Integrity And Godly Sincerity

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

The apostle Paul had spent 18 months living and teaching in Corinth, he had likely visited them at least a couple of times, he had written two letters to them, and his associates had visited Corinth on his behalf. Bottom line: The Corinthians knew Paul well. 

With that in mind, Paul boldly states, “Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity” (2 Corinthians 1:12). 

Integrity means “the virtue of one who is free from pretense and hypocrisy.” Some biblical translations use the word holiness here. Indeed, for Christians integrity and holiness should be synonymous. The conclusion of this verse goes on to state that Paul could live this way “not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace.” Paul knew that even more than the Corinthians, God knew Paul’s holy integrity. 

Paul also says that his conduct was with godly sincerity. You might think that the idea of sincerity or mental honesty is implied in the word integrity, but godly sincerity is a pureness that stands up to intense scrutiny. It’s not just a public act, but it is a consistently God-honoring way of living both publicly and privately. 

These two qualities give a godly leader moral authority like nothing else can. It’s authority that is felt as well as seen—it’s the “It Factor” that marks the Holy Spirit’s anointing on a leader. 

Paul is aware that his lifestyle could cause people to think well or to think poorly of the Gospel of Jesus. Just a few verses later, Paul uses the phrase “yes and no” twice (vv. 18-19). 

First, Paul reminds the Corinthians that he doesn’t “in the same breath say both ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no.’” This means he doesn’t want his lifestyle to negate his preaching. 

Second, Paul wants to assure them that all of the promises of God are “‘Yes’ in Christ” (v. 20). He knows that a preacher who lives contrary to his preaching—whose walk doesn’t align with his talk—is not only a hypocrite before God, but a stumbling block to all who have put their faith in Jesus as a result of that preacher’s message. 

Integrity and godly sincerity are absolutely essential for those who proclaim the Gospel. 

Godly leaders must be vigilant. They must be ruthless with themselves so there isn’t even the slightest lapse of integrity. Any infractions in a leader’s integrity and godly sincerity could cause others to doubt that Christ’s “Yes” is truly a trustworthy “Yes.” 

May we all live in such a way that we, like Paul, can stand before those who know us best and assuredly say, “I have lived with all integrity and godly sincerity before both God and you!” 

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Links & Quotes

Some human employers may ask us to do business for them without giving us a good example or enough resources. But when Jesus told us to be about the Father’s business, He gave us an example and the full empowerment of the Holy Spirit! Check out this full sermon.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“Compromise is a costly word; non-compromise, even more so.” —Bono 

Shane Morris said, “But as much as AI’s potential can cause harm, blaming it alone misses the point and likely makes these problems worse. Humans are the fallen ones, and that fallenness manifests in all kinds of destructive ways. Machines, strictly speaking, don’t have morals or intentions. They can only reflect ours.” Check out his podcast AI is not the problem, we are.

“I do not believe that a nation dies save by suicide. To the very last every problem is a problem of will; and if we will we can be whole. But it involves facing our failures as well as counting our successes.” —G.K. Chesterton 

I love reading and I have a long list of what I would like to read next. Scott Hubbard addresses this question: “Perhaps the question ‘What should I read or listen to?’ would come into sharper focus if we had a better sense of why we read at all. ‘Why read?’ has more than one right answer. We read to learn, to rest, to deepen friendship with fellow readers, to enjoy the craft of skilled wordsmiths. But alongside these good reasons, consider three others that put our reading into the service of greater loves.” 

“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse.” —Walt Disney 

“The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. … His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.” —Nikola Tesla 

This week marked the 100th anniversary of a court case that was known as “the trial of the century,” perhaps you have heard it called the Scopes Monkey Trial. It was, and has been, more sensation than substance. Check out this post that puts this trial in its proper perspective.

Resourced Like Jesus

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

If Jesus needed to be empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to do His Father’s business, how much more do we need this anointing today? 

You can check out the full sermon from which I took this clip: The Father’s Business.

The Scriptures I reference in this clip—Luke 3:22; Matthew 17:5; Luke 4:1, 18-19; Acts 10:38; John 5:36. 

