Be Strong and Courageous  - I Will Not Settle!: Confronting the Spirit of Cynicism, Part 2

If you or someone you know would characterize their life as hopeless, life's not worth living, I just can't go on, then you need to get this message to them, or you need to listen to it yourself. There is hope, and there's a way to find it. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.

Living on the Edge is an international teaching and discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. Today we conclude our newest series, Be Strong and Courageous. We pray that the lessons from these eight Psalms that Chip has taught have strengthened your faith and helped you overcome your biggest fears. And to help others learn as you have, would you take a minute after this message and share this series with a friend?

Now, you can do that through the Chip Ingram map or by sending them the free MP3s that you'll find at LivingontheEdge.org. Okay, go to Psalm 107 in your Bible as we join Chip for the conclusion of his talk, I Will Not Settle, Confronting the Spirit of Cynicism. I have some good friends that work in the addiction arena, and they tell me, you really can't help people until they come to the end of themselves.

I mean, they will con you, they will lie to you, they will promise anything, but if you get with anyone and accelerate recovery or a 12-step or some sort of counseling program where lives really change, everyone knows until you get to the point where you stop denying, stop lying, stop manipulating and just realize, I am helpless and I am hopeless to change. If that's you or if that's someone you know, there is a God in heaven and there is a Jesus who is a savior that longs to forgive and to restore and to break the chains and to help you. All you have to do is ask and then find a community of his people and get real and get honest. And what you'll find is he will use the power of his word and his spirit to little by little by little transform your life. He's done it thousands, millions of times. And my call is for us where he's done that in our life, to say so, to be bold. Everyone has their agenda.

It's America, right? I'm glad you can believe this. You can be at this party or that party. You can be alternative to this. You can say this. Great. Believe whatever you want. Christians, how about we be bold and courageous, winsome, loving and kind and say, yes, those are a lot of ideologies.

There's a lot of issues. There are a lot of ways to do life. This is our way. This is our way.

And we're not down on anybody. Jesus said, live this way. Jesus has done this for us.

Jesus has transformed our life. This is who we are and what we're doing. We welcome you. We don't judge you.

That's God's job. We welcome you. We want to share with you what he's done in us. You would be shocked how open people really are behind the facade, behind the anger, behind the dysfunction, behind the arguments, behind the polarization, behind all the politics.

I got news. These are regular people with real issues that are lonely, that are hurting, that are struggling, that have anxiety, that have depression issues, that have marital issues, that have family issues, that have financial issues. They don't need someone going, yeah. What they need is someone who says, I have and have had those. I think it's called being human. And everyone's looking for a solution.

Some solutions don't work very well. Some promise they will. And we can say, Jesus, the Son of God, he came and he broke the power of sin. He destroyed the works of the enemy. He's prepared a place for us. And he has demonstrated, not by words, that he loves everyone. And you can take it at your own pace, but I just want you to know as a neighbor or as a coworker or as a friend or maybe someone on a plane that I've never met, I just want you to know that he really cares about you.

And if I can be a part of his process in helping you, I want you to know I will. I can't tell you how many times I have found myself. And I travel a lot.

It's just part of my job. But I travel here and I travel to a lot of different countries. And so I sit next to a lot of different people. And I don't have a sign that says, hey, ask me a question.

I'll preach at you. Mostly just I start asking questions. And I say, Lord, if you want me to share, I want to be empowered. I want to be sensitive. If this guy is like, hey, man, he's got a ton of work to do.

He doesn't want to be bothered. I want to respect that. I can't even tell you the scores and scores of times where a little casual conversation, I mean, people from Muslim backgrounds, Buddhist backgrounds, Indian backgrounds, Hindu backgrounds, rich people, poor people, all kind of different colored people. You get to sit next to them. And what I find is they got all the same issues I do.

And after a while, ask a number of questions and they will eventually, not always, but almost always, well, how about you? I mean, you know, are you married? Yeah. You got any kids? Yeah.

