Balancing Life's Demands - How To Put First Things First, Part 2

There are three words that have the power to release you from the grip of the urgent. There's three words that contain the key to you experiencing more and more of what God wants for you. These three words could liberate you. They could help you keep your commitments to God.

Would you like to know what these three words are? Well, stay with me. That's today. 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 Druey, and we're in the middle of Chip's series, Balancing Life's Demands. In this program, we'll continue learning what it means to prioritize what matters most, which is a great reminder for all of us, especially as we head into this new year. Now, this is part two of Chip's message, How to Put First Things First. So if you missed part one, you can catch up any time through the Chip Ingram app.

If you have a Bible, turn now to Mark chapter six, and let's hear the rest of Chip's talk. Delayed gratification, if that's the key, how do you develop it in your life? And the method of developing biblical discipline can be summed up in three words. Discipline is two words, delayed gratification. How you get it, the process of developing it, you say to yourself, what's the training? Where's the magazine that says if I run, you know, jog a little bit, and then the next week I actually try and jog a mile, and then after that I go, and how does that happen? And you're going to see it right out of Scripture.

The three key words are advanced decision making. The key to delayed gratification, if you are at the window and the moment where you know you need to delay your gratification, and you haven't pre-decided what you're going to do in that moment, about 95% of the time you will do what you don't want to do. Let me give you a biblical example, and if you have your pen or pencil, pull it out, because I want you to circle, do a little Bible study, you're going to see something very interesting about what the apostle Paul does. Now remember, I mean, this is a godly, godly man. Thirteen books of the New Testament he writes.

So I want to give you a little content. I mean, this is a guy who God has greatly, greatly used, but listen to some of his fears in his life. He's writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 9, he says, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way, that's a manner of living, that you may win, circle the word win. And everyone who competes in the games, he's giving reference to the Olympic games at the time, exercises, put a box around self-control. That's our word. In what?

All things. Application to the Olympic games and the people of his day. They do it to receive a perishable wreath in the Olympic games.

They actually had an Olympic village. You had to talk about training. You had to sign up in advance. You had to be approved and you lived in an Olympic village and they moderated your food and your schedule for a full year and you were in what was called training.

So that was the commitment long before the games. They do it so at the very end, in front of thousands of people, they would take a wreath and they would stick it on your head to declare you as the champion to get the praise of people. They do it. They go into training. They're self-controlled. They rearrange their time, their eating, their habits, their focus, their family to get a perishable wreath, but we, an imperishable. And he's picturing the judgment seat of Christ and the reward for the sons and daughters of the king. So here's his personal application. Therefore, I run, notice, in such a way.

What's that? It's repeated again. It's a manner of life. How do I do life? How do I put my schedule together?

What are my priorities? You see, I run in such a way. Notice, as not without aim, I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I buffet my body. And the phrase is interesting in the original text. Literally, it's a battering to black and blue.

He's making a little hyperbole here. And I make it my slave. In other words, my body's not going to tell me I got to go to the refrigerator.

My body's not going to tell me because I'm tired I got to turn on the TV. My body and my emotions are not going to tell me how to live my life. I'm going to be in control by the Spirit of God to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, so that I can have a wreath from the King of Kings that says, well done, thou good and faithful servant. I can have the kind of marriage that God wants for me.

I can have the kind of kids who say, I wish I had a dad or a mom, like that. I can have employees who say, now there is someone who runs a company God's way. Get it? He goes on to say, after I have preached to others, I buffet my body, I make it my slave.

He's talking about the self-control. Least possibly after I've preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. Not speaking of salvation whatsoever.

Disqualified as, you know what, I'm not in the game, not making a difference. I mean, all of us want to say, well, Paul, are you kidding me, man? I mean, right by now, you've probably got five, six, seven New Testament books written.

You're one of our heroes. You're the greatest missionary entrepreneur of all time. And he realizes it never ends, the pull of the flesh, the draw of the Spirit, the pull of the world, the draw of the Spirit.

Let me make a couple observations, and then I want to get this very practical. Notice he has a clear-cut goal, verse 24, to win. Notice verse 25, there's a focus on the prize. He lives consciously with a sense of reward. There's something I want to get.

There's something I want to become. Notice verse 25 and 26, there's a motive. And his motives are the eternal versus the temporal, right?

