Real Love in Real Life - Why We Fight with Those We Love, Part 2

Let me ask you, who's the person that you argue with the most?

Is it a close friend, a parent, a child, a boss, a supervisor, maybe it's your spouse? Well, no matter who it is, if you're tired of the constant conflict and growing frustration and want to discover how to resolve those kind of conflicts, stay with me. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the daily Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Druey, and in this program, Chip wraps up his series, Real Love in Real Life, by finishing his message, Why We Fight with Those We Love. If you're in a strained or broken relationship or know someone who is, Chip will share how to resolve any conflict and begin restoring that relationship.

A quick reminder before we get started, if you missed any part of this series, catch up anytime at livingontheedge.org or by listening on the Chip Ingram map. Well, now here's Chip with the second half of his talk from James chapter four. Let's go back and play out what the lie is then. He says we believe the lie. The lie basically is hedonism, and hedonism is a worldview that promises that I will be fulfilled by pleasure.

How I feel is the value of what's right and what's wrong. I know I'm married. I know I'm supposed to do this, but I don't feel loved anymore, therefore. I know it's wrong, and I know God says only to put pure things in my mind, but when I log onto the internet and I see all those naked pictures, it makes me feel alive.

I know we don't have the money. I know I shouldn't spend it, but when I go through and I buy one, two, three, four more pairs of shoes and two more dresses and I come home, I get a little rush and I feel alive and good again until the MasterCard bill comes and we have yet another fight in our home with my husband. See, the lie is fulfilling your sensual pleasure will deliver significance, security, joy, and fulfillment. That's hedonism, and we have three prominent passions in hedonism. Number one is the desire to have, possessions. Number two is the desire to feel, pleasure. And number three is the desire to be, power. Possessions, pleasure, and power. And that's why all the marriage experts say, what do couples argue about? Money, sex, kids, and in-laws.

Did I miss anybody here? And if you think through those four things, what you find is in your heart, you have selfish gratification about how we should spend our money, and she thinks you need to remodel the kitchen and those new pink golf clubs are not that much, or you could join the country club or get a new motor for the boat. You know, she thinks, he thinks, she thinks, he thinks, kids think, and it plays out. We buy the lie that sensual pleasure will meet my inner longings for fulfillment, and that lie leads us to betray a trust. And we become spiritual adulteresses. I came across an interesting article by a scholar who does most of his research in the background of books of the New Testament. I'm in Jeremiah and just finished Isaiah, and God, over and over and over, as his people go and worship idols, he calls them what?

Adulters. He says he's to be their true love, and they're going out under trees and worshiping Baal, or in some instances there was a big fire and a God with his arms out and they would build a huge fire and they'd literally take their children and toss it up into the fire to appease the God of Baal. And he talks about under every tree my people are worshiping idols that they've made with their own hands.

And this scholar writes this. He goes on to say, this form of expression may offend the modern ears, but the picture of Israel as the bride of God and God as the husband of Israel has something very precious in it. It means that to disobey God is like breaking a marriage vow. It means that all sin is a sin against love. It means that our relationship to God is not like the distant relationship of a king and subject or master and a slave, but like the intimate relationship between a husband and a wife. It means that when we sin we break God's heart, and as the heart of one partner in marriage may be broken by the desertion of another, so when we sin we become spiritual adulterers and break our vow with God.

And that's what James is saying. I don't know anything that is happening in our day that breaks God's heart more than a church that has fallen in love with the world. And we are living in this day.

I don't cry over a whole lot of stuff, but I cry over this. I am so, so deeply disturbed. And this is the reason why the divorce rate among Christians is the same or worse than the divorce rate among unbelievers. You see, we've bought the same line, we've watched the same shows, we've put the same garbage into our mind, and we're expecting different results. And then we refashion the Jesus message to make him our cosmic vending machine where what we want him to do is deliver the great marriage and the wonderful families and the gated community and the upward mobility and our kids that turn out right, that marry people even smarter than them, that have more letters behind their name than we had, that make more money than we do, and we all come together in Thanksgiving and sing Kumbaya and love Jesus.

