True Spirituality - How to Get God's Best for Your Life, Part 1

Are you getting God's best. I mean, the God of the universe who created all there is and loves you. Once the highest the best for you. Every area of your life. Is that what you're experiencing life not stick around you to learn how to get God's best.

Today, thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge Chip Ingram services or Bible daily international discipleship program. This program should continue this series throughout Romans 12 first looking for the definitive how to actually follow Jesus provides a clear step-by-step outline before we begin, I would remind you after this message or some additional thoughts from Chip on what were about to hear. If you have a Bible. Haley turned out to Romans chapter 12 let's join Chip for his talk, how to get God's best for your life. Have you ever wondered why there are so many decisions and so few disciples. Here's what I mean by that. What I know, historically right now in the next 24 hours. Tens of thousands of people all across the world make decisions to follow Christ. They'll get it for you. Realize I've seen before a holy God. Christ died in my place. He rose from the dead, and you place your faith in him. He takes from the kingdom of darkness that came of light, but I'm guessing that we all have either short or long list of friends and for many of us.

I've certainly been there myself where that's a reality. His spirit came into your life begin to make some progress. You started to grow, but then things kinda got not so good in the great majority at least statistically of people that genuinely know and love God, who are followers of Christ their life isn't quite matching up. I got a email from a lady that it's a picture of this and it's interesting she said thank you for your message this morning on Romans 12 one may not listen to her story and see how much you can identify with.

I came to Christ when I was 13, but I've gone through a lot of hard times throughout my college, my relationship with God is been up and down ever since. Lately I've been feeling lethargic and distant from God. I woke up this morning I asked myself this question. If I died today with people say that I was a Christian that was a messenger of God or would they even say or know that I follow God at all. Will I happen to turn on your program and as I in my inner life and struggled both with alcoholism and immorality. I heard what it meant to go all in bold letters. I decided to give all my self to God and completely surrender to him. So thank you and God bless that email is sorted some really wonderful neat parts, but isn't it isn't kind of sad that someone would come to a saving knowledge.

13 and have the next ± 20 years described by up and down distant lethargic looking for the satisfaction that only God can given for reasons.

Maybe she didn't understand finds herself relying on alcohol and then multiple sexual relationships only to discover God has a good plan.

God wants to give me the best and for many people they didn't know it does require a moment where you say to him. I'm going to trust you and here's what Romans 12 one said. Therefore, I urge you, my brothers, in view of God's mercy, member 11 chapters of his love for you offer your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, well pleasing to God this is your spiritual service. In other words that's what God really wants but here's the question. It's one thing to give God what he really wants second question is how do you get the very best from God. And it's interesting that's first two he's gonna say and do not be conformed any longer to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that your life in other words, your lifestyle, what you actually experience would be the good well pleasing and perfect will of God, some to ask you to open your teaching handout and what I want to do is know that word and ask and answer the question that I think is one of most important for any Christian how do you get the very best from God what you can see the structure of this passage. There's a negative command stop, literally allowing the world to conform to its mold then there's a positive command, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then there's this purpose clause. There's a reason why so that you personally, not someone out there so you could experience the good well pleasing perfect will of God.

So we got your study out limit money to the whole Bible study. It's a bit more technical than normal, but I think it's worthwhile the negative command is. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world and the main verb is, do not be conformed. It's grammatically what's called the passive voice in a be technical just for a minute. The passive voice means in Greek it means that this the subject is being acted upon. The active voice would be the subject is doing something the subject is being acted upon the imperative simply means that it's a command in the present tense means the subject that is being acted upon. It's happening continuously and so what I did is I took that in and give you sort of the Chip Ingram translation from that grammar is just fill it out a bit literally. The apostle Paul is saying stop allowing yourselves to be molded by the influence and pressures of this present world system. It's really what he say about away when he says world system or the values in this world is not talk about the world with a geographical world. He's talking about a system of values, a mindset, a worldview that is energized by the enemy of your soul, whose goal is to kill and to steal and destroy, to mess your life up to ruin your relationship to separate you from God to make you be emotionally depressed to cause you to physically go in areas that will ruin your life humming the whole goal of the world system is to destroy you into the apostle Paul says stop allowing the system. The set of values that's antithetical to everything God wants for your life.

