Share the Love - Why It's Hard to Share the Love, Part 2

Do you know that every day, we tend to believe lies that keep us from sharing God's love? Well, in this program, we'll expose those lies, and I'll give you tools that you need so the people that you love can hear the good news about Jesus in a way that they can actually understand.

You don't want to miss it. Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. And in just a minute, Chip picks up where he left off last time in our series Share the Love, How to Talk to Anyone About God. Today, he'll continue identifying those lies he alluded to that keep us from wholeheartedly sharing our faith. And be sure to stick around after this message as he unpacks some insightful application for us to consider.

You won't want to miss it. Okay, here again is Chip for the remainder of his talk, Why It's Hard to Share the Love. Stronghold number five, he or she will never come to Christ versus God desires all people to be saved. Is there anyone that just comes to your mind right now that you think to yourself, you know something, I hear what you're saying, but I mean, you don't know my dad. He's been an atheist.

All he does is rip me all the time or you don't know my boss. Who's that person? Who do you think could never come to Christ? And as a result, you used to pray for him and you kind of don't because why? They never will.

That's a lie. How many people if the, if Saul of Tarsus after murdering a bunch of people would say, hey, I think this guy's a real potential, right? I think, you know what? He's murdering a lot of Christians right now, but I think he'd make a great Christian someday. I'm thinking most people thinking a lot of people might follow Jesus, but this guy never. And instead he goes from Saul to Paul and he writes 13 books in the New Testament.

Don't give up. If you would have asked me, who do you think will never come to Christ? We've prayed, we've shared, we've prayed, we've shared, we've acted, we've loved, we've forgiven, we've, it was Teresa's dad, 87 years old. And I mean, every place I've ever been, he would come to church and I'd, I'd make sure I'd change my message when he came. I'm going to, I'm going to put the gospel in there somewhere and he heard it, you know, from Teresa and we loved him and prayed and everything you can do. And then, you know, when your kids, they start getting older and you know, they love the Lord and you know, you're praying as a family for granddad and then pretty soon your kids, you know, 10, 11, 12 year olds, granddad.

Yeah. Our whole family wants you to be with us in heaven. Do you understand that Christ died for you?

You know, tears in their eyes and we were, I mean, a sincere, a little child and you know, you just think he can't not respond to this, right? Yeah, I brush your car. Thank you. That's good for you. Huh?

Yeah. And just going, you just want to, you know, I just want to knock him out and I'm in my heart of hearts. I've watched my wife never, ever give up. Never, ever give up. Never, ever give up. Guess what?

Granddad came to Christ. Why? How? You guess what?

I have no idea. But it was the right place at the right time was sewing and watering and as I look back, I think it revolved around some deep pains and wounds. He heard the gospel through someone he could identify with.

Bam, the lights came on. Don't you ever assume that anybody's outside of what God might do. Don't give up. Look what the scripture says. This is good and pleases God our savior.

This is his desire who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Stronghold number six is I'm just not bold enough. That's the lie versus I don't care enough. See, there are a lot of times I thought to myself, you know what? I'm just not bold enough. And then I think, well, gosh, you're kind of bold with other stuff.

Yeah, that's true. Don't confuse me with the facts. Listen to Paul's motivation. 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15, he says, for Christ love compels me. The word means I was hemmed in. It's a picture of Indiana Jones, you know, and the walls are coming in.

There's no way out. That's that word. Paul's saying, how much God has loved me, what he's delivered me from, what he's given me. It compels me.

But it's not just an emotional love response. It's objective truth because notice what he says, because we're convinced that one died for all. That's Jesus. Therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live should now live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Where it says he died for all, that little word for means for the sake of and in the place of. See, the apostle Paul had this conviction. His conviction was there's a real heaven. There's a real eternity. And there's a real Christless eternity. And he says, I'm compelled by what Christ has done for me. And I realized he died for all. This unlimited grace of God, this work on the cross, this resurrection, this offer of eternal life. It's for everyone who ever would respond. But the conduit and the link between that truth and that reality and people's hearts and souls and lives are people like us. And so he says, we don't live any longer for ourselves, but for him who died and gave his life so that we're his ambassadors or his agents, we're his conduit of grace. And see what happens is I think I'm not bold enough, but when I'm really honest, what I realized is I just get consumed too much with me and my world and I am not convinced.

