Good to Great in God's Eyes - Pursue Great People, Part 2

The road to greatness is never walked alone. In fact, greatness is never achieved in a vacuum. It's forged in community. Today I'll share with you how to spot the kind of relationships that produce greatness in those you touch and how to find mentors that bring out the very best in you.

You're not going to want to miss it. Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Drewy, and Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians.

You know, there's no question that the people around us impact how we think, behave, and live our lives. But Chip will take it a step further as he continues his series, Good to Great in God's Eyes. He'll explain how healthy, God-honoring relationships can actually help us become all that God wants us to be and more. So if you're ready, here's Chip with the second half of his message, Pursue Great People, from Proverbs chapter 13. Who are the people in your Mount Rushmore? Mine was a coach, another my sister, another Dave, and the fourth over here is Howard Hendricks.

And you've heard lots of stories, but I learned from Howard Hendricks that you could take your gift and you could dream a dream and you could have clear, I still remember on the board him writing objectives, priorities, schedule, discipline. God will never love you more than he loves you right now, gentlemen. He said, but his blessing, his blessing is dependent upon your obedience. You can never earn his favor.

There's no brownie points, no gold stars on the refrigerators in heaven. But every man needs to make up his mind, what do you want to do with your life? So you need to have an objective and a target. You want to be a man of God? Determine, I want to be a man of God.

And if you want to be a man of God, it has to be a priority, more important than anything or anyone else. And then you have to put that in your schedule and say, what does it look like? When will you get up? What will you read?

What will you do? And then you got to discipline yourself to do it, not to earn anybody's favor, but God's those four things. You know, prof taught me that you're given gifts and life's a stewardship. And God really does want to bless ordinary people who's on your Mount Rushmore mentally right now, who are those people? Because it's going to tell you where the needs surface.

It's going to tell you what antennas, because those needs that those people met are going to be the needs also probably in the future. Well, I'm going to give you my last one right in the center where everyone else looks as the person who has impacted my life more than Howard Hendrix or Punky or Dave Marshall or coach. And that is my wife. My wife has had more impact on my life than anyone else because she has more integrity.

I live up close. She has more integrity than anyone I know. She has more devotion to God evidenced by watching her get up for years and get up in the wee hours of the morning, even when we had small kids and I've seen her on her knees and I heard her cry out for God and I've watched her pray and I've watched her support me. She is more mentally tough than any player in any game on any team I've ever played on.

And it's something I admire. There just ain't no give up in Theresa. And those of you that know her story, she was a single mom for a while and she had a tiny little boy on each hip and no way to support herself and trying to figure out what to do. And she clung to God and came to Christ and God supplied. And I'll tell you what, we've been through some really, we've been through times digging quarters out of the backseat.

Just not, five, six, seven, eight dollars in a co-op and taking the fruit and vegetables to live on. And you know what, I've never heard her complain about our lifestyle. I've never ever heard her cry. So far, every time we move, she knows for sure it's God's will and she knows she doesn't want to do it.

I mean, it's just a pattern. Don't take me out to that little place and she cried in the Chinese restaurant. And then when we went from Kaufman all the way out to California, she and all the kids cried all the way to Amarillo. And then when it was California back to Atlanta, she cried. And you know what, there's a lot of women who say, you know, honey, if you want to go, you just go ahead. You know, my family's here, things are here. My wife submits to God and does what he wants her to when it feels good and when it's terribly painful. And when you live up next to that kind of loyalty and courage and integrity and devotion, I'll tell you that.

I mean, that exaggerating in messages, you can only do that so long with someone after each time you do it, say, Chip, why did you lie to those people today? I mean, she looks really like sweet and everything. And she is. But she's a very, very tough sweet. And she's changed my life more than anyone else.

She's filled the gaps and the wounds and the deficits more than anybody else. If you want to pursue great people, start first with your rear view mirror. And I would encourage you as just a little discipline, you can change the faces, you know, it's okay.

But go through and jot down the four or five people that have most impacted your life and you will begin to see exactly who God has used and likely the roles that he'll want to use in the future. Next, I encourage you to look out of the windshield of your life. And out of the windshield, we all need three kinds of people. And since Howard Hendricks was my mentor, I want to give credit here.

This isn't from me, this is from him. But see, I caught it more than it was taught. And Prof Hendricks would tell you and tell me we all need three kinds of people. Number one, we all need a Paul in our life.

