April 28, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Have you ever had an experience change your opinion or
attitude on something. I mean, you thought you knew all
the facts and considered every angle until you personally went
through a situation that completely changed your mind. Well, join
me as we hear two powerful stories of people who
thought they had everything in their lives figured out until
(00:32):
they didn't. You're not going to want to miss this.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thanks for listening to this edition of Living on the
Edge with Chip Ingram. We are in international teaching and
discipleship ministry that motivates Christians to live like Christians today.
Our guest teacher, John Dickerson picks up in our series
dealing with Doubts for the second half of this message,
Jesus You and experiential evidence. But as a reminder, if
(00:58):
you want to go back and listen to part one
or any other messages in this series, listen through the
Chipping grammat. Okay, here is John with the remainder of
his talk.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I want to tell you two stories, true stories of
people who gave everything they had in the pursuit of fulfillment.
And as a reporter and a journalist, I had a
front row seat to both of these stories. Now when
I would get assigned a profile like this. At the
point I was at in my career as a journalist,
(01:29):
I would spend months, sometimes three to six months, working
on one story.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
It was very in depth reporting.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
But I found these two different guys who were both
seeking fulfillment.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
As much as you ever could. The first is a
man named Scott Coles.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Scott is a man who built a fortune of nearly
one billion dollars. If you need a math refresher, you
hear so much billion, trillion, million stuff in the news.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
What does it all mean anymore? Okay, here's a billion.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I just want you to imagine for a moment that
I give you a million dollars today. You're welcome, come
back next week. Okay, a million dollars. Multiply that by
one hundred. You're set for multiple lifetimes. Now multiply that
by ten. Now you're talking about a billion dollars. At
age forty two, Scott Coles had a master of fortune
(02:21):
of one billion dollars. He had homes in Phoenix, in Aspen,
and San Diego. Most of these homes were compounds.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Really.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
In Phoenix, for example, the wealthiest area is called Camelback Mountain,
and Scott would buy up neighboring mansions on Camelback Mountain,
and he would tear them down so.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
That he could build.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
And he did build an eighteen hole golf course.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
In his front yard. I saw Scott.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Cole's garage, rolls, Royce Bentley Ferrari, I'm talking vintage Ferrari.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
My goodness.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
He had a beautiful wife, he had healthy children, and
then as they got into their early forties and he
wanted a more beautiful wife. He went to Las Vegas
and he picked the prettiest showgirl that he could find,
and he divorced his wife and he married the prettiest girl.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
He could find.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Anything that a person would ever think that might make
me happy, that could make me happy.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
He did it.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
He tried it, he amassed it, and at age forty two,
in the prime of his life, with beautiful, healthy kids,
having everything that so many people think brings joy, Scott
Coles ended his own life intentionally.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
He just couldn't go on living.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And as I interviewed his kids, and his ex wife
and his high school friends, and they said he was
a nice guy.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
He was a caring guy, he was a generous guy.
Led me to this conclusion.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Many roads marked fulfillment turn out to be life devouring
dead ends or worse drop offs. That's why my heart
for you in this series, even if you don't believe
in God yet, is this. Be intentional about the currents
that you place yourself in in life. Don't be random
(04:13):
about it. Don't just step into the currents that are
closest to you. Look at where the current leads other people.
And I remember I was still driving the press cars
at that time and thinking, oh my goodness, if that
guy got all those things and felt like life wasn't
worth living, then I probably shouldn't get in the current
(04:34):
of thinking that material things will bring me ultimate fulfillment,
because I'll never get a fraction of what that guy had,
and if that didn't work for him, it's clearly not
going to work for me. I've never been the same
since seeing first hand a man who had everything that
people would think brings happiness or at least some sense
(04:57):
of peace, but he was.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
So hopeless that he ended his own life. What a tragedy.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
It led me to ask about my life. What am
I really hoping will carry me to fulfillment. Maybe this
will be a life defining moment for you wherever you
are in your journey to just kind of zoom out
from social media and family drama and workplace drama and
everything else in the news and just think about your life, like,
(05:25):
what are you, what current are you in? What do
you think will bring fulfillment? Because we all think something will,
but we rarely sit down to actually write it out,
And if you were to write it out, you might
be surprised.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
As I was wrestling with this for my own life,
having seen the intellectual evidence of Jesus and having seen
followers of Jesus changing the world, I profiled another person
who had given everything in the pursuit of happiness and fulfillment.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
This guy had a totally different life.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Grammy winning musician I spent about three months interviewing him
and his daughter. During that time, his videos music videos
were still playing on MTV. He had millions of dollars
in the bank, he had had investments all around California,
but he described to me that his life had been
completely miserable.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
In fact, while I.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Was profiling him and spending that time with him, he
described to me in detail different times where he and
his wife were.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Both high on meth and they would get into these.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Violent physical altercations while they were under the influence of
that drug. He described me a time where he looked
down at his knuckles and he saw his wife's blood
on his own knuckles because they had been fighting so aggressively.
