Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX

Integrity.  What is it?  Most of us have an understanding one way or the other.  Basically most of us understand it as honesty.  I ran across an article in my Leadership Bible that had this to say about integrity:

Matthew 23:1-39

Jesus called the Pharisees “hyprocrites”, six times in this sermon (vv. 13,15,23,25,27,29).

          His language reveals his displeasure. Notice that each verse that includes the word hypocrite begins with the words: “Woe to you.” In this passage Jesus chided the Pharisees for saying one thing and doing another.

Integrity-the direct opposite quality of hypocrisy-is the quality that people want most to see in a Christian and a Christian leader. The Pharisees didn’t live up to the standard that Jesus was teaching. When we talk about integrity today, we generally use other, closely related terms such as ethics and morality. But a clear understanding of the concept of integrity requires clear thinking about all three words.  Each has a distinct meaning. When properly used, they bring clarity to a crucial but often misunderstood essential principal for all Christians whether we are in leadership positions or not.  It is important to remember that those in leadership positions understand this concept: 

Ethics refers to a defined standard of right and wrong; good and evil. “lt’s what the Pharisees said they believed was right.

Morality is a lived standard of right and wrong, good and evil. It’s what the Pharisees actually did.

Integrity means “sound, complete, integrated.” To the extent that a person’s ethic and morality are integrated, that person has integrity. To the extent that a person’s ethics and morality are not integrated, that person lacks integrity.

Lets look at this another way. If John tells you he will lie, cheat and steal from you, he has a low ethic. If he does business that way, he also has a low morality. John is unethical and immoral, but he has integrity-twisted as it may be-because the moral- ity is consistent with the ethic. If John claims to cheat and steal but doesn’t cheat and steal, he is moral in practice but lacks integrity, because his morality doesn’t match the ethic. Think about that a bit.

You can have a high or low ethic. You can be moral or immoral. Your choice.  But if you want to have integrity, you must choose your ethic and live to match it. Anyone who wants to lead at least owes it to prospective followers to let them know what they are getting into.

The Bible teaches a high and holy ethic. A person who claims to be a Christian and to live by Biblical standards makes an ethical statement. He or she has committed to a certain morality. For that person to have integrity, then, he or she must live by the Biblical ethic. Jesus makes it unequivocally clear that the worst choice is the hypocritical one.

Read Matthew 23:1-36 and allow Jesus’ words to echo in your brain until you are convinced of his displeasure with those who say but fail to do. This is serious business.

 Think of this ascending dove from St. Peter’s in Rome as a prayer going up for each of you.

1 Timothy 2:1-7
2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,

2:2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.

2:3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

Ever wondered why your Pastor prays for the President, Congress and every one else in a leadership position.  There it is right there in 1 Timothy Chapter 2.  As Pastors we pray for the people in leadership that God will touch them with His Spirit and that they will be lead by that Spirit in a way that brings honor and glory to our God alone.  That may not be evident in the decisions that are made but there is evidence that our prayers are working.  Look at the turmoil within the two main parties.  People are scrambling to change their direction and looking for the right way to go.   I pray for change because I know that the God I believe in will bring peace if people will just listen to Him.  Can you imagine what the world would be like if people would just think of others and act in accordance with what Jesus Christ teaches?   What a wonderful world this would be if the first thought was always how can this help mankind…instead of how much money will this make me out on the marketplace.  Our Lord and Savior tells us that we cannot serve two masters.  Power can be our master,  money can be our master, the flesh can be our master or the one who rules the universe can be our Master and take us into a world where we love our neighbors and help them in their need.  

Too many of our leaders today are thinking of themselves and their own personal agendas instead of what is the best for those they are supposed to be serving.   Pray for them all and encourage your Pastor to pray for them too.

You can make a difference.  Have a blessed day,

Randy

Look what God put in my back yard.  Okay I stuck the cutting in the ground and watered but God made it grow.  We plant and do all we can to help but it is God who makes it grow.  Same way with our witness.  We plant seeds and God makes them grow.

1 Timothy 1:12-17 

Paul is soooooo grateful.  He is grateful to God for finally hitting him over the head with the old proverbial 2 x 4.  He knows he was a sinner and he knows he is forgiven.  You see Paul was the guy that wanted to persecute the followers of Jesus.  He was the guy that loved his job and took his responsibility very seriously.  Hunting down those of “the way” was the most important thing he could possibly be doing.  He probably found prestige in his ability to relentlessly pursue and hunt down innocent peaceful people.  But the other thing he found was that those innocent peaceful people were people filled with the Holy Spirit and were no doubt witnessing to Paul about Jesus and His love for each of us. 

