February 25, 2026 • 54 mins
Ever wonder what kind of life makes heaven take notice? We walk through the finale of our Marvel series and add a special episode on integrity, showing why steady faith, honest habits, and a right heart matter more than any mountaintop moment. From faith and obedience to humility, worship, repentance, and a heart postured for blessing, we connect the dots to a single thread: God delights in consistency. Then we turn to Job—called a man of “complete integrity”—to reveal how character holds when comfort falls away.
We get practical. Reputation is what people think; integrity is what God knows. If the gap between your private life and public life is wearing you out, this conversation is for you. We talk about freedom from double lives, why gossip quietly breeds anxiety, and how small compromises steal peace. You’ll hear four simple ways to grow integrity: decide who you are before the test, practice private obedience when no one sees, guard your inner narrative so critics don’t rewrite your theology, and stay rooted in the fear of the Lord. Each step is simple enough to start today and strong enough to guide you in the next crisis.
We also challenge the way we choose influences. Don’t hitch your life to charisma or political alignment; look for leaders with proven character over time. Curate your inputs, cultivate clean habits, and trade flash for faithfulness. The goal isn’t perfection but wholeness—where your character matches your confession and your devotion matches your declaration. That’s where peace lives. That’s the life God can trust.
If this episode helps you take a step toward Jesus, share it with a friend, subscribe for new midweek conversations, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Then tell us: which trait are you committing to strengthen this week?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast, broughtto you by a Fresh Wind Church.
Each week our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
SPEAKER_02 (00:27):
Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim.
And uh Tim, we're coming off a Ithink it ended up being a
three-week break.
I think we told everyone, oh,maybe it was it two, two or
three-week break.
It was a week longer than Ianticipated, but uh we are back
from the Caribbean into the thetundra.
SPEAKER_03 (00:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (00:49):
Um what a change.
Man, go from 80 in sunshine to20 in snow.
Um, you know, I guess when wedid get off the plane, it was it
was about 60 in Ohio for acouple days, so got to ease back
into it.
And then it's like, no, here'shere's normal.
It wasn't easy.
Wrong word choice there.
(01:09):
But we're back, and uh this pastSunday, we wrapped up our Marvel
series.
And um I mean, I I told everyoneon Sunday, Tim, I this has just
been a great series to study.
Um I think it's a a uniqueperspective.
I don't remember us taking thisangle uh before, and you know,
(01:30):
in prep, I tried to find otherpeople talking about this.
Not a lot out there in thisspace.
Um, but just to really drilldown on what are those
characteristics, those traitsthat that heaven seems to marvel
at.
And so we we got to talk about aa few of them, um, eight to be
precise over the past uh couplemonths.
(01:51):
We looked at faith that trustsGod, obedience that follows
them, righteousness that alignswith him, compassion that
reflects his heart, humilitythat draws us near, worship that
values God above all else, andrepentance that restores
alignment when we lose our way.
And then um finally on Sunday,we looked at the heart uh that
that puts us in a posture of ofblessing.
(02:14):
And um really the the thing thatkind of undergirds the rest of
these things.
Um most of those are actions,it's something we do, you know.
Uh obedience is is a verb, um,compassion is a verb.
The heart determines why we doeach of those things.
SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
I think it's important for us to realize,
number one, that these are notuh the comprehensive list of all
the things that happened in theBible.
So let's we're talking aboutsince the beginning of creation.
Uh the Bible has given us eightof these uh examples of people
(02:56):
that um make God sit up and takenotice of his creation.
And we haven't talked uh wetalked about Noah, but we didn't
talk about his grandpa Enoch whoGod was like, You see this guy?
I'm just gonna let him walk uphere.
Yeah, you know, and uh I thinkwhat I what we tend to do is if
(03:22):
it's not in the Bible, asChristians, you know, it didn't
happen.
We can't really have uh we hearabout great miracles and God
doing great things for people,and we always got a question in
our mind, you know, what are thedetails about that?
We can accept it when it comesfrom the Bible, but I believe
that God is taking notice ofpeople right here today in uh
(03:49):
the way they're living, the waythey're obeying, um, their
faith, um, their repentance,their worship, and the heart
that they have to serve God.
I think those people existtoday.
It's not a biblical phenomena.
SPEAKER_02 (04:03):
I don't know if I closed out the first service on
Sunday as good as I closed outservice two.
Um because uh man, I got upthere at the end of service two,
um, and right as I wasdismissing everybody, man, I I
just laid it out.
You can do this.
Yeah, we can be these people,and I don't think I said that in
service one.