An imperishable versus a perishable. And then finally, notice the personal application. He basically says, I have clear-cut goals. I don't beat the air. I don't run aimlessly.

I'm not jogging here. I know exactly where I'm going. Second, he focuses on the reward so that I'll get that. And third, he ponders the consequences of what if I don't do this?

What if I don't do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am disqualified for service? And from that passage alone, if you honestly, in your heart of heart, want to learn to put first things first, everything from your money to your time to your relationships to ministry and to work, I will tell you the apostle Paul is outlining for us exactly how to do it. Advanced decision-making, we said, is the key. Notice it begins with clear-cut objectives. Advanced decision-making is rooted in clear-cut objectives. Now, let me give you a couple examples of advanced decision-making.

And by the way, again, sometimes when you hear people talk, we unconsciously think, well, he said that. Maybe I should do that. Maybe you shouldn't. I'm going to give you personal advanced decisions I've made that the Spirit of God has led me to make so I can become who God wants me to be.

If some of them might be helpful, great, but don't, that's how people get all messed up. Well, you know, Chip, he's doing it this way. Well, good, you know why?

Because he's Chip. You're Mary. Be Mary.

Be Bob. You need to discern what God wants you to do. But here's a few advanced decisions I've made.

What? So that I can get the imperishable. I have an advanced decision. I'll be with God before I'll be with people. It's my advanced decision with my time. Hey, can we get together tomorrow?

It's got a big business deal. We want you to meet so and so and so and so and da da da. Okay, advanced decision. I'm going to meet with God before I meet with people.

Boy, that really backs things up. But I just found when I start getting with people, I get pulled. I need to meet with God first. I made an advanced decision. So I don't get up in the morning and the alarm goes off and go, I wonder what I should do today. I wonder if I should read my Bible and pray. I wonder what I should do.

I wonder where I should. I got a plan. That's an advanced decision. Second advanced decision. I will give the first portion of every check to God.

It's an advanced decision. I don't care what we got in the bank, don't have in the bank. Man, I've pulled quarters out of the back seat.

I've been a really, really poor guy at times in our life with three kids and four kids. And no matter, we just decide, we pre-decided by faith. Either I trust God, I believe in God, or I don't. He needs to have my heart. He doesn't have my heart unless he has my money. And we've been on this journey of giving the first portion and progressively giving more and more and more because we want to.

Because we actually believe there's an eternity and we actually believe there's a reward and we actually believe you can send it on ahead because Jesus said so. Advanced decision number three, I will not buy anything we can't pay for in 30 days. And I will say, yes, the exception of a house. Or some of you would say, you know, Chip, that's good for you, but you need to consider this.

Consider all the other stuff. I'm just saying as a general rule, if we can't pay for it, I've never paid interest on any credit card. Ever. After I saved up the first time and prayed and asked God, I've had cars for eight and 10, 12 years, but it's been 20-some years since I ever put a car on time.

You'd start trusting God and asking for those things? This whole deal, they want you to get a car every three years? You know, man, you just lost about 15% of it when it goes off the lot. You know, that whole leasing deal?

The most profitable part of Ford Motor Company has nothing to do with selling anything. It's their finance department. Because they've got Americans thinking, for life, I've got to have a house payment. For life, I have a car payment. For life, now I can go to rooms to go and they don't have to pay for any of the rooms until 2094 and no interest down. I mean, everything on TV says, they don't even tell you the price of things anymore.

It's just how much a month? But, I mean, for me, that's just a decision. I've pre-decided I will not view nudity of any kind. For me, not you, for me, I've decided there's certain ratings. I don't care. I won't see them.

I just pre-decide. I've missed probably two or three really great movies that had a rating that's beyond my personal conviction. I confess, I have missed a couple great movies. And I think I've dodged about a thousand.

Because I'm just real visual and I'm sensitive. One is I will not be with another woman alone other than my wife. I've seen all these ministry guys who love God. They start counseling people. I'm a lousy counselor anyway, so that's a pretty easy one for me.

But, I mean, it's even down to there's an emergency, the car is here, you know, my assistant. You know what? I made a pre-decision.

I mean, it's only six miles away. You're legalistic. Okay, confession, I am, I am, I am. On this one, I'm legalistic.

