Skip to content How to Give God What He Wants the Most, Part 1 Mar 9 · 25 min ...more
How to Give God What He Wants the Most, Part 1
March 9, 2026 · 25 min
What causes God’s blessings to flow to you and me? Chip looks at how God chooses on whom He will pour out His blessings and how you can begin receiving those blessings, starting today.
Series God's Dream for Your Life March 9, 2026 · 25 min · God's Dream for Your Life
What causes God’s blessings to flow to you and me? Chip looks at how God chooses on whom He will pour out His blessings and how you can begin receiving those blessings, starting today. ...more Show the full description Show less What causes God’s blessings to flow to you and me? Chip looks at how God chooses on whom He will pour out His blessings and how you can begin receiving those blessings, starting today.
Series God's Dream for Your Life Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Awakening to Life's Big Question 0:07 Today0:12 on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.0:14 What do you give the person that has everything? Every time that comes up on my Christmas list or birthday list, I get stumped. But here's a bigger 1. How do you give God what0:26 he wants the most? Have you ever thought of that? You're gonna learn exactly what he wants and how to give it to him. That's today.0:36 What does the creator of the universe truly want from you? It's a question that haunts every honest seeker. Well, today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram answers it head on. Through gripping stories of0:48 treasure hunters and priceless discoveries, he reveals a pattern Jesus used to shape people awake to spiritual reality. You'll discover why God's invitation to total commitment isn't about losing0:59 your life, it's about finally finding it. This teaching challenges our deepest assumptions about what matters and exposes the plastic pearls we desperately clutch while missing the real treasure. Well, here's1:11 Chip Ingram with today's message, how to give God what he wants the most.1:16 If I ask you kinda over a cup of coffee, where did your spiritual journey really begin as an adult? What would you tell me? Where were you? What were the circumstances?1:28 For me, it was the night I graduated from high school. After being with some friends at a party, I realized I was a workaholic. I had academic1:40 success. My dream of a basketball scholarship was in hand. I was all league in baseball. I had a really pretty girlfriend, and1:52 I sat alone and empty and just wondering what in the world am I here for. My little2:04 formula of success will make you happy didn't pan out. I remember that night sitting on my bed looking out my bedroom window. It was a very starry night I remember and I started2:16 asking the real questions that adults ask. Why am I here? Is there a God? What's my purpose in life? Is is2:28 there more to life than just setting goals and achieving them? And that night, although I had a lot of childhood prayers of, you know, get me out of this jam and please help so and so,2:40 and I prayed what I think was my first adult prayer. And I remember looking at the stars and I said, God, if you exist reveal2:52 yourself to me in a way I can understand. And then I figure everybody wants something and I remember praying God what do you want from me? If you3:04 exist, what do you really want from me? And that's going to be the question we're going to ask and answer today on our journey toward true spirituality. How do we give3:15 God what He wants the most? We're going to walk through this journey, and this journey is going to take us to a point of a very, very important decision. And so I want to introduce you to a book that I read. It3:27 was by a Yale law professor called Risk Reason and the Decision Making Process. And it's a series of true stories that are case studies, and they3:39 read the case study, then they get in small groups and they talk about, okay, what were the risks involved in making this decision? What reasons did people make this decision? And what would you do? And so they sort of3:51 peel it out, give a case study, let the groups talk a little bit, and then give them more information. So let me actually I've got a couple case studies here, because here's the deal. The goal is to teach4:03 them to make skillful, wise decisions. And we're going to be talking about a very, very important decision, and there was just some great insight about making great decisions. So case study number 1. They're brief,4:14 but they're kind of fun. A 32 year old engineer named John loves to go to estate sales to look for antique furniture and other potentially valuable items. 