Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Strengthening Your Grip on Integrity │ Msg 616

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Strengthening Your Grip on Integrity │ Msg 616 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Occasionally, I've had the honor to minister to high-ranking military
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  Speaker 1: officers who are serving in the Pentagon. Those leaders are
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  Speaker 1: models of strong Christian commitment. During one discussion with them,
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  Speaker 1: the subject of integrity surfaced. I asked if, in their ranks,
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  Speaker 1: a failure in character qualities was all that significant.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, they immediately responded.
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  Speaker 1: Their commitment to personal integrity impressed me because it was
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  Speaker 1: expressed spontaneously and sincerely and unanimously. I told them they
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  Speaker 1: would make great pastors. Suddenly the group became awkwardly quiet.
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  Speaker 1: One of the men finally broke the silence. He said
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  Speaker 1: the conversation touched a nerve since most of the officers
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  Speaker 1: in our group attended the same church. A church, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and I quote, with a history of biblical preaching, wonderful fellowship,
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  Speaker 1: and a healthy testimony in the community, until... At that point,
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  Speaker 1: my stomach churned. I did not want to guess what
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  Speaker 1: he would say next. But he continued, until our pastor
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  Speaker 1: had an affair, and he and the woman both walked
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  Speaker 1: away from their mates and their children. Tears, embarrassed looks,
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  Speaker 1: and slowly shaking heads, revealed their bewilderment and their deep disappointment.
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  Speaker 1: Their burden weighed heavily on me. I felt embarrassed as well.
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  Speaker 1: I was humiliated to think that a standard of high
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  Speaker 1: moral character is of paramount importance among military officers. But
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  Speaker 1: within the ranks of the clergy, my own colleagues... An
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  Speaker 1: impurity epidemic seems to be raging. Now this isn't the
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  Speaker 1: time to mince words. We all need the reminder to
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  Speaker 1: pay attention to being faithful, no matter who you are
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  Speaker 1: or where you serve, whether in the military, the ministry,
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  Speaker 1: the marketplace, or in the home and neighborhood. I urge
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  Speaker 1: you today to be a person of integrity, I want
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  Speaker 1: to read for you two sections from two Psalms. The
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  Speaker 1: first is from Psalm 75. The New Living Translation renders
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  Speaker 1: verses 5 through 7 this way. Don't raise your fists
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  Speaker 1: in defiance at the heavens, or speak with such arrogance.
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  Speaker 1: For no one on earth, from east or west, or
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  Speaker 1: even from the wilderness, should raise a defiant fist. It
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  Speaker 1: is God alone who judges. He decides who will rise
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  Speaker 1: and who will fall.
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  Speaker 2: And then over in.
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 78, the last three verses of that Psalm, verses
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  Speaker 1: 70 through 72, read as follows. He chose his servant David,
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  Speaker 1: calling him from the sheep pens. He took David from
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  Speaker 1: tending the ewes and lambs, and made him the shepherd
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  Speaker 1: of of Jacob's descendants, God's own people, Israel. He cared
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  Speaker 1: for them with a true heart and led them with
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  Speaker 1: skillful hands.
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  Speaker 2: This morning I would like for you to do something
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  Speaker 2: very difficult. It may even be a little painful. It
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  Speaker 2: certainly will be uncomfortable. But it's something that you must
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  Speaker 2: do in order for you to understand fully what this
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  Speaker 2: message is all about. For some of you, it will
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  Speaker 2: be the very first time in your life you will
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  Speaker 2: have done this. For others, it will have happened before,
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  Speaker 2: but not to the extent it will happen today. Lest
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  Speaker 2: I sound like I'm speaking in riddles, let me say
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  Speaker 2: that what I'm asking you to do is not unlike
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  Speaker 2: what Dr. Evan O'Neill Cain said chief surgeon in New
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  Speaker 2: York City a number of years ago did. At the
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  Speaker 2: age of 60, he had been a surgeon for 37 years.