He described another time where a number of famous musicians
and artists had come over to his house for a
(06:54):
huge party, and there was a lot of drugs and
a lot of pleasure, and he won't up in the morning,
and he went out to the pool and his two
year old daughter was curled up on a towel right
by the edge of the pool, and she had.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Slept there all night.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
And even through the drug brokenness of his mind, he
just realized.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
My life is a mess.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
But he had gotten there by going after fame getting it,
fortune getting it, achievement getting it, possessions, got.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
It, experiences.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
He tried it all, and it just let him lower
and lower into this darkness. There was a key moment
in Brian's life story where on an Easter Sunday morning,
he walked into a church a lot like this near Bakersfield, California,
his brain still half functioning from drug addiction, broken in life,
(07:57):
from the pursuit of fulfillment o currents that had beaten
him up. And he doesn't remember everything from that Easter message,
but he remembers these words of Jesus, where Jesus says
to you and me, come to me, all of you
who are weary, all of you who are burdened, and I.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Will give you rest.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
What a claim from the guy who claims to be God,
the guy who claimed to knit you together in your
mother's womb. And here's why Brian's story has such a
different ending than Scott Cole's story. See Scott Coles never
gave Jesus a try. From all the people I talked to,
he just never considered it. He ridiculed it from the
(08:46):
river banks like I used to do, but he never
tried it for himself. Brian said, hey, I've tried everything else,
I might as well try this Jesus thing.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
And on that Easter Sunday he chose to give it.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
A try, and he called out a prayer, God, if
you're there, I believe Jesus, if you're there, I need this.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
You say, you give rest to the weary, you help
the burden. If you're there, I need that. And all
he did with I mean a childlike.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Mentality through that brain confused by drugs, said God, if
you're there, I want your help. Jesus, if this is true,
I need you in my life. And part of Brian's
story is that then within about two months, after having
been a drug addict really since high school. He had
started with marijuana in high school and it had just
(09:39):
kept leading him deeper and deeper all the way to
heroin and meth. Been a drug addict for more than
ten years, and within three months he was sober. And
that's the part of a journalist. When I heard that,
I thought, no, No, that does not happen. I'm going
to spend three months with this guy, and I'm going
to find out the truth. And the truth as I
hung out with Brian and his daughter, who was in
(10:00):
late elementary at that time, was that he had totally transformed,
that he had changed from the inside out. He had
intentionally given away a lot of the wealth. He didn't
need that stuff anymore. Brian Welch found in Jesus something
that he couldn't find anywhere else. And I saw firsthand
(10:22):
with my own eyes, what a contrast from the billionaire
who didn't have Jesus and ended up taking his own life.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram
our guest teacher John Dickerson will be right back to
finish today's talk, but quickly. This program is only possible
because of the generosity of listeners like you. Consider supporting
us today by becoming a monthly partner. Learn more by
going to living onbeedge dot org. That's living onbeedge dot org.
(10:54):
And thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do
well with that. Here again is John.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
One day, Brian and I were at a PF Chains
in Scottsdale, Arizona, and he looked across the table at me,
and this is what he said.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I had my tape recorder rolling. He said this.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I had three million dollars in cash sitting in the bank,
all the cars. I wanted a two hundred thousand dollars pool.
I don't know how that's even possible, but apparently it is.
Nanny's the nicest house real estate in California.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
And I was miserable. Just think about that for a moment.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Nothing wrong with a two hundred thousand dollars pool. If
you have the money and you want to spend it
that way. But if you think it's going to bring
you fulfillment, be smart enough to look at other people
who've gone down that current. What a shame it would
be to work your entire life and get into your
sixties or seventies or eighties and look back and be like,
I gave everything. I only got a fraction of what
these other guys got, and I could have known from
(11:53):
the beginning that wasn't going to fulfill me. But I
love what Brian said after that. He says, then I
found God and was like, this is all I've ever wanted.
I didn't find what I was looking for in all
that stuff. You know, if you're seeking fulfillment and interest,
(12:18):
you're the kind of person who Jesus.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Invites and helps.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
And I want to be clear, there's nothing wrong with
these other things that can fulfill to a level.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
God wants you to have a rich and full life.