And at the heart and the center, we have bought a lie that says, you know what, I've got to have personal power, and I've got to have money, and I've got to have pleasure. And if you look at the broad scope of evangelical born again believers in the United States, about 2.5% of all the believers in America even tithe, that's 10%, 2.5%, not even proportional giving. If you walk into the living rooms of most Christians in America, if you put on a little recorder and you recorded everything they watched from 6 o'clock until 12 o'clock at night, and then you played it back, and then you did that with every unbelieving household, you wouldn't see a nickel's worth of difference. We have a generation of believers that have become hooked on sensual pornography, soaps, romance novels. We have a church that has embraced the world to such a degree, I don't think we're in the salt and light business anymore where we're impacting the world culture. I think it appears that we're in the kind of trying to hold off a bit of the darkness and it transforming the church. And I don't mean that, I'm a pastor, I mean I love my fellow pastors and there are wonderful glowing exceptions of which I hope every person in this room is and your churches are radically different.

But this problem isn't new, I mean this is in the first century. The first century church was struggling with falling in love with the world. But when they fell in love with the world they didn't blink and say, well you know every other Christian's doing it and it must not be that bad. You know how we develop our convictions? We develop our convictions by finding someone who's doing a little worse than us and say, well they're doing this, at least I'm doing this. And then we find someone that down deep in our heart doesn't feel quite right and since we have a generation of people that don't know the Bible anymore, don't read it very often, and don't study it hardly at all, you don't have a standard and so pretty soon you find someone you admire and say, well they do that and I always thought that was wrong but if they do it I guess it's okay and pretty soon we got sheep following sheep. And see I didn't grow up as a Christian so you need to hear what those unbelievers out there think. I didn't grow up as a Christian, you know what guys like me grew up thinking? What are you telling me this Jesus stuff is not working for you?

I mean I'm sorry that's just what I thought. What are you telling me about this love stuff? Your marriage doesn't hold together. You guys scream at each other.

Your daughter's sleeping around like everybody else. Man you're headlong into materialism. So what are you talking to me about this difference Jesus makes in your life? And it's not doom and gloom but I would suggest that maybe some of our most difficult problems that we're facing individually and in the church today is that we believed a lie. We've betrayed a trust and that we are like a wayward wife to our husband who is the bridegroom Jesus.

And so we have become an enemy when we buy that lie. And notice what it says, he yearns jealously for the spirit he made but he gives more grace. Well how does he give more grace? It says here we make ourselves an enemy so he gives more grace.

How does he give more grace? He's opposed to the proud. What did he say in the beginning was the core of interpersonal problems?

Pride, selfishness. What's God opposed to? It means he's against. It doesn't mean he tolerates it. It doesn't mean that he winks at it.

It doesn't mean that well you know I'm not really happy with this and I wish you could kind of clean it up. It means he's against it. When he's against it that means he brings consequences. Not because he's down on you.

Because he loves you. When you mismanage your money, you mismanage your time, you mismanage your priorities. When you put stuff in your mind that will pollute your mind.

When you think that vicarious gratification by reading you know romance novels or checking onto pornography is going to meet the deepest needs. God out of his crate love is going to go okay you know see let's see we'll work on their health. See if they get no that didn't okay we can shut down that business. We'll have one of their kids go through cancer maybe. He'll do whatever it takes people because he loves you and we're going to be a pure bride. We're going to be a pure bride one way or another because his reputation is at stake. His reputation. This is not about you and your life and what people.

It is about his reputation. Jesus said they will know that the father sent me because what? How you love one another. This is how my father is exclaimed or exalted. The word is glorified when you bear much fruit. What's fruit?

What's fruit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. It's being like Christ. Bear much fruit. It's not only exhibiting from the inside out the very character and the nature of Christ.

But it's also bearing much fruit in terms of fulfilling God's agenda. Reaching out to others. Lost people coming to Christ through your life. Found people growing to maturity through your life.

Mature people reproducing their life. Developing leaders your life. That's the agenda. The agenda is not how can I be happy? How can I be fulfilled?

I don't care what Maslov says. It's not about self-actualization. It's about Christ actualization.

It's about abiding in Christ. And you know what? We're all smart enough. You know, here's the thing about us believers.

You know, it's like on the one hand we're like real smart and on the other it's like I look at us and we think are we like dumb? Who is the group of people that have most successfully fulfilled the world's agenda? Right? All you have to do, it's easy. This is not a trick question.

Go to the grocery store and start at the magazine racks. Just look at the magazine racks, sports, entertainment, over here, over here, over here, over here. Okay, here's all the faces, all the people, all the names who have zillions of dollars play on these teams, have had multiple surgeries, are pretty, pretty, pretty, and are married, divorced, married, divorced, married, divorced, living with, not happy. The people that have the greatest looks, the greatest money, fulfill the world's system.