Had any problems? Sure. Well, how do you address them? You want to hear? Well, sure. It's a little story to it. Do you mind? Can I have five minutes to tell my story?

Sure. You've listened to me for an hour. Well, I thought, you know, I began to tell the story of success and, you know, being a basketball star and having a pretty girl and getting good grades and being all that would somehow fulfill me. And it came up empty and Jesus revealed himself and, you know, it's been a journey and he changed my life and this is what he's done. And I'm just a very regular guy who's been forgiven and saved and restored.

And I don't think it's an accident he probably put us together today because he loves you. And I usually keep something, you know, I've written a few books and I pray every time before I get on the plane, which book do you want me to take? And I put it in my briefcase and just recently was really, really cool. Got into a conversation. I was flying back a tech guy coming back into San Jose. He's doing a startup.

He's from Taiwan. And I asked permission to share the story and he let me go on and on. And then he looked at me, goes, Hey, man, I kind of know this story.

My parents are like really strong Christians and I know they're really praying for me and I'm doing this startup and I haven't been to church in a really, really long time and I'm super busy. And, and I just casually said, don't let that startup steal your soul. He said, what?

Yeah. I said, man, I'm with a lot of venture capital guys and startup guys and I watch how it just consumes their life. And I've watched them go through marriages and pain and all kinds of stuff.

You're young and you're smart. And we had this conversation. Well, God led me that morning. You have a book called spiritual simplicity and the subtitle is doing less, loving more. And this is a guy who's a workaholic. And then I had another one called a discover your true self and he married a girl from China and now she's here and having all kinds of identity issues. I never met him, but I'm talking about breaking free and here we are. I realized, wow, God must really care about you.

This is your number one need and this is your wife. And he goes, can I have him? I said, sure. So I get up, I get those two down, jotted a little. Do you know how exciting that is in that moment? And I don't do it all the time. Are you ready for this?

I was bold and I was courageous and I was gentle and by God's grace, I was winsome. What's going to happen? I don't know. But he turned to me and he said this, I think the Lord has been trying to get my attention and I think my parents prayers might really be working. I said, can you give me the book back? And I got it back and I just wrote my email. I said, that's my personal email. When you ever get where maybe you're a little bit more serious, I am always available.

You email me and remind me of this conversation and I'd love to meet with you. Now that's a story, but that's the story that's happening thousands of times. My question is, is that your story?

And you don't have to have a book. It might be a book that you've read by someone else. It might be something else.

It might be you have skills that are way outside that way better than what I have in other areas. But did you get it? God wants to rescue people from their prisons. God wants to help people that are lost and looking for meaning and purpose and he wants to use you and he wants to use me. Scene number three, God longs even to rescue what the scripture would call rebellious fools. Some became fools through their rebellious ways and they suffered affliction because of their iniquities.

They loathed all food and they drew near to the gates of death. They cried to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them from all their distress. Now, when the Bible uses the word fool, you need to understand it's a technical word, if you will. I think it's Psalm 14, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Now there's what, what he's saying here is fools are people.

He's not talking about foolishness. These are people that are saying, I don't believe in God. I'm an atheist or I'm agnostic. I have a lot of people that I don't like, but Christians are at the top of the list. They're narrow. There's stuff about one way. I am against them.

This is who they're talking about. He says they're rebellious in their ways, and then they suffer affliction. In other words, their behaviors and their sin are producing consequences that are devastating. So devastating they get to the end and they're either clinically depressed or they have broken relationships or they can't eat or they can't sleep or maybe they've caught some sort of disease and in their trouble, are you ready?

They hit rock bottom. They turn upward and they cry to God and what's he do? He sends forth his word and he healed them. He rescued them from the grave. Their response, let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

Let them sacrifice, thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy. God wants to find lost people. God wants to bring healing and restore people and have them get freedom.