We need someone to learn from. Second, we all need a Barnabas, a friend, a peer, someone to share life with, someone that you're just hand in hand, arm and arm, you know, you're on the same page at the same level. And third, we all need a Timothy, we need someone that we're helping grow. A Barnabas, someone you share life with, a Timothy, someone that you give life to, and a Paul, someone who helps you. So let me ask you, you got a Paul in your life? You have a person in your life that is kind of a go-to person that helps you grow, that you know they're a few miles down the road spiritually than you and you can talk to them and ask them and pray with them. Do you have a Barnabas, do you have a soulmate? Do you have someone that you can just, you know, you're in this life together, you can pick up the phone and instantly you're on the same page. And then do you have a Timothy? Do you have someone that you are building into their life and praying by God's grace that what Dave did in my life and what Prof did in my life, they'll be in yours. I'll give you three quick examples because it's very rare to have ones that are in your life for a long period of time, right?

We move, a lot of things happen. What I find is that Paul may be this person this year, another person two years from now, another person and the different roles for different seasons of your life. And you know what, you might, but now and then you get a Paul that sticks around and a Barnabas that sticks around and a Timothy that sticks around that I think is both rare and precious. But I went to a little country church and man, I needed a father figure.

And there's a guy on the elder board there named AC. And he just took me under his wing. And we worked out together and I shared struggles with him.

My older boys were like third grade then. He's counseled, rebuked, invested, painted bathrooms in the house with me and just done life. I mean, you know, when I was coming out here, you know, I'm going through issues like you're going through issues and he's got issues in my life. You know, I came out a day early and I came out a day early so we could meet with one other guy, but I wanted just to get with AC so there's one man I could unzip my heart and say, hey man, here's the hot ones in me.

How are they going in your life? And then we took some walks. We ate some meals.

We got a couple workouts and then we just kind of data dumped, heart dumped. I need that. I got to have a Paul in my life.

I don't think he ever outgrow it. And then we were eating lunch and you know, this is what Paul's do because they have the freedom. He had this little, he had this little card. I couldn't read it. It was real small and we'd been eating and talking and you know, we're really close and he pulls out this little white card and he has this goofy, he does a lot of goofy stuff to tell you the truth, but he had this kind of goofy look and he said, and I could tell he's reading off this card. Have you viewed any sexually explicit material in the recent past?

And I'm thinking like what happened to pass the hamburger or something? And you know what I knew? What I knew is he was dead serious.

I said, no. He said, have you in any way misused your finances or use them in a way that wouldn't honor God in the past 60, 30, 90 days? And I mean, he went through my thought life, my sex life, my integrity, and then the last question after he went through this list, he smiled.

He said, have you lied to me in your answers of any of the last five or six questions? Got a Paul? You know how much that protects you? So you got to pursue great people.

Got to go after them. You also need a Barnabas at a fellow that we just linked hearts first basketball trip out guy named Glenn Miller. And Glenn was a man of devotion and heart and love.

And he went off later to be a missionary in Sri Lanka later became a pastor. And, and for 20 years, Glenn and I have stayed in touch and he's just been a peer. He's a little bit older than me. He's like that little bit older big brother, but I was a little farther ahead early spiritually. And so the first trip we went on, we memorized the book of Philippians together.

The next trip we went on, we memorized the book of James together. This guy's got zeal that is over the top. He leaves me voice messages in Tagalog. Hey Ingram, how you doing buddy? Are you rejoicing in the Lord? Hey, hey, isn't it sweet? He's just, he talks about God like he's just in the room and he's just, I mean, he's just winsome Barnabas. And what I know and what he knows is no matter where we're at in the world or the country, it's just we're peers. He's got a dream where he's building orphanages now in Africa, along with pastor in the church. And someone who's just running kind of at the same place in the track with you that you can bounce stuff off of. Third area is a Timothy, someone you get to invest in.

And there was a guy who was a football coach in that little town. And AC had me and him meet together and we'd review and memorize these verses. So you see, you do, you do life together. The thinking great thoughts and you know, reading great books.

I don't know about you. I'm not disciplined to do that, but you find a couple guys or you find a couple of gals and you say, let's do it on this morning at this time. And we went to the feed store and we'd eat a little breakfast and we'd all go over our verses and memorize a couple of verses and, and little by little by little by little, you grow. And pretty soon he's a football coach, defensive back. His name was Steve. And Steve came on staff at that little church and it started to grow. And then I went to California and he came to the college group and then he did the small groups and then he did this and then he ran the staff and then he hit 45. And I'll never forget the day cause we worked together for 18 years.