(04:23):
So if you were at the firstservice, I apologize.
I want you to know you can dothis.
I mean, what what we're talkingabout faith, obedience,
faithfulness, righteousness,humility, worship, repentance.
These are things anybody can do.
It's not a, you know, oh, onlyselect people get to be that.
(04:46):
No.
All of us can develop each ofthese traits in our life, and we
can be the kind of people thatheaven marvels at.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
Yeah, Philippians tells us that he's um working in
us so that we can do the thingsin our life that'll make us
please him.
And I think ending on the heartwas uh, I know you wanted to go
on to Job, but I think ending onthe heart is is really
important.
Um David wasn't perfect.
(05:16):
And um he made a lot of hugemistakes.
Not just uh, you know, we gotthe David and Bathsheba story,
but um how he dealt with hiskids, how he ran the kingdom,
um, how he got in trouble aboutbeing prideful about God's
kingdom.
It really wasn't his.
He was just stewarding it forhim.
(05:38):
And we we we miss the fact thatin all this he still had the
right heart.
I sent you a text um aboutNumbers fifteen.
Uh and that's where Moses is umtelling the people to make this
(05:59):
shaw, this prayer shawl, and thezitzis and and how they're tied,
um the uh books of thePentateuch and how many they are
and how many knots they are andwhat they represent.
And what they do is theyrepresent the law.
And he says, I want you to wearthese every day so that when you
(06:20):
see them you'll remember God'sheart.
And then it actually says in uhNumbers 15 um 39 to 40 says, so
that you won't follow your ownheart.
And I I you know that is that issomething we talk about all the
(06:41):
time.
Don't follow your heart becauseit is deceitfully wicked, and no
one no one can know it exceptfor God Himself.
Even David said, Search my heartand find any wicked way in me.
Right.
And that's we need to be uhunderstand that our um our heart
can be turned and will Avon,which is um our uh sense of what
(07:10):
is right and wrong get twisted.
Uh that's the there's threewords for sin.
One is ends in a ka.
The second one uh is pesci, anduh the pesci is the legal term,
miss the mark.
And then um the first one, ka isthe is the rebellion.
(07:35):
Uh I no, I know that's wrong,I'm doing it anyways, that flat
out sin, but all these words gettranslated as sin.
And the third one is Avon, whichis twist it.
You think you're doing right,like say that president down in
Venezuela.
You know, he thinks he's doingright, sending drugs to America,
(07:57):
who's his enemy, and uh at thesame time he's profiting for
that for his people.
So he's like, I'm gonna hurtthose people, but it's good for
us, and they're our enemiesanyway, so I'm gonna I'm gonna
do it.
It's a good thing.
And uh we get wrapped up in thata lot in our lives that we think
(08:19):
we're doing something good, andthen it goes too far, and uh we
get trapped following our ownheart instead of the heart of
God.
That's powerful.
SPEAKER_02 (08:30):
Um you know, a little side note on Avon.
I also beat them in high school.
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
Aha! And if you live in Avon, you live in sin.
I'm just you live right there.
You're live right now.
SPEAKER_02 (08:41):
Now you're a multi-state champion the past
couple years, but I did beat youback in 07.
Man, uh, we've been asking thisquestion.
SPEAKER_01 (08:52):
Didn't we talk about pride not too long ago?
SPEAKER_02 (08:54):
No, uh-huh that wasn't one of them.
We've been asking this questionuh each week in the series, man.
What kind of life catches God'sattention?
Um, but here's here's thetension in all of this is some
of the most impressive traits inscripture aren't loud.
They're not flashy, they theydon't trend, they're the quiet,
(09:15):
hidden, tested things.
Um, often the things that we doin secret.
And that's why I think the heartis so important because it
answers the question, why?
Why am I doing these things?
Um I a lot of us, I mean, weshow up to church because it's
well, that's what I'm supposedto do.
Um, my wife wants me to go, oryou know, my kids are begging me
(09:37):
to get out of bed and come tochurch.
So I go to take the kids.
And I challenge people on Sundayto ask that question, why do you
do it?
Why?
Why why do you follow Jesus atall?
What what is the heart behindthese things?
Um are you just trying to to getout of hell because hell sounds
bad and heaven sounds better?
Um okay.
(09:59):
And but or or are you trying toto follow Jesus and get to know
him as well as a forgiven sinnercan?
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
Yeah, it's not a it's not a peak thing.
I I think that when we weencourage people to follow
Christ and we want you know thismountaintop experience.
But have you ever been on amountaintop?
We went out to um thepresidential what do you call a
bunch of mountains?