Like Jesus, when we are full of and led by the Holy Spirit everywhere we walk is holy ground; every moment is a sacred moment; every work is worship to God because we are occupied about the Father’s business.

Check out the full series of messages about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in the series We Are: Pentecostal. 

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Pay Attention To The Bites

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

When people lash out at us—when they bite us—they could be giving us invaluable insight into what is truly in our heart. Before we respond too quickly, we need to take some time for introspection. 

Check out this part of my conversation with John Opalewski and Jim Wiegand on the Leading From Alignment podcast. 

Check out the full LFA podcast here. 

Chapter 2 of When Sheep Bite is entitled ‘Is God Trying to Get My Attention?’ I tell a story about two similar bites I received from two totally different people who didn’t even know each other. I wrote—

    As I drove back across the state, I kept the radio off and my ears open. I could feel the Holy Spirit asking me, “Why do you think two different people have called you the same nasty word?” The only honest answer I could give was, “Because it’s true.” 

     I wasn’t wrong in the way I held to the rules, but my overly-confident attitude had definitely crossed the line to become an in-your-face arrogance. I learned two lessons from this experience. First, if I do the right thing the wrong way, I’ve really done the wrong thing. Second, when similar attacks come, I need to pay attention. 

     Now, when a painful attack suddenly confronts me, I go to the mirror. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with them that they would bite me like this?” I go to prayer to ask, “Did I do something that provoked this?” Sometimes I have literally gone into my bathroom, closed the door, and gotten nose-to-nose with myself to ask this question, and then listened for the Holy Spirit to speak to my heart. 

     My cousin Dick Brogden wrote, “Critics and skeptics are gifts to us, for in their aspersions they often bring to light a brokenness or a liability early on in its development in us. If we are secure enough to ferret out the truth through the condemnation of others, we remain healthy in the long term as our malady is exposed and dealt with before it becomes too serious.” 

     Remember that we are naturally self-protective, so this time of introspection will need to be supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit if we are going to see the true prompter of the attack.

Please check out my book When Sheep Bite to both heal from past bites and prepare yourself for the bites which are inevitably coming in the future. 

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What Godly Leaders Do

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

As Paul is coming to the close of his letter to the believers in Rome, he writes these beautiful words, “I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another” (Romans 15:14). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

I love the high esteem Paul has for the Christians in Rome. He’s not looking for what’s wrong with them, but for what’s praiseworthy in them. 

A mark of a godly leader is one who is always looking for the best in the people around him. 

Leaders see the best in people—even if the people don’t see it in themselves yet. (Check out this short video.) 

Leaders point out the specific qualities they see in their people—virtues like goodness, knowledge, and competence. 

Leaders continue to sharpen their people, challenging them to excel even more. “Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again” (v. 15). 

Leaders enjoy spending time with their people and are refreshed by them. 

   But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. … So that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed (vv. 23-24, 32). 

Leaders pray for their people and ask their people to pray for them. “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there” (vv. 30-31; see Paul’s prayer for them in 16:25-27). 

Leaders publicly compliment their people (16:1-15). 

And leaders protect and empower their people. “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. … The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (16:17, 20). 

I want to be this kind of leader. In order to do that, I need the help of the Holy Spirit. I must listen to His voice in order to make the changes I need to make so that I may lead in the most Christ-glorifying way possible, and help those around me live even more in their God-given gift zone.

This is part 85 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.

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Weighty Words

Yet [in spite of the threats] they never ceased for a single day, both in the temple area and at home, to teach and to proclaim the good news (Gospel) of Jesus [as] the Christ (the Messiah). (Acts 5:42 AMPC) 

On the one hand, the apostles were sent by God to proclaim the name of Jesus; on the other hand, the Sanhedrin commanded them not to proclaim the name of Jesus (vv. 20, 28). 

Not only had the Holy Spirit empowered and emboldened these men to testify, but Jesus also said (in John 14:26) that at key moments the Spirit would remind them of His words. One word Jesus had given them, which the Spirit undoubtedly brought to their remembrance, was this: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna)” (Matthew 10:28). 