Help me. Are they not the most miserable of all people on the earth? And so what do we do? We have the Lord so we try and be like them.

So what do we do? See, this isn't theoretical. And the seduction of the world is not something that you get hit in the face and go, wow, I'm a worldly friend of the world Christian and I may be, maybe some of these difficult areas of my life really have to do with, you know, I'm God's enemy and I never thought about that.

No, it's like, it's so seductive. It's like when you go out to the beach and you're playing and, you know, when you were a kid and you look back on the beach and your parents were right there and you're playing, you know, in the water and heaven around and pretty soon you look up and, man, my parents are gone. Where did they go? They didn't go anywhere.

You were here and as the currents went, you can be a mile away and you never know it. I don't think the average born again genuine believer in Jesus Christ in America is waking up every one day saying, you know, I know I really love God but I think I'm going to embrace the world. I think I'm going to try and live just like they are because I want all the negative consequences and I want to be a terrible witness and, you know, my marriage, you know, who wants it to last more than eight or ten years anyway and, you know, the conflict with kids and alimony, it's really kind of fun and, you know, all these sexual addictions and food addictions, bulimia, I mean, you know, I mean, these counselors need money so if I, no one does that. But that's where we're landing, people. So what's the solution? He gives us the solution where he gives us a prescription and we're going to get the prescription in verses seven through ten.

It is very direct. God's prescription is humble yourself and God will heal your relationships. Humble yourself and God will heal your relationships. Write those two words, humble yourself and God will, he'll restore. I'm going to read this passage and there are seven, actually ten staccato verbs that are commands.

And by staccato I mean it's bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. He's going to give us seven to ten specific things that we need to do that will be a picture of how to humble yourself. You can circle the words but number one, submit, circle yourselves therefore to God. Two, resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Three, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Four, cleanse your hands, you sinners. And five, purify your hearts, you men of double mind. Six, be wretched and mourn. Seven, weep. Eight, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection. Circle laughter.

Ten, humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Submit, resist, draw near, cleanse, purify, be miserable, mourn, weep. Let your laughter be turned or literally have your laughter turned around. This isn't just don't laugh, this is the haughty kind of laughter where people are rejoicing and reveling in sin.

That's the picture of this word. And as you study those things what you see is it is developed in four clear steps toward humility or to diffuse conflict. Number one, give in to God. Write that in the line above there, submit yourselves therefore to God.

The word submit here is in the tense of the verb that has a sense of urgency. It's a compound word, hupo to be under and taso to be under the rank. It's like falling into line or rank in the military. It's to take God as your commander, as your captain.

It's a picture of a group of military people all walking like this and you are out of step. What he's saying is you're out of step with the Spirit. Well how do you get in step with the Spirit? Very, very clearly it is obey the known will of God revealed in Scripture. Give in to God. Voluntarily from the heart, that's the idea. You might write just one word after that, give in to God, put an arrow and write the word surrender and put a box around it.

It's really what it is. Surrender, submit your will, submit your future, submit your relationships, submit your agenda, submit your desires and you say, God, here's what I'm going to do. I have unconsciously, I didn't mean to, I didn't realize that you brought me to this place at this time to help reveal it. The light bulbs are going off in my mind, my spirit is so convicted. I want you to know right now, I surrender. I submit to you. I want you to know that as I begin to think about your word and I know it's going to be a journey but I'm going to submit my finances to you, I'm going to submit my schedule to you, I'm going to submit my relationships, my job, my ministry, I submit to you. You are the general, you're the commanding officer, you're the king, you're the CEO and I'm coming for orders.

You tell me what to do, that's what I want to do. That's the first step in humbling yourself. It's obeying what you know. The second step is get tough with Satan. Notice the word resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Resist has the prefix anti. It means to be against him and to take a stand.

It's to take a stand against the enemy. There is no middle ground. You can't play with him. And the word devil, I mean, who is this? He's the slanderer, the liar, the deceiver.

He's the seducer. Has anyone seen a Forbes where you can go through a Forbes magazine and not somehow feel like, man, if I was really, really rich and I'd be really, really powerful, then it'd be really, really important. You know, it's different strokes for different folks. It's a lust of the flesh for some.

