Holy Ambition - Practice a Radical Faith, Part 2

Do you ever wish you had more faith? Have there ever been times where you say to yourself, oh God, I just wish I could believe that. I wish I could believe that you'll take care of me. I wish I could believe you're in control.

I wish I could believe that you have my best in mind. But help me in my unbelief. If you struggle with faith and want to learn how to get more, 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 Truhey, and in just a minute, Chip picks up in his series, Holy Ambition, with part two of his message, Practice a Radical Faith. Now, if you missed any part of this series along the way, you can catch up anytime at livingontheedge.org or by listening on the Chip Ingram app. Chip begins today where he left off last time by connecting the truth Jesus taught his disciples to the lessons we're learning in Nehemiah.

Let's dive in. We now get to the exciting part where Jesus teaches us very specifically about how to have faith. You know, it's like I know this in my head, but it sort of went, wow, this is your agenda. I mean, this is the goal. This is everything you're trying to do in my life.

You want me to learn to believe and to trust. Jesus taught his followers about a radical faith. It was his primary goal. The only time I can find him rebuking the disciples is for their lack of faith, and in all four gospels, here's the one phrase. Someone asked Jesus, what is the work of God? I mean, what's it mean to be right with God, and what does God really want? What is the work of God? Jesus' response, this is the work of God that you believe. Believe what? Believe everything. Believe Jesus is who he said he is.

Believe this book is God's word. Believe what it says about what's coming and what's happened in the past. Believe and trust that you're made for eternity, and you're in this tiny little thing called time. Believe that God can meet your needs. Believe that God is sovereign. Believe that he's good. Believe that he's a rewarder, that he loves you, that he's for you. God's arms aren't crossed, you know, like, you know, if you really obey me, then you'll never get married.

If you really take a big step, I'll send you to Africa, or I'll send you someplace like you'll never, ever be fulfilled. We've got this warped view of God. I love Tozer's chapter in the Knowledge of the Holy on the goodness of God, and he said, if God's children could but believe that they live under a friendly sky and that God, though being exalted in majesty and holiness, is eager to be friends with us, for he finds holy pleasure in the happiness of his people. That's the kind of God you're trusting. Where do you think we as parents get this desire of seeing our kids blessed and filled with joy? That's your Heavenly Father. Some of you get this idea that God, he's just, you know, he's just waiting for you to mess up, to come down, and if you would ever take a step of faith, he's untrustworthy. And Jesus is going to break that. Are you in Luke 9?

Let's go. This is the good part. How in the world then? I need to remember what faith is and isn't. It's not emotional. It's trusting his character's promises. God deeply values it.

It always involves risk. Jesus taught his disciples about a radical faith, and then notice he's going to call them to this. This isn't just to the private disciples. This is to all of his followers. Then he said to them, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

What good is it for man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. So do you understand what Jesus is calling? This is the baseline for followers. If anyone will come after me, the word says he must. This is normal Christianity. This is what it means to follow him. This is what it means to be a Christian. This is the Romans 12 one equivalent.

I must deny myself. That means my life's not about me, my agenda, my future, everything I can do. I need to take up my cross.

It's an instrument of death. In other words, I'm going to say to God, I'm going to die to my agenda and believe that whatever yours is for me is best, and then it's going to play out day by day. I'm going to follow you today. I'm going to listen to you, talk to you, be in the community of God's people, and I'm going to obey. I'm not going to learn about you.

I'm not going to hear what other people say about you. I'm going to listen to you and make this, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. I've never met a person with faith that doesn't love this book, and they're in it when they feel like it, and they're in it when they don't feel like it, and it's not some religious check off a box, but it's God, I want to get to know you.

You'll never trust his character or know his promises unless this book, his word, is a part of your daily habit. And so there's the calling to radical faith. Now when you get there, some people think, you know what, I could never do that. I mean that is too hard.

That's too big. I don't have, I've heard people say, you know, I see these Christians God really uses, and now and then I have this little flicker I'd like to go there. I don't have enough faith to be that kind of person. It's very interesting. Jesus now will teach his disciples you don't need much faith.

Isn't that weird? You don't need a whole lot of faith. Remember what he said? If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to that mountain, be cast into the sea. What he's going to teach them is you don't need a lot of faith. What you need is to clarify the objective of your faith. If you could ever see Jesus for who he is, how good, how kind, how powerful, how trustworthy, how loving, how much he wants for you. If you could ever see God for who he really is, you don't need hardly any faith.