You see it is no stretch of my imagination to see Paul gathering up Christians and having them beaten, tortured or worse.  But it had to weigh on him and soften his heart somewhere in those deep recesses.  Then on that road to Damascus, wham, Jesus winds up with that 2 x 4 and smacks him hard enough to knock him off his horse and temporarily blind him.  Jesus knew when Paul was ready to see the light.  He knows when you and I are ready and he is waiting for us to soften our hearts with His Spirit and others witness to us of Him in their lives.

What a great scene it is when a Paul gets knocked of his horse by Jesus Christ.  But remember Jesus needs us to be His witness, we soften them up and when the time is right Jesus finishes them off.  He saves each of us the same way, with His Love.  Live in His Spirit so the world will see who He is to you.  That’s our business and it is our life work. Be kind, be at peace and be at witnessing.

Have a blessed day/night and weekend,

 Randy

Psalm 14 

14:1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.

For those of us who believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ, Psalm 14 says it all.

It is hard for us to understand how anyone could not believe that there is a God.  A God who loves us beyond our ability to comprehend.  He loves us so much that He sent His Son to save us from ourselves.  If we would just follow Jesus Christ and His teachings, have patience with those whom you know who reject Jesus Christ and God, love them even though they reject your God, show them through your actions that you are a person of Christian integrity in all you do then ultimately they have to make a decision for God and Jesus Christ.  Hopefully they will see in you a God that can make a difference in their lives.

Peace and blessings, Randy

This stained glass ascending dove is from St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.   I took the picture from a long way off and then zoomed in on it so it may not be as clear as I would like it.  The dove reminds me that our prayers go to God and are as beautiful to Him as this dove is to us.

Psalm 51:1-10
51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

51:4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.

Right out of Psalm 51 we have a wonderful prayer.  We confess our sins to God and acknowledge that all of our sin is against Him.  We may hurt or offend people while we are here on this earth but we sin against God because He calls us to always love Him first and our neighbor as well.  Anytime we hurt or offend someone we are moving away from who God calls us to be and that movement away is the worse sin we can committ.  We may never be able to live absolutely sin free lives but striving to be closer to God is what He wants from us.  When we look to move closer to and  live more Holy lives, we are able to appreciate the presence of God in our lives even more.   Always strive to pray like Psalm 51 examples for us.   It will keep us connected to God and to His Holy Spirit.  His presence is what keeps us hopeful, striving to be helpful and generous with all that God has provided to us.

Have a blessed and very peaceful holiday,  

 Randy

There’s a promise in the rainbow and there’s a promise in the scriptures. 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
30:15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.

30:16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

Wow!!!  What wonderful promises from God.  Such a positive message to the people of Israel, us too, that tells us if we love God and remember how he wants us to live in this world we will prosper.

Remember to love God, remember Jesus Christ’s teachings and remember to love your neighbor.  That’s about as simple as it gets.  Do those things well and the rest falls into place.  There will be no better place to live when we learn to put God, His commandments and His Son Jesus Christ first in our lives.

Have a greatest commandment day,  Love God with all your heart, mind and strength, then love your neighbor as yourself,  

Peace and blessings, Randy

139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Have you ever felt that way?  The knowledge of how well God, our creator, knows us.  When we read Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 we see just how intimately God knows us.   It is crazy that we resist our God, our creator, without even a second thought to all that He has done for us and how wonderfully He has created us. 

Why do we resist God?   He has given us a free will to make decisions about how we live our lives.  He even allows us to deny His existence and  to ignore His Holy Spirit which is always gently leading us into a closer relationship with Him.  Reading Psalm 139 tells us that God is and always will be involved with us even if we deny Him.   That is a great thought; no matter how often we deny Him, curse Him and try to abolish His Will for this world, we will always be called by Him.  I love it when no matter how bad I mess up, God loves me no matter what I do to mess up.  God created us to love and no matter what we do He will not be turned from that purpose.

Have a day that says you know God loves you, 

Randy

Jeremiah 18:1-11

This pottery is around 2000 yrs old.  It is from Pompeii that was buried under volcanic ash.  It may not be as old as Jeremiah’s prophecy but some of it was probably made in the same manner as described in Jeremiah 18.

There is an Artisan at work in our lives.  The scripture from Jeremiah talks of a potter sitting at the lump of clay spinning on his wheel.  He has the power to shape the clay into whatever he wishes it to be.   We can be the Artisan and shape our lives on what our flesh and the world would have us be or we can allow God to guide our hands in the shaping of our lives.  His Holy Spirit will speak to us and let us know the shape we should become.  The unsteadiness of our hands shaping the lives we lead will cause the clay that we are made of to collapse if we do not depend on God’s Holy Spirit to shape and form us into the people He calls us to be.

Jeremiah says that God has the house of Israel in the palm of His hand and can shape it into whatever He chooses.  Hopefully God is working in this country shaping each of us into His people.  Making us a country of people who are willing to witness to and support each other in neighborly love.

Have a blessed, peace filled week,  Randy