For others, it's that magazine you look at and you see all those beautiful houses and all that beautiful furniture and all this or that dream vacation, you could go to Scotland, do this and you go to this, go to this, go to this and it'd always go from one thing to another. Yet, who's behind that? Who's selling you the bill of goods if you had, if you could, if you possessed, if you look like that? If you just had enough money to have some of those surgeries like they have on TV, then you could walk down the staircase. And all your friends would go, ah, who is that? That's a woman or a man who they've shaved off 35 pounds with surgery, another 20 pounds with exercise and they have poked, jabbed, pushed. I won't go any farther than that. Made up, died, broken jaws, put in new teeth, rearranged noses and under special lighting for one moment, woo. And here's my theory.

Visit that woman or that man in three years and they'll look exactly like they did three years before. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Get tough with Satan, put an arrow and write the word fight and put a box around it. You gotta fight, you gotta fight.

Ephesians 6 tells us how to put on the full armor of God. Look, it's a promise. If you resist, he'll flee. But you gotta get angry with it. You gotta say, I don't wanna be that. I don't wanna think of that. You gotta say, no more internet for me.

I'm not gonna watch that stuff. You have to cut off the supply lines. You gotta fight.

You gotta say, there's a world system, it is purposely seeking to seduce me. And you gotta put up the guard and the armor and you gotta say to yourself, you know what, I can't let that in our home. I've got a good friend that had a pornography problem. He just doesn't have the internet. He just doesn't have it. You say, well, that's drastic. Yeah, that's drastic.

He's just kinda saving his marriage, saving his life, walking with God, changing his life. He just happens to know he's weak. Where are you weak? Where are you weak?

In the area of media? I would dare you to do something. You probably won't do this, but I'll dare you anyway. Double, double dare. I dare you to go on a media fast for 10 days.

No TV, not even the news, 10 days. First two days, you wanna kill each other. Because you'll be so irritable. And then you'll recognize, we actually spend hours that we didn't know in front of this thing. Then pretty soon you'll start getting creative and you'll have all kind of time and start doing some things you always wanted to do. About day number six through eight, you'll start actually having some fun.

Day number nine, you won't miss it very much. Day number 10 or 11, you'll realize, oh, hey, and you'll start watching something. And you'll watch a commercial and you'll go, oh, man, that is gross.

Because what'll happen is you won't be dumbed down. Your spiritual sensitivities will come back alive. And you'll realize, man, there's a hook in that commercial.

And did you notice how the camera panned and went to that guy's body part or that woman's body part? Did you see, and all of a sudden, all the subliminal messages, your spirit'll pick them up. And you'll fight and you'll say, man, I'm not buying that stuff. But I tell you what, the passive, I wanna try harder, be a better person someday, some way, will not make it. Third, he says, draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. Right in there, get close to God. Get close to God and then draw an arrow and in the box, right, return.

Return to God. What he wants you to know, he loves you, he's for you, he cares about you. Anything you think the world in power or sex or pleasure or a boat or a better golf score or what plastic surgery could ever provide, Jesus says, it's all a lie. It's all temporary, I love you just for you. I have joy that circumstances can't change. I wanna give you something in your heart that's called peace, not pseudo peace. I want you to be able to sit in a room where you don't have to turn on the TV or the stereo or run over to the refrigerator every time you have a little bit of unrest in your soul. I wanna give you joy that even when bad news happens, it wells up in you.

I wanna love you, I wanna care for you, I wanna tie you into me and let you understand where real life comes, abundant life to the full. Isn't that what he promised? I came that you might have life and you could have it to the max.

This isn't like getting second rate stuff. This is like seeing the junk for what it is and then you negatively gotta fight but then you draw near to God, you return. And what's the promise say? He'll draw near to you.

Isn't that awesome? This is a picture of the prodigal and the father. He didn't run after the prodigal, did he? He allowed the consequences to get in the prodigal's life. By the time the kid is eating the pig slop, he finally has an aha moment. This ain't good.

The slaves have it better. But the moment he returned, the word, right? And begin to come back to the father what the father do. Study that passage carefully.

He does a number of things that break culture. He runs to meet. That means he had to pick up his robe.

That means he embarrassed himself in the city. He ran to meet his son. God wants to run to meet some of you. And some of you are so overwhelmed with guilt and so, got so much baggage and so much junk and feel like you're so unworthy and you've been through so much.

