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Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram Daily Podcast - How to Become the Person You've Always Longed to Be, Part 2 · The Word On Demand

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Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
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You know, in our day, we hear a lot of people
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talk about spiritual maturity. What a powerful
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phrase, spiritual maturity. Can I ask you a question?
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Are you spiritually mature? How do you know?
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Well, today I'll give you God's fourfold criteria
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for measuring your spiritual growth and how you
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can become the person you've always wanted to
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become. Stay with us. What does it actually take
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to become the person you long to be? In our last
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message, Chip Ingram gave us the first half of
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the answer straight from Ephesians chapter four.
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Today on Living on the Edge, he picks right up
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where he left off. I'm Dave Drewy, and we're
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continuing our series called Free at Last, How
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to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle. If you've
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missed any part of our study, just go online
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to livingontheedge .org. Now here's Chip with
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part two of how to become the person you've always
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longed to be. If you have your Bible open to
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Ephesians chapter 4, we pick it up in verse 11,
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and he gave some as apostles and some as prophets
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and some as evangelists and some as pastors and
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teachers for the equipping of the saints for
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the work of service to the building up of the
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body of Christ. Until we all attain to the unity
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of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
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of God. to a mature man, to the measure of the
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stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
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Verse 14, as a result, in other words, the impact
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is we're no longer to be children tossed here
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and there by every wind of doctrine, by trickery
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of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.
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But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow
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up into all aspects into him who is the head,
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even Christ, from whom the whole body, speaking
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of the church, being fitted and held together,
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by what every joint supplies according to the
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proper working of each individual part that causes
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the growth of the body for the building up of
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itself in love. There's three principles and
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a proof that flow out of this passage. Principle
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number one tells us what leaders are to do. Leaders
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are gifted to equip God's people for service.
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It's what leaders do. And then he gives four
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examples of leaders in the early church. And
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you'll notice he literally gives the foundation.
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He says, first there's apostles. The word apostle
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literally means one who is sent with a commission.
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Jesus had many disciples, but he chose 12 apostles.
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The qualifications for being an apostle is you
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had to be actually with the risen Christ from
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his baptism on through the rest of his ministry.
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Now, there's the office of apostle. You have
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these 12. And then you have the function of apostle.
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These are people that... aren't original apostles
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because there's no one living today that actually,
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right, was back when Jesus was resurrected. But
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this function of starting new things, the idea
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of missionaries, people who start ministries,
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there's a function of apostleship. And then after
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he had the apostles, there's the prophets. And
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the early church didn't have a New Testament.
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And so they got revelation from God. Prophecy
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primarily is the foretelling of God's truth.
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Then you have evangelists. These are people gifted.
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with an extraordinary gift and a winsomeness
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that lead lost people into an understanding of
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a saving knowledge of Christ. And when you're
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around them, they motivate the rest of us to
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do the work of an evangelist, to really care
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about people outside of Christ. And then once
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they're sent, and once there's truth, and once
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people come to Christ, then pastor teachers,
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the word pastor literally just means a shepherd.
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It's someone who comes along someone and says,
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I want to help you through the valleys and the
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ups and the downs and the struggles. And I'm
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going to teach you the truth so that you understand
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this is how God wants your marriage to work.
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This is what God says in terms of living a single
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life. This is how his instruction about your
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finances, your dreams, or ambition. Here's how
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you deal with these kind of temptations. And
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the goal of apostles and prophets and evangelists
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and pastors and teachers is to equip God's people
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for the work of service. Literally, we become
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the body of Christ. Jesus, when he was on the
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earth, would walk around and if someone needed
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a cup of cold water, with his hands, he would
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give them a cup of cold water. Or if they needed
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food, he would break some bread and pray over
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it and give them food. But today, Jesus' body
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is us. But what you gotta understand is the role
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of leaders are to equip. Notice the second principle.
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Second principles are every member is a minister.
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You are the hope of your neighborhood, the hope
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of your family, the hope of where you work. You
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are a full -time minister of the gospel. Leaders'
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job is to help equip you personally, spiritually,
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relationally, so you can be an effective minister
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in your home and at your school and your work,
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in your neighborhood. And I remember the story.
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I always liked the... The old westerns, we still
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kind of watch them. And I always love the part
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on the old, you know, westerns where the bank's
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been robbed. What are you going to do? And then
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the marshal comes up. All right, fellas, we're
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going to form a posse. And then what's he do?