It'd be easy to do whatever he says. So what we're going to see is he's going to take his three disciples who will have the primary leadership roles in the church after he leaves, and he's going to give them a private moment with him to clarify the object of their faith, who he really is. And then he's going to have a public moment where all the other disciples see and those who've had this experience, and then I'll have an illustration that will bring it home. Pick it up with me in verse 28.

Notice it says about eight days after. After what? After he said, some are going to do what? They're going to see the kingdom of God before they die. Well, guess what?

It's going to happen right now. About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John, and James with him, and he went up into a mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, Master, it's good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He didn't know what he was saying.

I can identify with that. While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud, and a voice came from the cloud saying, this is my son, whom I've chosen. Listen to him. What happened? It's near the end of his ministry.

Why? Jesus knows they're going to have to believe, and it's not about how much faith. It's the object of their faith. So Jesus, we learn from Philippians 2, he veils his glory. All that means is he came in the form of a servant, and by the way, when his clothes were bright and lightening, it wasn't like light came from heaven. Literally what he did in this moment is he pulled back his humanity, and literally the light, it's metamorphosized.

It's from the inside out. Light came out of Jesus, and I mean it was brighter than the sun, and then after that, then here's Elijah and Moses. What did they do? The two characters that brought revelation and truth. Moses, the Ten Commandments, Elijah, the restoring Israel. The two most important witnesses. If I'm a little Jewish boy growing up in that day, Peter, John, and James, they're the two heroes of our faith. So now I see the light coming out of Jesus, then I get the testimony that this isn't just some experience. Here's Moses, and here's Elijah, and then a cloud envelops, and I'm scared to death, and you hear the very voice of God.

This is my son. Believe in him. Do you understand what God's doing? He's letting these three guys see who Jesus is, and when you see who he really is, then what we'll watch later is doing what he says in all that heart. He's God. He's all powerful. He's faithful.

He'll never let you down. Well, after they have this experience, they're going to go down the mountain, and as they go down the mountain, I want you to notice how specific and why the author is letting us know these are connected. When the voice had spoken, they found Jesus alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and told no one at the time what they had seen. Then notice the time marker again.

The next day, the next day, all this goes together. When they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him, and a man in the crowd called out, teacher, I beg you, look at my son, for he's my only child. A spirit seizes him, and suddenly, he screams, and it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him, and it's destroying him. I beg your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.

Why? What's Jesus say? What's the text say? Look in your Bible. Oh, unbelieving and perverse generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay with you and put up with you?

Bring your son to me. Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at what?

The greatness of God. And while everyone was marveling what Jesus did, he said to his disciples, listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. He's setting them up.

Look, there's gonna be challenges. The son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. But they didn't understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so they didn't grasp it. And they were afraid to ask him about it. He's preparing them for his leaving, and he's giving them promises. And how did he heal the boy? Did he touch him?

What did he do? Spoke. You can trust my word. There's power in my word. Some of the other gospel writers give this account and say this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting. It's not that there's some little magical thing that happens when you fast. When people fast, they say that spiritual food and attention with God is more important than my physical food. And as they fast, as they meet and spend extended time with God, it gets clarified who God really is. And that's how you trust him. You don't need a lot of faith.

You need a crystal clear object of your faith. Let me give you an example. Let's pretend this is a bridge. And from here over to there is a span. Let's make it 100 feet since it doesn't look that scary from here. And then you've got to pretend. Will you guys pretend with me on this one? Looking down, it's 1,000 feet, and there's alligators in there and piranha.

You'd probably die from the fall, but if you don't, they're going to get you. Here's how we tend to think about faith. We think about faith as, okay, there's a bridge that crosses it, and it's God's known will for you to cross the bridge. And we think there's only a few people, like a spiritual Indiana Jones, who can do it.

And we visualize this as sort of one of those rickety bridges like we've seen in the Indiana Jones, and it's made with vines, and about every third board is broken or looks old, but there's some. There's a few. There's the proud. There's people who have more faith in us, and they go bum, bum, bum, and they almost fall, and then they make it through, and it's through. They're the awesome Christians, and we think I could never be like that. And that's how we think about it. I mean, it's Hudson Taylor and Charles Spurgeon, and you name your spiritual hero. Nothing could be farther from what the Bible teaches.

What the Bible teaches is you're right here. There's a 1,000 feet drop, and there's alligators, and there's real danger, and there's real cost, and there's piranha, and there's a bridge. You look at the bridge. Say to yourself, wow, those are three feet steel girders. Not only that, but this thing spans, and it's got concrete four feet wide. It's 12 feet wide.