Stop allowing it to squeeze you into its mold so grammatically he's telling us this is currently happening in the church at Rome and we know it's happening right in our lives mean imagine little boy little girl or young woman or older man here but Jesus the Messiah you come to Christ.

You live in Rome there's an and further the gladiators. There's idols everywhere there's brothels everywhere. You can have any kind of sex with any person anytime, anywhere. It's a violent culture 80% of the entire people group are slaves that are treated as less than human beings. Women don't even make it there there just a piece of property. Babies are killed because of gender with no thought. He says stop allowing the values of this present world in Rome and now today in America or wherever you are in the world to squeeze you into its mold now. Sometimes this is really exciting for me sometimes still be a phrase in Scripture and someplace else in Scripture. It'll define it very clearly so the application very clearly is that we are to be separate from the world's eyes if you understand how to give God what he wants. The most we need to be surrender to God.

But when you want to understand how to get God's best. We need to be separate from the world's eyes and then in first John 215 through 17. I put the text right in your notes.

He will literally define and explain what are the world's values and house work. Follow along as I read do not love the world were the things that are in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in and now is going to define. So what's the world for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father but is from the world and notice this commentary. The world is passing away, and its lusts, or passions, but the one who does the will of God lives forever if you have a pen I like you to pull it out and every time you see the word love want to circlet. He who loves the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is what I want you to understand is sometimes at least historically the church when people talk about the world system of the world's values are worldliness. It somehow gets translated into.

Here's a list of things you can't do.

Or here's another list. You can't do work it's all these external things I want you to understand the values that he describes and the powers pull at your flesh and mine are far deeper. It's about relationship.

It's about where is your love where your affections, and he says the world system is has three components, you know, so put in bold. There's the lust of the flesh, the less the guys and the pride of life, the lust of the flesh is merely the passion to feel it's his desire we have for pleasure that pleasure can come out and sacked thinking about it food. By the way, all these desires are legitimate, but what the enemy wants to do is create a world system to deliver legitimate needs and illegitimate ways to destroy your life, the lust of the eyes is the passion to have worked to possess. I get to have that the boastful pride of life is that the passion to be has to do with position to be somebody, and so in summary, the world system seeks to seduce us from our love for Christ by pleasure, possessions, position, some people put it this way the world is really about sex salary and status. Or, I heard a an older missionary.

This is like you know I was in another country and it's a young man. We were all young men playing basketball in South America and he says guys it's all about girls gold and glory and said those are the things you know girls you can flip that around and figured out here's here's what I want you to get there is a system that comes on almost every commercial every billboard in every magazine where you work, that tells you that if you could possess that if you get this position if your kids get in this school if you can have these things that security and significance and meaning and happiness and purpose.

It's all for you if I every time you walk out of the checkout stand. It screams the world system because here you are, you got two little groceries and get the local grocery store and getting all the magazines in this magazine. Number one is either Cosmo or men's health and if you're a guy you look more Cosmo the human self and all the girls I literally there all the same from the neck down.

When you look at the cover. Cosmo some you'll get that a bit later and it just says sex man. If you have that horrible part of this look at men's health. It's a bit of a head as if I had abs like that and the women would love me and the girls don't know whether I should look at Cosmo. I'm supposed to look like that. I wonder how many surgeries that would require an Honey's time in the work workout room and swords were just told honey were just told your body. You have the skin to be attractive and sexual and beautiful and in this whole industry's multibillion-dollar industries know you're trying to buy some groceries and it says you don't look like this. You look like this and some of us look all that and realizing I may never get there and so that is people magazine this next one on the rack and I think be famous like Dan, I mean it's just like how in the world did we go from actors and scripts in drama and thinking and entertainment to 80% of everything reality shows. Everyone wants their own reality shows what we've got people who do illegal things to create false stories to try and create their reality school. Why, if people knew me saying, glory then I'd be somebody. As you come to get the yogurt in the bread and the milk across 10 unit into Cosmo and men's health and now here you are you thinking mine lands you and I don't. People magazine those sure are pretty people wanted to check the pictures and she's with so and so she's to be so and so now she's a so-and-so and she's pregnant. All she's got the baby bump in the names and faces change in your right as you get a little older. Some of your gonna leave or get that ended its mother's forms and their fortune. If you have Batman right and and so money, sex, power, position, and then we create worlds so their kids can get money, power, sex in position so we work like crazy. Don't see one another, spend most of our train, staring at screens have relationships that don't work work hours later insane be in the gym for long hours to become.