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All right, marshal dealing. I'm going to deputize
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all you people. And then what do they do? They
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all get on their horses and they have their guns.
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They now have the power to go do exactly what
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the sheriff does. Can I tell you, when you came
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to Christ, God gave gifted leaders to equip you.
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You're deputized. You can counsel. You can lead
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people to Christ. You can share your faith. You
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can open your home. You have a unique DNA in
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terms of relationships, spiritual gifts, backgrounds,
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opportunities, and often your deepest hurts.
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Often the things that you have been through that
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you feel like, oh. will be the very things that
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will help the people in this valley understand
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who Christ is. And I want you to know you've
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been deputized. I remember a really interesting
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experience because we talk about life change
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and sometimes when we talk about authentic community,
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if you're not careful, you can get authentic
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community to mean, I'm in a great small group.
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I'm privately reading the Bible. We share deeply.
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It's a great time together. We are having these
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wonderful relationships. And I guess this is
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authentic community. No, no, no, no. That's part
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of authentic community. See, authentic community
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isn't just about what you get or deep relationships
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or accountability. Authentic community has to
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do with being fitted in the right spot so that
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those kind of relationships are on mission to
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fulfill what Jesus said when he said, go therefore
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and make disciples. And if you're not involved
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in not just receiving and loving and caring and
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the word, but serving out of the supernatural
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deposit of gifts, your life doesn't change and
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you don't experience his power. I had a weird
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experience with this. I didn't grow up as a Christian
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and I came to Christ and then I coached. And
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when I coached, I did Bible studies with my players.
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And then after Teresa and I got married, we both
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were in a college ministry. She was working and
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I was coaching and working. And then like on
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Tuesday and Thursday morning, I meet with a group
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of guys and she met one evening with a group
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of gals that she was discipling. And then once
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a week, we'd have all these people over and our
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lives were filled with caring and loving and
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discipling. And I mean, it was very fulfilling.
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In fact, that's why I actually thought, I think
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God wants me, Chip, regular ordinary person to
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actually be a pastor. And I thought, you gotta
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be kidding God. Certainly you have to be smarter
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than me. And a lot more holy than me. And God
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said, no, actually, you'll do. So I said, okay.
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And so we go to seminary. And, you know, in West
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Virginia, like a huge church is 200 people. I
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mean, there's only a million people in the whole
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state. A mega, mega church is like 300 people.
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And we were in a church of about 200 people.
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And when we get to Dallas and it was like, oh
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my lands. And people invited us. So we ended
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up at this church of about 2 ,500 people and
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the pastor was awesome and had all these seminary
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professors teaching Sunday school classes. I
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went to a Sunday school class on the Psalms and
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the editor of the NIV Bible, when it was being
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developed, he taught the class. And then you've
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got, you know, this guy who wrote seven books.
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And so, I mean, it was like, I mean, it was like
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going to a conference every weekend. You go to
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a class over here and amazing things for your
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kids. And so it was like, wow, wow, week one,
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week two, week three, week four, week five, week
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six, week seven. And you know, I'm getting all
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this stuff at seminary and we're trying to figure
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out life. And I'll never forget, had an interesting
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experience because I mean, great, great, great
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teaching. And I can still remember getting right
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to the door of where you went in this big church.
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And I turned to my wife and I said, do you feel
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like going to church today? And please don't
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make too heavy application on this. She said,
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no. I said, me neither. You want to go to Wendy's?
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She goes, sure. Sorry. So we did. And so, you
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know, they're doing this great stuff with our
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kids, so we go to Wendy's. And we get to Wendy's,
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and I said, honey, something's wrong. I mean,
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I've never been to church with such good teaching.
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I've never been to church with such great programs.
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But, man, I just feel, I think that was the word
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I used. And she said, I feel exactly the same
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way. I said, well, what could be wrong? We're
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here preparing for the ministry, And she said,
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well, why did we come? And we began to talk about
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what a normal week was like in West Virginia.