I got way more credit. I could kind of dream it and he could make it happen. And he hit 45 and I hit it about a year or two before the game. And he said, you know something, you know that agreement we had, we're going to work together as long as we live until God brings us to a point where we think we do more good for the kingdom apart. And since we're both a couple of old coaches, he said, Hey dude, I think that the run has ended. And I said, I think you're right.

And we were, we're learning some things and leadership together. And he said, you know, I've done every job in this church and there's only one I really want to do. And you're not retiring are you? I said, no, I'm not. He said, then I got to do what you're doing.

I got to be a senior pastor. Guess what he's doing? You know what he's doing? He's doing what I got to teach him and what I got to learn from prof. See, you pursue great people and now you get on the phone and sometimes those Timothy's just turn into barnabases. And I learned more from Steve than I'm sure he's ever learned from me. Pursue great people. And you know, you'll never have time in your schedule to do it.

Busyness is the curse of our day. And I struggle with it as much as you, you will have to come up with a specific plan, but you got to look out the windshield and ask yourself who out there could be a Paul in my life right now, who out there could be a Barnabas that I could share life, who could be a Timothy that, and you know what? You only have to be a half a step ahead of someone to teach him what you know.

You don't have to have it all together. Final thing I'd like to share here is get you started without getting you discouraged. And so I want to give a warning to heed. A warning to heed.

And the warning is this, for Timothy's looking for Paul's. Often God's will use a variety of people. Don't believe there's some person that will have it all together. That's going to be this person that is going to sustain and help you grow for the rest of your life. It'll be more like a revolving door of different people, different seasons to meet different needs as you grow. Now, sometimes you get that special person that, you know, that you stay in touch with them.

I think it's more rare than it is normal. So, so when you're looking for that, Paul, don't get your expectations like they're going to meet with you every week and it's going to be this way or that way. Secondly, a warning for Paul's looking for Timothy's. You can't get where all you do is give. Some of you are in a season of your life where you're giving to people, you're giving to people, you're giving to people. And, and, but there's no one giving in to you. And you find you don't, can't figure out why you're losing the joy and you're tired because you know what?

You got all, you need some VEP people in your life. Very encouraging people. When you're a Paul, when people are looking to you and you've hit a time of maturity and you're helping this guy over here in a Bible study with these women over here and then you're teaching over here and you're trying to raise this, you can give, give, give. And Paul's what happened is a lot of people really get burned out because no one's given to them. You don't give yourself permission to get renewed. You don't give yourself permission to have fun. You don't give yourself permission to let someone build into your life or have a few relationships.

This is hard for some of you guys and some of you driven women. Have some relationships where you don't have to get anything done. You just get to hang out. I mean, tonight at supper I got to eat with a couple of real buddies. I mean, guys that I go way back with and part of it, I mean, they've so built in my life, but one of the great things about them, we just hang. I mean, we laugh.

I mean, we play golf, we play tennis. We, I mean, we just cut up, we share our hearts, but just having some people in your life that, I mean, when I'm around them, I don't have to be anybody but Chip. I mean, I don't have to be a pastor. I mean, I don't have to perform.

I don't, I'm not worried about that. They just love me. They just love me and they like to be with me and I like to be with them. And if you're a Paul, you got to have some of that in your life.

And if you don't, you'll find yourself hurting. Let me give you now a word of perspective to consider is that I think what happens is we get these categories and I'm going to suggest that, you know, every category of Paul's and Barnabas's and Timothy's is God often will give role players in your life. And I've put a few of them here and I'll give you a couple highlights and you know, they may be a Paul, but their role as a Paul, as a father figure, that was AC for me. Huge, huge impact in my life.

But then some people, God gives you a cheerleader, someone who just cares and it gets excited for you. And I was a young guy in this church and the little church was growing and becoming a medium-sized church. And I had this dream in my heart and I thought I couldn't even say it out loud. I wanted to be the pastor of a large church. Doesn't that sound arrogant? Doesn't that sound terrible? Doesn't that sound like you're trying to make a big something of yourself? But I just had this desire.

I just saw how they worked and I wanted that kind of impact. And I remember saying out loud to Don Geiger, Don, I'm just feel so bad and so terrible because I've got this desire and he says, well, why do you feel bad? Well, isn't that ambitious and isn't it wrong? He said, well, why do you want to be the pastor? Is it so you can be a big someone? Well, I said, no.