God is glorified when we give greater weight and reverence to His words than we do to the words of mere humans.

The Father’s Business

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

The Holy Spirit’s involvement in our lives isn’t reserved for just the “big” things, but He wants us to be aware of and tuned in to His voice and His thoughts all the time. There shouldn’t be a secular-sacred divide in our activities, but we should make every place holy ground and every moment a divine opportunity for God to be glorified. Or said another way, we shouldn’t have times of work and times of worship, but our worship should be seen in every single thing we do. 

I think everyone of us has experienced at one time or another a poor employer or manager. Maybe it’s an employer that demands results but doesn’t give you the training or the tools to do the job. Or maybe you have the training and tools but you don’t know exactly how much you are able to use these things without crossing a line. 

Maybe you have known a boss that is barely present, but when they do stop by the worksite, they aren’t happy with the work that has been done. On the opposite side, maybe it’s a boss who does everything and then gets mad that you aren’t keeping up or working as hard as them. It’s drudgery working for someone like this! 

But, somewhat surprisingly, Jesus used more work examples to talk about the Kingdom of God than He did worship examples. He talked about farmers, bakers, builders, employers, managers, and employees way more than about worshiping, singing, or preaching. 

One of the few glimpses we have of the early life of Jesus shows Him talking about His mission while on earth. Consider the story of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem when He was 12 years old (Luke 2:41-49). The phrase in the NIV where Jesus says that He must be “in My Father’s house” can be translated…

  • about My Father’s business (NKJV) 
  • dealing with the things of My Father (MSG) 
  • occupied about My Father’s business (AMPC) 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Jesus was consistent about this idea of working while He was on earth (John 5:17, 36; 9:4; 17:4). For Jesus, His work was a delight because it was directed by the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-22; 4:1, 18-19; Acts 10:38). 

Remember that I mentioned the unreasonable employer that gives us no training, no tools, no goals for which to aim, but expects us to work for his benefit alone. This was not the case with Jesus! He trained us, provided us with the Holy Spirit to guide us, told us the goal for which we were to aim, and said that both His Father would be glorified and we would be rewarded by our Kingdom work done on earth. 

Jesus wants us to work as He did, and He promised that the Holy Spirit would help us in this (John 14:10-12, 24:49; Mark 16:19-20). 

We saw that Luke 2:49 in the AMPC has Jesus saying, “occupied about My Father’s business.” In Luke 19:13 Jesus tells us to “occupy till I come” (KJV). This word is also translated into phrases like: 

  • put this money to work (NIV) 
  • do business (NKJV) 
  • invest this (NLT) 

Jesus is talking about the “talents” given to His stewards (Luke 19:11-13, 16-23). Every servant received the same thing: one mina. We all have been given one life to live; we all have been given 24 hours in a day; we all have been given opportunities to be occupied about our Father’s business. 

The Holy Spirit as our Counselor is there at every moment, every conversation, every decision to help us hear His voice, think His thoughts, and sanctify every experience. Jesus says that He will reward our occupying until He returns. Just doing things like feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, taking care of those in need. This sounds a lot like the work of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 and Acts 10:38. This Spirit-empowered work earns the commendation from our Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into your Master’s happiness!” 

Be baptized in the Holy Spirit and let Him help you be about your Father’s business until Jesus returns. 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in our We Are: Pentecostal series, you can check them all out here. 

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Sanctified Experiences

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Even with the Voice of the Holy Spirit in our ear and the Mind of God giving us insight, we still “miss it” sometimes. Maybe it’s fear or impatience or immaturity, but we try something on our own and the results are painful. 

I like the maxim, “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” It’s true, but in order to learn I need a proper lens or a wise tutor to help discover those lessons from my experiences. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us: He helps us make senses of our “misses.” Otherwise, if I don’t learn from these painful experiences I will become either arrogant and God opposes this kind of pride (Proverbs 14:7; James 4:6a), or I remain ignorant (Proverbs 15:32; James 4:6b). 

