear-cut objectives. The apostle said, I've become all things to all men that I might save some.

And then he goes on to say, hey look, look, I don't live my life like a boxer beating the air. I beat my body. I have clear-cut objectives. I cause my body to do what I tell it to do, lest in the final analysis I be spiritually disqualified. He had a very clear-cut objective for his life.

On a three by five card, you need to write down some goals. I'll never forget where I picked this up. I was in a prison with one of the elders, early in ministry, 29, 30 years old. A guy named Bill Glass. Anybody remember him from the old NFL, Cleveland Browns? He had all pro lineman Bill Glass. And we're just sitting around this table in this prison and we've been in maximum security and I've been scared to death like I thought I was going to die or get killed.

Probably could have happened. And Bill Glass is talking with these guys and he just casually was talking about how he writes down goals or desires on three by five cards. He doesn't try to memorize them, but he would say, this is the kind of marriage I want with my life.

This is what I like to invest in my kids. This is where I like to see the ministry in three years. And he said, I would just read them over. And he said, your mind and your heart and your schedule will unconsciously gravitate toward the target you put on the wall. And I heard that and I mean, I wrote them down for my personal life, my walk with God, my wife, my children, my ministry. And I just can't, I just found them the other day. I did a message in something a little bit similar. I found the three by five cards that I wrote 25 years ago. And I read through them.

I'm just telling you, I read them and read them and read them to where, you know, they were in my head. I've watched God arrange my life and my focus around those goals. What's your clear cut objective? What kind of man do you want to be? What kind of marriage do you want to have? What kind of kids do you want to raise? What kind of ministry has God called you into?

What kind of impact do you want to have at work? Just write it down. You don't need to get, you know, crazy going in seven directions. Just write it down. Second little thing that's been helpful is calendars.

I hate them, but it's the freedom of structure. Proverbs 16 three says, commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed. I don't like calendars, but unless I lay it out on the calendar, I do everything but what's really important. And so once I get my goals, I get a calendar out and I go to Starbucks with my wife and we sit down and look at the next season and then usually we go away for a night or two, you know, about once, you know, I'd like to say once a quarter, but I'd be exaggerating a couple times a year. And then I sit down and I say, okay, here's going to be the times I'm going to block off for getting with our neighbors. Here's the time for ministry. And I put all the knowns of the things I know for sure God wants me to do and I write them out my calendar.

And now I'm free. I can do anything I want with the rest of time. But when I put those things in, I build in time with God. I build in time to grow and develop. I build in time in my marriage. There is a freedom that comes with putting some structure around those goals and then a to-do list. It's the necessity of focus.

Proverbs 14 23 says, in all labor, there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. I don't know about you, but if you don't write it down, you don't have a plan. And once I have my schedule and you know, this is like, maybe it's basic, but I meet a lot of people don't do it. I write a to-do list for the week and then I pray over it.

And then I put it, are you ready for this? I put an A next to the ones that are highest priority that only I can do. And then I put a B next to the ones that are really important but I can do or maybe someone else could do or maybe only I can do, but it's not the most important. And then I put a C around things I really want to do, can do. And then here's this amazing thing.

It was scary. Hold on to that pen. You ready? I do the A's first. And you know, sometimes I only get to do two A's.

I'm always tempted to do four C's because they feel good. But they don't get me where I want to be, as the man God's called me to be. And finally, journaling. And this is the importance of reflection.

I think it's so important as believers. You try, what is God doing? What are you feeling?

What are you thinking? Now this isn't for everyone. Don't go on a guilt trip. I've met some people, I know some very godly people who've tried to journal, tried to journal, tried to journal and just looked at me and says, it doesn't work for me. Then I said, I get a spiritual word for you.

Don't do it. But I mean, it has been awesome for me. And to take some time a couple, three, four times a week, this is what I'm feeling. You ever have just those unrests in your heart? You don't know what's wrong and you feel kind of funky and a little bit depressed and just start writing and be honest and you'll find it'll get clear. And then what I find is I write down specific prayers and then when they're answered, I write it.