(10:26):
Range.
Range, yeah, the presidentialrange.
And we went out on top of MountWashington, which where the
highest um uh wind uh everrecorded in the eastern United
States is was up on top of that,272 miles an hour.
They actually have an oldbuilding, weather building that
they put up there and they ranthese huge log chains over the
(10:50):
roof so it wouldn't blow away.
It's a pretty cool place.
But up on top of there, there'sno life.
There's no trees, there's nogrowing.
Uh the trees that are up thereare these little alpine things,
and they're about a foot and ahalf tall, and they say, yeah,
they're like over a hundredyears old.
Things don't grow up here.
(11:10):
You know, if you're looking fora mountaintop experience so that
you can grow and know the Lord,that's not where you go.
Where does everything grow downin the valley?
Right.
My dad used to tell me, he said,son, I'm not trying to teach
people how to get out of thevalley, and I'm not teaching
them to live on top of themountain shop top.
I want them to live steady.
(11:33):
Right there in the in between,so their life can be consistent,
and that's how you follow God.
And these, you know, the peoplethat we are pulling out of like
um Elizabeth and Zachariah, theythey consistently served the
Lord, and that consistencycatches God's eye.
SPEAKER_02 (11:58):
It's yeah, it's not flashy, and I I think you're
right.
So many people we want thatmountaintop thing.
Um all the time.
And I, you know, some of it isprobably well, the people on the
mountaintop are the people whoget seen, right?
You're up above everybody else,and I want that.
I want that recognition that youknow I love God more than the
rest of you.
You know, some of us we're justdesperate for some experience
(12:21):
with God.
You know, I I'm not looking forany recognition, I just want an
experience, you know.
Um, but I I think it's it's thatconsistent life um that God
honors the most.
And I think when you do that,sometimes he brings you up on
the mountaintop um and gives youa glimpse.
But then you you go back downand it's that consistent life
(12:44):
day after day.
I mean, even David in thePsalms, what did he write?
Yay, though I walk through thevalley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil.
That's a man after God's ownheart.
Right.
Where's he walking?
The valley of the shadow ofdeath.
Right.
Wait, hold on.
I thought we were getting to themountaintop.
Um, it's that day after day,just living consistently.
(13:05):
Right.
Um, and so the the you broughtthis up earlier, the person I
didn't get to talk about in thisseries.
Um, and I told everybody you gotto tune into the podcast because
we're gonna talk about themtoday.
So this is Marvel part nine oreight B, however you want to
look at it.
Um, but I think it addressesthat that consistency that we're
(13:26):
talking about.
Um one of the other traits thatGod marvels at is our integrity.
Our integrity.
Um and not our reputation or orwhat people think of us.
Um He he's looking for that whatkind of life do you live over
the long term?
Um that day in, day out,consistent life.
(13:50):
And man, there's there's no oneuh who models this better than
Job.
Uh he has been, I mean, as farback as I can remember, one of
my favorite characters in theentire Bible.
SPEAKER_01 (14:01):
Um, Job was the first book of the Bible.
Um they think Job lived um hislife while Moses was growing up
in Egypt.
And that's what a lot oftheologians believe.
I don't know if that's true ornot, if he was before that or
not, but the way they talk aboutGod just is one of those things
(14:25):
with me.
It's like people who knew Godthey knew who God was.
It was like they weren't bereftof God.
And these people were not Jews.
Joe, Job was not a Jew.
unknown (14:37):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
Uh he was not an Israelite.
There were no Israelites at thattime, they were all enslaved in
Egypt.
And so um we this is uh uh uhstory about a man who um
searched for God, found God, andlived for God in a very um we
(14:59):
use that word uh integrity andintegrity is you can be trusted.
That is so important I thinkwhen we're dealing with this guy
Job and we're talking about howmy life should look in heaven is
(15:20):
that God can trust not that youcan trust him, we talk about
that all the time.
You need to be able to trustGod, but can God trust you?
unknown (15:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
And um, you know, last year I've been in this word
loyalty uh all year, just tryingto what does it mean to be loyal
to Jesus in my life?
And how can I be not him beingthere and loyal to me when I'm
in the depths of whatever andwhen I'm struggling, but how do
(15:50):
I be loyal to him?
And Job has figured that out ina way that God would say, Hey
devil, look over here.
SPEAKER_02 (16:02):
Yeah, well, this is how it starts.
Job 1-1 says, There was a man inthe country of us named Job.
He was a man of completeintegrity who feared God and
turned away from evil.
Man, could you imagine if if Godwould inspire an author to write
that about your life?