But I just got this theory. If I'm not with another woman alone other than Teresa, there's a good chance I'll end with her. And is it okay for some other people to do that differently?

Absolutely. You do whatever God shows you. A lot of my pre-decisions are about my weakness, not my strength. So what pre-decisions would God want you to make? I mean, my dad, I really saw God do a great thing in his life when he, you know, it was really hard, World War II and became an alcoholic, a functional, loving alcoholic. I mean, you know, he drank all the time, but he wasn't like mean or he just started drinking beer about 2 in the afternoon and about 11 at night he was still drinking beer and on Saturday he started 9 in the morning and did it all day, but, you know, he was a nice guy. And I remember when he quit and then he actually quit and then came to Christ, give it to the Marines, right?

And then he just made some pre-decisions. You know, all of his buddies, he just, you know, I can't go to Pete's Bar and Grill. I like hanging out with you guys, but I can't go there and maintain victory.

And we all have those areas. I have a very, very good friend who does not have Internet at his house and you're thinking, how do you do life? Well, he had a porn problem for two years and he just pre-decided. You know, other people, I can't.

I just can't have it in my house. But if you want to be disciplined, you have to make some pre-decisions. And here's the key. Let the pre-decisions grow out of clear-cut objectives. My experience is so often what they grow out of is guilt and other people's expectations and this thought, well, I ought to do this. I ought to be more this way. You know, that won't keep you.

That passage of the world, you know, the children of darkness more shrewd than the children of light. To get through seminary, I used to sell insurance and investments. If I made three sales, I could feed my family. I was full-time in school and working full-time. And so I went out about three or four nights a week and I went to northern part of Dallas, amazing luxury home, sat down with this couple, and I learned something. I mean, I had all different socioeconomic levels, but a lot of them I got in sort of the referrals. I was getting into the gravy land, the people that had some money, and I thought this is really going to work out.

And then I learned something. When people had a little window and they made this much money, that's what they spent. And then when they made this much money, that's what they spent.

And then when they made this much money, that's what they spent. I mean, I just would pray, God, give me an engineer. Please, please, please, I want to meet with an engineer. They're just so logical. I can show them this, this.

They go bang, okay, let's do it. I would sit at the table with people in luxurious homes and BMWs and a Mercedes and this and that, and they were leveraged up to their nostrils, and they couldn't make a simple change or invest the difference. And it was like, I remember sitting at that table, and I looked over, and this guy had on his refrigerator, I mean, a big picture of a black turbo, I think it was a 911 Porsche. Ah, you got to say it right, Porsche. And I said, what's that? He goes, that's why I do what I do.

I said, what do you do? He said, I'm growing a business, make a lot of money. And you know, at first I thought, oh, how materialistic. And then I thought, you know what, that dude's smarter than most of us.

We don't even know what we want to do. He's got a picture, a goal, a clarity, and it makes the rest of his life make sense. I may disagree that that's the highest thing to give your life to, but this is Paul's illustration.

There's people that give up a year of their life, eat the same food, be away from their families, go in training for a year so that they could get a little wreath on top of their head. Hello. He's saying, what are your clear-cut goals? I would encourage you to develop A to B list.

I know you do to-do lists, or at least most of you do. It was 1986, obviously, Proth Hendrix of Dallas Seminary's had a big impact. It was a brown bag lunch. I was with 12 other guys. We were talking about life and ministry and being husbands and fathers and what we were supposed to be, what we wanted to do, and I'll never forget, Proth put these four words up on the board, and then he basically said, guys, A, get grace down. God loves you at this moment as much as he'll ever love you.

Okay? Let that sink in. Gentlemen, you can't impress him. Reading longer, praying longer, effective ministry doesn't change his love. So what you need to do first is get rooted and grounded in that you are loved and accepted, that you're his son.

We were all men in the room at the time. He says, then you need to ask, how do you say thank you and what do you want to do with your life? What do you want to be? What do you want to be?

And it hit me, because I focused. Accomplishments are about doing, doing, doing, doing, and I remember driving home. I can almost tell you where I was on the freeway, and I started thinking, what do I really want to be? I mean, out loud in the car, talks with God. I thought, I want to be a man of God. That's what I want to be. I want to be a man of God. I want to be like one of those people God would say, Chip fulfilled God's purposes. Chip had a heart for me.