I said, I just think that's where I would really flourish. He said, Chip, I get people calling all the time. He was a pastor of a large church. He said, they're really hard to find.

It's a unique gift mix and you have that gift mix. It's God calling you to do that. He was my cheerleader. He just said, go for it, man.

And you know what? In a year and a half, Santa Cruz called and, but I couldn't have gone there if that cheerleader wasn't in my life. Sometimes God will bring a prophet in your life. A guy named Bill Lawrence, my wife and I sat in a little room and he evaluated my preaching and he looked me right in the eye and he said, Chip, you've got some real gift. You've got some real gift in communicating. I'm thinking, thank you. He said, but I can't figure out something. I said, what's that? He said, I can't figure out whether you're just downright lazy or you don't believe in preaching.

I mean, a real man would never do that in front of your wife. I said, excuse me? He said, yeah, I just can't figure out. He said, I can see how your mind works. Oh, you do a good job with the text.

The last 10%, you're just lazy. You're shooting shotguns. You don't shoot bullets.

Tell you what, you need to put another five, six, seven hours in on that last part of the sermon. It needs to be clear. It needs to be concise. It needs to be focused. You need to shoot a bullet, a Teflon bullet that bang goes through and God uses and he's given you a gift to do that.

You're shooting shotguns, little BBs. It doesn't take you much time to prepare. You like to study, but you're not doing the hard part at the end. Now, is it because you're just lazy or you don't believe in the power of preaching? And then I'll tell you what, he rocked my world. And you know, I looked over to the sweet, lovely Teresa looking for compassion, like tell me it's not so, honey. And she looked at me and goes, he doesn't believe in preaching. He's not lazy, but he doesn't believe in, he, all he does is wants to do these discipleship groups, discipleship groups.

And he just gets them. He doesn't believe in preaching. And a man, I'll tell you what, I decided that I before God would, I wrote on a card, my goal is to preach great messages for God. Does that sound arrogant?

What do you think God wants? Okay. Ones bad ones.

So, so ones. And I decided whatever it would take for me to learn to preach great. And then I listened to people preach. I went to people preach. I listened to tapes. I read books.

And then I did that last seven to 10 hours to get it from a shotgun to a bullet. Got any prophets in your life? People that aren't worried about offending you. See, there'll be Paul's at times Timothy's at times, but they're role players.

How about a sponsor? You ever been in a situation where you needed someone to lift you up and, and move you to a place that you could never get there on your own? I was in a little breakfast nook and a guy'd come by the church and said, Hey, you know, we got a wonderful plan for your life and we think you'd be really good on radio and we couldn't use you on our station, but you really ought to consider it.

And I was eating breakfast with a guy named Dick and a man we're doing five services, video overflow with five services. I thought that's a dumbest thing to hope radio who listens to radio. I think, you know what?

Isn't that crazy? I can't believe that because he was a mentor in my life and you know, we'd play golf about every Thursday or every other Thursday and I'd bounce my sermon off him and I'd, I'd ask him all my leadership questions and he always was helping me grow personally and learn how to lead. And I'd ask him all kinds of questions and just glean. And I remember him sitting across, he said, I'm going to call you tonight. I said, okay. And then towards the end, he said, I don't need to call you. I said, okay, you need to do the radio thing.

He said, what? You need to do it. I mean, this is not, this is a sponsor.

This isn't like, it'd be a good idea. Why don't you pray about it? God has shown me. He said, you need to do it. I said, well, I don't know anything about radio.

I don't know how much it costs. I don't know. He said, it doesn't matter. I said, what do you mean it doesn't matter?

We'll have to do. He said, just do it. I said, well, well, how? He said, well, I'll pay for the first year. I said, well, how much will it cost? He says, I don't know. He said, but whatever it is, I'll just pay for it. God's in this.

God used him to launch. I didn't want to do it. See, God will bring people into your life that will sponsor you.

But guess what? You got to pursue and get around people. Find great people who pray. Find people with great marriages. Find great leaders. Find people that are raising good kids. Find people that are doing the kind of things that you want to become like and figure out a way to get next to them. Pursue great people.

And God will bring sponsors and cheerleaders and you know, a counselor, a hero. Joe Stoll. I wasn't kidding. He's one of my heroes. I think you always want to have someone to say that like is in your line of work. I want to be like him.

I want to be like him. So I listened to Joe. When I have a big decision, I called Joe.