He's a God of grace. If you've fallen into a 15-foot hole, he will lower a 16-foot rope. And if you've fallen into a 300-foot hole and you can say, I had two abortions. I've had four marriages. I'm a perpetual liar.

I'm stealing from the company right now. My whole life is a mess. I'm 300 feet of just dirt and I feel like a terrible person. God said, I brought you here because I have a 301-foot rope.

Just grab it, babe. I love you. I died for you. I have a plan for you.

I want to restore you. Well, how do you draw near to God? It's not just an emotional experience. How do you draw near to God?

Well, since many of you are on that media fast because I double-double dared you and some of you can't resist that, with all this time, you know what you'll find? Just start reading through the New Testament. Just start taking walks instead of watching TV and talk to God. And when you're hurt, tell them you're hurt.

When you're angry, just express it and tell them you're angry. Then the things and the needs that you don't have, ask Him for. Get in the Scriptures, begin to pray, and then you know what? Every New Testament command I can find is in the second-person plural.

There might be an exception or two. That means I'm never expected to live this radical New Testament revolutionary life alone. I've got to do it with people. And you get in the Scriptures and you begin to pray and you get with some people that are making progress with the Lord and you find some music and a Bible-teaching church that teaches the Word and lives authentic lives. And you know what? You're drawn near to God. He's going to draw near to you. And all the things you thought that we're going to deliver through your hedonism, that you're being brainwashed like I'm being brainwashed day after day after day, God says, I'm going to give you better and lasting both now and forever.

The final thing He says is get right with others. Notice the phrase here. Cleanse your hands, purify your hearts. You know what?

That's the outward. What are you doing with your hands that is wrong? Cleanse them. Then not just externally but internally, purify your hearts. Wear your motives. Let there be tears for the wrong that you've done.

And so there's a private purification where you cleanse your hands. And you know what it is? You don't hear this much anymore. Are you ready for this? Some of you, a number of things have come up in your mind. I've just sort of thrown a few little bombs out. Have you noticed? You know, the soaps over here, romance novels over here, pornography over here, materialism.

Just in case you missed the bombs, this is a review, all right? A little bitterness in your heart, unforgiveness toward an ex, toward a mom, a dad, one of your kids, right? You know what cleanse your hands, purify your hearts is? Stop sinning. Stop it.

Okay, you ready? I'm going to do this again. It's very complicated. Stop sinning.

I mean, we get this like, yeah, I will, you know, I have to process this, maybe see my counselor. You know what? Is it wrong? Stop it. Repent. That's the word. Right. Get right with others.

Arrow in a box, then right. Repent. Now, do you need help?

Yeah. Do you need to see a pastor or friend? But if you have wronged someone, make it right. Cleanse your hands. If you have bitterness in your heart, if you have resentment, if you have anger fantasies, purify your heart.

Purge it. Tell God you're sorry. If you need to apologize to someone, go apologize to him. But just say, I'm going to get right with God. I'm going to get right with others. Then notice the final thing he says in verse 10. He says, humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.

Why? That he may exalt you. He's told us that the problem is interpersonal relationships, that it's really selfishness. He said the lie that we've believed is hedonism, the whole pleasure mentality, the playboy mentality of our day. But he says, you know something? Submit to God, resist the devil, draw near to God, and then get right with others. And then he says that is the actions of humbling yourself before God. And here's what he'll, he wants to literally, here's the word. He wants to lift you up. He wants to restore you. I wish I had time to go over couple after couple after couple and men who've had 20 years of pornography, internet addiction, and people that have been on drugs in the places I've had the privilege of pastor where I've watched them humble themselves, come and say, God, I'm bankrupt, and do exactly what we've talked about here.

And the Lord has weaned them from the world, and they've been returned to their first love, the Lord Jesus. And is it easy? No. Is it humbling? You know, some of you are thinking, well, if I made it right, I might have to go like actually apologize to someone, like an ex-mate or an ex-boss.

This could go public. This would be humiliating. Humiliation comes from the same root word as humble. You see, when we finally get to where it ain't about me and this ain't about you, is let's just be right. You know, people don't think any of us are near as good as we think they think they are anyway, right? I mean, we're all projecting a little bit better, and most of us see through what we're projecting.

It takes more energy to hide and cover and project that we're better than it does to come absolutely clean and say, I blew it. I was wrong. I'm sorry. God has forgiven me, and I lied. Would you? And you know what I find?