1 weekend he goes to an estate sale in the southern part4:26 of the United States. All the items in this particular house are being sold together for a single price. Visitors are welcome to make a bid, and John learns that the winning bid will be about 95000 dollars4:39 The house is old and disrepair, probably built during the Civil War period. John, a self confessed geek and history buff, recognizes a collection of rifles that seem to be from that4:51 time frame. He then goes downstairs to a damp basement using a small pocket flashlight, finds an old roller top desk, and going through the desk he discovers a false drawer.5:03 And in the false drawer is a small leather pouch that contains 22 very rare pure gold coins minted by the Confederate Army during the Civil War.5:15 They could be worth millions of dollars, he believes. John has to make a decision. What should he do? He has 10000 dollars in savings. If he can sell his car, his house, and everything he owns,5:27 he believes he can come up with the 95000 dollars and make the winning bid. What would you do? Students at Harvard's Business School and MIT and other universities discuss this. So5:39 face value, what would you do? Think about that. Case study number 2. Sheila, a 20 something college art teacher at a community college, was traveling in Europe over the5:51 summer. She had even started a small collection on her limited salary, and while in a small village in southern France, well off the beaten path, Schiele went to an auction where the6:03 locals had all donated family art to be sold to help finance the construction of a much needed school. 1 painting topped the list and was said to be a rare but highly valued copy6:15 of Picasso's work. It was deemed as a non original because the signature at the bottom was different from all of his other works. Schiele however wrote her master's thesis on Picasso6:27 and was aware that in the first year of his work he did not sign his name, but only put his initials there. She looked and studied the painting carefully and came to the conclusion that she actually6:39 was in the presence of a priceless piece of art. It was believed there were only 2 or 3 of these paintings in existence anywhere in the world. If this were so, Schiele was6:51 standing before something worth a very great deal of money. The 25000 asking price was a joke with regard to what it was worth, but it was a bigger joke with her income.7:02 What Sheila would have to do would sell her Volkswagen Jetta, sell her entire art collection, and withdraw her entire savings of 600 dollars What should Sheila do?7:14 What would you tell her? Now I want to give you 3 principles that flow out of these case studies. Here's where the meat is for you and me. In every big decision, and I mean big importantTreasure Hunts and Jesus' Parables 7:26 life altering decisions especially, the number 1 thing you need is just write this word down, truth. Truth. The issue here is the validity of the find. If the7:38 coins are legit, if they're true, if it's a Picasso, if it's true, and for you, when you're trying to figure out what you should do with your life and the relationships that7:49 you're in, you need to first and foremost say, what's true? And after truth and knowledge, the last thing, just write the word faith. These are the 3 keys to making great decisions.8:02 What's true? Do you have the inside knowledge? And then faith is literally the courage to pull the trigger. There's a great deal of people that never have the faith or the courage8:14 to pull the trigger and act on what they absolutely believe is true. And so they don't make good decisions or they make no decisions, which is really a decision of itself.8:26 Turn the page if you will because these 2 remind me of a case study by Jesus that teaches us also about risk, reason, and the decision making8:38 process. When Jesus is teaching this, it's out of Matthew chapter 13 verses 44 and 45, but he says, The kingdom of Heaven, in other words, following me and how life works with8:49 me as the king of your life, is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, then he hid again, and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and he buys that9:01 field. So look at verse 45. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding 1 pearl of great value, of exquisite value, of over9:13 the top priceless value is the idea, he went and sold all the pearls that he had, and he bought it. So if you have a pen, pull it out. Let's go up to verse 44. I want you to see something. Jesus isn't talking about money9:25 and treasure. He's making a very profound spiritual point and principle about decision making. And what he's saying is this. He's saying there's certain things that we can see9:37 and certain things we can't see, And the kingdom of God in following me is akin to And this would be in their day. It would make sense because this actually could happen in their day. They didn't have 4 0 1 ks's.9:49 And so you would take your treasure and you would hide it, dig it