Hero. I think God wants a counselor in our lives. Someone that you can open up your heart and share. There's a guy named Dick Meyer. He was a counselor counselor. And you know, you know those wounds and those things we talked about? Sometimes you got to pursue a great person. You got to pay them because there's stuff you don't know how to figure out. And you got friends and their counselors and you just say, Hey, I need, I don't know.

My ball is lost in the weeds, as probably would say, but I don't know how to get it untangled. And they sit down with you and they share insight and life and truth. And which of those in that list do you need in your life? Which specific role player? What do you need? What kind of person?

Even as I'm speaking, what kind of names or faces are coming to your mind that aren't on your old Mount Rushmore, but if you were going to build a new Mount Rushmore, who could go on there to say, I think this person could have a positive impact in my life. I want to be more like him. I want to be more like her.

Have you got it? Then let me give you an action plan to go on. Number one, an action plan to follow. I gave you a perspective to consider role players and now an action plan to follow. Number one, pray earnestly. And we just learned what earnestly meant, right? I mean, I don't think these people were hanging on trees and I'll guarantee you, their schedule is full. And so you pray earnestly, Lord show me.

Number two, take initiative. I just over the years, I just have an antenna. As soon as I got to Atlanta, I thought, who Lord? I've got to find some guys that are walking with God. I've got to find some guys that really love you. I've got to find someone that is farther down the road than me. And I just started looking for, I know I need a cheerleader. I need a confident.

I need a sponsor. I need role players. I don't know if they're going to be my Paul and I'm still going to call on the phone and actually arrange my schedule, but I've got to find people who are going to be a Paul in my life. And then I got to find some Barnabas. And then I got to ask myself, okay, it's a new world.

It's a new day. Is there some people that you want me to invest my life in? But you take initiative and three start in your relational network. The Paul, Timothy's and Barnabas' are probably already in your relational network. Start there.

Four is ask for help. This is amazing. I was just in Florida and had a chance to meet with some people who had been very kind and generous to the ministry. And there was a guy there that had been a mentor with a leader that I really respect. He's a Christian leader who I think maybe just in terms of sheer leadership gift, maybe the finest that I know. I mean, I've read and listened and this guy, I found out as we played nine holes of golf, had mentored this guy and he talked to me about it. And I just, I just couldn't resist. I thought, you know, I don't know, I don't know what role he's going to play in my life, but you know what?

If he mentored that guy, he's pretty good. So, you know, I played golf, we had a dinner and then I taught a Bible study and, and I just, you know what? You have not because you asked not. And I walked over to this guy, said, excuse me, John, can I get a word with you before I go? Got to catch a plane? Yeah. John, you know what you did for that guy? Yeah. Would you help me?

This organization is growing so rapidly. I'm over my head and he's in a way, way bigger organization that's way more complex. Would you help me the way you helped? If I called you, would you give me time on the phone?

And if I asked you questions, would you help me? He said, I'd be glad to. And I said, great.

Well, I don't have any contact. And you know what? Someone else was talking and this guy walks back to me and he goes, here, here's my personal card and here's my other card.

And he said, just give me a call anytime. See the kind of people that want God to use their life. They're looking for eager Timothy's who want to grow and want to learn, pursue great people, pray earnestly, take initiative, start with the relational network, ask for help. Here's the one, persevere. They often say no 10 times before they say yes. I could tell you my prof Hendrick story. You don't want to hear it.

I don't want to tell it. It took me three years. Persevere, persevere, persevere, or do it by proxy. A lot of people that have mentored me, I just, I can't get close to them, but they got books. I've listened to them. I find someone close to them. I asked them questions. I went, as the church was growing, I went around to every major place in America where things were growing and I tried to get near the guy who did it.

And if I couldn't, I got next to the guy who was next to him. If I couldn't, then I get, you know what, I'm going to get as close as I can or I'm going to read what they wrote or I'm going to listen to it because there's a lot of different ways to keep growing and finally make time in your schedule. You'll never have it. No one's going to call you on the phone and say, would you like to be mentored? Would you like to really grow? Would you like to put in some time and be very disciplined and very focused for the next five to seven years that will totally transform your life and probably the life of your entire relational network and possibly could change the world in a radical way?

No one is going to call you and say that, but you know what you can do? You can pursue great people and you can look for your Paul and you can look for a soulmate Barnabas and then all the while you find someone that you have a little bit more than they have and you start giving it away and I'm telling you, you'll become great in God's eyes. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, pursue great people from his series, good to great in God's eyes. Now you may be thinking, isn't wanting to be great a bad thing? In this 10 part series, Chip assures us that our ambition to be the best Christian we can be isn't a prideful thing at all. In fact, it comes from God himself. Stay with us as we better understand the specific practices that will help mature our faith and delight the heart of God.