I can go back year after year after year and here's what God's been doing in my life. So all I'm saying is it is critical for you to get out the power of the pen and write it down. Final little habit is this. Most people are filled with good intentions but unfortunately, we have a personal life of broken promises, mostly to ourselves and to others. Do it now.

It's the principle of inertia. When I get home, I do not want to work out. I do not feel like working out. Working out is for later, maybe after supper. If I don't do it now, guess what? I don't do it at all.

Do you? But it's not working out. Attack life. Don't procrastinate. Seize the day.

Live. Go for it. Try this. You saying I don't have time? Try this. Take the remote and pull out the batteries. Then unplug the TV for 10 days.

I've just given you somewhere between 10 to 35 hours this week. Do it now. Do first things first.

It's where we get killed. Take the first four things. You're saying to yourself, when am I going to get around to it? Buy an alarm clock. Take out the trash, even if it's a shoe.

Do your own dishes. Write down. And you say, well, when? Now. Go home now and start the first sentence.

Write one three by five card tonight. It's the power of inertia. Once you get moving in positive directions, things happen. Most of us spend our life thinking and talking about when things calm down and when the season's over how things will really, and guess what?

They never really do, do they? Powerful passage for me I remember studying was in Proverbs 24, 30, and 31. I'm going to read it with the emphasis I think the author intends.

Listen to where the accent is. It's the wisest man in the world, and he's taking an object lesson from nature. And he's seen things built, and he's seen people fail, and he's seen great successes, and he's getting a great thought that comes to his mind as he's observing nature. And he says, I pass by the field of the sluggard, the lazy man, the slothful man, and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense. The guy that really hadn't thought very clearly about life, who didn't write it down, who didn't take responsibility. And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles. Its surface was covered with nettles, and the stone wall that was built around these was broken down.

Something that was for life, something that gave life, something would create fruit, something that would be ground down in times of celebration. Instead, it's overgrown, it's neglected. And then he gives us why. Watch the text. When I saw it, and this is how to read scripture, I reflected upon it. I reflected upon it. He stopped. He thought.

He says, huh. Here's something created for life. There was a stone wall that used to work.

Here's plants that could produce income and fruit and joy and food for others, wine for celebration. And I see it and I thought and I reflected. And here's his conclusion.

Because he received instruction. A little sleep. I'll do it later. Just taking a nap. I'll catch it later. I'll watch a ball game.

I'll go shopping, then we'll do it. A little slumber. I'll take a second nap. This lazy boy feels good. This is an important game. This is Louisville, Kentucky. I mean, I got to watch this one.

A little folding of the hands to rest. Then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man. Do it now. In the little things, do it now.

When you have a bill, pay it now. When you need to ask for forgiveness, do it now. When you need to make something right with someone, do it now.

When God gives you that little prompting and you're thinking, oh, is this really from God and it's a generous kind act that will really help someone else, it's from God. Just do it. When it's an unpleasant conversation and someone you need to confront, do it now. When it's the hardest task of the day and the thing you dread, do it now. And as you do, you will find that far from being a legalistic, duty-filled person, you understand that these are five different hose lines that when done with the right attitude, when you've come to God and said, I can't do this. I need your grace.

He will say, let me pour my grace through your heart and life at the beginning of every day. Get an alarm clock and meet with me. Oh, God, I just can't break this habit. I'm struggling. Relationships aren't going well. I feel depressed. Okay, I'll tell you what. Take out the trash and get it out of your life and do it tonight. Break off the relationship, cancel the internet subscription, tell a friend that you can trust you're addicted to porn, explain to someone how even as a leader you do have an alcohol problem and come clean and do it now. And God will pour forth grace and transformation because there's not a person in this room that's got it together.

Not anybody even close. We are all insecure fellow travelers struggling with problems and thoughts and lusts and struggles and laziness. And we need to be real and honest and clear and clean and ask God for help and then position ourselves.