someplace on your land, and the goal is you would tell your relatives, your sons or daughters where it is, but sometimes people, you know, they aren't10:00 ready quite to hear it, and they die before they tell anyone. And so the people realize that this story is really plausible. And so he says here's a man who is in a field, maybe he's walking with a stick,10:12 and he hears something, and he opens it up, and there's a little chest, and there's a fortune in it, and he covers it back up, and he is just exhilarated with what he's just found, so he recklessly10:24 with abandon sells everything he has that's not worth very much to get something that's worth a whole lot. Same picture with the pearl. Here's the thesis.10:37 Jesus is saying when you understand who he is and how life really works and what really really matters now and forever and you get the treasure of what10:49 it is to have relationship with him and the plan that he has for you on this earth, you would with reckless abandon and joy forsake all else to get that.11:00 Put another way his thesis is total commitment is the channel to which God's biggest and best blessings flow.11:11 You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We're halfway through today's message, so don't go anywhere just yet. Today's insightful lesson comes from our series called God's dream for your life.11:23 Want to dig deeper into these truths? Well, the full series is ready for you online at living on the edge dot org. You'll discover extra teaching content, downloadable materials, and11:35 discussion guides to take you further. Find it all at living on the edge dot org. Well, now let's rejoin Chip with today's message.11:43 Did you realize that? I mean total commitment. He sold all that he had. Motive, joy. Above the word in your notes where it says total commitment, would you write the word surrender and put a box around it?11:55 Surrender. Total commitment. I mean, it was all or nothing in order to gain that land with the treasure inside. Now Jesus12:07 told these 2 parables to get into their world in such a way that they would get a new set of glasses. Because when you talk12:19 to people that wanna follow God about total commitment, it's like, well I know pastors are supposed to be totally committed and maybe missionaries, and there's always like a 98 year old lady who really prays like 3712:30 hours a day, and there's only 24 hours, and we know she's totally committed. But I mean, for most of us, we're just like regular Christians, and that sounds really scary, and you know, I really want to love God. I'm glad12:41 I'm going to heaven. I'm glad Jesus forgave my sins. And you know, I would like to be a good person. In fact, I think I'm a little bit better person than most people, but total commitment sounds like scary. Like, I mean,12:50 lock, stock, barrel. God has the say on my time, my money, my future, my family. And so what most of us do is we see the lens of total commitment negatively.13:03 Here's what I want to tell you. When Jesus taught about surrender or total commitment, it is the channel to get God's very best in your life, but he said it's for13:15 joy. His motivation is positive. It's wise. It's logical. It's shrewd. It's not so much renouncing as it is a reevaluation, and that was Jesus' point,13:27 and that's his message to you. Remember this is about how to give God what he wants the most. And I told you it involves a decision. And before13:39 our time is over together, we're going to have a very sober and holy moment where I'm not only gonna explain exactly how to give God what he wants13:51 the most, but it will require a big step of faith, total commitment, and surrender. And what you'll have to start asking is, is14:03 how I hang on to things in my view and what I want versus what he can provide, which 1 of those am I gonna trust? Reminds me of a story I heard manyTrading Plastic Pearls for the Real Treasure 14:14 years ago. It was a story of a little girl that went on vacation with her family. And, it was by the seashore, and they had 1 of those cottages, you know, that's right there. And you walk out the door, and the sand is14:25 there. And you could walk on the beach and had a little pier, and at the end of the pier was a fishing boat with a very old man. It was in a very small town in New England, and the little girl, 5 or 6 years old, cute14:37 pigtails, the whole bit. You know how they are at that age. And she would walk down to the pier and walk down and there was an old, old fisherman who was just known in the town as the mean 1. He was just mean. He was14:48 old. He was bitter. His friends had died. He'd had a hard life. And so he just shot everybody out. But there's something about a little 5 or 6 year old girl, you know. Hi. Hi. Well15:00 after day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, his heart starts to melt. And no one's ever treated him nice. And every day she would get shells and give him shells. And she'd sit at the end of the pier with her feet15:12 dangling. And pretty soon he's given her a little fishing line. And in their 7 day vacation, a bond occurred. And he realized, no 1 in the whole world cares about me, and I'm going to die very soon. He was in his15:24 late eighties. And this little girl does. And unbeknownst to others, he had a little pouch of, over the years, of fishing. And he found a number of shells and and pearls.15:36 And the thing that he noticed about this little girl, she would dangle her feet over, but she would always clutch. She had these little, plastic beads that you get like at Walmart or Target or the CVS pharmacy. You know,15:47 you're on vacation. Kids always want something. You know, dollar 99, you're all set. Oh. And, and so he noticed how much she liked them. So he took his pearls and stayed up most of the night, drilled15:59 holes in them, took a piece of fishing line and made a necklace. He thought, I'm gonna give it to this little 6 year old girl. And so the next day she came to say goodbye and the station wagon is all16:10 packed and parents are 100 yards away and, Okay honey, get ready. Yes, you can go say goodbye. She runs down to say goodbye, and he says, Come here, honey. I have a present for you. And she walks up to him, and16:22 they've been very close, and he says, Give me those plastic beads off your neck. And then he hung out glistening in the sun, real pearls. Now the problem of being 5 or 6 years old and16:34 you're very immature, you don't know what's worth what. All you know is what you're comfortable with. All you know is what16:46 feels right. And so he took another step, and he said, Here, I have these These are real pearls. Now take those off so I can put them on. And the little girl stepped back, grabbed her necklace, and ran16:58 100 yards, jumped in the station wagon, and said, I want to go. That man tried to take my pearls. And I want to tell you about 8 out of every 9 Christians that17:10 really do sincerely love God cling to plastic pearls, and are not receiving anything close in their life experience,17:22 their relationships, or their eternal impact, what God has chosen and destined for you to have. Because when he says give me you. Put17:34 me first in your time. Put me first in your future. Put me first in your decisions. Put me first in your family. Put me first in your work. Put me first in your money. I want you to trust me wholly because I have17:46 pearls, not stuff. And if you don't believe He's good, if you don't know the heart of the Father,17:59 then you just stay around him long enough not to feel too guilty and semi hope you go to heaven and you cling on to the plastic temporal non treasure.18:12 But when you meet the people that get more and more pearls, you realize it just weighs them down instead it gives them life. Total commitment, surrender is the18:24 conduit. It's the channel to which God's best and biggest blessings flow. And so what I want to do in the remainder of our time, I want to define very specifically what total commitment looks like.18:36 We are not leading up to some emotional moment. We're leading up to a wise decision where you're gonna weigh the risk and the logic of saying to God in a few18:48 minutes, I surrender all to you. I would sign a blank check made out to you. I would say to you from this day forward I'm all in. I may be a little fearful,19:00 but I'm all in. But in order to do that you know what's that look like? The answer is in Romans chapter 12 verse 1, and after 11 chapters of treasure, of what God has done,Surrender as a Living Sacrifice 19:12 of how much he loves you, of his sovereignty, his goodness, his forgiveness, his power, his spirit living within you, his gifts, all the plans that he has for you. In chapter 12,19:24 your response to that is therefore I urge you brothers, sisters, fellow family members, the Apostle Paul writes. In view of God's mercy, offer your bodies a19:36 living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Notice the structure. There's a command, there's a motivation,19:48 and there's a reason. I'd like you if you will put a box around the word offer, put a box around living sacrifice, and then put a little box around the20:00 word holy. And then I want you to put a squiggly line under spiritual act of worship. The command is to offer your body to God.20:12 And this isn't metaphorical. This is like your physical body. Your eyes, your head, your hands, all that you are. And the word offer here is in a tense in the Greek language that's punctiliar. And what that means is20:24 on a certain day at a certain time. This passage is not explaining how to have your sins forgiven. This passage is not explaining what it means to be, in God's family. Salvation20:35 occurs at the end of chapter 3, 4, and right in chapter 5, the work of Christ by grace. You receive the free gift by faith. Chapter20:47 12 is saying how do normal Christians follow Jesus out of gratitude, and God says are you ready? This is what I want. I want you on20:59 a certain day at a certain time to say to me all I am, all I have is yours. That's what it means to offer. I will tell you that21:13 tens of thousands of people in America and around the world do not understand the channel through which God's best and biggest blessings flow. The power for the Christian life comes in21:24 this moment of offering. Now it requires faith. It requires believing in an invisible treasure that you can't see, but it's a historical living God21:36 who's walked upon the earth and died in your place and rose and sits at the right hand of God and says to you, there's an unspeakable treasure who for joy says to you, let me give you the best.21:50 You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and he'll return in just a moment. For over 3 decades now, this ministry has been equipping believers with Biblical truth that transforms daily22:02 living. Week after week, Living on the Edge brings God's Word into homes, cars, and workplaces across America and around the globe. Marriages gain traction. Parents discover wisdom for22:13 raising kids. Believers learn what it means to walk closely with Jesus. None of this happens by accident. Every broadcast, every resource, every piece of content exists because22:25 partners like you believe this mission matters. Your monthly support creates stability that allows us to plan ahead and reach further. Your 1 time gifts meet immediate needs and open unexpected22:37 doors. Here's what makes living on the edge different. We're committed to practical biblical teaching that actually works in real life. Today, we're inviting you to join our team. Whether through monthly partnership22:49 or a single gift of any amount, you become part of something far bigger than 1 program or 1 moment. You're investing in a legacy of biblical discipleship that's already spanned 3 decades and reaches23:00 people you'll never meet this side of heaven. To give, visit living on the edge dot org or send your gift to living on the edge p o box 3007 Atlanta, Georgia 3 0 0 223:12 4. You can also call us at triple 8 3 3 3 6 0 0 3. And don't forget to subscribe to the Living on the Edge podcast for full length sermons now available through23:24 the Chip Ingram sermon podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. Well, now here's Chip.23:31 As we wrap up today's program, I've really introduced a very different paradigm about what God's like. I mean, surrender is not this great, huge23:42 sacrifice. It really is the channel. It's the opportunity. It's the window through which God is gonna do the biggest and best things in you. Now what I know is that's a lot easier said than to23:54 believe, and so here's your assignment for today, and you can do it right now. I want you to ask this 1 question. How do you tend to view God as kind, or is he24:06 demanding and hard to please? That will tell you why it's hard to surrender. Here's your little action step. Get a 3 by 5 card and write out Romans 8 32.24:18 He that spared not his own son for you, how will he not with him freely give you all things? If he loves you enough to give you his son,24:30 how can we not trust him for the little stuff like our future, our cars, our money, our homes, and our locations? He wants to help you surrender today. I'm Dave Drewey. Be sure to24:42 join us tomorrow as Chip explores what really happens when we stop holding back and finally trust God with everything.24:49 Don't miss it next time on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.In this video 0:00 Awakening to Life's Big Question7:16 Treasure Hunts and Jesus' Parables14:13 Trading Plastic Pearls for the Real Treasure19:05 Surrender as a Living Sacrifice618K followers
Chip Ingram is an American Christian pastor, author, and teacher. He is the founder, teaching pastor and CEO of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry.
618K followers
Up next Autoplay More from Chip Ingram Prayer That Brings Revival, Part 2 Chip Ingram
Prayer That Brings Revival, Part 1 Chip Ingram
No Revival Without Repentance, Part 2 Chip Ingram
No Revival Without Repentance, Part 1 Chip Ingram
Urgent and Dependent, Part 2 Chip Ingram
Urgent and Dependent, Part 1 Chip Ingram
How Our Jobs Can Destroy Our Relationships, Part 2 Chip Ingram
Why Better Things Don't Always Make Things Better, Part 1 Chip Ingram
Why Better Things Don't Always Make Things Better, Part 2 Chip Ingram
Why a Change in Scenery Rarely Improves the View, Part 1 Chip Ingram
Why a Change in Scenery Rarely Improves the View, Part 2 Chip Ingram
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.