(16:22):
Could he?
A man of complete integrity, awoman of complete integrity, uh,
a son, a daughter, a student,um, a boss, a husband or wife of
complete integrity.
I mean, I think a lot of us werelike, you can use a lot of words
to describe my life.
Integrity is probably not one ofthem.
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
Yeah, I think you know, we use it as one of our
values here at A Freshwind,integrity, and we we describe it
as living a life um that'sworthy of imitation.
That that another person, Paulsaid, follow me as I follow
Christ.
A lot of us are like, followChrist, uh, don't follow me.
We'll end up.
SPEAKER_02 (17:01):
Do as I say, not as I do.
SPEAKER_01 (17:02):
How often have you heard that before?
And so uh Paul Paul says, No,follow me as I follow Christ,
which is a big statement, but atthe same time, uh Job had done
that.
And um so when you think aboutintegrity, you just expect Job
(17:24):
expected to do what was on God'sheart and not his own desires.
He God expected him to do it.
He even challenged uh the Satanuh in this story.
He is a man of completeintegrity.
When he spoke about Job, hespoke with all the confidence in
(17:49):
the world.
I well, he already knew whatSatan was going to do to him,
but he says, I already know thisis who this man is.
SPEAKER_02 (17:58):
I mean, that's what God told Satan when he comes and
he's standing before him.
One, this is the story's sointeresting because God's like,
Well, have you considered Job?
It's like, whoa, whoa, hold on!What are you doing to this guy?
SPEAKER_03 (18:11):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (18:11):
Um, but this way he says, There's no one on earth
like him.
And again, a man of perfectintegrity.
It keeps coming back to thisintegrity, integrity, integrity.
There's and God says, There's noone else like him.
You can search the whole earth,and you're not gonna find
another guy like Job.
SPEAKER_01 (18:30):
It's not about sin.
It's not about has he eversinned?
Has he ever no, it's not aboutthat.
He did the sacrifices that he hethought he needed to do.
Now there was no law at thistime, but he wanted to be right
with God.
He wanted his kids to be rightwith God.
He did every time they messedup, every time he messed up, he
(18:51):
went back to make things rightwith God.
And so it's it's not about sin,it's about your heart.
unknown (19:00):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (19:00):
You know, it's about where you uh where your loyalty
lies.
And his loyalty lied in Godcompletely.
And no matter when he strayed,he found out, he came back.
That's the integrity that we'retalking about.
Right, right.
Because integrity means to say,I was wrong and I'm sorry, too.
SPEAKER_02 (19:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's good.
He's in those moments, I mean,again, verse one, he feared God
and he turned away from evil.
And and he he had a habit ofdoing it over and over and over
again.
And that's what builds a life ofof integrity.
And then, you know, God allowsSatan to go and and test Job,
(19:41):
and Job loses everything.
SPEAKER_01 (19:44):
Everything he loves.
SPEAKER_02 (19:45):
He loves his famine, his wealth, his children, all in
one day.
I mean, they're like, hey, allthe animals, they're dead.
Someone else runs in.
Hey, your kids were all togetherin one house, they're all dead.
I mean, he loses everything in amoment.
Then he his health gets uhafflicted, his his reputation,
(20:07):
you know.
He even has his buddies show upto comfort him, and you're like,
Golly, someone needs to givethese guys a counseling course
first.
But they're like, you didsomething wrong, obviously, Joe.
But scripture says this in allof that, he still retained his
integrity.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
And that's a struggle for us in in today
because, you know, just on thetop of it, if you really have to
force yourself to see what'shappening here.
Because Job wasn't pickedbecause um he was a really good
guy.
He wasn't picked because of allthe things that he had.
(20:47):
He had developed uh he was richand he had worked hard and he
got all that.
He wasn't uh picked because hiskids were good.
He did sacrifices for them allthe time.
So it sounds like he was busywith that.
Um so you know, we think thatthis guy must be, you know, the
(21:08):
spotlights on him, he's high andwhatever.
No, he was picked because of hisintegrity.
unknown (21:15):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (21:15):
And that's who God brags on.
Not the not the president, notthe you know, uh quarterback or
whatever we uh value.
He picked someone who hasintegrity, loyalty to him.
SPEAKER_02 (21:30):
Yeah, he reserves his marvel language for those
who uh who walk that way.
Not the people that we we'veseen to idolize and promote.
You know, going back to thesermon on Sunday, God had to
tell Samuel don't do not look atat this guy and his outward
appearance, because I'verejected him.
