Living on the Edge

Dave Druey: Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, do you ever wish you could really experience God? I mean, you believe in him, he lives inside of you. If you have been missing out on not just knowing God or even knowing about him, but really experiencing him, stay with me. That's today on Living on the Edge.

A crippled man 40 years old who has never taken a single step in his life is jumping through the temple courts and praising God. The crowd is stunned. Peter and John are probably a little stunned themselves. And the early church discovers a key lesson. Taking a step of faith doesn't guarantee smooth sailing. It guarantees God will show up.

I'm Dave Druey and today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram continues his series The Jesus Revolution. And a quick note, later in today's program, Chip will be sharing about a very special opportunity here this month with our midyear match. You won't want to miss that. But right now, here's Chip.

Chip Ingram: Open to Acts chapter 3. And what we're going to see is how God begins with Peter and John and helps them take baby steps. And he's going to give them just a very specific baby step game plan and they change their world.

So follow along because what I'm going to do is there's four baby steps that we learn from the story. And there's one or two baby steps we'll look at in terms of a sermon. One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer, at three in the afternoon. Now a crippled man from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those who were going into the temple courts.

When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. And Peter looked straight at him, as did John. And then Peter said, "Look at us." So the man gave him his attention and he expected to get something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I will give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."

Taking him up by his right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. And he jumped to his feet and he began to walk and then he went jumping into the temple courts and walking and leaping and praising God. And when all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to beg sitting at the temple gate called Beautiful. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what was happening to him.

Baby steps. Step number one for us regular people who have desires in our hearts that God wants to use to change the world is simply draw near to God. Second is look through Jesus' eyes. When you do that, the third baby step—now those aren't too hard really, is it? I mean, how hard is it to draw near to God and then just to look through Jesus' eyes? Third is act on your good impulses.

God is giving you and me those kind of promptings all the time. What if we acted on them? What if we acted on them? Act on those good promptings. Notice what it says to remember. God daily prepares divine appointments for you to be the answer to someone's prayer. Let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Number four, give God the credit. Notice when this happens because I think Peter is as shocked as anyone else. Long before these guys got to be in stained glass, they were just ordinary blue-collar workers trying to figure out what was going on. So you pick up the story. Look at verse 11. While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade.

When Peter saw this, he said to them, "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus." Guys, you understand this isn't about us. This is God. God does miracles. He did miracles then, he does miracles now.

Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another." You'll notice what you need to remember is the world has yet to see the extent of what God will do through someone who does not care who gets the credit. And that's what God wants from us. God wants us to realize you're like one really bad decision or doing something stupid from having a life where you'd say, "How did that happen?"

We're all people of flesh. I praise God the Spirit of God lives in me. The difference is we're forgiven. The difference is he lives inside of us and we're the conduit to share and to care. The Holy Spirit's job is to convict. You share the truth in grace. Usually you hear people that give people all truth or they give them all grace. Love is giving both in balance from a heart that really cares.

I love the verse here I put in Luke 1:37 because it's so interesting who God chooses to use. This is a response of an angel to Mary. Remember Mary, the little teenager, scholars believe probably 15 years old, maybe 17 at the oldest. And the angel says, "God has a God-sized dream for your life. I know you're young, but it's a God-sized dream. He's going to show up to the planet and he's going to live a perfect life and die for the sins of all mankind. He's the Messiah, he's the Savior. And very soon he's going to implant in your womb the supernatural seed of the Spirit of God and you're going to have a baby."

And this little 15- to 17-year-old girl goes, "I haven't majored in biology, but how can that happen since I don't have a husband?" And the angel says, "Mary, with God all things are possible." He wants you to know that. With God all things are possible. With God at your work, in your marriage, in your home, in your singleness, on your campus. With God all things are possible. Do you believe it? At the end of the day, really what it boils down the whole Christian life, you draw near to God and live before him.