But the deepest fulfillment isn't found in getting outside things
and bringing them in. It's found in connecting to the.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Creator of the universe internally and then having a source
of joy and fulfillment that kind of bubbles up from
within through all the different seasons of life through all
the economic ups and downs and relational up and downs,
and I just wonder, where have you been exhausted in
your hunt for fulfillment? Where have you maybe been let
(13:06):
down in your quest or your search for fulfillment? Where
has your soul been full of anxiety rather than rest?
You can come to Jesus today in the same simple
way that Brian Welch did on that Easter Sunday. Well,
I want to tell you about just one other person.
(13:28):
This is a skeptic and it's a totally different personality
profile because you might be listening and thinking, Okay, John,
interesting stories, helpful to know, but I really don't expect
millions of dollars or worldwide fame to make me happy.
Maybe you're more like me. Those things have never been
options for me. Okay, but you know, I'm a pretty
(13:50):
good guy. Part of my story before I became a
fully devoted follower of Jesus, I think go on some
drug binge. I you know, graduated from college early, and
I worked hard, and I did all the right things,
but I found that still I was lacking something. And
so wherever you find yourself on that spectrum of what
you're pursuing for fulfillment. I've found the same thing to
(14:12):
be true that I've found in Jesus, something that's not
available anywhere else. And this next guy I want to
talk to you about is a person who maybe you
can relate to because he was a good guy. He
kept most of the rules, He wasn't addicted to anything.
He even believed that Jesus existed. In fact, he'd seen
(14:34):
Jesus with his own eyes. But this whole thing that
Jesus is God and could meet his deepest needs, he
was not buying that.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
He was a skeptic in that sense. In fact, this
guy got.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
So annoyed with Jesus claiming to be God that he
would make fun of Christians.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
He would even harm Christians.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
He would go around and mess with the Christians. This
guy his name was Saul, but eventually he would have
an encounter with Jesus where Jesus showed himself to be God,
and it so transformed him that he then became a
follower of Jesus. And he then went around telling everyone,
even when he would get imprisoned for it, or whipped
(15:15):
for it or beaten for it.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Jesus is God.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Jesus is the fulfillment that you seek. And here's how
we put it. In one of his letters, which is
recorded in the New Testament, he says in Romans one sixteen,
I am not ashamed of the gospel.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
What's the gospel?
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Very simply, it is the good news that the God
who made you love you, that he came into this
world as the person of Jesus, and he willingly died
on the cross to pay the penalty for your mistakes
in mind.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
And that you can be made.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Right with God, not by doing a bunch of good things,
but by simply believing and admitting your need that you
need Jesus help. And if you believe in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
That's the gospel.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
And this guy who was a skeptic, a hardened skeptic,
and who hated Christians, would become so transformed that he wrote,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Why not, because it's
the power of God.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And that's what I've found in my life.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
The good News of Jesus connects you to the actual
power of God. You can have the power of God
in your life, and it's a power that leads to
salvation so that you know, when your body dies, you're
going to spend eternity in heaven with God. But not
only that, it leads to freedom in this life and
fulfillment and this path, this current, it's available to everyone.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
God so loved the.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
World that he sent his only son so that whoever
believes in him will be saved. It's available to you today.
But the question for you is this, Will you try it?
Will you get in the current? Because it brings salvation
to everyone who believes. From my own experience, as I
would say, and I think from Saul the skeptics experience,
(17:02):
your belief does not have to start out as a
perfectly mature, fully formed belief. That's not how we're born, Right,
wouldn't that be the weirdest thing. Like you're looking on
Instagram and some mom has a baby and she's holding
this like forty eight year old dude with a beard, Right, Like,
we start as babies and we grow and we mature.
(17:26):
You don't have to have every question about you know,
the history of the universe and every.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Book of the Bible.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
You don't have to have all that stuff answered to say, God,
I believe that.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
You love me.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And you made me, and I want this fulfillment. I
want this relationship with you. You start there and then he
feeds you and he grows you. That's been my experience anyway.
Jesus invites you to find fulfillment and rest in him.
He invites you to find something that you can't find
(17:59):
anywhere else. And that's why I love that verse Jeremiah
twenty nine. You will seek me, and you will find
me when you seek me with all your heart. So,
if you're here and you're considering what do I believe
or what am I looking to fulfill me in life?