I'm not convinced of what's on the line. I don't think about eternity. I don't think about lost people the way God thinks about them with compassion.

I get intimidated by some things that they bring or what they say instead of looking past that and seeing the need and the hurt and the way God looks at them. Sometimes God gives you great opportunities to learn and I taught a little two day seminar for a group down in Orange County and so I was flying back. A young gal from Dubai was there. She works for Google as a project manager and I kind of looked at sort of my daughter's age. She looked like one of those mid to late 20s and we got talking a little bit and had a conversation and I'm reviewing my notes.

I mean the very notes right now to give this message to you, I'm reviewing them and I always rewrite them on Saturday. And so we get talking and so I'm very aware this would be a great opportunity to tell her about the love of God since I've been thinking and praying and talking about this. And so we talk and I sort of go around it this way and round it this way. Have you ever gotten where you sort of have this lump in your throat? Like you could tell I don't think they'd really be closed but and you just don't quite get it out? Does that happen to anybody else? And so I keep waiting I keep waiting and then like God gives me like opportunity one opportunity two opportunity three and I just weenie out.

I mean I'm just sitting there and I'm thinking about this and I have an outgoing personality. And then she starts reading a magazine I just oh man I blew it. I mean I mean there was an opportunity there was a window she was and so I put my headphones on and I saw okay I better finish my notes. So guess what?

I'm on this one. I'm writing on the plane with her next to me I'm writing down. Paul's convinced I gotta tell him are they are you really convinced that eternity is real? How much God actually loves them?

And what I realize afresh was the stronghold is about whether I'm bold or not it gets to be all about me and what I'm doing or not doing. And as I read that just all I can tell you I don't know how it works but something I was almost physical like the Spirit of God came in in a fresh way and said I love her can we get off of you right now? I just love her.

And so I thought old John Saville what the heck? I turned to her and said hey how's that magazine going? Go great. I said can I ask you something? Yeah. I said has anyone ever explained to you how much Jesus loves you? And I'm thinking okay. And she goes no. I said well would you mind if I just told you a little bit about that?

Sure. And pretty soon I find out she's only been married a year and you know I draw a little triangle with God at the top and men and women at the bottom and how we need physical intimacy and emotional intimacy but also spiritual intimacy. Oh my husband he's very spiritual.

I'm not at all. And I talked about how you get closer to God than you get closer to each other because I know she's real motivated in her marriage. And then I had a book with me called Good to Great in God's Eyes and you know she's from Google. So I said have you read Colin's book Good to Great? Oh yeah and we went through you know getting right people on the bus and all the jazz and I said I was with an organization trying to do that and God showed me that you know there's practices that people that really get close to God have and I opened it up and I went through each of them and she's like wow. I said would you like this? Yeah.

So I signed it for her and you know we I say here's my email if you have any questions at all and so we get up and okay she did not pray to receive Christ she didn't share it with the rest of the you know we were getting done all right. But I mean it was like lie number one she's not open. Boom.

Lie number two it's a superstar. I got an outgoing personality and I was hedging. And then it was it's just a process. And what happened was I loved her. I saw her the way Jesus saw her and I just wanted to help her and even if she would have not responded positively it's okay because this isn't about me and it's not about you. It's just about extending the love of God. And so we get done I mean this really cracked me up so it's all over you know and I've written the book note and so you know how when you get off you go up the ramp and once you get off the ramp and she was ahead of me a little bit and she stopped she turned like this she goes. In her heart you get to see people long to be loved and the Jesus that we serve loves them.

We just need to get rid of the lies. Stronghold number seven is actually something that I've never taught before. Usually when you get to this point in a message my experience for me and many others is okay I'm gonna really try harder to love I'm gonna try harder to love I'm gonna be more loving I'm gonna really work up more love love love love love oh God help me love.