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  Speaker 2: Like most physicians of great experience, Dr. Cain had become
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  Speaker 2: preoccupied with a particular facet of medicine. His strong feelings
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  Speaker 2: concerned the use of general anesthesia in major surgery. He
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  Speaker 2: believed that most major operations could and should be performed
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  Speaker 2: under local anesthetic. For his opinion, the hazards of a
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  Speaker 2: general anesthesia outweighed the risks of the surgery itself. For example,
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  Speaker 2: Kane cited the surgical candidate with a history of heart trouble.
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  Speaker 2: In some cases, a surgeon may be reticent to operate,
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  Speaker 2: fearing the effects of the anesthesia on the heart of
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  Speaker 2: that patient. And of course, there were those patients with
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  Speaker 2: specific anesthesia allergies who never awakened. Kane's medical mission was
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  Speaker 2: to prove to his colleagues once for all the viability
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  Speaker 2: of local anesthesia. And it would take a great deal
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  Speaker 2: of convincing. Many patients were understandably squeamish at the thought
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  Speaker 2: of being awake while it happens, quote unquote. Others feared
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  Speaker 2: the possibility of anesthesia wearing off in the middle of
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  Speaker 2: the surgery. To break down these psychological barriers, Dr. Cain
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  Speaker 2: would have to find a volunteer who was very brave,
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  Speaker 2: a candidate for major surgery who would be willing to
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  Speaker 2: accept local anesthesia. In his distinguished 37 years in the
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  Speaker 2: medical field, Cain had performed nearly 4,000 appendectomies. So this
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  Speaker 2: next appendectomy would be routine in every way except one, Dr.
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  Speaker 2: Kane's patient would remain awake throughout the surgical procedure under
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  Speaker 2: local anesthesia. The operation was scheduled for a Tuesday, Tuesday morning,
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  Speaker 2: February the 15th. The patient was prepped, wheeled into the
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  Speaker 2: operating room, and the local was administered. Kane began, as
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  Speaker 2: he had thousands of times before, carefully dissecting superficial tissues,
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  Speaker 2: and clamping blood vessels on his way in. Locating the appendix,
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  Speaker 2: the 60-year-old surgeon deftly pulled it up, excised it, and
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  Speaker 2: bent the stump under. Through it all, the patient experienced
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  Speaker 2: only minor discomfort. The operation concluded successfully. The patient rested
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  Speaker 2: well that night. In fact, in the following day, his
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  Speaker 2: recovery was said to have progressed beyond that of the
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  Speaker 2: typical post-operative patient. On the afternoon of the 17th, only
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  Speaker 2: two days later, just following the surgery, the patient was
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  Speaker 2: released from the hospital to recuperate at home. Cain had
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  Speaker 2: proved his point. The risks of general anesthesia could be
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  Speaker 2: avoided in major operations. The potential of local anesthesia had
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  Speaker 2: been fully realized thanks to the example of an innovative
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  Speaker 2: doctor and a very brave volunteer. Oh, I should mention
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  Speaker 2: that it took place in 1921. And I should mention
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  Speaker 2: that Dr. Evan O'Neill Cain and the patient who volunteered
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  Speaker 2: had a great deal in common. They were the same man. Dr. Cain,
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  Speaker 2: to prove the viability of local anesthesia, had operated on himself.
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  Speaker 2: That's what I want you to do today. And not physically.
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  Speaker 2: Not physically, that's impossible here. But to do that upon
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  Speaker 2: yourself spiritually. Now you need the right instrument. And you
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  Speaker 2: have it. If you have a Bible in your hand.
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  Speaker 2: It is a sharp two edged scalpel. And it is
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  Speaker 2: able to pierce where no surgeon scalpel can reach. It
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  Speaker 2: is able to penetrate right into the soul and the spirit.
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  Speaker 2: Of your inner person. What I want you to do
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  Speaker 2: is to carry out an exploratory surgical operation. Spiritually speaking.
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  Speaker 2: I'd like you to allow the spirit of God to
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  Speaker 2: take the scalpel of the word of God. And to
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  Speaker 2: open yourself up to reveal the truth. Of what's inside.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be uncomfortable. And in some cases. it's
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  Speaker 2: going to bring a lot of pain. But I want
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  Speaker 2: you to see just how beneficial such a surgical procedure
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  Speaker 2: can be. To carry this out, I'd like you to
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  Speaker 2: take two tests. Both tests are real in life. Neither
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  Speaker 2: is pleasant. Both reveal the truth of what is inside.