So you guys, humanity, you onlysee the outside of people, but I
(21:54):
see I see their heart.
And son after son after sun getsuh of Jesse's son.
Gets rejected until we get toDavid, a man after God's own
heart, and another guy whodidn't get it all right.
Um, and you talked about thisearlier, but he kept coming
back.
He had a heart to be right withGod.
God, I want I want thatrelationship with you, I want
(22:16):
that intimacy, intimacy withyou.
And when David was confrontedabout his sin, he repented.
He came back.
Um and so integrity is notperfection, it's what we've been
talking about along.
It's consistent consistency.
It's who you are when there'snothing to gain and you got
everything to lose.
SPEAKER_01 (22:35):
And who you are is what God is working on in your
life.
Because once you have integrity,once you have it, you're gonna
live a life of wholeness.
That's right.
It's because you're you're gonnapick and choose your life with
God's priority and values andnot your own.
Um, you're gonna be complete.
(22:57):
You're not gonna want any morethan what God wants for you.
And you can be happy in that.
And then all this, you know, I'mrunning back to God, I you know,
I gotta rededicate my life, ornow I gotta get saved again, or
whatever, however, you see thatrelationship you have with God,
(23:18):
none of that matters anymorebecause you don't choose that
anymore because you're loyal toyour king.
Um then when someone tries totie you up, like Satan did, your
character, um you don't haveanother person inside you that
is gonna be a different personat work and gonna be.
SPEAKER_02 (23:40):
Trying to figure out which mask I'm supposed to put
on in each situation that itdoesn't exist for you.
SPEAKER_01 (23:46):
Right.
And uh you can just be you.
And I tell you what, guys, whenyou when you sit down and think
about it for just five minutes,it's like that's life would be
so much easier if I could bethat person.
SPEAKER_02 (23:57):
It would be freeing.
Yeah, you know, and and we lookat integrity, we look at these
things like, oh man, that'sgonna be so tough.
The truth is it's freeing.
Imagine if you didn't have tocarry around a backpack full of
masks and trying to rememberwhich mask goes on and which
situation and around whichpeople, you could just be free.
You could run for president andnot worry about people digging
(24:20):
up your social media accounts.
Well, what did you say, and whohave you been talking to, and
who DMs were you in?
And right, yeah, no, here it is.
Yeah, you're you're free, youdon't carry around that constant
weight all the time.
I mean, people we've definedintegrity this way for a long
time.
The alignment between yourprivate life and your public
(24:42):
life.
When those things match, and I'mnot pretending anymore, I'm not
putting on the front, you canfinally be free.
And man, if we could if we couldstep into that and experience
that, I think it's one of thethings that once you get a taste
of it, you're like, man, I don'twant to live any other way.
(25:03):
Um because as soon as you assoon as you start to give in,
man, you feel those chains,those hooks coming back into you
and pulling you back, and you'relike, oh man, here we go again.
SPEAKER_01 (25:13):
I can't let my family see my email account.
I can't let them see my text.
I'm always worried about willthey get my phone, and then, you
know, or my browser history oror whatever it is, or even my
Netflix history.
Those type of things, you don'thave to live that way.
Right.
You don't have to live withthat.
I mean, just say yes to God'spriorities and no to the rest,
(25:39):
and you you can sleep.
SPEAKER_02 (25:42):
You need to understand what he just said.
You don't have to live that way.
That means that pressure thatyou're you're living under all
the time, worrying about yourphone and your account.
You choose that.
You do.
You are choosing that.
You don't have to live that way.
Why?
I mean, think how absurd it isthat we choose to live in that
(26:03):
kind of stress all day, everyday.
And it's no wonder why anxietyand all these things are through
the roof.
We we are choosing it to livethat way, and you can be free
from it.
Integrity is what does that foryou.
Integrity is when your charactermatches your confession, right?
And your devotion matches yourdeclaration, where your
(26:25):
obedience matches your belief.
What we're talking about isn'treputation.
That's what people think aboutyou.
And it's great to have a goodreputation.
We all want that.
But integrity is what God knowsabout you.
It's who you are when nobody'swatching.
Um when when the lights are offand no one's home, it's it's who
(26:45):
you are when you're making thatdeal and no one knows what's
going on.
It's, you know, I could I couldshave a little off the top here,
and nobody would would realizethat I did it.
Integrity comes in in thosemoments.
SPEAKER_01 (26:58):
Here's a good uh example that Peter brings out uh
about people who gossip.
When you gossip, and uh we'reagainst gossip here at AFresh
Win, if you didn't know, um, butwhen you gossip, you've got so
many different stories rollingaround in your head, and you
(27:20):
don't know who's who.