And depending on your personality you do that for two days two weeks or two months and there's not many two monthers and then you'll be right back to where you are right now. Stronghold number seven is I need to try harder to love people versus I need to experience more of God's love personally. See we don't need to try harder we need to experience God's love at such a fresh and new depth that we could just not not share it. And as I thought of this I was thought of the passage here where Jesus says to a woman who is wiping his feet with her hair and her tears dripping and a Pharisee thinking that she's an immoral person and he couldn't be a prophet because he would know about this woman. And you can see the passage there in Luke where Jesus turns to the Pharisee and he goes you know this woman has responded in ways because she's been forgiven much and her sins they are many but those who've been forgiven much love much.

And he wasn't saying that the Pharisee needed less forgiveness than the woman what he was really saying is she actually gets and is experiencing what I've done for her and you don't get it. When you experience God's love you can't not share it. One of the greatest qualities in my wife has seen her experience God's love and my testimony is is that I'm so oriented toward performance that I often struggle with I think God loves me when I'm doing good and I don't think he loves me as much when I'm doing bad and that's not true. And so I thought it would be more helpful and more powerful for you to hear from someone who because of her life story she really grasped how to experience God's love. So honey you come share with us.

Good morning. I am excited to share with you how I experienced God's love and I encountered real love for the first time when I was 25 years old and I accepted Christ as my savior and I realize now as I look back God had been drawing me with his love for quite a while. But it was when I actually came to a point where I understood and I recognized his love that I accepted Christ as my savior and it was a real turning point in my life. In 1 John 4 10 it says this is real love it is not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

So that's what real love is that it's God sent his son to die for us to take away our sins because he loved us so much and he wanted us to be close to him. Well this love that I experienced at age 25 was different from any love that I had known up until that point. I had never thought of love and God in the same sentence which to me seems odd now but I really never did. When I thought about love it was romantic love it was between a man and a woman but not about God and a man and a woman. And I didn't grow up in a Christian home and I never heard my parents say to each other that they loved each other they never told me they love me verbally.

I never heard that word expressed in my home. And so this love that I was starting to experience was so different for me and it was wonderful. Well by the time I was 25 I realized that there was a big hole in my heart and that there was an ache there that longed to be filled up and I had tried to fill it up with so many things that didn't work. And I made lots of bad decisions in my early adult years just trying to make life work out and trying to fill up that hole in my heart. And all growing up I could never please my dad so I always felt like a failure and I felt like I was not very lovable and so I was trying to find that love. Well I ended up getting married and it was not a good situation and it was just the dream of my life that somebody would love me and care for me and it just did not work out well. And by the time I was 25 I was a single mom. I had been abandoned by my husband.

I had twin baby boys and I was just in a desperate situation. I was lonely. I was depressed.

I didn't have any money. I felt abandoned and I didn't have any hope. But it was at this time that I experienced God's love for me in an amazing way. The Lord led me to work with the director of admissions at Fairmont State College and this man was a very godly man and he seemed to not be shy at all about sharing his faith even on a secular campus which I am so thankful for now. But as we worked together and as time would permit he began to share with me about the love of God and he shared with me things that I had never heard before. He told me that God's love is a love that lasts forever. That it will never end. That God's love is a love that will never change. His love is unconditional. It doesn't matter what I do.

It doesn't matter what I did in the past. That his love never changes for me and that his love will care for me. That through his love he will provide for my children and that he has hope for my future and for my kids. So I began to listen to what my friend was saying to me and it started to all make sense and I realized that's what the need in my heart is longing for.

It's that real love that I've been longing for all this time. And on a Sunday evening in August when my two little boys just turned one year old I accepted Christ as my savior. And at that time I began to experience the love of God in an amazing way and he changed my life. He changed my future.

He changed the direction and the future of my children's lives. And he took all those broken pieces all the terrible things that had been a part of my life and he put it all back together and he cleansed me from all of my past and he made me new and clean and a new vessel that he would fill up with himself, that he would fill up with his love so that he could love others through me. Well I learned to experience that I could experience God's love in many ways from the time I became a Christian up until today. Every day I experience God's love in many ways and one of the ways that I experience his love is through people.