(Check out all of the biblical references in this post by clicking here.) 

Peter heard from Jesus that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was intended to empower the Christians to take the Good News of Jesus to all people—including Gentiles. Peter struggled with this part, as would all good Jews. In their minds, Gentiles weren’t eligible for the blessings of God, especially not the gift of eternal life which would allow them to be in God’s presence forever! 

Before we look at Peter, we need to remember what was happening with Saul/Paul at the same time. Saul met Jesus (Acts 9:3-15), and he then went to Jerusalem (vv. 26-28; Galatians 1:13-19). 

Now let’s go back to Peter. He had just seen a vision from God and heard the Voice of the Spirit (Acts 10:9-16, 19-20). In obedience to this Voice, he went to Cornelius’ house and was given the Mind of God to preach to them. These Gentiles not only accepted Jesus as their Savior but were baptized in the Holy Spirit (vv. 44-48). 

Now let’s switch back to Paul for a moment. Antioch became the home base for Paul and Barnabas (where the believers were first called Christians), and apparently there was a large Gentile population there. At one point, Peter came to visit and struggled with whether or not the Gentile Christians must then convert to Judaism. Peter was struggling with obedience to the vision that God had shown him, his disobedience was beginning to affect others (including Barnabas), and Paul called Peter out on this (Galatians 2:1, 7-14). 

Back in Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians were insisting that the Gentile Christians become Jews. It was this controversy that prompted the Jerusalem Council. At this Council, Peter responded like one who had throughly learned a lesson from his previous “miss” (Acts 15:5-11). 

I like this verse in the Amplified Bible, particularly one phrase: I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn by sanctified experiences Your righteous judgments (Psalm 119:7 AMPC). 

Sanctified experiences. A “miss” that the Holy Spirit uses to teach us. The “miss” has been sanctified to become a learning experience. This is what Jesus said the Spirit of Truth would do for us (John 16:13). 

There are things we simply experience, and then there are “sanctified experiences” where the Holy Spirit teaches us an invaluable lesson. These sanctified experiences are what the Holy Spirit uses to bring our thought and conduct into alignment with the perfect standard of God’s Word. 

The Holy Spirit never condemns us for our missteps (Romans 8:1), but uses them for God’s glory (v. 28). 

Just as Paul had to help Peter learn to pay attention to the Voice of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit wants to make us learner-teachers as well. In Psalm 119:7 the Hebrew word for “learn” is lamad which is also the word for “teach.” In other words, I’ve learned it well enough to teach it to another person. Even David with his sinful behavior—a really big “miss”—learned from the lesson from the Spirit of God so well that he could teach others (Psalm 51:10-13). 

Spirit-baptized Christians can lean into the Spirit of Truth to help them learn sanctified experiences from even the difficult things that have happened to them. 

If you’ve missed any of the other lessons in this series, you can find them all here. 

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Links & Quotes

When there is a misunderstanding between the leader and a team member, insecure leaders want the other person to change. Secure leaders, however, take ownership and ask, “What do I need to do differently?” Check out more from The Craig and Greg Show.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

In elaborating on the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:13 about Christians being the salt of the earth, T.M. Moore wrote, “In Jesus’ day, salt had three primary functions. Most people would have understood two of these, but only those raised in an Old Testament framework would have known about the third.” Read more about what churches should be considering about how they season the community around them.

In his “Look at the Book” series, John Piper expounds on the many ways Paul refers to Jesus in his second letter to Timothy. There are several ways, but Paul’s preferred way is “Christ Jesus.” Pastor John unpacks the Hebrew and Greek origins of these words and titles, and why he thinks Paul especially gravitated toward this title.

Aerosols from penguin excrement may help trigger cloud formation, reducing solar heating and helping stabilize local areas of the Antarctic climate, study finds.” Hmmm, it’s almost like God designed His creation to take care of itself—because He did!

And an article in Science says, “According to secular models of Solar System formation, Earth, as an inner Solar System planet, should have little to no water.” And yet more than 70% of Earth is covered with water!