And then finally, God wants to take people that are far, far from him and make him his sons and daughters. He wants to forgive them and he wants to cleanse them and it's happening all the time. Jesus looked out and a bunch of us, a Samaritan village, his disciples, all Jews, they're thinking these people can't be open.

These people are anti-God. These people got the wrong doctrine and some of them are really immoral and little did they know that the lady that Jesus had talked to the better part of the morning around noon is someone that's had five husbands and is living with a guy. Well, she's unclean. Jesus said, you guys don't get it. I came for her and he shares the truth of living water and forgiveness and she's far, far from God.

She not only feels unworthy, but she's in conflict theologically with the Jews. And God touches her heart and she goes and tells her friends, you know something, this man that I never met told me all these things about myself and a crowd is coming out of a city and here's a bunch of Jewish boys following Jesus that think those people, they'd never, they'd never respond to the message of Yahweh and now his son and there's a revival that happens and a whole revival happens through an immoral woman through a group of people that would never, ever listen. I got news when trouble hits you, when things are hard and they're getting hard everywhere, when there is violence, when there's a flood, when there's a hurricane, tell you what, people are looking at life very differently. I spent some time, massive, massive floods, two hurricanes in the North Carolina area. We had a chance to be a little part of helping those that are helping people, everything from Samaritan's Purse to spiritual issues and kind of helping pastors help people, mobilizing their churches to help others and we're a tiny, tiny little part of it. But I was on the wire talking to one of the guys that, there's a large radio station that the Billy Graham organization has and it reaches about seven states and I said, this is so devastating. You know, how's it going and what's going on? He said, it is more devastating than you can imagine.

He said, Chip, we've never seen anything like it. The body of Christ coming together and people far from God, I mean, your home is here today, your home is gone tomorrow. Everything you have is here today. Everything you have is gone tomorrow and the only people coming to help are in love with this radical rabbi named Jesus. He said, we have people calling out to God, coming to Christ like never before. Literally even on interviews on the air asking, how can they find God through Jesus?

I want you to know the harvest is white. That's what Jesus said to those disciples. Hey, people are 10 times, 100 times, infinitely more open. They're not the bad people. They're the needy people.

And what they need to hear is some of the redeemed too. Are you ready? Say so. Yeah, I was a prisoner. I got free. I was lost. I found a home.

I was far from God and I'm forgiven. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and he'll be back to continue our series Be Strong and Courageous in just a minute. But let me quickly tell you we are more than a broadcast ministry. We're passionate about supporting pastors globally, developing helpful resources, and sharing the gospel with this next generation.

So if you'd like to partner with us in these areas, go to livingontheedge.org. We'll hear again as Chip. Question number four.

I love it. God longs to rescue us from the storms of life, one I just described. Others were on the sea in ships. These are sailors. And they were merchants on the mighty waters. And they saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep.

For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. They mounted up to the heavens, went down to the depths. In their peril, their courage melted away. They reeled and they staggered like drunk men. And they were at their wits end.

Literally all their wisdom left them, the Hebrew text says. And then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper. The waves of the sea were hushed.

They were glad when it came calm. And he guided them to a desired haven. Response, let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the counsel of the elders. Are you seeing a pattern here? Each of these four situations finds people in different circumstance. Some are lost. Some are imprisoned. Some are rejecting God and finding themselves near death.

Here, no one's done anything wrong. In a fallen world, there's hurricanes. We see them. There's tornadoes. There's tsunamis. And he says, these professional sailors found themselves in a situation where their wisdom melted or their wits melted. It's literally all their wisdom left them.

It's gone. We're in a situation that we can't handle. Are you getting the pattern? Problems caused by ourselves, problems caused by others. Sometimes it's just the world, storms that come into our life.

The pattern is God either decrees or allows certain situations. And some situations are made of our own folly, our own sin, our own rebellion. But each and every time, if we get to a point of, I have to look up the trouble I can't handle, I'm going to cry out to God, regardless of where I've been, what I've done or what I believe. And he says, I'll rescue you. I'll rescue you.