Because if you're a good gossip,you gossip about the things
people want to gossip out,gossip about, depending on the
group that you're with.
And when it gets all together,and then someone gets hurt and
they find out you were involved,you know, you got this thing on
you, and whether you know it ornot, you're building anxiety.
(27:44):
You're you're just building amountain of anxiety about the
things you got involved in thatyou know you shouldn't have got
involved in, and you just usedyour tongue.
Peter says, if you want to lovelife and see good days, keep
your tongue from evil.
And that's the what we'retalking about, the peace.
(28:04):
You don't have to worry aboutsomeone coming up and say, Did
you say this about me?
Or did you say this about myhusband?
Did you talk about uh whateverin this manner?
Uh and you you think, well,that's just gossip.
I was just no, that's stress.
And it's not just stress onChristians, it's stress on
everybody.
(28:25):
Your friend group can bedestroyed by something that you
say and you said it, and nowyou're just waiting for that to
come back around and someoneconfront you about it.
It happens all the time.
But a lot of the anxiety we'rewalking around with is with
something as simple as engagingin a conversation that you
(28:46):
shouldn't have got involved in.
SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
Those simple things, man, they get us over and over
and over again because we've notbuilt our integrity muscle.
Right.
We we try to adapt and be whatwe think people want us to be in
that situation.
And man, there you you stay in asituation or conversation too
long, and you're like, oh boy,yeah, I should have left a long
time ago.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (29:08):
Um and that's just one one aspect of it.
But Peter said, Do you want tolove your life?
Your life should be a life ofintegrity.
If you want to love your life,live with integrity.
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Yep.
When we were on that cruise, uhJoy and I went to see one of the
comedians.
Um, I love comedians, I lovecomedy shows.
We just did one at the chilicook-off.
It that guy was hysterical.
Um, so I love a good comedian.
We show up and sit down.
I think we made it all of 45seconds.
This lady comes out, she starts,and I'm like, ooh boy.
(29:47):
Well, if that's the opening, um,she wasn't even through her
opening yet.
This was her intro preamble, andwe're like, nah, let's just go
listen to music or somethingsomewhere.
We can't sit through this.
Um, because the problem is youyou and we do it over and over,
we justify those little things.
I'm on vacation.
How easy would it have been?
(30:08):
I'm on vacation.
Ain't nobody from church here.
Nobody's gonna see what comedyshow we go to.
Um, this doesn't matter.
It's a little thing.
We know that you know, we don'ttalk like this back home.
Yeah, and we can justify allthose things, but man, you you
put these hooks and they do,they get you.
SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
And you know how you know you got a hook?
Is when your wife says, Don'ttell anybody we saw this movie.
That's a hook.
That's a hook.
And you know, suddenly, ohright.
Now that's this was bad.
And I was on my phone half thetime.
It really wasn't my fault.
I wasn't paying attention, andthen the ending was, what?
(30:49):
And uh I shouldn't be involvedin this thing.
And but at the same time, weneed to avoid those times when
we are gonna have to say, Don'ttell anybody I said this, or
don't tell anybody I saw this,or I hope nobody saw me coming
out of this comedy club, youknow, that would think that I am
(31:09):
engaged in in that kind ofstuff.
Um and it's tough.
It's hard to find a good comicthat uh we had a good comic the
other night that was clean anddidn't add all that um stuff.
I I think we only had one personmad, and that was um uh oh
what's uh Larry's wife's I'vebeen with we've been Bridget?
(31:33):
Bridget.
Oh my gosh, I'm done.
I need to get me some echinaceaor whatever it is.
Um Bridget was the only one mad.
I I guess he ended on crossbowsand and raccoons, and uh she did
not think that was funny.
Um she loves animals, man.
(31:54):
But you can find you can find asituation that you wouldn't be
embarrassed if your mom knewthat you watched that, you know,
or your or your pastor knew thatyou watched that, or your life
group uh leader knew that youwatched that.
Why bring that stress andanxiety onto yourself?
SPEAKER_02 (32:16):
And again, you're choosing that, right?
You could choose not to do that.
Well, then you know, I wouldn'thave fun, I wouldn't.
There's plenty of of greatthings to watch out there.
Um, and you don't have to chooseto live this way, and you can
start to walk and live a lifefree from those things, and you
do it over time and you build alife of integrity.
(32:39):
Integrity isn't built overnight,man.
Um it you know, we've used thatword a lot, consistency.
It's doing the right thing overand over and over and over
again.
