Integrity
Pastors Rodney & Adonica Howard-BrownePublish date: 11/10/2024
Foundation Scriptures:
Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. 24 Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you. 25 Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you. 26 Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright. 27 Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil. Proverbs 4:23-27 AMPC
1. Integrity of Heart.
a. Keep and guard your heart.
b. Guard your heart from going astray.
c. Out of it flow the springs, the issues, of life.
d. This reference is to the evil and good deeds that come from the heart of man—as well as the arteries which carry blood from the heart to all the parts of the body.
e. Mark 7:20-23 KJV –– And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
f. When you keep your heart right with God, it is easier to keep your attitude right and to do what is right.
2. Integrity of Mind.
a. Matthew 22:37 AMPC –– And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect).
b. Love God and love His Word with your heart and your mind—your intellect and will.
c. If you love Him, then you choose to respect and obey Him.
d. You bring your thoughts and attitude into line with the Word of God.
e. Jesus reminded us to trust in Him and not to have a doubtful, anxious, troubled mind—a mind that is unsettled, excited, worried, or in suspense (Luke 12:29).
f. God has given us a sound mind—not a spirit of fear.
g. 2 Timothy 1:7 AMPC –– For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
h. A double-minded man is a man of two minds.
i. He is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, and decides.
j. He wavers in his faith—he is hesitating, dubious, irresolute, and full of doubts.
k. James 1:5-8 KJV –– If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
l. This man will not receive anything from the Lord.
3. Integrity of Body.
a. 1 Chronicles 16:11 KJV –– Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.
b. We are to seek the Lord and His strength and His might.
c. Strength which could be material or physical, personal, social or political.
d. We need His help in every endeavor.
e. God created you in a certain way and for a particular purpose.
f. You belong to God.
g. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV –– What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
h. Accept yourself for who you are.
i. Don’t waste time trying to change yourself or be something you are not.
j. You cannot change yourself from the outside in—allow God to change you from the inside out.
k. Let God do the work in you.
l. By all means, take care of yourself and have healthy habits.
m. But be the best YOU that you can be—whom God has made you to be.
4. Operate in Integrity.
a. When people have a lack of integrity it is because they operate in fear and selfishness—and not in love.
b. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
c. They do not trust in God to take care of them; therefore, their motivation is wrong.
d. They do not deal honestly, because they have ulterior motives.
e. They are envious, carnal and unspiritual, behaving like unsaved people.
f. 1 Corinthians 3:3 NKJV –– for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
g. If you want to be a person of integrity, then you must operate in the Spirit of God, not the spirit of the world.
h. In these last days, evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. 3:13-14).
i. But we must continue following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ—walking in the Word and operating in the Spirit of God.
j. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 KJV –– Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.