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And you know what I realized? I realized that
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all I was doing was eating spiritually, but there
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was no exercise. The grace of God wasn't flowing
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through me to help other people. And so, I mean,
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I was in a small group and I was getting all
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this great teaching. Becoming the person you
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long to become. cannot happen by being simply
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a spectator and a receiver of great spiritual
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food in a great spiritual environment. It's by
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that which every joint supplies according to
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the proper working of each individual part. And
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I remember riding on a napkin. I said, okay,
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we got to fix this. So, you know, I'm working
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full time. I'm going to school full time. I don't
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have any time, but I'm thinking if my spiritual
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life is, I mean, I'm doing a dive. There's no
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power. There's no energy. There's no life. And
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so I got an appointment with the pastor and we
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sat down at this booth in this little restaurant
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and on a three by five card I had my name, my
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phone number, what I thought my spiritual gifts
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were, ministry experience I've had in college
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ministries, and then I pretended I had to go
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to the bathroom. Excuse me, I can go to the bathroom,
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I'll be right back. And I handed him the card.
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And on the back of it said, you tell me any place
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in this church you need help, I'm in. And so
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I went to the bathroom. Two and a half minutes.
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Maybe he needs three, you know. I want to make
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sure he reads the card well. And I came back
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and we sat down and Don says, well, hey, it seems
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like you've had some ministry experience. I said,
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you can check me out however you want. I got
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to get back in the game. We ended up doing the
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high school ministry. Six or eight months later,
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we ended up doing the college ministry. And life,
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leaders are gifted to equip. Every member is
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a minister. And if you aren't ministering, you
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know those little things where I said, can you
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imagine what it would be like to forgive someone
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so deeply that your first reaction would be you
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rejoice? That's supernatural. That doesn't happen
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by reading your Bible alone and trying real hard
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to, you know, change some habits. We'll continue
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in a moment here on Living on the Edge with Chip
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Ingram. While you're with us, if you've never
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checked out the Living on the Edge with Chip
11:57
Ingram YouTube channel, you're missing a whole
11:59
other side of this ministry. It's full of teaching
12:02
series you won't see anywhere else. Things like
12:05
BIO, three essential practices to becoming like
12:09
Jesus, and the I Choose Joy series, just to name
12:13
a few. It's a great way to go deeper with Chip's
12:15
teaching or to send a friend something to watch.
12:18
Just search Living on the Edge. with Chip Ingram
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on YouTube and take a look around. Well, now
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here's Chip. See, there is a design. There is
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a spiritual cocoon. There is a master creator.
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And he says the way it works is when leaders
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equip and every member is a minister, then amazing
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things happen. And in verse 13, it's that ministries
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are developed to help every believer. To live
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every day in every way just as Jesus would live
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if he were living out his life in their physical
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body. All I want you to know is that I now have
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the ability to say, this is a new one. I can
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say in even more words what Paul was saying in
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verse 13. And he uses a lot of words. By that,
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notice what he says. He talks about until you
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become a mature man to the fullness of the stature.
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to the body of Christ. And what I want you to
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know is that In God's design, when leaders equip
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instead of do all the ministry and rob people
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of it, when every member realizes, you know something?
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Okay, I'm in school or I'm a stay -at -home mom
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or I'm working in this company, but I am his
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representative. I am the living Christ inside
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of me. The hope for this whole department may
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be me. I may be the only Christian. How I live,
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how I talk, how I love, when and how I communicate
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is the hope of the world. I'm a minister. I don't
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have a little collar, but I'm a minister. And
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then what happens is when this occurs, ministries,
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in other words, outreaches to people are developed
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so that every single believer lives every day
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in every way. So it's not like it starts at work,
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but it's at home. It's with your roommate. It's
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in your neighborhood. It's realizing, you know,
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just step outside your door or your apartment
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and look around and realize nine out of 10 of
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most all the people in this part of the country
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where I live do not have a personal relationship
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with God. And there is great need and there's
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a God who loves them. And then after they die,
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because I spent yesterday with a guy that they
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told had about six or nine months to live. And
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when you look in the eyes of very powerful people
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with all kind of background and they know they
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have six or nine months to live, they act very
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differently. He said, you know, when it's theory,
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you know you die, but it gets real different
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when it's up close. And he was sitting across
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his bed, and I asked him, I was amazed at how
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bold I was. So, what are they telling you? Less
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than a year. What are you most afraid of? You
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know why I was so bold? He's going to die. He's
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going to die. And right now, all indications
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are that he's going to die apart from Christ.