And I thought, boy, okay. And then I thought, I want to be a great husband. I want a great marriage. I want to be a great husband.

I had three kids at the time. I want to be a great father. And then I got kind of bold, and I thought, I want to be a great pastor. I don't want to be an okay one. I want to be a great pastor. And I took my want to be's, and then I want to be a great friend. I want to be in shape the rest of my life. I kind of had this thing where some of the circles that my early Christian experience was, all these people talk about God.

It was just like, man, they were just so far out of shape and so disconnected from the world. And part of not wanting to be a pastor was like, I don't want to be like that. I want to be. I put my to be's on my calendar for me. You can do it any way. To be a man of God, I'm going to meet with God, and I blocked off these mornings.

And to be a great husband, it takes a lot more, and it's relational. But I blocked off Friday, and I had a date with Teresa, and we had a three or four hour block every Friday all the time I pastored. And then I put my kids in my calendar.

And then I blocked off, okay, all day Wednesday, half Thursday. I want to be a great pastor. I want to preach great messages.

And then, like you, I can't keep that. I was with Bill Glass in a prison. And we were sharing Christ, and one of the elders took me there and did it a number of times. And just off the cuff, he talked about how your mind, whatever you think about, what your desires are, you unconsciously gravitate toward accomplishing. And I don't know why I was just sitting at the table and I was listening. I was just a 28-year-old pastor.

You're sitting in the background listening to all these heavy hitters. And I remember thinking, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to write. This is an old card, 1986. It's my desire cards. And it's, you know, delight yourself in the Lord. He'll give you the desires of your heart. What if I started writing on cards what I want to be? That I knew for sure it's God's will. I'm not going to memorize them.

I'm coming out of becoming a workaholic after three years. I don't want to memorize them. I don't want to demand them.

I'm not going to say their goals. I'm just going to tell God these are desires of my heart. And then I'm going to let him sort of gravitate. So these are old colored cards. Actually, I was a little obsessive compulsive.

I put the family in one color, work in one color. So, you know, sorry. Some of us can't get over it. I was making progress. I was in recovery, but anyway. But let me just give you, and at night I would just read these over. And then during the day, now and then. And I didn't feel like if I missed a day, who cares?

But three or four or five times a week, I'm reading these over. I want to be a worshiper. I want to enjoy God more, sing of his greatness, scribe worth and praise to him.

Because that didn't come naturally to me. I'd like to become habitually thankful as a matter of unconscious response to all life circumstances and relationships in light of the goodness and the sovereignty of God. I just want to become my unconscious reaction to everything, thank you. I want to learn to take time and schedule in enjoyable, fun, refreshing activities without feeling guilty about them or what others might think. You can hear me trying to break out of those pleasing people. I long to see each of my children hunger and thirst for righteousness and know deep in their souls how loved, significant, and valued they are in Christ, not because of anything or anyone. I'd like to become more joyfully disciplined in praying for longer seasons of time and learn the joy of simply resting in and enjoying my relationship with Jesus. I want to stop caring about what others think and apply myself, my schedule, to what will make me the best I can be to honor God the most. I want to be and grow free of the invisible expectations that I allow to hinder my joy, my freedom, my schedule, and for pursuing the best.

I want to become more authentic in every aspect of my life. 1 Corinthians 10, 12, you know where Paul says, I am what I am by the grace of God. I'd like to view others in light of their eternity and needs instead of by their outward appearance, possessions, status, or, do you get the idea? I know those are God's will, and I got others, but we've had enough.

What would happen if you did that? If God says he'll give you the desires of your heart, what if you wrote down what you really want to be? I want to be a waifu. I want to be a dad that, and I can tell you as I would read these over, I'd just have to confess I wasn't trying to pray, but I would just start gravitating toward praying these things for my kids. One of mine is I want to be a model of the attributes of God for each of my children. I mean, I want that, but, and then so when something would happen, and my anger or something, God would bring that little card, and I'd end up apologizing to my four-year-old.

I'm sorry, and that's not how God works, and this is how daddy is, and clear-cut objectives. I learned this. I was a gym rat.

I didn't know what a workaholic was. I played basketball eight or 10 hours a day because I thought it was my ticket to being a somebody, and I mean, look at me. I mean, I am 6'9", so you can, and I'm really strong, right?