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  Speaker 2: Reflecting back over this year, I would like for you
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  Speaker 2: to take first the test of adversity. And perhaps this
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  Speaker 2: describes your year. It may very well have been the
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  Speaker 2: most difficult year of your life. I know some personally
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  Speaker 2: who could say that without reservation. Open the instrument that
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  Speaker 2: God is using today in our lives to Proverbs chapter 24,
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  Speaker 2: And let's see that test as it's revealed in verse 10.
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  Speaker 2: And having seen it, let's allow the Spirit of God
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  Speaker 2: to examine how we are in the midst of adversity.
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  Speaker 2: 2410 of Proverbs, Solomon writes, if you are slack in
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  Speaker 2: the day of distress, your strength is limited. If you
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  Speaker 2: carry a King James Bible, you are reading these words,
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  Speaker 2: If thou faintest in the day of adversity, thy strength
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  Speaker 2: is small. A major test on mankind is adversity. You
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  Speaker 2: can trip along through life, sort of chattering about things spiritually,
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  Speaker 2: you know, using a lot of the cliches, saying a
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  Speaker 2: lot of the right things, churchy talk, and suddenly adversity
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  Speaker 2: pulls the rug out from under you, it reveals the
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  Speaker 2: truth of all that stuff you had been saying. If
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  Speaker 2: you faint in the day of adversity, your strength really
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  Speaker 2: was very small. Jeremiah the prophet writes, if you have
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  Speaker 2: run with footmen and they have wearied you, then how
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  Speaker 2: will you contend with the cavalry? And if in a
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  Speaker 2: land of peace in which you trusted, you became weary,
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  Speaker 2: What will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?
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  Speaker 2: The Berkeley Bible says, how will you do in Jordan's jungle?
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  Speaker 2: In other words, if you didn't do very well in
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  Speaker 2: basic training, what will you do in the swamp and
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  Speaker 2: the jungle of life? And if you didn't carry on
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  Speaker 2: very well when things were peaceful and clean and you
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  Speaker 2: were well fed, what will you do when all hell
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  Speaker 2: breaks loose? Solomon says, if you faint when the day
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  Speaker 2: becomes adverse, your strength is small and it happens fast,
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  Speaker 2: really fast. For some of you, adversity struck this year
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  Speaker 2: so rapidly it swept you off your feet. In Sports
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  Speaker 2: Illustrated some time ago, Guillermo Villas, the tennis player from
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  Speaker 2: Buenos Aires, was interviewed. And from the externals, he looks
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  Speaker 2: like the most secure man you'd ever want to meet.
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  Speaker 2: He's handsome. He's winsome. He's popular. In fact, one woman
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  Speaker 2: in South America was heard to say, if I could
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  Speaker 2: just touch the hem of his garment, I could be
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  Speaker 2: well again. Guillermo Villas says fervently, I think that many
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  Speaker 2: times one feels oneself to be secure. And suddenly one's
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  Speaker 2: world falls down like a pack of cards in a
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  Speaker 2: matter of seconds. That's true, isn't it? Illustration, Balvano, Italy,
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  Speaker 2: November 23rd. Illustration Mount St. Helens, October 1980. Or staying
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  Speaker 2: overnight at the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas that fateful night.
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  Speaker 2: Or being an employee for 25 years at Forward Motor
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  Speaker 2: Company only to have your plant permanently closed as well
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  Speaker 2: as 12 others that will never open again. Like a
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  Speaker 2: pack of cards... your world falls down. Like being a
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  Speaker 2: law-abiding citizen in Afghanistan the day before. Or in Poland today.