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I said, I don't know all about your past life
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and how many regrets you might have, but you
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don't want to have eternal regrets. I want you
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to know there's a Jesus, there's a God who cares,
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and he's prepared a place for you if you'll receive
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his gift. And you know, he looked at me, and
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you know what hit me this morning? Everyone I
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meet's going to die. Is this true or not? You
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know your neighbors? I got news for you. flash.
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They're going to die. You know your co -workers?
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They're going to die. You know your family? They're
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going to die. You know what makes you bold? When
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you get it. And we stop worrying about so much
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how people think of us and we start realizing
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I have a supernatural endowment and power inside
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of me. The living God lives inside of me and
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he cares about them and the only issue is me
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getting over me. But the only way I get over
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me is when I get equipped by leaders. And the
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only way I learn to minister is when I take baby
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steps and start doing it. And you know, when
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you start doing it, guess what? You fail a lot.
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Okay. You know, when I see Jesus with the disciples,
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you know what I notice? They fail a lot. You
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find me in the gospels where he yells at him
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for failing. I can't find it. The only time he
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gets upset is, where's your faith? You got to
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be kidding me. You're not even trying. Oh, you
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have little faith. So, leaders equip us. We are
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all the ministers. And then ministries are birthed.
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This is how the church works. Church isn't coming
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and listening and spectating, saying the music
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was okay, the guy kept me awake most of the time,
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now I'm going to go out and try and be a nice
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person. That's not it. It's you getting equipped.
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It's you being a full -time minister. It's you
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watching ministries grow and develop according
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to your hearts and your passions and you begin
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to serve. And as you do, the grace of God comes
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inside of you and he uses you and you have this
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amazing experience where people's eternities
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and families and marriages and kids are completely
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transformed because of an ordinary piece of clay.
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like you, in whom the living spirit of God lives
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and he gifts you and trains you and you take
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baby steps of faith and you fail and you struggle
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and have ups and downs, but in the midst of all
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your weakness and hurt, the power of God is displayed.
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See, that's what happened in the early church.
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I mean, they didn't even have technology and
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they multiplied. In fact, a young man, I was...
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meeting with a young pastor doing a little mentoring.
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He's planted a church. And so they grew to about
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300 people. And he said, you know, now this group
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is kind of feeling like it's a younger church
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and a lot of college age. And he said, I'm watching.
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Now the church is kind of focused on, hey, we
17:55
really like this and we're kind of different.
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It's kind of working for us. He said, my biggest
17:59
challenge now is to help us remember we planted
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this church to reach another generation. He said,
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here's my goal for this year. We have 300 people.
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My goal is that every single person will lead
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just one person to Christ. I mean, we're going
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to train them. We're going to help them. We're
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going to love them. But just every person, 300
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people, this time next year, we're going to pray
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and dream and ask God that these 300 people would
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lead another 300 people to Christ. And I thought,
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wow, that's a great goal. And how are you going
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to go about that? And he laid it out for me.
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And you know sometimes when you're mentoring
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or you're supposed to be helping people, you
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realize when you're done, I think this is helping
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me way more than him. Leaders are the equippers.
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Ministries will grow and develop. Special ministries
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to special age groups and special needs and special
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backgrounds out of your hurts and your pains
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and your gifts and your passions. And then what
18:50
you'll see is this is what happens. You'll find
18:53
that there'll be doctrinal stability. You'll
18:55
find people because they're in the word. You
18:57
know what? They can spot a false teacher. As
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a result, we're no longer children, right? Tossed
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here and there by every wind of doctrine. As
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a result, what you find is people have authentic
19:05
relationships. You do ministry with people and
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you fail and you struggle and you pray together
19:08
pretty soon. You're tight. Not just in a small
19:10
group, but you're tight. And they're loved. And
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there's full participation. It's by that which
19:17
every joint supply. We need you. Here's the deal.
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This isn't like... I hear some people like, well,
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I don't need to go to church because, you know,
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there's nature and I've got a Bible and there's
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God and I don't need the church. Okay. Granted.
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We need you. Okay. I mean, you know, it's like
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saying, it's like the tight end saying, I don't
19:35
need you. I can toss the ball to myself. And
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I got news for you. There's certain patterns
19:39
and plays we can't run without a tight end. And
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we need both guards and we need a quarterback
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and we need a coach and we need a manager. We
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need everybody. The church can't be the church.