You get strength in community and as you're on mission, it's just believing. It's just trusting with God all things are possible. Because if that's true, you take steps that you would never take. If it's impossible, then what you do is you cul-de-sac in your mentality and you figure out how can my life and my little world get safe to make it work for me? And then we lose. We lose the purpose for our living. We lose the purpose for why God put us here.

The number one priority of the church is to build up the life of fellow believers so that those who don't know might know. And they can know not just by what we say, but by how we live. Well, it shifts and we've got a pretty good crowd and the crowd now is going to hear a sermon. We've got the story and he's going to pick up the sermon. And remember, it's a very Jewish group and he's done this right outside in the open area of the temple courts.

So we pick up the story in verse 13 where he says, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus." Now, for some of us, that's not a real keyword, but if you would go back and read in Isaiah 42, 49, 52, and 53, there's a whole section where the Messiah is described as the servant of the Lord. So this would very quickly get their mind thinking, "Oh, so you're saying this Jesus was the Messiah?" Yep.

Dave Druey: This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll continue in a minute. Right now, Living on the Edge is in the middle of a midyear match and every dollar you give this month will be matched dollar for dollar by a group of generous ministry partners. It costs you nothing extra. Your gift simply does twice the work. To find out more, just go online to livingontheedge.org and Chip will share more details in a little bit. Now back to our message.

Chip Ingram: And then when you share with people, you need to understand and let me just give you this and you can listen to how Peter does it. There's part of it, part of the good news of the gospel is bad news. It's that you've really blown it just like I have and you've sinned and you've fallen short of a holy God. And we've got to make sure we say that.

And then after the bad news, there's the good news. But God really, really loves you and cares for you. And in that good news, there needs to be an explanation that Christ died for you, literally as your substitute. And then the final part when you share, as you're going to see Peter, you have to call people to a point of decision. It's not just, "This is what he did, I hope you're now aware of it."

When you share the gospel, you need to say to them, "Is there anything keeping you from putting your faith in Christ today?" I mean, is it uncomfortable? Of course it's uncomfortable. But if people just hear, "There's a movie, it's free, it's the best ever, but you can't get a ticket or I won't tell you how," you see what I'm saying? So listen for the bad news. Listen for the good news and then listen as he calls them to a very specific response.

Verse 14, "You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is in Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him as you can see."

So this man for 40 years has been lying outside. He's leaping and dancing and praising God. A crowd of thousands of people are mushrooming and now he says, "This Jesus that you disowned, the author of life that you killed, that you released." Does this sound like good news? I tell you what, I mean this would be like, "Oh my, what if this guy's right?" And by the way, here's the proof. You see this guy? It's in his name. It's not me. It's in his name and his power and faith in him that's done this.

And so they're looking at this miracle. But notice once you share—and I think his tone of voice was not condemning. I think it was very matter-of-fact. I think Peter loved these people. And so notice he shifts gears. He goes, "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance. I mean you didn't get it. You didn't really believe he was the Messiah, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he foretold through the prophets saying that the Christ would suffer."

And so basically the good news is if you fully understood it all, I don't think you'd have done that. So now here's the option. Here's the call. "Repent then and turn to God." Why? "So that your sins may be wiped out. That times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets."

Then he quotes Moses. "For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. You must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.' Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken and foretold about these days, these messianic days when the Spirit would come, when the Messiah's promises would be true."

"And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all the peoples of the earth will be blessed.' When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways." I want to encourage you that this gets—it's a baby step, but boldly share the good news. Boldly share.

If you want to know everyone wants to know what's the real evidence of the Holy Spirit. How do you know the Holy Spirit really has a hold of your life? And some people will say, "Well, it's a vent like this or it's an experience like that." Let me tell you, you read all the way through the book of Acts, the common denominator when you are filled or saturated and controlled by the Holy Spirit is boldness. It's boldness.

You actually get where you're not so afraid of rejection. You get where you realize the love of God and your concern for people who don't know him outweighs your fear of what they're going to think of you. And that takes a Spirit of God moment. It's boldness. He's bold. I don't know about you, but I take a deep breath when I have to tell someone the bad news of the gospel. You're lost apart from Christ.