That's what these are. Position ourselves to let God work through these things and through His Word and through people. And you know what? He'll change you. Because if any man or any woman is in Christ, you are a new creature. You know, the verse I just quoted is one of the most profound in all of scripture. You are new in Christ. But what I know and what I've struggled with in my life is often it doesn't seem like we change much.

It's hard to become new. We said that grace is the answer. Grace is both the willing and the wanting, the want to and the power that God gives you deep inside to want to do the right thing, to give you the power to do the right thing, and then to create habits where His grace can flow. And so what I want to tell you, if you really want to change, grace is God's power but there's your responsibility. And this message is about our part.

And so let me encourage you to buy an alarm clock. And that's the principle priority, meeting with God first. Second, take out the trash. That's the principle of transformation.

You have to put off the old, make a radical shift from your past. Third, do your own dishes. That's the principle of responsibility.

You need to own responsibility for your life and your spiritual growth. And we showed you how. Fourth, write it down. It's the principle of clarity. You have to come to the point where you realize, this is where I'm at, this is what I need to do, and I come up with a plan to get there. God will give you grace. And then finally, it's do it now.

It's the principle of inertia. When you get that prompting from God, make it a habit to just respond. Do it now. Those are the five habits that give grace a chance to transform our lives. I literally have kind of learned those over the years, and for the past 30 years, I have just put those into my life, and little by little by little, I'm going to tell you, God has changed me. My thoughts are different. My speech is different.

My behavior is different. It's been over time, but that's been my part, and God has used these principles and habits to little by little make me new in Christ. Why don't you order this message, put it in the car, listen to it, and then put these into practice and see what God will do in your life. Thanks, Chip. Well, whether you get this message or listen again through the Chip Ingram app, when you start putting these principles into practice, you'll open the channels of God's grace that Chip was just talking about. And you'll also notice over time that these habits will not only change your day-to-day life, but they'll strengthen your relationship with God too. For complete series information on the best advice I ever took, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or go to LivingOnTheEdge.org.

App listeners, tap special offers. Well, Chip, towards the end of this message, you touched on the idea of allowing God to work through us to help other people. And you know, we've made it a point here at Living on the Edge to support and encourage believers all around the world. So would you take just a minute and tell us about the ministry work that's happening globally and why now is a great time to partner with us? Well, Dave, you know, we've had a focus in China. We've broadcast our ministry through satellites in the Middle East, and we've allowed people all around the world to use our resources for the last 15 or 20 years.

But in the last few years, it's exponentially grown throughout India, Africa, and Latin America, and major portions of Southeast Asia. Our major focused internationally, of course, the teaching is available, but we will have our two main resources, The Real God and the book about Romans 12 in 21 different languages. In addition, we have whole networks of pastors in India, in Kenya, in Latin America, and in parts of Southeast Asia that are saying, will you come and train our pastors? So when you give to Living on the Edge, of course, you're providing for radio and podcasts and small groups and things that we do here. But when you give to Living on the Edge, it's become a global enterprise helping Christians live like Christians here and all around the world. If you have a heart for the world and the Great Commission, let me encourage you, there's never a better time to give to Living on the Edge than right now.

Every dollar you give right up through midnight of December 31st is matched dollar for dollar. We're so excited about what God is doing and as difficult as the world situation is, I'm thrilled to be alive right now. I'm thrilled to lean in with you to make a difference all across this globe.

Here's my question. Will you join us? Well, if you believe God is calling you to join that future with us, we'd be honored to have you on our team. And while we're in our December match, every gift we receive will be doubled thanks to some very generous friends of the ministry. So now is a great time to become a financial partner. To send a gift or to become a monthly partner, just give us a call at 888-333-6003.

That's 888-333-6003. Or if you prefer to donate online, our web address is livingontheedge.org. App listeners, just tap donate. For all of us here, thank you in advance for your support. You know, a great way to stay engaged and connected to Chip and Living on the Edge is with the Chip Ingram app. You'll get free access to all of Chip's recent messages, his message notes, and much more. And not only that, but it couldn't be easier to call or email directly from the app. Well, until next time, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.