How To Overcome Feelings of Futility, Part 1
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram Daily Podcast
Living on the Edge
4.8 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do you ever wonder if you’re making a difference - if your life is having a positive, lasting impact on those around you? In this message, Chip reveals how you can overcome those feelings of futility and begin experiencing the life God intended for you.
Introduction: “Empty Buckets”
- Futility – Webster’s – lit. “that which easily pours out,” hence untrustworthy; that which fails completely of the desired end, or incapable of producing any result; trifling, unimportant. Syn: vain, fruitless, ineffective, useless
- Fruitful – Webster’s – Latin “fructus” – enjoyment, means of enjoyment, profitable, productive, producing results and/or desired ends.
How can we avoid futility in our lives?
- Refuse to Confuse Success With SIGNIFICANCE! -Luke 9:25-26
How can we move from success to significance?
1. Clarify your MISSION! Why are you here?
- Two things last forever: God’s Word & people’s souls
- Matthew 28:19-20
- To know CHRIST and make Him KNOWN!
2. Embrace your MISSION FIELD! Where are your greatest spheres of influence?
- Your home -Deut 6:4-9
- Your work -Col 3:22-25
- Your network -Col 4:5-6
3. Engage in the Harvesting Process
- Network
- Befriend
- Identify
- Share
- Invite
- Harvest
4. Sharpen your tools for impact!”
- Learn spiritual “door openers”
- Learn your evangelistic style
- Not Beyond Reach by Aaron Pierce
Broadcast Resource
Additional Resource Mentions
- I Choose Love Book
- Daily Discipleship - Psalms of Hope
- BOOK: "Halftime" by Bob Buford
- BOOK: "The Paradox of Success" by John R. O'Neil
- CHART: "The High Impact Church" by Linus Morris
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Actors, athletes, singers, billionaire business owners, the elite of society. |
| 0:17.6 | We see them on TV, and secretly, we wish we could have that kind of success, right? But does |
| 0:24.4 | the good life really deliver? Is the lure of big money, fame, and power? Really a classic |
| 0:30.9 | bait and switch operation? You want to find out what real life is made of? Stay with me today. |
| 0:37.0 | We're going to look at it together. |
| 0:40.2 | What's the difference between a life of futility and a life of fruitfulness? Today on Living on |
| 0:46.0 | the Edge, Chip Ingram tackles this critical question that determines whether we end up satisfied |
| 0:51.1 | or empty. Through scripture and real life examples, he exposes the subtle trap that catches so many |
| 0:57.9 | of us, confusing success with significance. |
| 1:01.7 | Jesus warned about this very thing. |
| 1:04.2 | What does it profit if you gain everything the world offers but lose your very soul in the |
| 1:09.0 | process? |
| 1:10.1 | Well, here's Chip Ingram with a new message titled, |
| 1:12.7 | How to Overcome Feelings of Futility. |
| 1:15.8 | What we're going to talk about today is the difference between success and significance. |
| 1:22.9 | To use an old cliche, there's a very subtle thing that can happen in every life, and here it is. |
| 1:29.1 | You can climb a ladder and work and be very, very, very productive, only to find out that the ladder that you've climbed is what? |
| 1:39.5 | Leaning against the wrong wall. |
| 1:44.2 | Turn with me, if you will. |
| 1:45.8 | I put some study notes together. |
| 1:49.3 | And I think I'd like to begin by asking and answering the question, |
| 1:53.2 | what's the difference between a life of futility and a life of fruitfulness? |
... |
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