(18:19):
Have you maybe just been sampling the things that are
around you rather than being intentional to say where will
this path take me? Have you forgotten Jesus in your
search for fulfillment. Maybe you were raised as a Christian,
You've been coming to church and you're like, I'm a Christian,
But have you ever actually really said this is what
I'm putting my faith in to fulfill me. Have you
(18:43):
ever really tried it for your fulfillment and more importantly,
for your eternal life. Maybe you're here and you're a
believer and you just needed this reminder today that all
those other things, and they might not be bad things,
but they're not going to fulfill you the way that
Jesus can. I've noticed that most of the people who
(19:07):
are the most critical of Jesus have never tried it.
And I was there for a while on those river
banks making fun of the people in the current. But
once I actually tried it, this claim of Jesus. Come
to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and
I will give you rest. It turns out to be true.
But you've got to come to him. You've got to
(19:30):
give him a try. The fulfillment of Jesus is found
in the space between religion and relationship. That's really was
my journey. I grew up with a religious teaching about Jesus,
and then I went full circle away from it and
(19:51):
I studied just Jesus himself, and I came all the
way back. And I want to encourage you, if you've
cast off Jesus because of his to look at him himself,
look at his words for yourself, and by simply praying
to him God, I want to find my fulfillment in you.
Show me what to do with my life, show me
(20:14):
which path to take.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Catch me up in your current.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
So if you're listening to this and you're feeling like
you want to give Jesus a try, I want to
share a promise that God gives to you. He says,
if you seek Me, you will find me, if you
search with all your heart. I just want to encourage
you today, search for God with all your heart. No
(20:45):
matter what you're going through, no matter what's going on
in your life today, you can find God if you
will search for Him with all your heart. In fact,
I'd love to lead you in a prayer. The words
of this prayer are not magical, but what God describes
as a movement of our heart to receive the gift
of salvation. It's a free gift. You don't have to
(21:06):
earn it. You can't earn it, you don't have to
pay for it. In fact, Scripture tells us that if
you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, if
you believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved. And I just want
to lead you in a prayer where you can say
to God that you want Jesus to be your savior. So,
(21:26):
if that's you right now, would you just from your
heart repeat these words after me, not to me or
anyone else, but to God, saying, Jesus, I believe you're
the one true God. Jesus, I believe you died on
the cross for my sins and you rose from the dead.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Jesus.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
I know I've sinned, I know I've fallen short, and
I ask you to forgive my sins. I ask you
to adopt me into the family of God.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Jesus.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I receive your forgiveness, and I now want to live
as your son or your daughter. Jesus, fill me with
your spirit. Helped me to live a new life. If
you've prayed that today, God says that you've been transferred
from a kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of life.
He says that the chains of sin that enslaved you
(22:15):
have been broken. He says that you know for sure
that you have eternal life in heaven. You have a
new identity, a new name. You have so much to
discover now as a loved and adopted child of the
Living God. And I'm so proud of you. If you've
prayed that today.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, if you prayed to receive Jesus with John, we
have a free resource we'd like to put in your
hands that was uniquely created for new believers. This tool
will help you understand what it means to trust in
Jesus and what to do next. Request this free resource
by calling Triple eight three three three six zero zero
three or by visiting Livingontheedge dot org and clicking the
(22:55):
new Believers button that's Living on the Edge dot org.
We're called Triple A three three three six zero zero three.
Let us help you get started in your faith journey. Well,
Chips with me in studio now and Chip before we go,
you wanted to take a quick minute and share some
encouragement with our listeners.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Absolutely, Dave. What I want to share now is really
important for those of you who support our ministry in
prayer and in your generous financial giving. I just want
to say thank you. You know, when we share the
gospel like this, I can just tell you statistically, it's
amazing the powers in the message. Many many, many people
(23:35):
come to know Jesus are transferred from the kingdom of
darkness to the Kingdom of light. And I just want
you to rejoice with us. And I want to thank
you for being a part of Living on the Edge
and what God is doing thanks for praying, Thanks for giving.
Let's keep pressing a head together.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Thanks Jip. Well, if you'd like to join us in
spreading the gospel and discipling fellow believers, consider becoming a
financial partner today. As Chip just said, our support can
have an eternal impact on someone's life. To learn more
about becoming a financial partner, go to Living on the
Edge dot org or call Triple eight three three three
six zero zero three. That's Triple eight three three three
(24:13):
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App listeners just tap donate As we close, would you
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Edge today. We've never seen a greater need for God's
truth to go out than right now, and by God's grace,
Living on the Edge has provided encouragement, teaching, and personal
(24:34):
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to those who support us in prayer. God is doing
amazing things well. Thanks for listening to this edition of
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave DRUEI
and I hope you'll join us again next time.