It's through the body of Christ. It's Christians loving each other and caring for one another. People when I was a new believer reached out to me and provided for me, cared for me and welcomed me and loved me in spite of what I had been through. And I experienced the love of Christ. And I experienced God's love through his word as I read his word every day as I open up this book that God has written to us because he wants us to know how much he loves us.

And every day I get a new glimpse into who he is and how great he is and how full of love he is for me and how he wants to work in my life. And so through his word I experience his love. I experience his love as I pray and as I cry out to him for the needs of my heart, the desires that I have for the people that I love.

And I watch as God responds in just amazing ways that he shows up in doing things that I just never believed could happen. I see his love and I see him every day. I see him in big things and I see him in little things. I see him as I walk through my day and one of the times I especially see him is early in the morning when I go outside with my dog and take him out every morning and it's dark and on the days that I can see the stars out and I look up into the sky and God reveals himself to me and I see his greatness and his power and that he is so big and he is so full of love and he cares about me and every little detail in my life.

He loves me and he loves you. Well as we experience God's love in our life what happens is, and the scriptures teach that through the Holy Spirit God just pours his love through our lives and it's like a flood he says. He floods our lives with his love.

And I've had my house flood before so I know that a flood is very hard to stop. It's a powerful thing and it just impacts wherever it goes. It changes things. And when God's love floods through our hearts, see we can't stop it. It impacts the people that we're around and it's just a natural thing that happens. And so as he floods our hearts it just naturally flows out to other people and God shows his love to others through us.

Well a couple weeks ago God gave me a really wonderful picture of what it looks like for me to love people, to love especially lost people, those who don't know Jesus as their savior. And this one morning I got up and I just glanced out the window and in the corner of my eye I saw this big bird walk across the grass in the back and I didn't think much of it but a couple hours later I glanced out and the bird walked back this way. And then I looked closer and I saw that's a seagull. And I thought that was kind of strange because I've never seen a seagull in my yard.

And a couple hours later he's still out there and he's just walking around in the yard and I thought why is he hanging out in my backyard? So I went out to check on him and his wing was broken. And I felt so sorry for that bird.

And I was trying to think what can I do? I've got to help this bird. He can't fly.

He's stuck here. He'll die if I don't do something because I knew that he couldn't get out of my yard. And so I thought a little bit about what to do and then it came to my mind that I could call the wild animal rescue. So I called the rescue and I wasn't sure if they would respond to this but the first you push a number it says if number one if it's an animal emergency. So I pushed number one and I explained to this lady that I had a seagull in my backyard with a broken wing. And I said is this an animal emergency?

Because I wasn't sure. There's thousands of seagulls. Would they come and save just one little seagull? And she was so nice. So nice. And so a couple hours later he pulls up the van, the wild animal rescue and comes in my backyard and rescues this stranded little bird. And I felt so good. I felt like boy I really did something good today. I did a good deed.

And then God spoke to my heart and this is what he said and I wrote it down because I wanted to remember. He said people who don't know me are like that seagull. And he said they're broken and they're lost. They're stuck. And if somebody doesn't help them they're going to die.

And they're going to be separated from me forever. And then he asked me do you care as much about my people who are lost as you do that little bird in your backyard? Would you take that much effort to care for lost people? And I realized that it's the love of God that compels us that just it's like I was compelled.

I had to help this little bird. It's that love that God gives us that just compels us to reach out and to share and to love those that are lost because we realize they're broken. And they're separated from God and they'll be separated from Him forever.

And they're stuck in their condition unless one of us tells them. Unless we love them and reach out to them with the love of God. And so my prayer for me and for all of us is that we would be compelled by the love of God to share and reach out and care for those that are lost. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and the message you just heard, Why It's Hard to Share the Love, is from our series Share the Love.

Chip will be back to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. For one reason or another, Christians today are hesitant to share their faith. We know we should be doing it more, but sometimes just the thought of talking to someone about God can be nerve-wracking. So why is that?