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  Speaker 2: Or the parents of a hostage in Iran. Or the
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  Speaker 2: mother of small children in a nuclear radiation threatened area,
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  Speaker 2: like Mary Interline of Middletown, Pennsylvania, who said in an interview,
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  Speaker 2: I am scared to death. I have a two-year-old son,
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  Speaker 2: and every night when I pull his shades down at
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  Speaker 2: bedtime and look out the window and see the cooling towers,
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  Speaker 2: I nearly cry. I am in a panic. I have
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  Speaker 2: never considered myself a violent person. but I am beginning
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  Speaker 2: to think I'm going crazy. I do believe I am.
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  Speaker 2: It's a crazy age, one wag said. Anybody who isn't
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  Speaker 2: schizophrenic these days isn't thinking clearly. Tough day in which
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  Speaker 2: to live. It's hard to handle life when the rug
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  Speaker 2: comes out from under you, when the trap door pops open.
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  Speaker 2: It's hard to go on when your marriage fails and
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  Speaker 2: someone didn't keep his promise and your child doesn't reach
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  Speaker 2: full age before he's taken from you. Or your health
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  Speaker 2: is threatened. Or the doctor frowns when he looks at
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  Speaker 2: the x-ray. Or you don't have enough money to make
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  Speaker 2: your expenses. I've been reading a book called A Long
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  Speaker 2: Obedience in the Same Direction in a Varsity Press publication
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  Speaker 2: by Eugene Peterson. Right in the middle of it, he
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  Speaker 2: says the finest statement about life. The simplest and most
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  Speaker 2: ancient of human truths is that life is an arduous
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  Speaker 2: and tragic struggle. That what we call sanity has a
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  Speaker 2: great deal to do with competence earned by struggling for excellence.
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  Speaker 2: With compassion hard won by confronting conflict and with modesty
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  Speaker 2: and patience acquired through silence and suffering. Now you're examining yourself.
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  Speaker 2: You're doing exploratory surgery on your condition. What's your condition today?
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  Speaker 2: How are you doing when adversity strikes? Turn from Proverbs,
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  Speaker 2: back two books, to the book of Job, chapter 4.
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  Speaker 2: And let me bring an illustration on the scene so
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  Speaker 2: that all of us can identify, not with a concept,
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  Speaker 2: but with a person. We need that sometime. Job is
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  Speaker 2: the man. Chapter 4 is the chapter, and it's Job's
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  Speaker 2: journal of sufferings. No man that I've ever read in
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  Speaker 2: Scripture or in all of time has suffered more than Job,
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  Speaker 2: save our Savior Jesus Christ himself. Job has lost everything.
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  Speaker 2: Ten fresh graves on a windswept hill not too far
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  Speaker 2: from his home represents the loss of his ten children.
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  Speaker 2: Imagine it, one after another. By the time the calamity
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  Speaker 2: had passed, his home was gone. His treasure was gone.
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  Speaker 2: His livestock was gone. His crops were gone. His health
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  Speaker 2: was gone. He had nothing. He was a hard pressed
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  Speaker 2: soul bruised by the blows of adversity. Some counselors came along,
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  Speaker 2: put counselors in italics, please. They came to give him counsel.
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  Speaker 2: They came to set him straight. They came to talk
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  Speaker 2: to him because they knew he was a man of
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  Speaker 2: a great deal of maturity. but they began to see
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  Speaker 2: him crack under the adversity. Chapter four is the council
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  Speaker 2: of Eliphaz, the Temanite, who gingerly walks before Job, sees
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  Speaker 2: his body covered with boils and says, if one ventures
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  Speaker 2: a word with you, will you become impatient? But who
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  Speaker 2: can refrain from speaking? Behold, you have admonished many and
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  Speaker 2: you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have helped the
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  Speaker 2: tottering to stand and you have strengthened feeble knees. That's true.
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  Speaker 2: Job had been a wise and faithful father as well
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  Speaker 2: as a good man who walked with God for years.
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  Speaker 2: He had the world with a tail. He had offered
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  Speaker 2: counsel and encouragement and I am sure financial assistance. He
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  Speaker 2: had supported many of the weak. And now suddenly, like
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  Speaker 2: Guillermo Vila's pack of cards, his world has fallen apart
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  Speaker 2: And Eliphaz comes on tiptoe and he says, verse 5,
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  Speaker 2: but now it has come to you and you are impatient.
