Not Beyond Reach - Building Trust and Friendships, Part 1

Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram Daily Podcast

Living on the Edge

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

No matter a person's background, religion, or age, we all long for connection and closeness with others. In this program, guest teacher Aaron Pierce explains why establishing trust is an essential first step in leading someone to Jesus. Learn what you can do to build authentic relationships with those who have drifted or are far from God.

Main Points

Tribalism:

Us versus Them
Tribalism is a toxic trait of modern-day culture
Tribalism existed during Jesus’ day (example: Jews and Samaritans)
Jesus defied tribalism in a radical, counter-cultural way - John 4
Jesus offended the religious people because He spent so much time with sinners - Luke 15:1-2

The power of friendship:

Friendship humanizes “them”
Friendship allows you to demonstrate the Gospel in actions. - Philippians 2:3-4
Friendship helps you really understand their perspective and communicate the Gospel effectively.
Friendship allows you to earn the trust to challenge their views and speak truth.

Relevance versus holiness:

Be distinct and clear that you are a Jesus follower… but not obnoxious or a “Jesus robot”
Don’t be offended that non-Christians act like non-Christians (language, lifestyle, philosophy, etc.)
The goal is not to “flaunt” your moral superiority, but the goal is that we allow them to see our supernatural hope, love, joy, and peace.

Adopt a missionary mindset:

Start by actively pursuing people in your “Oikos,” or sphere of influence.
Expand your “Oikos” by being relationally present in secular places.
Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to a “person of peace” and give you supernatural favor.

Principles to remember when engaging in secular places:

Relax, be yourself, and have fun
Harness the incredible power of asking questions and listening
Find common ground and genuine ways to affirm them.

Broadcast Resource

Additional Resource Mentions

Dale Carnegie - "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

About Chip Ingram

Chip Ingram’s passion is helping Christians really live like Christians. As a pastor, author, and teacher for more than three decades, Chip has helped believers around the world move from spiritual spectators to healthy, authentic disciples of Jesus by living out God’s truth in their lives and relationships in transformational ways.

About Living on the Edge

Living on the Edge exists to help Christians live like Christians. Established in 1995 as the radio ministry of pastor and author Chip Ingram, God has since grown it into a global discipleship ministry. Living on the Edge provides Biblical teaching and discipleship resources that challenge and equip spiritually hungry Christians all over the world to become mature disciples of Jesus.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If your teenager or young adult is drifting or has actually walked away from the Lord
0:08.5	and you need help, you don't know what to do or how to do it.
0:13.0	Stay with me.
0:14.0	Today, help is on the way.
0:18.0	Welcome to this edition of Living on the Edge with Chipping Room.
0:22.0	We are a discipleship-driven ministry on a mission to encourage Christians everywhere
0:26.5	to live like Christians.
0:28.5	And we're in the middle of our newest series, Not Beyond Reach, taught by our guest speaker, Aaron Pearce.
0:33.5	He leads a global missions organization called Steiger.
0:36.5	They're in over 100 cities worldwide, reaching this next generation of young people for Christ.
0:42.5	And today, Aaron's going to begin to unpack a process they use to engage this lost and confused youth culture
0:48.5	and how we can put these steps into action as well.
0:51.5	But with that, here's Aaron with his talk, Building Trust and Friendships.
0:56.5	The first session we talked about understanding the post-Christian shift that we've experienced in this culture.
1:03.5	The idea that we used to live in a Christian nation in which most people identified as a Christian.
1:10.5	And now we live in a post-Christian nation.
1:13.5	The fastest growing religious group in America is the religiously unaffiliated.
1:19.5	And it is not just affiliation, it's attitude as well.
1:22.5	So people's attitude has gone from predominantly positive view of the church to apathetic, if not outright hostile.
1:30.5	I had a meeting yesterday with some people and I have this story pretty much all the time.
1:38.5	There are adult kids who walked away from the Lord and they just don't know what to do about it.
1:42.5	And it's probably the thing that's prayed for at churches across America more than anything else.
	...

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