I probably had a 45 vertical. I mean, I'm a skinny little white kid, okay, and I know who I am, and I went in the inner city for years playing pickup with the brothers to learn to get good, and I did those Pete Maravich drills until I could do this and do this and throw it here and throw it here and threw my legs, and I did it for eight or nine or 10 hours because I had a goal. I wanted a basketball scholarship, and if I did that, I'd be a someone.

Well, I got a basketball scholarship, but that doesn't make you a someone, but here's what I learned. If you have a dream in your heart, if you have a desire, once the goal gets clear, you know what? I was very disciplined.

I never thought I was disciplined. It was my want-to. What do you want to? You want to be a great mom? You want to have a great marriage? You want to build a godly, great business? You want to be a great employee?

You want to have great kids? Write down those desires. Get a clear-cut objective, and then all of a sudden, you know, yeah, a little sacrifice with our finances.

Yeah, we can get on a budget because it ties into the clear-cut objective. Second is then focus on the reward like Paul did. Imagine picturing your heart and mind the success. Reward yourself along the way. When I did real well in something, it takes six weeks to develop any habit, okay?

Getting up in the morning, whatever. When I did real well and it was hard to discipline myself and all these pools, I would reward myself. All my years in California, I met this older guy, godly guy, wise, gave oversight to these big companies in the past, and he was sort of my leadership guru. Every Thursday morning, if my outline was done, by 6.30 a.m., we played nine holes of golf. And the first two or three holes, you know, we'd talk about stuff, then I would go through my message, and in the last three holes, I'd give him all my leadership issues and, you know, put his arm around me and had kids my age.

And I got to tell you, I mean, a lot of times, I was up at 4 in the morning at my little doughnut shop finishing up my outline so I could be with Dick. And, you know, then if I did these things, and we're going to treat ourselves, and we're going to go out to eat, and guess what? Yeah, we've been saving, we've been budgeting, but it's steak all around. We're going to have a blast. And, you know, if we do this, honey, we're going to save up, you and I, we're going to go away. Plan in some rewards and have a blast.

What happens? You live with all this guilt, and you don't know. And so we do too many fun things to escape stuff instead of reward ourselves and enjoy what God's giving us. The key to discipline? Delayed gratification.

The key to delayed gratification? Advanced decision-making. How do you make advanced decisions? One, clear-cut objectives. Two, reward yourself along the way. Three, and this is very important, advanced decision-making becomes personal and a conviction when you ponder the consequences. Ponder the consequences. The apostle Paul says, he ponders, without a clear-cut goal, if I don't buffet my body, I don't think he'd like that. If I don't discipline myself, if I don't say no to the refrigerator, say no to the emotions, say no to the quick fix, say no to everything in me that wants to run from this marriage issue, to say no to delaying talking to one of my kids, to say no to sitting down and saying, you know what, I need a day away to figure out what am I on earth for and what am I going to do with my life. You've got to say no to all the pressures and then give yourself permission and come up with a plan.

Clear goal. Focus on the rewards. And then I remember sharing this with our church and it would be different now, I guess I would have to say, grandkids, but one of my great fears is, just because I see people fall financially or morally, is I have this picture in my mind of all my kids on a couch and I guess now the couch has got to be really big, so they're kids, and sort of bending over with my knees and they're on the couch and I'm explaining to them how I really do love God and I have been preaching God's word for a lot of years but it was just a weak moment and I'm really sorry and I know I've embarrassed God, I know I've embarrassed the kingdom, I know that everything I've ever taught you, this behavior and what I just did and now it's in the papers and I visualize telling my kids eyeball to eyeball and now grandkid to grandkid that I blew it and I fell. It scares me to death and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You need to ponder, you know, you think of that one, raise the ante. Imagine what it's going to be like when Jesus is sitting on the couch and you're explaining to him why you didn't have time to fulfill your purpose and how you just, you know, you were going to get around to getting on a budget and getting your finances straight and dreaming the dream and discovering your purpose but you just had too many emails to answer and too many committee meetings to go to and too many kids to run around to all these activities and I don't know about you, I want gold, silver and precious stones.