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  Speaker 2: It touches you and you are depressed, literally. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I can't cluck my tongue at Job. Nobody can. If
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  Speaker 2: you have suffered the blows of adversity, you understand what
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  Speaker 2: it means to feel impatient. Even though you once walked
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  Speaker 2: closely with God, Let's face it, it's hard to walk
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  Speaker 2: with God when things don't work out, when your world
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  Speaker 2: comes tumbling down, when love seems to escape and friends
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  Speaker 2: seem far away. The blows of adversity are hard to bear.
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  Speaker 2: If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength
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  Speaker 2: is small. You're examining yourself. How strong have you been
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  Speaker 2: in this year? How well have you endured the afflictions?
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  Speaker 2: Only you can gauge that. No one knows but you
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  Speaker 2: and God. Now there's another test. I said there were two.
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  Speaker 2: The first is adversity. And it's hard. But it's not
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  Speaker 2: the harder of the two. Even though from the externals
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  Speaker 2: it looks like it is. The second test is prosperity.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: I'm convinced that adversity, though it is very, very hard...
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  Speaker 2: is not anything as difficult as prosperity. Carlisle, the Scottish essayist,
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  Speaker 2: once said this, adversity is hard on a man, but
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  Speaker 2: for everyone who can handle prosperity, there are a hundred
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  Speaker 2: who can handle adversity. Maybe this has been a prosperous
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  Speaker 2: year for you. Perhaps you have more now than any
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  Speaker 2: year in your life, and you now must admit life
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  Speaker 2: has become complicated. Prosperity doesn't simplify life. Suffering does. When
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  Speaker 2: suffering happens, then there's one basic goal, and that is survival.
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  Speaker 2: Just get by. Just live another day. Just keep the
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  Speaker 2: world off your shoulders. But when you have much, suddenly
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  Speaker 2: there is an enormous test on your integrity. So while
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  Speaker 2: you explore today and while you carry out spiritual surgery
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  Speaker 2: on yourself, I want you to test the depth of
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  Speaker 2: your integrity. And it may be painful. Turn now to
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  Speaker 2: Psalm number 75. We'll allow the scalpel to dig deeply
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  Speaker 2: into our own lives and to examine our response to prosperity.
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  Speaker 2: God's counsel is two direct warnings from these three verses
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  Speaker 2: out of Psalm 75. I'm referring to verses 5, 6,
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  Speaker 2: and 7. I want you to think about yourself for
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  Speaker 2: a few moments. I want you to analyze your response
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  Speaker 2: in this year to prosperity. Now, humanly speaking, the tendency
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  Speaker 2: is to become proud and Arrogant, conceited, self-sufficient. So the
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  Speaker 2: first warning, as expected, is don't be conceited. Guard against that.
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  Speaker 2: Verse 5, do not lift up your horn on high.
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  Speaker 2: Do not speak with insolent pride. We would say in
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  Speaker 2: our day, don't toot your own horn. If your business
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  Speaker 2: is prospering, keep your mouth shut. If God has opened
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  Speaker 2: the floodgates of blessing and you are making more money
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  Speaker 2: now than you've ever made in your life, relax. Don't
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  Speaker 2: talk about it. Don't flaunt it. Don't take advantage of
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  Speaker 2: someone else because they aren't on your level. If you're
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  Speaker 2: gifted athletically, don't keep looking for your clippings the next
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  Speaker 2: day after the game. Don't read your write-ups online. Over
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  Speaker 2: and over and over and over so that your whole
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  Speaker 2: focus is on your success. He says don't toot your
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  Speaker 2: own horn. Don't speak with insolent pride. I want you
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  Speaker 2: to hold your place here for just a moment and
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  Speaker 2: look at a couple of parallel passages in Proverbs. Proverbs
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  Speaker 2: chapter 27 has both of them. 27 verse 2 and
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  Speaker 2: verse 21. Please turn. Proverbs 27, 2 is good counsel
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  Speaker 2: for those of you who are prosperous this year. Let
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  Speaker 2: another praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger
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  Speaker 2: and not your own lips. Wise counsel. If there is
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  Speaker 2: to be praise accorded you, let it come from someone else.