Um, and that takes time todevelop.
I mean, we're talking weeks,months, years, really.
SPEAKER_01 (32:56):
Years.
Well, Job raised a family.
Yep, you know, and and Satan'sgot the same, uh uses the same
attack that we attack otherswith.
You know, well, he's goteverything a person can want.
He's got a great wife, he's gota great job, he's got, you know,
he's he's got recognition andaffirmation, and if he didn't
have any of that, would he beliving that way?
(33:18):
And let's look at John theBaptist.
He didn't have any of that.
And he suddenly he's on thescene, and everybody, man, he
must be a prophet.
No, he's a guy who lives a lifeof integrity.
And nobody noticed him before,but when God points him out, uh
then suddenly everybody's ohwell if he you know if he had
(33:40):
lived a life like mine, hewouldn't be that way.
And Satan just stuck his foot inhis mouth when it came to Job.
And that's that's amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (33:48):
Well, that's what you're exactly right, because
Satan says, Well, he only servesyou because you bless him.
You know, you take all thisstuff away, and he's gonna curse
you.
Um, and yeah, you wouldn't talkabout a face plant, you know.
Right.
Um, God allows Satan to take allthis stuff uh away from Job, and
the very first thing Job does isworship.
(34:10):
Satan had to be like, What areyou kidding me?
You've lost everything.
And Job's response is Man, theLord gives, the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I I can't even wrap my mindaround it.
You know, I was talking to uh abuddy of mine that um from high
(34:30):
school, and man, I apart frommaybe a couple words here and
there, I haven't like had aconversation with them in
probably 15, 20 years, you know,a real conversation.
We got together, got had lunchthis past week.
Um, and his family has just beenthrough I mean, really hell.
I mean, some of the things thatthey've had to deal with, uh
(34:52):
cancer, spouses dying, lost hisdad, um, I mean, health issues,
medical issues, uh, withdifferent people in the family.
I mean, just it's like if lifecould throw it at him, it's
thrown it at him.
Um, but we were talking abouthis mom, who was one of uh my
Sunday school teachers uh when Iwas growing up.
When I took over my first youthdepartment, she was one of my
(35:13):
very first adult leaders um thatI had on our team.
Um, and I'm 15, 16 years oldleading this youth ministry.
And I she was one of the veryfirst.
I'm like, I'm gonna need yourhelp with this.
Um but he's like, man, she'sshe's my modern day Job.
You know, she has lost so muchin her life, and yet she's been
(35:35):
faithful.
She never questions God, shenever curses God.
She, you know, she she keepstrusting him, she keeps showing
up, her faith is is steady.
And then we got talking about mygrandma.
He knew my grandma, and I waslike, dude, same thing, right?
Um, here's a woman who lost somuch, lost her husband, got uh
(35:56):
diabetes, and then lost hereyesight, lost her leg, um,
ended up with cancer, um, youknow, all the just one thing
after another.
And I remember my pastor growingup said he tried to call my
grandma one time after one ofthe procedures she had to
encourage her, and he got offthe phone and said, Man, I don't
know if I encouraged her at all,but I sure do feel good.
(36:18):
Yeah, you know, like just one ofthose people.
And for Satan to step back andjust see Job's response to this
whole thing and be like, How?
Yeah, how why you've losteverything.
Satan thought Job's obedience,his devotion, his loyalty to God
was tied up in all those things.
(36:39):
And for a lot of us, the truthis it is.
SPEAKER_01 (36:42):
It is.
SPEAKER_02 (36:43):
I'm completely loyal to God when life is good.
SPEAKER_01 (36:46):
We have that same mindset that Satan has when it
comes to those things.
You know, I lived a life with aguy who same thing happened to
him.
He lost his wife and he lost histwo sons.
And it's like, how many morehits can this guy take?
Had an incurable d lung disease,and uh and it was but he never
(37:11):
he would never be disloyal toGod.
And uh that was a great it'sgreat that we have role models
in our life.
But I want you to look at what'sthat verse in Job.
I think it's verse twenty-one ofthe first chapter.
It says, Lord g the Lord gives,the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
(37:33):
This was written down about fourthousand years ago.
It was true then and it is truetoday.
It is ancient history, anancient, ancient truth about who
God is and and Job knew it.
(37:55):
And we need to know it too.
unknown (37:58):
That's so good.
SPEAKER_02 (37:59):
That's so good.
And you can lose you can losemoney, you can lose your
position or career, you can loseyour health, you can lose your
influence.
But if you lose your integrity,you lose the foundation of
everything else.