I look like someone so someone will love us and all while the people that have the most money with the sexiest bodies with the largest houses who won the lotto or are the celebrities. When we look carefully at their life, we see the highest percentage of depression, divorce, suicide, and emptiness. It's like this crazy picture of everyone following the great rainbow for the pot of gold with possessions in power and position and those that have, it would come out and say it's empty, it's empty and I can tell you whether it's in South Africa or Korea or Hong Kong or Indonesia to Silicon Valley or Nebraska. The great majority of Christians are not experiencing God's best in the not experiencing God's best because their heart has been seduced away from their Savior and we bought the lies that these things will fulfill and they don't. And God brought you into this room on this day to say to you, I want to give you the best so negative. Stop allowing yourself to be molded by the world. So get aware. But that's not enough. Turn the page.

Second, he's going to say start allowing yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Notice the positive commences be transformed a member I think about ninth grade biology data more facets right meta-record with more fish to change the member member and I know there's a very technical word because people always correctly did I call them green caterpillars and I know it's technically not a caterpillar but you little caterpillar that puts it in his cocoon and then this beautiful butterfly comes out when we call that process ninth grade biology, meta-offices, it's changed from the inside out. This is what God saying, don't allow the world external to squeeze you in their values into this false belief and system of lies lead to death, but allow yourself by the transformation of your mind to be changed from the inside out. The notice, the grammar, it's exactly the same. It's in the passive voice. What that means. Some other words God hefted you can change yourself. But it's a command so God says there's a part that you have that you cooperate with me. I'm the one who does the changing. And then notice it's in the present tense, so notice the translation here of this command is, but allow God to completely change your inward thinking and outward behavior. How by cooperating wholeheartedly, moment by moment with the spirits renewing process it supernatural. It's not self effort in trying hard. Here's a model and a picture like Jesus and to try and be kind time. Be loving trying know it's internal it supernatural. It's the spirit of God.

Taking the word of God renewing your mind in the context of community of real-life relationships with the very personality of Jesus and his character were your loving and kind and peaceful and gentle and generous and other centered self-discipline and the fruit of the spirit which is really the life of Christ progressively becomes more how you think and how you act.

It's not trying hard to be like Jesus.

It's allowing the Jesus living in you by the Holy Spirit to transform you from the inside out. So the application is really a put in the form of a question are you shaped more by the world or by the word. I think I know the answer for most of us, but I thought when we got let let's let this one just rest for second ready.

So before we just go on.

Let me just ask you okay, ready if I just put a little stick man on the line and arrow this direction error. This direction, and on this side would be the words influence in my life, truth, God's word God's people. You're the little stick man or stick woman and this is the world which one is having the most influence the world is saying get get get accumulate, accumulate, impress, impress, impress, the word is saying give give give be authentic love, care, the world is saying it's how you look, the word is saying it's who you are. The world is saying you don't measure up. Unless you have the word is saying you already measure up in your value is and how you care. The word comes to you in the beauty of nature primarily the Bible the word of God and out of the relationships of other believers were Jesus lives inside of them. All those things wooing you and drawing you to allow Christ be formed in you and the world comes at you and smart phones, computer, TV, Netflix, billboards, romance novels, I'm relationships were people, look at you and say unless you have this unless you look like that unless you can do this unless you conform that you don't really measure up in your in the battle of your life. External forces like this saying to you, conform conform conform an internal supernatural powers and be transformed be transformed in and that I don't say this in.

This is not like oh I want everyone to feel guilty for like 30 seconds. I just want you to look at the little stick man in your mind and say is the input of God's Word and God's people and those things influencing your time your priorities in your focus or is it more the world now nationwide.

It's pretty obvious about 8 to 9/10 Christians. It's more this.

Can you imagine in heaven how God must feel about that lady and about us as a 13-year-old girl.

The comes to know Jesus and his love and he's got this amazing plan for her, but she hears unless you sleep with your boyfriend you don't measure up. So she does when she feels guilty because when the Spirit lives in you. There's this battle and she did it to be loved and will then she feels bad about it. And so to get sleep at night.