Have you ever had an experience change your opinion or
attitude on something. I mean, you thought you knew all
the facts and considered every angle until you personally went
through a situation that completely changed your mind. Well, join
me as we hear two powerful stories of people who
thought they had everything in their lives figured out until
(00:32):
they didn't. You're not going to want to miss this.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thanks for listening to this edition of Living on the
Edge with Chip Ingram. We are in international teaching and
discipleship ministry that motivates Christians to live like Christians today.
Our guest teacher, John Dickerson picks up in our series
dealing with Doubts for the second half of this message,
Jesus You and experiential evidence. But as a reminder, if
(00:58):
you want to go back and listen to part one
or any other messages in this series, listen through the
Chipping grammat. Okay, here is John with the remainder of
his talk.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I want to tell you two stories, true stories of
people who gave everything they had in the pursuit of fulfillment.
And as a reporter and a journalist, I had a
front row seat to both of these stories. Now when
I would get assigned a profile like this. At the
point I was at in my career as a journalist,
(01:29):
I would spend months, sometimes three to six months, working
on one story.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
It was very in depth reporting.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
But I found these two different guys who were both
seeking fulfillment.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
As much as you ever could. The first is a
man named Scott Coles.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Scott is a man who built a fortune of nearly
one billion dollars. If you need a math refresher, you
hear so much billion, trillion, million stuff in the news.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
What does it all mean anymore? Okay, here's a billion.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I just want you to imagine for a moment that
I give you a million dollars today. You're welcome, come
back next week. Okay, a million dollars. Multiply that by
one hundred. You're set for multiple lifetimes. Now multiply that
by ten. Now you're talking about a billion dollars. At
age forty two, Scott Coles had a master of fortune
(02:21):
of one billion dollars. He had homes in Phoenix, in Aspen,
and San Diego. Most of these homes were compounds.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Really.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
In Phoenix, for example, the wealthiest area is called Camelback Mountain,
and Scott would buy up neighboring mansions on Camelback Mountain,
and he would tear them down so.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
That he could build.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
And he did build an eighteen hole golf course.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
In his front yard. I saw Scott.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Cole's garage, rolls, Royce Bentley Ferrari, I'm talking vintage Ferrari.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
My goodness.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
He had a beautiful wife, he had healthy children, and
then as they got into their early forties and he
wanted a more beautiful wife. He went to Las Vegas
and he picked the prettiest showgirl that he could find,
and he divorced his wife and he married the prettiest girl.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
He could find.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Anything that a person would ever think that might make
me happy, that could make me happy.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
He did it.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
He tried it, he amassed it, and at age forty two,
in the prime of his life, with beautiful, healthy kids,
having everything that so many people think brings joy, Scott
Coles ended his own life intentionally.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
He just couldn't go on living.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And as I interviewed his kids, and his ex wife
and his high school friends, and they said he was
a nice guy.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
He was a caring guy, he was a generous guy.
Led me to this conclusion.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Many roads marked fulfillment turn out to be life devouring
dead ends or worse drop offs. That's why my heart
for you in this series, even if you don't believe
in God yet, is this. Be intentional about the currents
that you place yourself in in life. Don't be random
(04:13):
about it. Don't just step into the currents that are
closest to you. Look at where the current leads other people.
And I remember I was still driving the press cars
at that time and thinking, oh my goodness, if that
guy got all those things and felt like life wasn't
worth living, then I probably shouldn't get in the current
(04:34):
of thinking that material things will bring me ultimate fulfillment,
because I'll never get a fraction of what that guy had,
and if that didn't work for him, it's clearly not
going to work for me. I've never been the same
since seeing first hand a man who had everything that
people would think brings happiness or at least some sense
(04:57):
of peace, but he was.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
So hopeless that he ended his own life. What a tragedy.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
It led me to ask about my life. What am
I really hoping will carry me to fulfillment. Maybe this
will be a life defining moment for you wherever you
are in your journey to just kind of zoom out
from social media and family drama and workplace drama and
everything else in the news and just think about your life, like,
(05:25):
what are you, what current are you in? What do
you think will bring fulfillment? Because we all think something will,
but we rarely sit down to actually write it out,
And if you were to write it out, you might
be surprised.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
As I was wrestling with this for my own life,
having seen the intellectual evidence of Jesus and having seen
followers of Jesus changing the world, I profiled another person
who had given everything in the pursuit of happiness and fulfillment.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
This guy had a totally different life.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Grammy winning musician I spent about three months interviewing him
and his daughter. During that time, his videos music videos
were still playing on MTV. He had millions of dollars
in the bank, he had had investments all around California,
but he described to me that his life had been
completely miserable.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
In fact, while I.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Was profiling him and spending that time with him, he
described to me in detail different times where he and
his wife were.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Both high on meth and they would get into these.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Violent physical altercations while they were under the influence of
that drug. He described me a time where he looked
down at his knuckles and he saw his wife's blood
on his own knuckles because they had been fighting so aggressively.