It has railings on both sides. Now, is it a 1,000 foot drop? Yeah. Are there real alligators?

Yeah. Would this bridge hold me? My lands, this bridge would hold a truck.

It's not a big deal to walk across this thing. I remember a guy, I shared this illustration. He said, I was taking a group of kids to a camp, and it was up in Maine, and they wanted to play some ice hockey, and we wanted to go from one side in Maine to the other, and there was this lake, and he said, I got out there, and I had this stick, like oh boy, put a rope around me. I'm out there like this, because I've got these kids.

If I lose one of them, it would not be good. So he says, I'm gingerly going like this to get across, and he says, it makes your illustration a little bit better than that bridge illustration you made up. I said, okay. And he said, then I heard this sound. And as I went across, I looked up, and there was a logging truck. And the logging truck just went and drove right by me. He said, whoa, whoa, whoa, dude. He said, what are you doing?

He goes, oh, by this time of year, it's 16 feet thick. God is going to ask some of you on this day to take a radical step of faith. Some of you in relationships that you know are ungodly, but because of your security, you're afraid to break them off. Some of you have addictions that are holding you up, and people don't know about it, or the people that you love do, and you're unwilling to come clean. Some of you have been holding on to your future. A great many of you statistically are holding on to your money. Some of you have had a dream in your heart about what God could really do through you, but I mean, the implications. The moment you get to that, you think, oh, that might mean, and you withdraw.

And I want you to know the ice is 16 feet thick. Now, I'm not telling you there aren't real alligators. I'm not telling you it might not be very fearful. And I'll probably guarantee it'll get more difficult before it gets better. But you can keep living the try hard, come to church, be religious, ask God to make your life work out, frustration life that is the average Christian experience all across America. Or you can join an army of real Christ followers who have dislocated hearts, broken spirits, take radical steps of faith, and when God sees faith, supernatural power occurs. And what we have in the church today is primarily what people who believe personally in Jesus, the great majority that I assume whose sins are actually forgiven, and his spirit actually lives in them, what we see is what they can do with their energy, their time, playing it safe, as long as God doesn't ask anything too big or too scary.

And my experience is is that Microsoft and HP and eBay take greater steps of faith to build something for profit than the average church that has a bridge over troubled water named Jesus, who raised from the dead and dwells in you. And God called us together to become not a group of people that we measure by how many people show up, but by what kind of people leave with what kind of faith that are impacting our homes and our lives. And it's a journey and it's difficult, but it's in all that pain and struggle and difficulty that you experience God.

Not hear about him, not try hard, experience things that you can't explain. Now as the text goes on, you'll notice that these disciples, you know, Peter, John, James, this near the end of the ministry, they've left homes, they're being ridiculed, Jesus is a marked man, there's assassination plots, this is not a safe person to hang around and follow. And so, I mean, they're in. So three things occur. One is an argument among them about who's the greatest. Second is they find out some other group that's using Jesus' name and doing ministry and basically they say, master, you know, have you heard about this? These other people are, you know, they're not even on our super-duper little team. Now you don't want them around. And then the third thing that happens is they're on their way to Jerusalem and they need to go through Samaria and the Samaritans and Jews had real conflict and so John and James, who really now believe, they've experienced great power, they say, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from the sky and take care of this village?

You know, poom, poom, you know, I mean, they're experiencing real supernatural power. And the dangers when you get very, very committed to the Lord Jesus are three. One is comparison and it's the misuse of position. At the heart of all walking with God is humility. You don't need to compare yourself with anyone and what they're doing and what God made them to do, what he's called them to do or how he's using them.

The second danger is exclusivity. That's the misuse of privilege. You know, they're not in our group, they're not in our denomination, they're not our campus ministry, they don't look at everything just the way, you know, we're the ones that God's gonna use. You would be surprised who God uses that don't fit some of your categories, who really love God and the truth of his word.

And the third is zeal is the misuse of power. And so I just say that to some of you that you're sitting here today and you're thinking, I was just wondering when someone was gonna say this in this church, you know what, if people gave like I gave, if they served like I served, if they shared like I shared, why don't these other people get on board? I mean, it's a private thought, it's a judgmental thought and it produces an experience that when we meet you, if it bubbles up to the surface, that's not all that attractive. And it's that kind of conversation where you criticize other churches or other ministries. And it's that kind where God does some things and if you're not careful, you can get carried away with the experience instead of with the Lord. And then I wanna just let you read, follow along because he says there is a cost and we need to look at this before we close.

