Walking In Integrity
Pastors Rodney & Adonica Howard-BrownePublish date: 09/22/2024
Foundation Scripture:
The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him. Proverbs 20:7 KJV
1. Integrity.
a. Integrity (Hebrew tōm) means to be upright, righteous, or uncompromised.
b. Integrity of mind or heart; innocence; to live uprightly.
c. Used of simplicity of mind, which is opposed to mischief and ill-design; a simple mind, not conscious of an evil design.
d. Being whole or complete; undivided.
e. Dictionary meaning of integrity:
f. Integrity is the quality of being honest and having soundness of moral character.
g. Showing a consistent and uncompromising, steadfast adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values.
h. The state of being unimpaired; soundness.
i. Uprightness of character or action.
j. Integrity implies trustworthiness and incorruptibility to a degree that one is incapable of being false to a trust, responsibility, or pledge.
k. It goes hand in hand with honesty and honor.
l. Honesty implies a refusal to lie, steal, or deceive in any way.
m. Honor suggests an active or conscientious regard for the standards of one’s profession, calling, or position.
2. Integrity of Character.
a. A person of integrity is, firstly, a person of godly character.
b. Character begins in the heart and mind.
c. To be a person of integrity is to have pure or innocent thoughts, motives, and intentions.
d. God’s Word is our guide.
e. Proverbs 11:3 KJV –– The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.
f. When integrity of heart is your motivation, it will rightly dictate your thoughts and guide your actions.
g. Part of our spiritual armor is the breastplate of righteousness—the breastplate of integrity, of moral rectitude, and right standing with God (Eph. 6:14).
h. A person of integrity does the right thing purely because it is right.
i. James 1:8 KJV –– A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
j. Be single-minded—a person of integrity is stable and consistent.
k. They know what they believe and what they stand for.
l. Never compromise your values.
m. A good man guides his affairs with discretion and good judgment and will not be moved or shaken forever (Ps. 112:5-6).
n. Never violate your own conscience.
o. 1 John 3:21 NKJV –– Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
p. You want to be able to always hear God’s voice clearly, so keep your conscience clear and your heart attuned to His voice and leading.
3. Integrity in Word.
a. In the breastplate of the High Priest was the Thummim, which represents Truth (and integrity).
b. Truth is an eternal standard and can never be moved.
c. It is the plumbline by which all thoughts, words, motives, and actions are judged.
d. We must have integrity in relationships—with God and man.
e. A person of integrity is honest and upright.
f. They love and embrace truth, speak the truth, and have nothing to hide.
g. 3 John 4 AMPC –– I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my [spiritual] children are living their lives in the Truth.
h. Live your life in the Truth.
i. Be truthful with others, but most of all, be truthful with yourself.
j. Be consistent and keep your word.
k. The Lord honors those who fear Him, who swear to their own hurt and do not change.
l. Psalm 15:5a MSG –– Keep your word even when it costs you.
m. Do not make a promise you do not intend to keep.
n. James 5:12 NKJV –– But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
o. Where you absolutely cannot fulfill your promise, repent quickly and make restitution.
4. Integrity in Actions.
a. We must have integrity concerning the material world and unrighteous mammon.
b. You cannot serve both God and mammon—God must always be our priority.
c. Luke 16:10-12 NKJV –– He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?
d. Covetousness is offensive to the Lord.
e. A person of integrity is a giver, not a taker.
f. They have no need to cheat others, or steal from them, because they know that they walk in God’s abundant blessings.
g. Proverbs 20:10 AMPC –– Diverse weights [one for buying and another for selling] and diverse measures — both of them are exceedingly offensive and abhorrent to the Lord.
h. Having double standards, one for yourself and one for other people, is wrong.
i. If you can, set a higher standard for yourself than you do for others.
j. The Bible tells us that even a poor man, who walks in his integrity, is better off than a rich man who is a self-confident fool—perverse in his speech and who willfully goes in double and wrong ways (Pr. 19:1; 28:6).
k. The Bible also tells us that serving God is profitable to us in every way.
l. Proverbs 20:7 NKJV –– The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.
m. If we honor God, we will always come out on top.
n. The wicked, who take the crooked way, will be held accountable and punished.
o. But the person who walks uprightly, with integrity, walks securely.
p. The way of the Lord is strength and a stronghold for them (Pr. 10:9; 29).
q. Psalm 41:12 AMPC –– And as for me, You have upheld me in my integrity and set me in Your presence forever.