He described another time where a number of famous musicians
and artists had come over to his house for a
(06:54):
huge party, and there was a lot of drugs and
a lot of pleasure, and he won't up in the morning,
and he went out to the pool and his two
year old daughter was curled up on a towel right
by the edge of the pool, and she had.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Slept there all night.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
And even through the drug brokenness of his mind, he
just realized.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
My life is a mess.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
But he had gotten there by going after fame getting it,
fortune getting it, achievement getting it, possessions, got.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
It, experiences.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
He tried it all, and it just let him lower
and lower into this darkness. There was a key moment
in Brian's life story where on an Easter Sunday morning,
he walked into a church a lot like this near Bakersfield, California,
his brain still half functioning from drug addiction, broken in life,
(07:57):
from the pursuit of fulfillment o currents that had beaten
him up. And he doesn't remember everything from that Easter message,
but he remembers these words of Jesus, where Jesus says
to you and me, come to me, all of you
who are weary, all of you who are burdened, and I.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Will give you rest.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
What a claim from the guy who claims to be God,
the guy who claimed to knit you together in your
mother's womb. And here's why Brian's story has such a
different ending than Scott Cole's story. See Scott Coles never
gave Jesus a try. From all the people I talked to,
he just never considered it. He ridiculed it from the
(08:46):
river banks like I used to do, but he never
tried it for himself. Brian said, hey, I've tried everything else,
I might as well try this Jesus thing.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
And on that Easter Sunday he chose to give it.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
A try, and he called out a prayer, God, if
you're there, I believe Jesus, if you're there, I need this.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
You say, you give rest to the weary, you help
the burden. If you're there, I need that. And all
he did with I mean a childlike.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Mentality through that brain confused by drugs, said God, if
you're there, I want your help. Jesus, if this is true,
I need you in my life. And part of Brian's
story is that then within about two months, after having
been a drug addict really since high school. He had
started with marijuana in high school and it had just
(09:39):
kept leading him deeper and deeper all the way to
heroin and meth. Been a drug addict for more than
ten years, and within three months he was sober. And
that's the part of a journalist. When I heard that,
I thought, no, No, that does not happen. I'm going
to spend three months with this guy, and I'm going
to find out the truth. And the truth as I
hung out with Brian and his daughter, who was in
(10:00):
late elementary at that time, was that he had totally transformed,
that he had changed from the inside out. He had
intentionally given away a lot of the wealth. He didn't
need that stuff anymore. Brian Welch found in Jesus something
that he couldn't find anywhere else. And I saw firsthand
(10:22):
with my own eyes, what a contrast from the billionaire
who didn't have Jesus and ended up taking his own life.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram
our guest teacher John Dickerson will be right back to
finish today's talk, but quickly. This program is only possible
because of the generosity of listeners like you. Consider supporting
us today by becoming a monthly partner. Learn more by
going to living onbeedge dot org. That's living onbeedge dot org.
(10:54):
And thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do
well with that. Here again is John.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
One day, Brian and I were at a PF Chains
in Scottsdale, Arizona, and he looked across the table at me,
and this is what he said.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I had my tape recorder rolling. He said this.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I had three million dollars in cash sitting in the bank,
all the cars. I wanted a two hundred thousand dollars pool.
I don't know how that's even possible, but apparently it is.
Nanny's the nicest house real estate in California.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
And I was miserable. Just think about that for a moment.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Nothing wrong with a two hundred thousand dollars pool. If
you have the money and you want to spend it
that way. But if you think it's going to bring
you fulfillment, be smart enough to look at other people
who've gone down that current. What a shame it would
be to work your entire life and get into your
sixties or seventies or eighties and look back and be like,
I gave everything. I only got a fraction of what
these other guys got, and I could have known from
(11:53):
the beginning that wasn't going to fulfill me. But I
love what Brian said after that. He says, then I
found God and was like, this is all I've ever wanted.
I didn't find what I was looking for in all
that stuff. You know, if you're seeking fulfillment and interest,
(12:18):
you're the kind of person who Jesus.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Invites and helps.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
And I want to be clear, there's nothing wrong with
these other things that can fulfill to a level.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
God wants you to have a rich and full life.