And the cost he says is threefold. Verse 57, as they were walking along a road, a man said to him, I'll follow you. Remember Jesus said, we start out with follow me, deny yourself, pick up your cross, this guy raises his hand, I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus replied the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Translation, you can't hang on to stuff. You wanna follow me, we travel light. You can't hang on to stuff. Materialism, locations, I am your security.

There is no other security but me. Anything I give you along the way, hold it loosely, enjoy it deeply, share it lovingly. Next man comes up and Jesus said to him, follow me. But the man replied, Lord, first let me go bury my father. Jesus said, let the dead bury their own dead but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. It's an interesting cultural issue I can't develop.

It wasn't that he was being harsh with this man. But what he was really saying is you can't hang on to people. There can't be any higher relationship than your relationship with Jesus. It can't be your wife, can't be your husband, can't be your kids, can't be your grandparents. God is gracious, he'll provide for those things. But we can't say to God, I'll do whatever you want inside this box.

Hadn't experienced a situation with someone that had great gift and great opportunity. And his wife said to me, well, I can't live more than 30 minutes from my kids. Well, that's a real little box. I just wonder if being in the center of God's will with him radically transforming your life might have a better impact and a deeper relationship on your kids than telling God what he can and can't do and how far or how close you got to be to him. The third test as we pick it up is Jesus still another said, I'll follow you, Lord, but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family. And Jesus said, no man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.

And the cost here is you can't hang on to the past. I remember vividly when we stepped out and said, okay, God, we're gonna take Living on the Edge to do teaching and discipleship, not the organizational side of life, not all the various other things, but that's gonna be the focus. And it was like, well, but wait a second. And what we knew is in the first 30 days, if God didn't radically show up, we'd have $150,000 debt because of some circumstances a bit beyond our control. And we were committed not to go into debt.

So what we knew was in 30 days, Living on the Edge would be over. Well, doesn't God have the right? I mean, he starts things.

Can he stop things? Now, guess what? Didn't have any backers, no plan B, no deep pockets, radical step of faith. And we focused on what God called us and made us to do.

And a fellow said to another fellow who said to another fellow, to other people I didn't meet, and they came up with about $500,000 to take to the listening audience who matched it by over $600,000. And God was our venture capitalist that relaunched the ministry. God can do whatever he wants. He can start it.

He can stop it. But it's one thing to say a ministry is his. It's one thing to say your family is his. It's one thing to say, oh, God, my money is yours.

Well, when he taps you on the shoulder and says, I'd like to have it right now for a while. And I'll never forget, Teresa said, you know, whatever God ever chooses to do, we will know it had nothing to do with us. It's his. It's a radical step of faith. Now, was I afraid? Absolutely.

Slash terrified. And I'm thinking, you know, I'm going to need a job here. Not only did we not have any money for the ministry to go on, is when I stepped out, you know, I used to have this job being the president of this thing. It, you know, paid pretty good and had a global platform. And it wasn't like it was a lousy thing to do.

I was really privileged. But it's obeying. See, at the end of the day, that's faith is a coin. And when you flip the coin over, it says obey.

And it's just trusting him to the point where you just do what he says. And there's a supernatural life awaiting you. The final point is that you can't walk on water unless you get out of the boat. And as you continue to read in chapter 10, what you'll find is Jesus, after this message, the crowd is bigger than the 12. And he sends 72 people, two by two out to do what he asked them to do.

And he gives them power to do it. And then he says, don't take a extra bag. Don't take an extra purse. In fact, he says, I want you to go with nothing. Why?

What's he teaching them? I want you to trust me. I want you to trust me. You go to a town and if they're responsive, God will have someone there and you stay with that one group. Don't, don't do any, you know, jazzing around and having people comparing, you know, I'll take care of you. Don't even take a purse.

Don't even take any money. And then in verse 17 of chapter 10, you might even scan down there. There, God does things beyond their wildest dreams. And the last verse is this picture of what happens. Then 72 returned with joy and said, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.

And listen to this. This is my picture of what I would love Jesus to look down on us in the Bay Area. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Wouldn't it be great to see the intricacies and the evil of the Bay Area and Jesus looked down on our little time together with other churches and Christians here and say, I see Satan falling like lightning from heaven. I've given you authority to trample snakes and scorpions and to overcome the power of the enemy.

Nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the Spirit submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. And then I love this.

To me, this is where it's all set. At that time, Jesus, full of joy to the Holy Spirit said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and have revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. Jesus is really happy.

And he did it through very ordinary people like us. What's it look like for you to take a radical step of faith? Is it becoming the man of your house spiritually? Is it giving God the first 20 or 30 minutes and saying, you know, I'm going to we went through that Romans 12 thing.