I don't want wood, hay and stubble but it takes discipline. That's how you put first things first. This is a sobering picture that I painted that I seek to keep at the front of my mind and that's why discipline is so important. I want you to begin to allow your mind to drift, to invite the Spirit of God right now, even as we're talking, to bring to mind what it looks like when there's failure to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. That's the definition of discipline and this idea that later or someday or I'm kind of sliding, allowing that kind of thinking to continue will produce a life of tragedy.

I believe that God has your ears and my voice connected right now and His sovereign purpose is to say to you, stop, stop. You've got to stop living the way you're living and you can't do that alone and you can't do it in your own power. It's got to start with advanced decision making and you can't develop advanced decision making about what it is God really wants you to do until you have what?

First, clear cut objectives. Who do you really want to be? How do you want your life to end? What kind of parent do you want to be? What kind of man? What kind of woman?

What kind of student? What is it that you really want to be? Get your arms around that, wrestle with that. Second, then focus on the rewards instead of what you have to give up. Ask yourself, what can I see as a reward of things that are priceless versus trivial?

How many hours are spent in front of a TV or video games doing nothing that produces nothing? Accept regret. This message is about avoiding regret.

And then finally, ponder the consequences. Now what I know is that you can be moved deeply by the Spirit of God as you face some things in this moment of time. But the probability is that following through on what we've just talked about for success in the long term is minimal or almost impossible apart from two important things. Number one, someone to help you. And number two, a pathway or a resource to help you fulfill what you're thinking and feeling God wants you to do right now. And I want you to know at Living on the Edge, both those things are available.

We've created the resource and the pathway through small group material. Now you need to ask God, who's that person, one or two, maybe three people that you could say, I've made a big decision today. Will you help me keep my commitments to God?

That's great advice, Chip, thanks. You're listening to Living on the Edge and today's message, How to Put First Things First, is from our current series, Balancing Life's Demands. Does it feel like life is pulling you in a thousand different directions? Are you exhausted trying to juggle your job, kids, marriage and everything else you're responsible for? Do you wish there was a way to relieve that stress and tension on your shoulders and live life with a little more joy? Well, in this series, Chip reveals what a balanced life really looks like and how you can rearrange your priorities around what matters most. Hear how you can experience the joy-filled and satisfying life God desires for you to have. For more information about this series, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. Additionally, all the resources for Balancing Life's Demands are discounted and the MP3s are always free. Again, go to livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003 for all the details.

App listeners, tap Special Offers. Chip, right at the end of your application a minute ago, you made a reference to our small group resources and doing life together with other people. Why is that such an important part of our Christian walk? Well, Dave, I'll tell you, I don't want to oversimplify, but Jesus said, I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. At the heart of the Christian life, it's allowing Jesus to live his life through you by the power of the Holy Spirit, rooted in the Word of God in the context of community.

And that little word bio means life. And so I've just taken that acronym here, Living on the Edge, and it simplifies it for me. If you want the life of Christ lived out, it means B, you have to get before God daily and before him with other people weekly in worship.

The I is for in community. You have to do life with people heart to heart, face to face, and the O is on mission 24-7. What I've seen so much is people have lost the in community aspect.

It's impossible to obey the Word of God, to experience life by yourself. So what we've done is we've put all of our small group resources on sale to encourage you to get in community, get with a group of people, watch the videos on your own, then discuss them. Do it live, do it online, do it however it works best, but take the next step, get in community.

You'll never regret it. Thanks, Chip. Well, we have a growing library of small group resources on a wide range of topics, and they're so easy to use. Chip provides the teaching, then you'll have time to discuss what you've heard alongside our helpful study guides. We even offer some insights for leaders to lead their groups well.

So if you're not in a small group yet, or you aren't sure what to study next, let me encourage you to check out our resources. As Chip said, for a limited time, we've discounted all of our small group resources so you can get into community starting today. To learn more, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or livingontheedge.org.

App listeners, tap Special Offers. Just before we close, our mission at Living on the Edge is to help Christians live like Christians. One of the ways we do that is by giving away free resources. So when you hear a message that's especially helpful, we hope you'll pass it on to others.

They're easily shared from the Chip Ingram app or by forwarding the free MP3s from our website, livingontheedge.org. And don't forget to include a note about how it made a difference in your life. Well, be sure to be with us again next time as Chip continues our current series. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.