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Full participation. And when that happens, that's
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when those imaginary things that I described,
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they're not imaginary. They're not imaginary.
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Are you ready? I know this will come as a shock.
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You're gonna die. And there's gonna be people
20:07
at your house or near your house eating those
20:11
little munchy little sandwiches. And they're
20:14
gonna talk about you. And I don't know about
20:16
you, but... I want them to say, by the grace
20:20
of God, you know what? He was one of the most
20:24
loving people I ever met. Oh man, I mean, had
20:27
his idiosyncrasies and they laugh about those.
20:30
But full of integrity. Christ -like. Cared about
20:35
people. Generous. Loving. Authentic. That's not
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going to happen by trying hard. and coming and
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sitting in this building to be a good person.
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That's gonna happen when you understand who you
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are in Christ, when you understand the power
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is in Christ's resurrection for you and with
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you to walk in newness of life, and when you
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allow leaders to equip you, and when you minister,
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and ministries are birthed along your gifts and
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passions, and you know the word, and you speak
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the truth in love, and you are connected. and
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God produces it. You're listening to Living on
21:21
the Edge with Chip Ingram and a message titled
21:23
How to Become the Person You've Always Longed
21:26
to Be from Chip's series called Free at Last,
21:29
How to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle.
21:31
Well, there's more from Chip coming up in a moment.
21:34
Every message in this series is also available
21:36
anytime on the Living on the Edge podcast. Subscribe
21:40
so you can listen wherever you go. And for Chip's
21:43
complete unedited sermon, look for the Chip Ingram
21:46
Sermon Podcast. Something powerful we heard today.
21:50
You don't need a title or a platform to be a
21:53
minister of the gospel. Wherever you spend your
21:56
days, your home, your job, your neighborhood,
21:59
you're already deputized. Chip's book, Yes, You
22:02
Really Can Change, is written for exactly this
22:05
moment, when you know God wants to use you, but
22:08
you're not sure how the change actually happens.
22:10
And because today's message was all about equipping
22:13
others, right now every order comes with a second
22:16
copy included, so you can pass one along to someone
22:19
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Edge continues thanks to the generosity of people
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22:48
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22:55
Well, now back to Chip for a closing word. As
22:58
we close today's program, I'd love to have just
23:00
a very informal conversation with you. So whatever
23:03
you're doing, kind of lean back for just a minute.
23:05
And let me just ask you a couple questions that
23:07
I think may have come to your mind. And if they
23:10
didn't, if I could be so bold, I think God would
23:13
want them to come to your mind. And the first
23:15
question would be, are you using your spiritual
23:18
gift? And are you using it in your local church?
23:22
Well, maybe the question we ought to back up
23:24
before that one is, do you know what your spiritual
23:26
gift is? And here's my experience. I think most
23:30
of us as Christians, you know, you read through
23:32
the New Testament or you hear about spiritual
23:34
gifts and maybe some people are... kind of very
23:38
dramatic about some of the gifts. And so I find
23:41
a lot of Christians are like, I don't even want
23:43
to go there. The last time I talked about spiritual
23:45
gifts, I got in an argument. And for others,
23:47
it's like, yeah, I think I have some and I've
23:50
read some and I was in a Bible study once and
23:52
someone told me it's probably either leadership
23:54
or mercy or, you know, maybe it's teaching. But
23:58
and, you know, they give you like a list of seven
24:00
or eight and you just realize in your heart of
24:03
hearts, you don't have a clue. Here's the thing.
24:06
God wants you to know your primary spiritual
24:09
gift. He wants you to use it. And when you use
24:12
it, supernatural things happen in the lives of
24:15
other people and joy happens inside of you because
24:19
he's deposited this gift in you to remind you
24:22
of Christ's work and Christ's victory, but also
24:25
to give you literally a supernatural ability
24:28
to love and help other people. Coming up in our
24:33
next lesson, Chip Ingram uses a surprising picture
24:35
from nature to explain exactly what happens when
24:38
someone becomes a new creation in Christ. Discover
24:42
why an unchanged life is actually incompatible
24:45
with real faith and what it means to genuinely
24:48
become someone new. Next time on Living on the
24:51
Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored
24:57
by Living on the Edge.