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  Speaker 2: Don't drop hints. Don't wait with bated breath to hear
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  Speaker 2: what someone is saying about you.
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  Speaker 1: Relax.
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  Speaker 2: Verse 21, that's it, same chapter. The crucible is for
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  Speaker 2: silver and the furnace for gold. And a man, a woman,
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  Speaker 2: a person is tested by the praise accorded him. Isn't
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  Speaker 2: that a good verse? The test of your integrity will
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  Speaker 2: come not when you are in adverse situations, but when
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  Speaker 2: you have become prosperous. Some of you are in the
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  Speaker 2: process of becoming very, very good at what you do.
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  Speaker 2: Some of you are already great. And by the grace
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  Speaker 2: of God, as time passes, you will become even greater,
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  Speaker 2: better at it, more adept, more efficient, more well-known. Solomon
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  Speaker 2: says that's a test. That's a test on your integrity.
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  Speaker 2: Back to Psalm number 75. The second piece of warning
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  Speaker 2: is verses 6 and 7. Not from the east, nor
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  Speaker 2: from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation. God
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  Speaker 2: is the judge. He puts down one. He exalts another.
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  Speaker 2: Look at the last verse we read. He puts down one.
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  Speaker 2: He exalts another. The last time I spoke on this,
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  Speaker 2: I was speaking to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were just
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  Speaker 2: about to play the San Diego Chargers that night. If
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: you follow football, you know that they were already out
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: of the playoffs. Sitting in front of me were some
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: of the strongest, toughest men you'd ever want to meet.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: I warned them not all to sit on one side
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: of the room or it would tilt. Men whose names
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: are household words in the sports world. and they had
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: been exalted for four separate occasions. But now they have
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: been brought low. It is significant to observe those who
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: do not know the Lord Jesus Christ in comparison with
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: those that do. It is interesting to see how much
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: perspective God brings into your life, whether you are at
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: the top or approaching the bottom. These men nodded with
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: understanding when I read God is the judge. He puts
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: down one and he exalts another. But it isn't as
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: always as notorious as a Super Bowl game. It is
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: in the little things of life. It is in decisions
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: made in your business. It is in those hunches that
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: you carry through on and they work and they pay off.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: And by and by you begin to amass a fortune
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: in your name. So the second warning is keep the
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: right perspective. Don't be conceited, verse 5. Keep the right perspective,
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: verses 6 and 7. And as in the case of adversity,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: Job was the illustration. In the case of integrity, David is.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: Turn over a couple of pages. Psalm 78, verse 70.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: In the very few moments that remain while you carry
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: out the final part of your exploratory surgery, I want
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: you to compare yourself with David who became the king.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: But don't think of David now in robed royalty. I
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: want you to think of David as a little young
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: teenager keeping his father's sheep. I want you to think
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: of him as so insignificant that when Samuel came to
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: pick the next king, remember Saul's successor, that David's own
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: father Jesse didn't remember David at as even having the
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: potential of being the king. So after Samuel looked at
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: all the sons of Jesse, all seven of them paraded
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: in front of him, and none of them qualified, God
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: didn't prompt Samuel to put his hand on any of them.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Samuel says to the father, is this all you have?
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: And he says, no, by the way, I've got one more.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't you love to be David? Your father doesn't even
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: bring you in when they're running for king. He leaves
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: you with the sheep. That's where you are. Oh, yeah,
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: I've got one to run. He's out with the sheep.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: He's keeping the woolies today. You want me to bring
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: him in? Sure, bring him in. And David comes in
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: from watching the sheep. And the next thing you know,
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: he's got oil running down his neck. And people are
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: talking things like king. You know what happens to David?