I'll calm the waters. And when you think about these four scenes, what you see is a picture of Jesus. Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. Jesus came to set the prisoners free. Jesus came to the demoniac, the people far from God, to heal and restore. And Jesus, when people were in crisis, even in a storm, he would speak his word and what?

Immediately it was calmed. There's this picture of desperation, turning to God, responding in faith, God's intervention and healing, and then a call to don't be silent. You know, it's sort of the Old Testament version of be bold and courageous. Tell others what God has done for you.

And then just in case they missed it, it's very, very interesting how he's going to end this Psalm. He says, he turns rivers into a desert and flowing springs into thirsty ground and fruitful land into salt waste because of the wickedness of those who live there. He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs. There he brought the hungry to live, and he founded a city where they could settle. They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest. He blessed them and their numbers increased greatly, and he did not let their herds diminish. Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity, and sorrow. He who pours contempt on nobles made them wonder in trackless waste, but he lifted up the needy of their afflicted and increased their families like flocks. The upright will see and rejoice, but all the wicked will shut their mouths.

Listen carefully to what he's saying here. He has given us these four scenes, and the pattern is very clear. Things can be very, very, very positive, and I can turn them to be very, very negative, right?

Fruitful to a desert. And then he says, things can be very, very, very negative, and I can intervene, and I can make them very, very positive. And he says, and then there can be injustice, and I can take princes and rulers and presidents and prime ministers and kings, and I can humble them in a minute. God is powerful. God is in control. He's not done yet. His purposes will not be thwarted, and he is still looking for men and women who refuse to settle, men and women who will say, I will not be overcome with this spirit of cynicism. Oh, that's just idealism. That'll never happen in our day. It'll happen in our day when regular men and regular women and students take a step and are bold and courageous like those who have in the past, those that are doing it now, and God will work.

It's what he promised. Notice the final verse is a warning. Whoever is wise, let him heed these things.

What things? This pattern. God's in control, not China, not the United States. God's powerful, not Hezbollah or not Israel, not some ideology here or there.

It's not some undercurrent. There's all kind of things happening, but there's an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing God who has a purpose, and he's going to fulfill it. Whoever is wise, let him heed these things, this pattern, and consider the great love of the Lord.

Behind it all is his passion to do what? To find the lost, to free the prisoner, to just liberate the ridiculous fool and atheist to know that they're loved, and even in calamities to say, let me bring calm. Let me bring forgiveness. Let me bring wholeness. We are ambassadors for Christ as though God were compelling us as his instruments to everyone in the world. Be reconciled to God. Those are Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5. If you're a follower of Jesus, you're his ambassador. You're his representative, and the white of harvest is all around us.

Here's my plea. Here's God's word to you and to me. He's powerful. He's in control, and he's given you and me the job to be bold and courageous in one of the most strategic times in world history.

Let's not blow it. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and the message you just heard, I Will Not Settle, Confronting the Spirit of Cynicism, is from our series, Be Strong and Courageous. Chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. Life is full of intense challenges that can shake our faith and leave us feeling lost. So how can we spiritually ground ourselves and persevere no matter what comes our way? Through this new study in the book of Psalms, Chip dug into eight core chapters that helped us overcome the most harmful emotions and feelings we'll face.

We hope you grasped how to handle cynicism, discouragement, injustice, fear, and more. Let me encourage you to go back and revisit any part of this series at livingontheedge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip's joined me in studio now, and Chip, you wrapped up our series today by stating that we're living in a very strategic time. Now, could you take a moment and explain what you meant by that?

Absolutely, Dave. One of the things you see as you study history, especially Christian history, is about every 400 to 500 years there's a major shift, I mean a big major shift. These are windows of time where there's usually chaos, uncertainty, fear, often much evil prevails. And it's in the midst of these pivotal moments in world history that God has done the greatest movements.