People are pretty merciful with people that are humble. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, Why We Fight With Those We Love, from his series Real Love in Real Life. Every relationship, whether it's inside a family, a marriage, a friendship, a dating couple, has issues to overcome. Through this series, Chip will address the struggles that impact every relationship and unpack what real love should look like.

Discover how to better communicate, handle conflict, and even be more romantic with your spouse. If you're ready to deepen every relationship in your life and be better at giving and receiving love, then this series is for you. For more information about the resources for Real Love in Real Life, just go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or livingontheedge.org.

App listeners, tap Special Offers. Well, Chip, we're wrapping up our series Real Love in Real Life, and you know, as I think about it, this is such an appropriate title in light of the times we're living in. People really don't know how to love or respect one another anymore.

Now, would you take a minute and talk about that? You know, Dave, anxiety, pressure, and tension are doing two things in our culture right now. They're driving some people to God because they're afraid, and they are driving other people apart. All you have to do is just watch the news for 15 or 20 minutes each night, and we see selfishness and hostility and violence like never before. We at Living on the Edge believe that the only hope for our nation is Christians living like Christians.

It's real love in real life by real people, people that are equipped to forgive who step in the middle of things and are bold and kind and respond in ways that are supernatural, even loving our enemies. And we at Living on the Edge feel like that doesn't happen unless we put tools in people's hands to empower them and equip them to be change agents in a world that is increasingly polarized. And so here's what I want to tell you.

We need your help to do this. We're expanding like never before. We're taking new steps like never before.

God always has a remnant. He has a special group of people that in the midst of chaos step up, trust Him, and make a huge difference. I would ask you, would you prayerfully consider not just praying but partnering with us financially? We're creating new resources.

We're reaching far beyond where we ever have here and around the world, and we need your help. So please pray today and then do whatever God shows you. And for those of you that have supported us, if you would pray about doing something monthly, even if it's not a lot, the consistency of resources really allows us to prayerfully plan in ways that we can do bigger and better things. And let me just say thank you very much. There's so many of you that are on the team. You are making an amazing difference, and we're so grateful for you.

Thanks, Chip. Well, as you prayerfully consider your role with this ministry, I want to remind you that every gift is significant. When you partner with Living on the Edge, you multiply our efforts and resources in ways that only God can do. To send a gift, call us at 888-333-6003 or go to LivingOnTheEdge.org. That's 888-333-6003 or LivingOnTheEdge.org.

App listeners, tap donate. As we close today's program, I want to give you some hope and I want to give you some perspective. Relationships, by definition, are going to have conflict. But what happens, the reason they don't get fixed, if you will, is that we believe certain lies. We believe certain lies like they ought to be easy. We believe certain lies like the grass is always greener and there's someone out there better than the one that we have. We believe certain lies like if this other person would just change their attitude and get their act together, then this would all work. And what I want you to know is that this idea of lies that ruin relationships comes out of a larger series that was really eye-opening to me. One of my favorite books of the Bible is the book of James and I was teaching through it expositionally and as I got to chapter four and half of chapter five, I began to do some work and as I did the work, what I realized was every single paragraph would isolate a lie that we believe and why relationships literally just fall apart. And so what I'd say to you is that we all believe these lies.

They're in the water, they're in the air, they're in the culture and we want to help you. The truth sets you free but you have to identify the lies. The lie that we talked about in this particular message has to do with our selfishness and it's the other person's problem. But I would encourage you to explore if relationship difficulty is something that you really want to address. I did a series called Five Lies That Ruin Relationships.

It's on our website, you can check it out. There's nothing more painful than relationships that are falling apart when there's anger and hurt and rejection. God has a better plan and he wants to help you and we would love to be a part of that plan. So let me encourage you, take the next step, get the notes, maybe explore this study on five lies that ruin relationships and as you follow God's design, he'll give you the grace. He wants to heal broken relationships. In fact, that's why he sent his son. Thanks Chip.

To get plugged into the series Chip just mentioned, go to specialoffersatlivingontheedge.org or on the Chip Enger map. Through Chip's teaching in James, he identifies the five most common lies that could potentially ruin our most important relationships. Discover how to confront those mistruths and preserve our marriages, friendships and families. So let me encourage you to take some time today to listen to the series Five Lies That Ruin Relationships. You'll be happy you did. Well, be sure to join us next time. Until then, this is Dave Drouie saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge. Music