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: When that's all over, when all that applause is in,
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: and all the brothers are going back to their room thinking,
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: oh man, he got it and I didn't get it.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, he was the next, he was the king elect.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: You know what he did? He went right back to
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: the sheep. That's impressive. Why, you and I would have
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: been at May Company trying on crowns. Early afternoon anyway.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: that's what you do when you're when you're on your
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: way to being the king not david no way look
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: at verse 70 of chapter 78 and you'll see why
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: god chose david verse 70 says he chose david his
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: servant i love that doesn't refer to him as uh
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: you know uh An outstanding young man. Doesn't say that
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: he had set all kind of pole vault records. It
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: doesn't say that he was super strong like Samson. It
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: says that David was a servant. Let me tell you,
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: a person with integrity has the humility of a servant.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: You never sense that he's something on a stick. You
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: sense that he or she has the humility of a servant.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: He was faithful in the little things. My friend, while
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: you do surgery on yourself, ask yourself, am I? You
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: have a tough job to carry out in your employment.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Do you do it well when no one is around?
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: You have an assignment to follow through on and the
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: deadline is due. Do you keep your word and meet
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: the deadline? You make promises. Do you fulfill your word?
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: You owe money. Do you pay the money on time?
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: You have a lot of privacy and the privacy is
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: entrusted to you. Do you behave yourself morally in your
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: private life? You have an expense account to fill out
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: because you travel every month. Do you keep it honest?
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: You see, it breaks down to just basic things as
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: keeping sheep. He took him from the sheep foals. I
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: love that. He took him from caring for the pregnant ewes,
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: for those young mother sheep that were still followed by
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: the little suckling lambs, David was in there working with
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: those sheep and God said, that's my kind of guy.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: That's the next one. That's Saul's successor. You see, he
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: saw the heart of integrity. Verse 72, David shepherded them,
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: that is the people of Israel, according to the integrity
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: of his heart. Honest within, no duplicity. A simple man.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Not simplistic, but a simple man. God was big and
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: all of life was little. God was responsible for promotions
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: and demotions and all of life passed before his sovereign eyes.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: God saw in David the humility of a servant. He
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: saw the heart of Of a shepherd, verse 72, and
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: he saw hands of skill. He guided them with his
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: skillful hands. He got involved. While you're doing surgery, I
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: want to ask you two questions, and they're the same.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: They just follow different stories. I want to ask you
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: about your involvement in helping people. Andrew was riding on
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: a subway. The 17-year-old youth was minding his own business
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: when he was stabbed repeatedly in the stomach by attackers.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: Eleven riders on the same car watched the stabbing, but
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: not one came to assist the young man. Even after
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: the thugs fled and the train had pulled out of
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: the station as he lay in a pool of his
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: own blood, not one of the eleven came to his side.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: Would you have? Same question. A little less dramatic, but
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: equally shocking. Eleanor was shopping at Fifth Avenue, busy Manhattan
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: in New York City. She tripped and broke her leg.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: Dazed and anguished and in shock, she called out for
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: help from the sidewalk. Not for two minutes, not for
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: 20 minutes, but for 40 minutes. 40 minutes on the
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: sidewalk in New York City, broad daylight, as business executives
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: and shoppers and students and merchants walked around her and
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: stepped over her, completely ignoring her cries. After literally hundreds
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: had passed by, a cab driver, obviously irritated, pulled over,
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: hauled her into his taxi and took her to a
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: local hospital. Would you have stopped? David seems to qualify
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: because he guided them with skillful hands. He got in
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: there and got dirty. He got involved. Integrity doesn't throw
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: around a lot of theoretical promises and toss them here
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: and there and leave people with expectations. Integrity says, I
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: care enough to get involved. You can't meet the needs
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: of the world. They are multiplied millions of needs, but
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: you can maybe meet one or two In a month
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: or two's time. Huh? Do you? And I can't stop
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: before I say directly. Integrity also means that. When I
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: sense something wrong is happening. I stop it. Or I
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: get out of the way. So it doesn't disease me.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: It doesn't. cause me the contagion of wrong. I guess
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: the best book I read this year was not a
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Christian book. It was a book called The Mind of
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Watergate by Leo Rangel. The Compromise of Integrity is a subtitle.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: It's a great book. Rangel analyzes the mind of Nixon
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: and his surrounding cronies during the Watergate era and before it.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: to point out from a psychiatrist's point of view what
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: was happening in the man's head during the time that
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: all of those things were going on. Lifted from this
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: book is a fine dialogue between Senator Baker and a
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: young man named Herbert L. Porter, who was there during
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: the early stages and was swept into the sewer of
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: the whole thing. And in this inquisition, as it were,
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: this question and answer dialogue, Baker tries to pursue the
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: concern for integrity. Baker, did you ever have any qualms
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: about what you were doing, Mr.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: Porter?