It's a lot like right now. And at Living on the Edge, we leaned in and we said, Lord, what do you want us to do? And we never dreamed that the digital explosion would happen the way it would. And we could actually mentor and disciple people online or that we would have tens of thousands of pastors all around the world asking us to help them. And so right now, what I want to ask those of you that are a part of the Living on the Edge family, you listen occasionally or maybe you even pray for us or give, I'm asking you in this moment, will you help us? We've taken the boldest steps ever in terms of staff, technology, global, pastors, individuals reaching the next generation.

We have doubled down in every area and we have taken steps of faith, but we can't do it alone. Would you prayerfully consider giving to Living on the Edge today or maybe becoming a monthly partner? Go to livingonthedge.org.

That's livingonthedge, all one word,.org. And give whatever God shows you to give. Join the team. Let's seize the day. Let's make a difference.

Thanks, Chip. Well, as you've heard, God has called this ministry to help Christians live like Christians both here in the U.S. and all around the world. So if you'd like to help us fulfill that mission, we'd love to have you join the team by becoming a monthly partner. Set up a regular donation by going to livingonthedge.org or by calling 888-333-6003. Again that's 888-333-6003 or visit livingonthedge.org.

Tap listeners, tap donate. And thanks in advance for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, Chip, as we close, talk a little bit more about the line between being hostile toward what's happening in our world and wanting to throw in the towel. It feels like God is calling us to live right in the middle of those two extremes.

Absolutely, Dave. I mean, the fact of the matter is, is there is evil. There are things that are so wrong. There's such injustice that it's okay to get mad. In fact, you need to get mad.

But when that anger turns to attacking other people, posting on all the social media, becoming this very hostile Christian who everything and everyone else is wrong, especially them, you are not being like Jesus. And by the way, it is ineffective. The other option is, you know what, that's overwhelming. I'm just out of here. You know, I'm just going to sort of protect myself.

I'm going to disengage, you know, the culture, the world. I can't even trust the church. You got all these pastors that have fallen. You got these priests that have had all these sexual problems.

I'm just out of here. And you just create your own little private world. Neither of those are options for followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're called to walk in love. We're called to be the light that shines in the darkness. We're called to forgive.

And we're called in our brokenness to reach out to fellow people that are broken. And by the grace of God, to say this world will never be what we want it to be. It's fallen, but there is a hope. There is a savior.

He is coming back. There is a heaven. There is a hell.

There are huge consequences. And all of us have a little piece of real estate, a relational network, our little world inside the big world. And what God is calling us to do is be light in your world, be salt in your world, and remember that you can't give what you don't have. You can't impart what you don't possess. And so that's why so much of Living on the Edge and why I did this whole series on the Psalms, these Psalms are real.

They're gritty. They capture the emotions and the difficulties and the pain and the brokenness and the cries of the heart that we need to bring before God. But it's in our connection with Him and connection with each other and our mutual connection with His Word that God bursts this supernatural love and this ability to be agents of change and to have a sense of joy and peace and love within on the journey. That's what Jesus did. That's what Jesus taught. That's what the apostles did. And all through church history, we find that there's always been a remnant of people who refuse to be hostile and attack and refuse to run and hide.

And they walk down the middle of the street to say, We will be followers of Jesus. We believe His teaching. We're going to do what He did, teach what He said and love the way He loved. And when that happens, little by little, your little world can change. And when lots of little worlds change, the big world gets a lot better. Great word, Chip.

Thanks. As we wrap up, 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. So when you hear a message that helps you, pass it on to someone in your life. And you can easily do that through the Chip Ingram app or by forwarding them the free MP3s that you'll find at LivingOnTheEdge.org. And don't forget to tell them how it made a difference in your life. Well, for Chip and the entire team here, this is Dave Druey, thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge. And I hope you'll join us next time.