Now, if you missed any part of this series, the Chip Ingram app is a great way to catch up anytime. Our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram, is with me now and Chip, as we look around, it feels like things are starting to open up again and people are getting more and more comfortable meeting together face to face. With that said, you have a very specific challenge for all of us, don't you?

I sure do, Dave. I want to say to the Living on the Edge family, do whatever you need to do this fall to get in community. We cannot, we simply cannot allow the world to move forward and to fall back into simply watching online unless we have health issues. And it's not simply even going to church. Hearing God's word is absolutely critical and it's, make no mistake, a priority, but we have to have meaningful community. We need to pray for one another in the same room. We need to share meals together. We need to hug one another.

We need to cry and lament some of the difficulties and the challenges and the pain that we've been through. We literally can't live this life in Christ alone. And yet I see so many people trying to do it. And part of it is our habits changed. I get that. Literally, are you ready?

It's an old word. We've become slothful in our intentionality for face to face communion. And then we begin to drift in ways that we don't see. Could I challenge you in gentleness? Do whatever you need to do this fall to get in community. Launch a small group, join a small group. If nothing else, do it with your family. But let me encourage you, don't let the pattern of not meeting face to face in a small group where you share hearts, where you hold one another accountable, where you bear one another's burdens.

Don't let that go on for another season. You have to meet. The Lord will show up in your presence. Let me encourage you, make that decision and then decide when, how, and with whom you'll do a group.

You'll never regret it. Great word, Chip. Well, here at Living on the Edge, 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 with our helpful study guides.

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 us out. And for a limited time, all of our small group resources are discounted. For more info, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or visit livingontheedge.org.

App listeners tap special offers. Well, Chip, today you explained why it's important that we all find a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy to join us on our life's journey. But I'm sure there's lots of people thinking, well, that sounds like a lot of work or how do I begin to seek out those relationships?

How would you respond to them? Well, here's what I'd say, Dave, is that this is not like a burden. This isn't like, here's the big assignment, go find a Paul, a Barnabas, and Timothy and get with it right now.

I think this is a recommendation for people who really want to grow. And this is to say, we all need someone farther down the road. And I think sometimes we get this idea that it's a super formal relationship. And I think at this point you just stop and say, you know, who has a marriage like the one I'd like to have? Or who walks with God or prays in the way that someday I'd like to pray and have that kind of an intimate relationship? Or who has work-life balance in a way that really encourages me? And you just say, hey, could we grab a cup of coffee or could I buy you lunch? And that's where I've done over the years.

And sometimes it gets formalized after that. But I just think finding someone that you admire some aspect of their life that helps you become more and more like Jesus, that's the Paul. And then I think that the Barnabas situation is one where you just can't do life alone. I mean, you have to start asking yourself, who am I going to do life with? Who can I be honest with? Who can I be vulnerable with?

Who kind of loves me like I am but won't let me stay like I am? And then building that into your schedule. I think we often have these people all around us, but we're so busy trying to produce or get ahead that we don't take the time to build these relationships into our schedule. And then I think the final one is just you have to pass it on. And I don't think you necessarily have to say, these are my Timothy's and you write their name down and here's all the things they need to learn from me.

But I think it's starting first and foremost. I mean, if you're a parent having that kind of relationship with your kids, how do I invest in them? How do I make the Bible exciting and not boring? What are we going to do in terms of passing on my faith to them in good ways, in fun ways, and in times where we're really, really intentional? So this is not a burden. This is a matter of getting some categories to say, I want to be a great Christian.

I don't want to just maintain or be okay or my goal is not just to be happy. I want the Father to see my life as I cross the finish line and kind of nudge one of the angels and say, that was, that was a great Christian. God loves us all the same, but He's more intimate with some than others.

He uses some more than others. This whole series is about being one of them. And the disciples' last question was an argument about who is greatest. And Jesus didn't chide them. He said, this is how to be great.

And I believe He was saying, greatness is something the Father values, but it's in humility and it's in pursuing Him that greatness is achieved. As we wrap up, let me quickly tell you about a great way to listen to our extended teaching podcast. Hear Chip anytime on your Echo or Echo Dot. To get started, ask Alexa to enable the Chip Ingram podcast, then just say, Alexa, play the Chip Ingram podcast. It's that easy. Well for Chip and everyone here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.