"Oh, am I going to get put in a category? That sounds very narrow. You're saying Jesus is the life and the only way?" No, no, I'm not saying that. He said that. Okay, at some point in time, you're either going to slide and sort of try and be okay with everything and everyone and sort of have this private, "I know what the Bible says and I know what Jesus has done in me and it says in chapter 4 there's no other name by which we must be saved."

At some point in time, you've got to realize you're going to share some things with some people in love with tears rolling down. And they can be nice people, good people, moral people. But the God who made them, the second person of the Godhead, came to the earth and lived a perfect life and died in their place. And there's only one way to have relationship with a perfect holy God and be righteous and that's the atoning covering of Christ.

If you have the Son, not if you have religion, you have life. If you have the Son, not if you try to be a good moral person, you have life. And that means that there's a time where you and I, talking with people, need to move beyond the comfort level and talk about the bad news of the gospel. If a person never sees their need, they can never hear the good news. And I would guess that the great majority of us struggle with being bold.

Think about the people that—I mean, if someone you know that you care about at work or in your family or in your neighborhood or in your network or who you chat with, what if you knew they had cancer and they got three days to live? Would you today relate to them the same way for the next three days as you are now? They're going to slip into eternity. Would you? Because at some point in time, I've got to get out of being so worried about what people think or what I can answer or what I can't answer.

And I need to boldly share the gospel. And the gospel has a promise of eternal life, but it begins with bad news and the problem is sin. And then it goes to the good news that Christ has paid for your sin. And it has an explanation that he's our substitute and then there's an action call. You need to repent. You need to leave and turn from your sin and put your faith in Christ and what he did.

And that's when the Spirit of God comes inside of people's lives and they're sealed by his Spirit and they have new life and eternal life. And that's not pastor's jobs or missionary jobs or Christian books' jobs. It's us. I'm always shocked, I remember first time as an early Christian, some guy came up to me and said, "You know, you're the greatest Christian I've ever met." And I thought, "Man, this guy's in trouble."

I mean, this guy's in really big trouble because if I'm the greatest Christian he's ever met, the percentages look a little bit low for how much of Jesus he's really going to see. And then I just realized that's true of all of us. You are someplace at work, people you don't even know. I was in playing a little basketball and a guy I've kind of got to know and I've not talked with him directly, but build a relationship.

And then I went out to lift and he was lifting and out of the blue he turns to me and goes, "Can I tell you something?" I said, "Sure." He said, "I started going to church here recently." I said, "Great. You're a pastor, right?" I said, "Yeah, how'd you know?" "I heard those other guys talking." Okay. "Can I ask for your help?" I said, "Well, what do you need?"

He goes, "Like I'm going to church and this group I'm with, there's like a Bible study midweek. Have you ever heard of those?" I said, "Yeah, we do some of those." And he says, "So I'm going to church, I'm in this Bible study and I stop—I mean, I knew I was doing stuff that was really wrong and I'm not doing the external stuff. But man, I got stuff going on in my head that's really bad." And he said, "Is there any help for that?" I said, "You bet. By the way, we all have that stuff." "Really?" "Yeah."

And so I said, "Give me your email address." And anyway, I sent him the book *The Miracle of Life Change* and a book that most men would understand about how to overcome the dragon of lust. And it was just a divine appointment. But some point in time, you've got to cross a bridge and get a little uncomfortable and share the truth with someone realizing it may not 100% go well.

Notice what the remembrance here is. How will they know if we do not tell them? And if not you, then who? And if not now, then when? Paul would write in Romans 10, "How then will they call upon him, Christ, in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in him whom they've not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?"

One of the things I'm praying just for me, these baby steps for me, I'm praying, "God, will you please, please help me begin to see people through your eyes, see their need, not their exterior?" And I'm practicing going into practice to act on those good impulses. And one of the things I'm praying for me is just rather than an "ought" or "should" or guilt—I guess we could rub each other up for a couple weeks and let's love lost people. And then kind of sink back to the normal. I've been there, done that.