She starts in the drink a little bit and she must be a part of things that she hangs with the crowd and down deep inside of her soul. She has a slack of peace and when finally she just realizes I spent 20 years of the spirit of God living inside me and I've never gotten God's best. I wonder how many Christians sitting in this room today are living right there mate I've been doing is just listening to the first part of his message how to get God's best for your life.

From his series true spirituality becoming a Romans 12 Christian this six part series sheds light on how to move your relationship with God. From a performance oriented existence to a loving grace filled life in these messages strip describes the profile of an authentic follower of Jesus, and provides practical steps for how we can get there over those who don't know true spirituality is the core discipleship teaching here at Living on the Edge because of that we have a ton of great resources to help you get plugged in with a series whether that's the study guides the DVDs or CDs of chips teaching the book or our free MP3s for limited time. All of these helpful resources are discounted to order your true spirituality resources today by going to LivingontheEdge.org that's LivingontheEdge.org at blisters tap special offers will chipper a lot of believers and over a period of time.

The Christian life starts feeling like I will big long to do list like him supposed to pray I'm supposed to read my Bible and it becomes a grind.

There's no joy anymore.

Could you give us some help in terms of how to make a relationship with the Lord fresh and alive. The way we like it to be in God wants it to be David's true of all of us. I mean, it's about relationship. It's about connection. It's about the spirit of God. Taking the word of God and hearing his voice and growing and having a sense of his presence and very vivid prayers and sorta walking with God day today and what I realizes a lot of Christians don't know how that works. Or they need kind of a jumpstart to that were doing something brand-new. It's called daily discipleship with chip and it's on true spirituality.

It's me meeting with you, the listener one on one.

We walked through the text together. I give you a small little outline and I ask you to do 10 minutes and for 17 days. We walked day by day together and discover how to study the Bible how to hear God's voice developing the habit where day in and day out, you begin to make this a part of your life. People have asked me for years. Were you mentor me, will you disciple me daily discipleship. True spirituality is just that Dave could you tell them how they can get connected with us, be glad your trip, what were so excited to share with you this new daily discipleship with chip true spirituality based in Romans chapter 12 our heart behind this video series is to really help you dive into God's word and discover how to more intentionally live out your faith for 17 days. You and Chip will walk through were true spirituality looks like and how you can put these truths into practice.

If you're looking for the next step along your faith journey.

Let me encourage you to be a part of daily discipleship with chip. True spirituality can sign up for this study right now and when you do will send you our friend Lance Witt's devotional based on Romans 12 called leave ordinary behind at no cost. Sign up now. While this offer lasts by going to LivingontheEdge.org or by calling AAA 333-6003 that's AAA 333-6003 or go to LivingontheEdge.org hapless nurse just up discipleship now with some final thoughts from this message here.

Strip as you listen to today's message.

What went through your mind. I mean it's a no yes proposition and to get God's best. What we talked about is you have to say no to the influences of the world system that is taking you out of receiving God's best for you. Talk about how do you actually renew your mind to receive God's best.

But today is, like inventory day.

I mean, what came to your mind what people I what practices you know what's going into your mind, your heart that you realize as I was talking in fact you realized because the spirit of God did that thing you know how we did. As where he just sort of pokes and you go who sorta hurts but I know it's true. Where did he poke you me what movie what Netflix what relationships what websites, what books, what magazines do you just say and some of them.

They are even wrong.

They're just not helpful. They're not healthy their distracting you know how much time in front of a screen or a tube or a videogame. Did God just whispered to your spirit and say you can keep doing that, but you'll never get my best.

You need to make room for me so I can do in you and through you what I long to do so you get the very very best the best relationships the best future. The best work so I want you to do is just identify that and then make a commitment to be with me at our next broadcast arena, talk about how to be transformed by the renewing of your mind you know a great way to get more out of every messages to use chips message notes while you listen will get his outline all of the Scripture references. Lots of fillings to help you remember what you're learning. Use them personally, or even with your small group chips message notes are quick downloaded LivingontheEdge.org under the broadcasts tab at blisters tap fill in notes will be sure to join us next time. Until then, this is Dave thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge