Living Out Your Purpose, Part 2

CHIP: Thanks so much, Dave. If you were with us in our last broadcast, I introduced to you a very close friend, Gregg Dedrick, a man who has been very successful in the corporate world as president of KFC, successful in personal life, came from a great university, had the life that we all kind of would think we would want to have, but we talked last time, Gregg, about how we can do all the right things and basically live the Christian life in our own energy that produces burnout and fatigue. And that life that, you know, Jesus talked about, to the full, that where there is real joy and, you know, everyone talks about this life that is overflowing from the inside out. And my experience in a lot of counseling with, I mean, everything from presidents to plumbers is a lot of people aren’t experiencing that. Last time we talked about intimacy, about how you were doing all the right Christian things, basically as a performance to earn God’s favor. I mean, you didn’t do that intellectually, but that’s how it played out. And you were missing all the intimacy with God. But then as you began to do adoration prayer and draw near to God and get His heart, He really invited you beyond even intimacy with Him to partner with Him so He could do through you what only He can do through you, like He has a plan for each one of us. So maybe you could kind of pick up the story and bring people up to date, because I just think there’s a lot of people living where I have lived and you have lived and they long for that joy and that life that we talked about.

GREGG: Well, thanks, Chip. It’s a real joy to be on here and to partner with you in this program. And I would start by saying I was one of those people. I was the, you know, John 10:10, I remember reading that and stopping and saying, “I know that’s true because I believe the Bible, but it’s not true for me.”

CHIP: Mm-hm.

GREGG: Umm. You know, I love that Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God, said, you know, our main goal is to find out what God is doing and join in. And that really became kind of the new paradigm for me. And one of the lies that He uncovered for me in this season, because a lot of my journey was the Lord was revealing lies that I had believed about Him or myself…

CHIP: Mm-hm.

GREGG: And one of the lies is that I believe God was in the big things, like creation and salvation and, you know, I’d pray if we are going to have a move across the country or to take this job, but I didn’t really believe God was in the day-to-day details of my life. So, why would I partner with Him if I didn’t believe He was in the details? But God showed me that, you know, He really was. And, you know, I didn’t believe that He, in any given moment, that He would partner with me to help me pursue a client or make a business deal, hire an employee, or even where I might go in a given moment for lunch or dinner that He might have an assignment for me. So, it's interesting, I came across this quote from Rick Warren. He said, “When we ignore the Holy Spirit, there’s really little difference between the way we live our lives and non-believers who live their lives disconnected and independent from God.” And I thought, you know, I operate so much out of self-sufficiency that I believe that’s true about me and that, quote really sunk deep in my spirit. But I knew in this season the Lord was giving an invitation and I was, I was hungry, you know, I was desperate. I was, “Lord, I want to see Your power break out in the details of my life. And one of the things has always been true about me is I just, when I’m confused about where the Lord is and what He is doing in my life, I ask myself: What has He put in my hand?

CHIP: Mm.

GREGG: What has He given me to steward? He’s not going to give me more to steward unless I’m stewarding well the things He has already given me.

CHIP: Right.

GREGG: So, I remember having this little conversation, dialogue with the Lord just saying, Okay, what is in my hand? Alright, Lord, what is in my hand is a calendar. You know, since I have retired, a lot of people want to get together and meet and just breakfast, lunch, dinner, just get together and talk. And I remember this question in my quiet time, felt the Lord kind of nudge me with, “Well, do you think I care about your upcoming meeting with John or Tom or…” And I thought to myself, you know, like the Pharisees, it was like, “Well, this is a trick question.” Because I know the answer is He does. But I don’t really know what that means or do I believe it? And so, I began praying for those meetings, “Lord, what are You doing in John’s life? What are You doing in José’s life and how can I partner with You? How can I build with You to accomplish that?” And so, this whole notion of partnering is really believing that God wants to be involved in your daily life, believing that He can work through you to affect people and birth His kingdom, being available, surrendered, and mindful to say, “Okay, Lord, what does it look like?” And I remember one of the big leadership lessons I love to teach is Mark 1, because it really, it really impacted me and it caught me off guard as a leader. And at the end of Mark 1, Jesus goes into Capernaum and He goes first into Peter’s house and He heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus actually then has a day of amazing ministry casting out demons, and then as was His custom, He goes off to be alone with His Father. And the next morning everyone is looking for Jesus and, “Where have You been?” The crowds are there and you can imagine people flocking down from these nearby towns, right? Because they have come, they have heard. And Jesus looks at them and says, “No, we are going to these other towns to preach, for that’s why I have come.” And I remember saying to myself, I would have never done that.

CHIP: Mm-hm.

GREGG: I would have said, “Hey, Peter, you know, line up. The people need healing over here, people have demons over here, you, you know, have Mary go get some towels. Let’s make sure we have water.” And I would be back and it would be day two. And it wasn’t that the first day was wrong, it was Jesus was so in touch with how the Father was leading Him and how He was to partner with Him to bring the kingdom that He was sent to bring, that He knew He needed to make a turn. And so, that became this poignant example for me of: “Lord, I want to be available, I want to be tuned in, I want to know what You are saying and what You’re doing.” And so I, very simple phrase I use, you know, Jesus modeled this. He said, “I only do what the Father tells me to do and I only say what the Father tells me to say.” And my reasoning was, well, if Jesus had to do that, how am I any different?

CHIP: Yes.

GREGG: And so, I just constantly am finding myself in a state of mindfulness saying, “Okay, Lord, I’m here in this meeting, I’m here with this person, I’m here at the grocery story. What are You saying? What are You doing right now?” Because God is always at work.

CHIP: What Gregg has described is breaking down the walls between secular and sacred. Listen how all of a sudden it’s not: I go to church or I even read my Bible and pray in the morning and then I go off and do my thing. It’s really a very, very different God is the God of the twenty-four hours. All twenty-four hours. It’s as holy to read your Bible and talk with God as it is to go to work and be an electrician or be a stay-at-home mom and be taking care of some diapers or, you know, coaching the youth team or going to a big powerful business meeting. Is we are His ambassadors. The other thing I would say to our listeners is, and I have learned this from Gregg, how many times in the story that he told over the last few minutes did you hear the phrase, “Well, then I asked the Lord. Well, then I – it raised the question. Or it got me thinking and I began to ask.” I think it’s your curiosity and your willingness to say, “I don’t think I’ve got this figured out,” but here’s what I would say to our listeners, when was the last time when you were praying or when you were stuck or when you were frustrated, instead of trying harder, you said, “Lord, what would You want me to do? Or what is wrong with this picture?” You – I watched that unfold in your life and here’s the deal, people, and I’m kidding, Gregg. It’s not that he’s special. When you ask a question, if you want to hear the answer, God wants to tell us, right?

GREGG: Yeah and one of the things that happened was the Lord really had to break down my pride.

CHIP: Mm-hm.

GREGG: I was very proud. I had a lot of knowledge and that knowledge really created this pride and the first part of my journey really was God humbling me. And so that I could be teachable, so that I would ask those questions. And I think you can choose humility. I didn’t, but you can choose humility. You know, I make the joke now, you know, I tried being humble, but nobody noticed. But I really do try to be mindful of that. And one of the stories I’d like to tell is early on I was like, “Okay, Lord, if You really want me to partner with You on a daily basis,” I remember going into the dry cleaners that day and I had the couple of shirts from a meeting I had had a few days before. And as I went in, I said, “Okay, Lord, what are You doing? What are You saying right now?” And as I walk into the cleaners, my neighbor is there. So I helped her out with her clothing. I came back in and as I did, I see that my shirts are gone and my order is up there from the shirts I had in previously. And I look across and I’ve never seen this clerk before and, you know, this doesn’t happen a lot, but I think the Lord was trying to, you know, teach me that He was involved in the everyday aspects of my life and He did want to use me to partner. And I felt this nudge to just say, “Tell her she’s a good detective.” And my immediate response was, “Absolutely not.” And I just, you know, when you get prompted by the Spirit to do something, you almost have, like, sweat and everything else. And I’m fighting this. And what it was is I was fighting, I said, “Lord, I’m not going to do that because I’m going to look foolish.”

CHIP: Mm-hm.

GREGG: And I don’t like to look foolish. In fact, one of my strongholds, probably, is I don’t want to be foolish. I want to put out an image of having people think of me this way. And, you know, I felt this response, “Okay, fine, tell her she’s a good detective.” And so, I just mumbled, you know, “Hey, I just want to let you know you’re a good detective.” And she stopped me and she said, “What did you say?” “I said you’re a good detective.” And she said, “How did you know?” And I said, “How did I know what?” She said, “I’m studying to be a detective when I’m not here in this job.”

CHIP: Wow.

GREGG: And she said, “I have been struggling with it because I don’t think I’m good enough and I don’t really know if I’m capable. And so, I’m doing it but I don’t know.” And I said, “Well, I just want to encourage you. Got put you on my heart. He obviously knows you, He sees you, He knows what you’re doing, and He wants to encourage you.” And so, she started to cry and, you know, I started to well up. And I said, “I’m going to get out of here before I look even more foolish. And I ran out. And I got in the car and I said, “Lord, how many times have I missed the opportunity to partner with you because I have an agenda?” I am moving too fast. I don’t want to look foolish. I don’t want to put myself in uncomfortable situations. And I remember just feeling this overwhelming love of my Father to say, you know, “Let’s do this a new way.”

CHIP: Mm. What a beautiful picture and, I’ve developed a much more sensitivity to what you’re talking about and have had just so many of those experiences and what has struck me is how many times do I get out of my car and whether it’s the dry cleaners or whether it’s, you know, to grab coffee or to walk into something and out of habit, and I have gone into training to break this, have my phone with me. And be sitting in a line and here I am in a physical presence where God actually is and wants to do something, but it’s, that, it’s not about me, but if I open my phone, well, now this is all about me and people that are talking to me. Or I can get something done or I can multitask and it has really, it gripped me to say, Chip, don’t you understand that your phone has a lot of great capabilities, but distraction is what the enemy does. You are My ambassador at this place, at this time to notice what I am doing right here. And I just think, you know, it’s this challenge, that’s different than: You shouldn’t look at your phone so much, Chip. Back to rules and guardrails. You know, you should do this, you should do that. And when you don’t look at your phone, you’re a good boy. And when you do look at your phone, you’re a bad boy. You know?

GREGG: Yeah.

CHIP: As opposed to: I love you. It’s not about your phone. I actually have something wonderful for you and often through you, but it’s hard for Me to talk to you when you’re always distracted. His heart breaks for the multitudes today like it did when He was walking the earth. But His body isn’t His physical body now, it’s regular Joes like you and me and the million or so people listening to us right now.

GREGG: Yeah, you know, Chip, I love that because God gives us a daily mission then.

CHIP: Yes.

GREGG: You know, we get our daily purpose back. There was nothing special about what I did that others can’t do. But when you engage with, in partnership with the Lord like that, don’t you feel life to the full? I mean, doesn’t John 10:10 come to life for you?

CHIP: It is, I call it spiritual adrenaline. When, it’s like His Spirit works through you and it happens in such small, little ways and it mostly begins with awareness that God actually cares about these people. He has already been working before you get in this lane of traffic or before you show up at the meeting or before, you know, another mom with the baby that is crying looks at you like, “What do I do now?” I mean, He is always already working and the life to the fullest isn’t I do all these right things and then I have this amazing life and everything turns out my way.

GREGG: You’re really describing a principle that God taught me. My daughter read a verse, you know, I was talking about Psalm 103, which I love. Well, she read through and read to 7, verse 7. The Israelites understood the acts of God but Moses knew His ways. And when we draw close in intimacy, we start to understand the ways of God, how He rolls.

CHIP: Yes and one of the things you shared and I’m glad, you know, we haven’t mentioned it much, but this whole journey is recorded in a book called Building in the Spirit: Discovering the Life God Destined for You. We really understand that this is what is God’s call for everyone but it happens in an environment of hostility and opposition. And you have to contend for your purpose. You, it is a battle, I mean, it is – if you can be distracted, if you can be discouraged, if you can get taken down I mean you’ve been with me in some of my most dark times. I have called you and sat in the car and talked for an hour and saying, “Hey, I guess, I know my perspective is really not good and I want to be really, really honest in a safe place. And so, I’m calling you, Gregg.” Could you take just maybe a word for people who are going, “Hey, I get what you guys are talking about, but my wife left me, we have been through cancer, one of my kids has told me they don’t believe in God anymore, I have lost my job. This happened in COVID and, by the way, it’s still not fixed. And where does that fit into this life of joy and this abundant life that Jesus is talking about?”

GREGG: Yeah. You know, Joseph really became a, in the Old Testament, his story really became a pivotal foundation for me. And I call it the Joseph Journey. And in short, I believe it’s the story of how God used tests, trials, and troubles to prepare us for our purpose. But I think also, a big part of our purpose is that we become our purpose. God has planted it in us but then our journey shapes us into the very thing God created us to be. And those tests, trials, and troubles oftentimes I see God uses in a redemptive way to develop our character, develop our capability, allow us the opportunity to draw close to Him, to be shaped in new was about who He is and who we are. And to see them through the eyes of this intersection where the enemy is going to try to use those things to take you out.

CHIP: Yes.

GREGG: He is going to discourage you, He is going to tell you lies about God, lies about yourself. He’s going to try to sow seeds of despair. At the same time, God is saying, “Look up. Look to Me for perspective. I am in this. I can redeem all things.” And Romans 8:28, which we all love and we all have plaques somewhere in our past on it or maybe a t-shirt where, “He works all things together for good,” but I love to point people to Romans 8:29, which says, “For those He foreknew He predestined to be conformed into the likeness of Christ.” So, those very rough spots and tough spots, when we surrender, when we look up, when we allow God in, He uses those very things to make us more Christlike and to catapult us more deeply into the purpose and the plans He has for us.

CHIP: And it’s such a different prayer. It’s hard to pray, but when we have challenges, all of us, we are human, “God, fix this. God, take it away.” And I have learned, certainly, you know what, Lord? I’m Your son, so I am going to pray that. You know, I would sure like a silver bullet, a quick answer.” But knowing the purposes of God, I have learned to say, “Lord, I don’t understand this,” and by the way, I’m not going to be a phony. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.

GREGG: Yeah.

CHIP: And I am either sad or I’m mad or I’m struggling, and, “Whatever You want to do to use this in my life, I don’t want to miss it. What do You want me to learn? What area do You want to shape? How do You want me to draw near to You?” I can’t, I can’t change the circumstance, I can’t change the economy. In one season I couldn’t change the cancer that my wife had and I praise God that over time we made it through that. You know, I can’t change part of my history and some default patterns that I have. “So, Lord, will You please show me?” And, again, it’s that question that He longs to answer and often, you know, this is a good sort of maybe point for the need for community, so often that answer has come through people. You know, some of those big answers have come through you. You know, I have, I have stayed at your house for a couple days and we have had deep talks and people prayed for me and we have shared a lot. And I just want to encourage those that are listening. We are in a battle, but it’s intimacy with God, it’s partnering with God, and then it’s discovering this unique purpose that really is the source of incredible joy that it’s in giving your life away that you actually find it in ways that we can’t get any other way in all the world. And, well, Gregg, thank you so much for these years of ministry in my life. Thank you for the long, hard journey of making it a book that can help others. And I would just say to you, if you long for the intimacy with God we have talked about and you want to figure out: How do you do this daily partnership? And how do you find your purpose? Get the book. It’s available at Living on the Edge. livingontheedge – all one word – o-r-g. this has been so helpful for me, Gregg, thank you.

GREGG: Yeah, yeah, Chip, can I pray for our listeners?

CHIP: Amen.

GREGG: So, Father, I just thank You for the opportunity to share what You have done in and through me. I thank You for the ministry of Living on the Edge and the Chip and how you have used them and him to accelerate that journey. I pray for everybody listening to this, Lord, I just ask that regardless of what I said, that it would land in their spirit in the way they need to hear from You. That this wouldn’t be a revelation about Gregg or Chip or anything we have had to say, but about who You are and who You are to them and how they can experience more life to the full that You promised. And so, Father, we just thank You for that. We know that’s something that You want to do. And so, we pray that this would serve to glorify You and to equip, inspire, and just bring a sweet experience to each person that hears it. In Jesus’ name, amen.