But the deepest fulfillment isn't found in getting outside things
and bringing them in. It's found in connecting to the.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Creator of the universe internally and then having a source
of joy and fulfillment that kind of bubbles up from
within through all the different seasons of life through all
the economic ups and downs and relational up and downs,
and I just wonder, where have you been exhausted in
your hunt for fulfillment? Where have you maybe been let
(13:06):
down in your quest or your search for fulfillment? Where
has your soul been full of anxiety rather than rest?
You can come to Jesus today in the same simple
way that Brian Welch did on that Easter Sunday. Well,
I want to tell you about just one other person.
(13:28):
This is a skeptic and it's a totally different personality
profile because you might be listening and thinking, Okay, John,
interesting stories, helpful to know, but I really don't expect
millions of dollars or worldwide fame to make me happy.
Maybe you're more like me. Those things have never been
options for me. Okay, but you know, I'm a pretty
(13:50):
good guy. Part of my story before I became a
fully devoted follower of Jesus, I think go on some
drug binge. I you know, graduated from college early, and
I worked hard, and I did all the right things,
but I found that still I was lacking something. And
so wherever you find yourself on that spectrum of what
you're pursuing for fulfillment. I've found the same thing to
(14:12):
be true that I've found in Jesus, something that's not
available anywhere else. And this next guy I want to
talk to you about is a person who maybe you
can relate to because he was a good guy. He
kept most of the rules, He wasn't addicted to anything.
He even believed that Jesus existed. In fact, he'd seen
(14:34):
Jesus with his own eyes. But this whole thing that
Jesus is God and could meet his deepest needs, he
was not buying that.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
He was a skeptic in that sense. In fact, this
guy got.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
So annoyed with Jesus claiming to be God that he
would make fun of Christians.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
He would even harm Christians.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
He would go around and mess with the Christians. This
guy his name was Saul, but eventually he would have
an encounter with Jesus where Jesus showed himself to be God,
and it so transformed him that he then became a
follower of Jesus. And he then went around telling everyone,
even when he would get imprisoned for it, or whipped
(15:15):
for it or beaten for it.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Jesus is God.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Jesus is the fulfillment that you seek. And here's how
we put it. In one of his letters, which is
recorded in the New Testament, he says in Romans one sixteen,
I am not ashamed of the gospel.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
What's the gospel?
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Very simply, it is the good news that the God
who made you love you, that he came into this
world as the person of Jesus, and he willingly died
on the cross to pay the penalty for your mistakes
in mind.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
And that you can be made.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Right with God, not by doing a bunch of good things,
but by simply believing and admitting your need that you
need Jesus help. And if you believe in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
That's the gospel.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
And this guy who was a skeptic, a hardened skeptic,
and who hated Christians, would become so transformed that he wrote,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Why not, because it's
the power of God.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And that's what I've found in my life.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
The good News of Jesus connects you to the actual
power of God. You can have the power of God
in your life, and it's a power that leads to
salvation so that you know, when your body dies, you're
going to spend eternity in heaven with God. But not
only that, it leads to freedom in this life and
fulfillment and this path, this current, it's available to everyone.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
God so loved the.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
World that he sent his only son so that whoever
believes in him will be saved. It's available to you today.
But the question for you is this, Will you try it?
Will you get in the current? Because it brings salvation
to everyone who believes. From my own experience, as I
would say, and I think from Saul the skeptics experience,
(17:02):
your belief does not have to start out as a
perfectly mature, fully formed belief. That's not how we're born, Right,
wouldn't that be the weirdest thing. Like you're looking on
Instagram and some mom has a baby and she's holding
this like forty eight year old dude with a beard, Right, Like,
we start as babies and we grow and we mature.
(17:26):
You don't have to have every question about you know,
the history of the universe and every.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Book of the Bible.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
You don't have to have all that stuff answered to say, God,
I believe that.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
You love me.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And you made me, and I want this fulfillment. I
want this relationship with you. You start there and then he
feeds you and he grows you. That's been my experience anyway.
Jesus invites you to find fulfillment and rest in him.
He invites you to find something that you can't find
(17:59):
anywhere else. And that's why I love that verse Jeremiah
twenty nine. You will seek me, and you will find
me when you seek me with all your heart. So,
if you're here and you're considering what do I believe
or what am I looking to fulfill me in life?