Instead, I'm doing just little tiny prayer. "God, will you give me your love for people who don't know you? Would you help me love them so much that I wouldn't care what they think of me? Would you give me sensitivity that instead of it being about how much did I share? Did I share the whole gospel? Am I here? Would you just give me your love for them? Some of them probably aren't ready to hear this yet, but will you help me love them?"

And whether it's groceries today or helping them with one of their kids or doing something here or just inviting them over and I don't have to tell them anything about Jesus to start out. Tell me your story. How are you doing? Do you have any kids? Where's your biggest challenge? And then would you mind—I met an unbelieving guy recently and I don't know how we hit it off pretty quickly and I just asked him. I said, "Would you be offended if I prayed for you? Is there one thing I could pray for you?"

And he looked at me like, "Are you on drugs, man? Are you kidding? I would love you to pray for me." I mean, I got news for you. Like there's no atheists in foxholes. There's no atheist with people that got cancer and whose homes are upside down, marriages are falling apart and are under addictions and are screaming and needing help. You know who they need? They need Jesus, the one that lives inside your skin just being you.

Dave Druey: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and part two of a message titled "Baby Steps that Change the World," from our series The Jesus Revolution. Chip has a word about the midyear match coming up in just a moment so stay close. If you'd like to revisit today's message or share it with someone in your life, it's available anytime on the Living on the Edge podcast. And for the full unedited version of what Chip teaches, find the Chip Ingram sermon podcast wherever you listen.

A 40-year-old man who spent his entire life at the gate called Beautiful finally walked away. And Peter's response wasn't to take a bow, it was to point straight at Jesus and start preaching. Draw near, look through his eyes, act on the impulse, give God the credit. Those four baby steps don't just apply to healing the sick in the temple gate. They apply to every conversation, every prompting, every divine appointment God has been quietly setting up in your ordinary week.

The revolution doesn't happen all at once. It starts with one step and then another and then another. And here's Chip with a word about what happens when ordinary people take those steps together.

Chip Ingram: The book of Acts is not just history. It's a playbook, a Spirit-breathed model for what happens when a community of believers is genuinely filled and unified and really care about the mission. In our study of Acts chapter 1 through 5, I'm walking through the DNA of the early church. Prayer that actually moves things, community that goes beneath the surface, bold witness that doesn't apologize for the gospel, and miraculous transformation that no human strategy could ever manufacture.

Living on the Edge is a companion to more than 500,000 pastors around the world. We're the voice that some of them hear in the car here in the US. We're the group that meets with them in rural India, rural Africa, or are you ready for this? Over 3 million pastors and leaders throughout China, legally. God has done a miraculous work as we help pastors here in the US and around the world get encouraged on Monday morning, stay in the game when they get discouraged, help them to fight and not lose hope when it gets so hard and so difficult and what they face is hardships and persecution and pain.

When you give to Living on the Edge, you're not just helping individuals. You are supporting pastors here and around the world and the impact is a ripple. Every healthy pastor causes healthy churches, real disciples, people in community, people that walk with God, people that have lots of struggles just like you and me but they get shepherded, they get cared for.

When you give to Living on the Edge this month, every dollar is going to be doubled dollar for dollar and we're going to use it for lots of good things. But one of the main things is to help pastors stay in the game, be very, very healthy, and make a difference for Jesus Christ. Join the movement. You'll never regret it.

Dave Druey: Chip just described a ripple that starts with you. Join the midyear match today and every dollar you send is doubled, multiplying that ripple further than you can imagine. Go online to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. Or send your donation through the mail by writing to us at Living on the Edge, PO Box 3007, Atlanta, Georgia 303024.

I'm Dave Druey. Coming up in Chip's next message, the baby steps have been taken. Now it's time to walk in the power of God. Join us and find out how next time on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.