Aelred of Rievaulx wrote, “In friendship there is nothing more outstanding than faithfulness, which seems to be both the nurse and guardian of friendship. In all of life’s turns, in adversity and prosperity, in joy and sadness, in delightful and bitter circumstances, it reveals itself to be comparable to friendship, holding in the same regard both the humble and the exalted, the poor and the rich, the strong and the weak, the well and the infirm.”

Commenting on Aelred’s words, T.M. Moore observed, “Don’t we all want friends like that, who not only will provoke and prod us to grow in the Lord, but will stand by us in good times and bad, when we’re up and when we’re down? But if we would have such friends, we must be good stewards of their trust. This, again, is why spiritual friendships must be grounded in the Lord and focused on Jesus if they are going to bear the fruit of His indwelling Spirit.”

Evolutionary scientists claim to have made some steps forward in their understanding of the origins of life by using “the last universal common ancestor (LUCA).” But creationists like those at ICR observe that, “This mysterious LUCA is an unknown entity that existed from an unknown time ago at an unknown place by an unknown chain of unknown processes.” Clearly, the hypothesis that is the most straightforward and explainable is that God created the life in our universe just as the Bible states.

Along the same lines, Glenn Schrivener asks, “What do you think was there ‘in the beginning’—before peoples, planets, and protons? If you could hit rewind on the history of the universe and go back as far as possible, what would you find?” Then he gives us four possible things we may consider.

The Mind Of God

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Last week we talked about the Voice of the Holy Spirit. I love the phrase from 1 Samuel 9:15 where God “told Samuel in his ear” about Saul’s arrival and what he should say to Saul. Then the Holy Spirit’s Voice for all of us is foretold in Isaiah 30:21. 

It’s great hearing the Spirit’s Voice, but He also empowers us to know the Mind of God. 

This is not something that automatically comes to every Christian at the moment they invite Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, as we see mention of immature Christians throughout the New Testament. 

Even after Jesus is resurrected from the dead, we see His followers as unsure, troubled men. We meet their…

  • lack of faith—Luke 24:11; Mark 16:14 
  • wonderment—Luke 24:12 
  • troubled minds—Luke 24:37; John 20:19 
  • lack of understanding of Scripture—Luke 24:44 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

This is all post-resurrection but pre-conversion, but look at what happens next. After Jesus breathes on them (John 20:22), they are peaceful (vv. 19, 21, 26) and they can now understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45-48). 

As we’ve said, we shouldn’t stop at salvation. Certainly, Jesus wanted more for His followers than merely salvation. He wants His disciples empowered for witnessing and disciple-making (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:4-5, 8). 

Check out these examples of the Holy Spirit sharing with us the mind of God:

  • Joseph—Genesis 41:16, 38-40 
  • Daniel—Daniel 2:19-23, 27-28, 47 
  • Peter—Acts 2:14f; 3:17-26; 4:8-12 
  • Stephen—Acts 7 
  • Philip—Acts 8:30-35 

And just in case you think this is just for “super spiritual” people, look how the Holy Spirit helps the whole Church share the Gospel—

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. … Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. (Acts 4:31, 8:4).

This was always God’s plan! Paul harkens back to prophecies like Isaiah 55:8-9, Isaiah 40:13, and Jeremiah 31:33 when he writes about Christians having “the mind of God” in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. 

He says, “These are the things revealed to us by His Spirit” (v. 10). 

What things? “Things God has prepared for those who love Him”—things which human eyes haven’t seen, human ears haven’t heard, human minds haven’t conceived (v. 9). These are the the very thoughts of God Himself! 

Just as my spirit is the only one that knows what’s really in my mind, the Holy Spirit is the only One Who knows the mind of the Father and Son (v. 11). We have been given the Holy Spirit “so that we may understand what God has freely given us” (v. 12). Contrast this with the dull, unfruitful minds of both unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4) and carnal Christians (Philippians 3:18-19). 

This mind of God is given to us for our edification so that we can be empowered witnesses and disciple-makers. So don’t stop at salvation, but be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and then keep on being filled with the Spirit. 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, you can check them all out here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