(18:19):
Have you maybe just been sampling the things that are
around you rather than being intentional to say where will
this path take me? Have you forgotten Jesus in your
search for fulfillment. Maybe you were raised as a Christian,
You've been coming to church and you're like, I'm a Christian,
But have you ever actually really said this is what
I'm putting my faith in to fulfill me. Have you
(18:43):
ever really tried it for your fulfillment and more importantly,
for your eternal life. Maybe you're here and you're a
believer and you just needed this reminder today that all
those other things, and they might not be bad things,
but they're not going to fulfill you the way that
Jesus can. I've noticed that most of the people who
(19:07):
are the most critical of Jesus have never tried it.
And I was there for a while on those river
banks making fun of the people in the current. But
once I actually tried it, this claim of Jesus. Come
to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and
I will give you rest. It turns out to be true.
But you've got to come to him. You've got to
(19:30):
give him a try. The fulfillment of Jesus is found
in the space between religion and relationship. That's really was
my journey. I grew up with a religious teaching about Jesus,
and then I went full circle away from it and
(19:51):
I studied just Jesus himself, and I came all the
way back. And I want to encourage you, if you've
cast off Jesus because of his to look at him himself,
look at his words for yourself, and by simply praying
to him God, I want to find my fulfillment in you.
Show me what to do with my life, show me
(20:14):
which path to take.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Catch me up in your current.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
So if you're listening to this and you're feeling like
you want to give Jesus a try, I want to
share a promise that God gives to you. He says,
if you seek Me, you will find me, if you
search with all your heart. I just want to encourage
you today, search for God with all your heart. No
(20:45):
matter what you're going through, no matter what's going on
in your life today, you can find God if you
will search for Him with all your heart. In fact,
I'd love to lead you in a prayer. The words
of this prayer are not magical, but what God describes
as a movement of our heart to receive the gift
of salvation. It's a free gift. You don't have to
(21:06):
earn it. You can't earn it, you don't have to
pay for it. In fact, Scripture tells us that if
you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, if
you believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved. And I just want
to lead you in a prayer where you can say
to God that you want Jesus to be your savior. So,
(21:26):
if that's you right now, would you just from your
heart repeat these words after me, not to me or
anyone else, but to God, saying, Jesus, I believe you're
the one true God. Jesus, I believe you died on
the cross for my sins and you rose from the dead.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Jesus.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
I know I've sinned, I know I've fallen short, and
I ask you to forgive my sins. I ask you
to adopt me into the family of God.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Jesus.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
I receive your forgiveness, and I now want to live
as your son or your daughter. Jesus, fill me with
your spirit. Helped me to live a new life. If
you've prayed that today, God says that you've been transferred
from a kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of life.
He says that the chains of sin that enslaved you
(22:15):
have been broken. He says that you know for sure
that you have eternal life in heaven. You have a
new identity, a new name. You have so much to
discover now as a loved and adopted child of the
Living God. And I'm so proud of you. If you've
prayed that today.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, if you prayed to receive Jesus with John, we
have a free resource we'd like to put in your
hands that was uniquely created for new believers. This tool
will help you understand what it means to trust in
Jesus and what to do next. Request this free resource
by calling Triple eight three three three six zero zero
three or by visiting Livingontheedge dot org and clicking the
(22:55):
new Believers button that's Living on the Edge dot org.
We're called Triple A three three three six zero zero three.
Let us help you get started in your faith journey. Well,
Chips with me in studio now and Chip before we go,
you wanted to take a quick minute and share some
encouragement with our listeners.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Absolutely, Dave. What I want to share now is really
important for those of you who support our ministry in
prayer and in your generous financial giving. I just want
to say thank you. You know, when we share the
gospel like this, I can just tell you statistically, it's
amazing the powers in the message. Many many, many people
(23:35):
come to know Jesus are transferred from the kingdom of
darkness to the Kingdom of light. And I just want
you to rejoice with us. And I want to thank
you for being a part of Living on the Edge
and what God is doing thanks for praying, Thanks for giving.
Let's keep pressing a head together.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Thanks Jip. Well, if you'd like to join us in
spreading the gospel and discipling fellow believers, consider becoming a
financial partner today. As Chip just said, our support can
have an eternal impact on someone's life. To learn more
about becoming a financial partner, go to Living on the
Edge dot org or call Triple eight three three three
six zero zero three. That's Triple eight three three three
(24:13):
six zero zero three. Or visit livingon theeedge dot org.
App listeners just tap donate As we close, would you
stop for a minute and pray for Living on the
Edge today. We've never seen a greater need for God's
truth to go out than right now, and by God's grace,
Living on the Edge has provided encouragement, teaching, and personal
(24:34):
discipleship resources to more people than ever. So thank you
to those who support us in prayer. God is doing
amazing things well. Thanks for listening to this edition of
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave DRUEI
and I hope you'll join us again next time.
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