I did it for a while, but I'm going to I'm going to meet with you. Is it launching a ministry? Is it going public and saying, you know, I've never been baptized. You know, I'm sort of a secret agent Christian or maybe I'm going to give the first portion of my money.

I need to get in the game and trust God with my finances. I'm going to break up a relationship or an addiction. I don't know what it is, but I'll tell you, there's a thick bridge that will hold you and love you and restore you because the eyes of the Lord are going to and fro throughout the whole earth. And he's searching for a man, for a woman, for a student who would stand in the gap before him for the land. So how about you?

What's it look like right now in your life to step out of the boat and begin walking on water? You know what I mean? What area of your life do you know in your heart of hearts? God wants you to step out. Is it in your marriage? Is it in going public with your faith at work?

Is it in a personal area that you heard or we talked about in the message today? You know, maybe an addiction and maybe an area of discipline that you know God wants you. He's been nudging.

He's been encouraging. What's it look like in your life to step out and walk by faith? Have you got it in your mind? See, the goal of our time together isn't that you learn about faith. It's that you take one step, a specific step of trust, and then God, he's going to show up in your life.

Now let me ask you a second question. What's the biggest barrier to you taking that step? What person, what fear, what financial issue, what's looming out there that keeps you from doing what you know God wants you to do? Remember the words of Jesus. You can't hang on to people. You can't hang on to things.

You can't hang on to your past. The safest, best place in all the world is to walk by faith. Will you covenant with me right now to take a baby step of radical faith and then say, Oh God, don't let me sink, and then watch him work? That's a great word, Chip.

Thanks. Well, you're listening to Living on the Edge, and the message you heard today, Practice a Radical Faith, is from Chip's series, Holy Ambition. In this study of Nehemiah, Chip uncovers six crucial conditions everyday people need to grasp in order to accomplish incredible things for God.

And as we're learning, this process is not for the faint of heart. It requires determination, faith, courage, and an unwavering commitment. Discover how, with God's help, you can harness those qualities and make an eternal impact with your life. For complete details on all of our resources for Holy Ambition, 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, I'm joined once again by our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram. And Chip, you certainly packed a lot into this message about developing a radical faith. Now, I remember hearing you say that one great indicator of our faith is how we handle our money.

Now, what's that look like in the context of this series? Well, Dave, you know, I think we all long to believe that what we say and what we think really is who we are. And Jesus, in His day, talked so much and taught so much about money, not because He ever became rich. He was trying to get people's money. But our money is the mirror of our heart. Or maybe think about it this way.

It's the MRI of your heart to know what's really in there. What do I really worship? What are my values?

What are my true motives? And what I would say is Jesus' teaching says, your lips declare what you think matters, what your values are and what you worship. That's what your lips declare. Your money reveals where they really are. And so that's why He talks so much about that because really it's love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength. And the competition for our heart is money. It's the things that we think that can fill us up that money can buy.

Security, significance, impact, impressing others. And so, you know, it really has an impact here at Living on the Edge. When I think of the people who give to Living on the Edge, it's not just that they're giving us their money. We are so grateful. We are good stewards. We are using it in ways that really honor God and lives are being changed.

But to help people understand who God really is and create resources around that and reach the next generation and to say that we really want to make a difference to help Christians live like Christians in a crazy world that we're living in. When people give to the ministry, what they're really saying is that's on my heart too. I'm with you. We're partners. We're in it together. And so I just want to pause and I want to thank each and every one of you who are partners, who are on mission with us. And not because you say you are, but because your money is the mirror. It's the MRI that reveals that we are in this together.

And you know what? You're not only a part of making a difference, you will be a part of the reward as well. And so we want to pause today and say thank you.

Well, if you're benefiting from CHIPS teaching, now would be a great time to join the team. You could minister with us to help others receive the same blessing you're enjoying. To send a gift or become a monthly partner, donate online at livingontheedge.org, tap donate on the app, or simply give us a call at 888-333-6003.

That's 888-333-6003. Your partnership is greatly appreciated. As we close, you know our mission at Living on the Edge is to help Christians live like Christians. And one of the best ways we can continue to do that is through programs like this one. So when you hear a message that's especially helpful, we hope you'll pass it on to others. Now, you can easily do that through the CHIPS Ingram app or by forwarding them the free MP3s that you'll find at livingontheedge.org. And don't forget to include a note about how it made a difference in your life. We'll join us again next time as CHIPS continues his series, Holy Ambition. Until then, this is Dave Drury saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.