And how can we change it? In this eight-part series, Chip's going to boost our confidence and teach us to have personal and spontaneous conversations about Jesus. Learn how to develop the heart, skills, and perspective to share your faith in a winsome, natural way. Don't miss how you can move from being a secret Christian to an unashamed witness for Christ. For more information about Share the Love or our resources, visit livingontheedge.org.

That's livingontheedge.org. Well, I'm joined in studio now by Chip, and Chip, for the past several programs, you've highlighted the work Living on the Edge is doing to support and encourage pastors all over the world. Would you take a minute right now and explain why this issue is so important to you?

I'd be glad to, Dave. A recent Barna research found that there's a growing number of pastors that are struggling with burnout and discouragement. The study found an immense stress of the job, the loneliness, the political and cultural tension, and the strain on their family were the top reasons many pastors, and I'm talking tens of thousands, are considering quitting the ministry. As a pastor for almost 40 years, the challenges of leading a church today, I will tell you, are greater and more difficult than anything I have ever seen. And at Living on the Edge, we're committed to coming alongside those who shepherd the church. We provide them with tools that help them navigate the increasingly difficult situation seeping into the church. We want to support them with a safe place to talk and face their challenges related to their marriage and their family, their own walk with God, and strengthen them in community to help them because they get weary and they get discouraged. That's why Living on the Edge has launched what we call the Art of Survival. These materials and training events have helped renew the commitment of pastors literally all across the world.

It started in the Middle East, then it went to India, then Africa, Mexico. It's amazing what God has done. Here's my question. Will you help us bring hope and encouragement and theological training to these church leaders? We believe we'll need to multiply our capacity literally by 10 times in the next two years with all the doors that the Lord has opened.

There's a real sense of urgency for this right now. Would you prayerfully consider giving to Living on the Edge to help make this happen? Every dollar you give between now and July 7th will be doubled dollar for dollar, and you double your impact as we help pastors here and across the world. Thank you for praying and doing whatever God leads you to do.

Well, if you feel like God is moving you to partner with us, now's a great time. As Chip said, thanks to a handful of donors, every dollar we receive between now and July 7th will be doubled dollar for dollar. To send a gift, call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or go to livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate. Thank you in advance for your generosity. Well, Chip, it was nice hearing your wife, Teresa, finish up today's message, and that was intentional because her perspective and approach to this topic are really insightful. Would you take a minute and explain why?

Absolutely, Dave. My wife is really winsome. She's an introvert. She does not have an outgoing personality, and she really shares God's love, not because she's an extrovert or has the gift of evangelism. She so has experienced personally God's love that she literally feels compelled to share it with other people. And she doesn't just experience that love at salvation. I watch her get up in the morning and talk and pray and, you know, wipe her tears with tissues and really experience God. She can't help but tell people because whatever we're excited about, whatever we love, we share. For example, if you are with my wife and you're even remotely interested, on her phone she has a picture of many grandchildren, okay? She's going to share that with you. I have another friend that I talked about earlier, but he is like a sportsaholic.

And if you are at all interested, he's going to tell you, you know, this team and that team and his fantasy this. We all share about what matters to us. And so what I want people to understand is we have to pull down these strongholds or myths, and it's not trying harder or making this an event or it's not a checking a box or a duty. You know, you're supposed to do this.

And almost every Christian I meet feels overwhelmingly guilty about not sharing their faith. What I would say is forget that. Start loving people. And then let God love you. And if you don't have any love for people, ask him to fill you up. And then instead of talking or thinking there's a big event, just start caring. Invite people over.

Love them. Pray for them. God will open the door. And I'll give you some tools next time about what to say when he does. Can't wait to learn more about that, Chip. As we wrap up, let me tell you about an easy way to listen to our extended teaching podcast. Here, chip anytime on your Amazon Echo or Echo Dot. To get started, ask Alexa to enable the Chip Ingram podcast. Then say, Alexa, play the Chip Ingram podcast. Try it today. Well, until next time, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.