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: I'm probing into your state of mind. Porter, uncomfortably, I
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: was not the one to stand up in a meeting
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: and say this should be stopped. I mean, I kind
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: of drifted along. Baker. At any time, did you ever
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: think of saying, I do not think this is quite right.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: This is not quite the way it ought to be.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Did you ever think of that? Porter. Yes, I did. Baker.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: What did you do about it? Porter. I did not
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: do anything. Baker. Why didn't you?
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: Porter.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: After evidence of much inner thought on his face, in
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: all honesty, probably because of the fear of group pressure
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: of not being a team player. Let's learn a lesson
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: from Watergate. Let's learn a lesson from Jonestown. Let's learn
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: never to be forgotten lessons from those same situations that
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: happen by the dozens every year. If you have to
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: do wrong to stay on the team, you're on the
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: wrong team. Get off. Or clean it up. Oh, well, Chuckie.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's making waves. Integrity makes waves. Integrity makes
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: no mean no and yes mean yes and making up
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: one's mind regardless of the popular response. Well, a surgery
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: is painful. This year was adverse for some of you.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: It was prosperous for others. God beautifully has arranged a
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: plan to bring us to a place of self-examination on
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: a regular basis. You know that? Because the fog of
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: ecclesiastical liturgy has covered over the Lord's table, we've lost
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: the simplicity of it. It is designed to make us think,
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: child of God. God doesn't parade the elements in front
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: of us so we can gulp down a piece of
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: cracker and drink down some grape juice to go on
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: our own merry way. No, he says, that's what they
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: did in Corinth. For that cause, many of you are
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: weak and sick and some of you have died. No,
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: before you let that piece of pastry touch your tongue
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: and before that liquid goes down your throat, you be
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: sure you examine yourself. And then you may eat of
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: that bread and drink of that cup. When you observe
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: the table of the Lord Jesus, you are involved in
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: the most serious and significant kind of worship in all
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: of life. It is the perfect opportunity for any without
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: Christ to receive him. It is the perfect opportunity for
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: there to be a cleansing of the tumors of sin.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: Where the Spirit of God excises them one after another
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: as they are laid out before His scalpel. You see,
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: you must operate on yourself. And the Lord Jesus Christ
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: promises that every one of those things you bring before
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: Him that have no business in your life, He will
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: take away and forgive you. May we bow together. We
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: now enter this very serious time of worship. We must
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: enter with a prepared heart. No one can come to
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: this table with unwashed hands. It is heresy. It is heresy.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: To take the elements that reflect the body and blood
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: of our Lord Jesus Christ. With a heart that is
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: not clean before him. I warmly and compassionately invite you
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: who come today without Jesus Christ. To receive him now.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: And partake with us as a brand new babe in
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: the family. And child of God I. I must warn
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: you that you must be sure you are clean, having
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: confessed to him those things he has pointed out to
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: you in this message, before you partake with others. I
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: must add, if you refuse to do that, you must
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: please let the elements pass, lest you drink judgment unto yourself.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: This will be a time of quietness. We will later
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: leave in absolute silence. Our visiting will happen outside, but
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: in the quietness and darkness of this room, we will
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: worship and pray together. Our Father, our God, we have
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: been stimulated with the truth of your word. We have
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: reflected on our adverse times this year. We thank you
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: for sustaining us in grace. We now turn in worship,
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: and having analyzed our own level of integrity, we find
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: ourselves in need of cleansing, refreshment, We pray that you
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: will do that now. We love you. We adore you.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: We lay our lives before you, Father, because of Jesus Christ.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: In the name of Jesus.
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: Christ, the Lord, we pray.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, Strengthening Your Grip on Integrity, was copyrighted
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: in 1980, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1995, 2014, and 2024. And
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.