Um you talked about can Godtrust you?
unknown (38:17):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (38:18):
This is an integrity issue.
Can you trust God?
Absolutely.
Now you might want to wrestlewith that for a little bit, but
the truth is he is completelytrustworthy.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He's faithful even when we arefaithless.
He's the same yesterday, today,and forever.
So you wrestle with it as longas you want.
He's trustworthy.
It'd be better for you if youjust laid down that and said,
(38:41):
Okay, I trust him.
The question is, can God trustyou?
There's situations that aregonna come up, and God's gonna
look for someone and say, Whocan I send?
unknown (38:53):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (38:54):
Can he look at you and say, hey, I'm gonna send
this person because I can trusthim.
He's gonna do everything.
This is what he said aboutDavid.
He'll do everything that Icommand him to do.
Can God say that about us?
I love what Proverbs 11:3 says.
It says, the integrity of theupright guides them.
Our integrity becomes a compassby which we we live in any
(39:17):
situation.
When we live with integrity,we'll know what to do.
You're not gonna have to worry.
Does this take me towards thethings of God or away?
There's your compass.
And I'm gonna, if you live withintegrity, the answer becomes
obvious.
I'm going this direction.
Why?
Because it brings me towardshim, it keeps me under his
(39:39):
favor, under his protection.
Um, and I'm not gonna letanything come and pull me away
from that.
I want that freedom.
SPEAKER_01 (39:48):
I think in this day of who do you follow, because of
Twitter accounts and Instagramand all that kind of stuff.
Who do you follow?
And I know we're talking aboutwe're just following their feed,
it's not like we're doingeverything this person says, but
think of the words we're using.
Who do you follow?
You people, you need to followpeople with integrity who are
(40:11):
the same as they were yesterdayand will be the same tomorrow.
I don't know in our politicallandscape we get a vote for one
or the other, and they'reusually um some of the most um
disloyal and untrustworthypeople that we can vote for, and
(40:32):
we just try to pick which one isthe least untrustworthy, right?
And um and I think it gives usthis mindset that it's okay for
these people for you to followthese people and and be led
by 'em.
No.
If they've crashed and burnedbefore over one thing, they'll
(40:53):
probably do it again.
Their history is is a good ideaof what's going to happen next.
So when you're picking people tofollow on Instagram and Twitter
and pick people who's lived alife of integrity that they
throw mud at and the mud don'tstick.
Um you know, we've had a lot ofa lot of great ones.
(41:16):
Um Billy Graham.
Um we've seen uh a lot ofpastors rise and fall, but Billy
Graham in the United States andnobody still.
I remember um um somebody toldI'm trying to think, remember
(41:37):
that uh study we did on the endtimes with um remember who that
guy taught?
Was that Sproul?
Sprall.
You know, uh Billy Graham andand um sprawl didn't have uh the
same soteriology and um sprawlwas up and um taking questions
and a guy got up and saidAlright, Billy Graham didn't
(42:00):
believe this way at all.
You know, you've said all this.
Do you think you'll see BillyGraham in heaven?
And Sproul said, No, I won't seehim because he'll be so far out
front next to Christ that Iwon't be able to see him in the
(42:20):
gap between him and me.
And man, you you need to searchin your in your life if you can
and try to follow people withthe most integrity.
Yeah, and that that goes uh foryour boss, your friends, um uh
the people you listen to.
(42:42):
Uh find someone with integrity.
And I know a lot of the peoplewe listen to haven't lived life
long enough, but um you know, uha lot of these rap artists are
not the person you should befollowing.
You know, they're not the um ohwhat's that family out in
California?
(43:03):
Uh Kardashians Kardashians arenot a person you should be
following.
You know, they've lived theirlife right in front of you.
You should know.
SPEAKER_02 (43:14):
And I would even caution you because especially
um on the kind of the right wingmovement right now, we're seeing
some Christianity looks likeit's gaining a lot of ground,
and I and I think God's doingsome pretty amazing things and
powerful things in and through alot of people.
SPEAKER_01 (43:32):
He always is.
SPEAKER_02 (43:34):
But um a buddy of mine, he so turning point USA
did this alternative halftimeshow, which I honestly
appreciated that there wassomething other than what the
NFL's usually showing, becauseit's usually not great, um, even
though the Tom Petty one waspretty good.
Um but he was posting the lyricsto I think it was Kid Rock's
(43:57):
opening song uh for the TurningPoint US.
Show.
Um, and it's like I don't wantmy kids listening to that
either.
Right.
Um, and so we we need to becareful, even people who
identify with us politically andeven claim to have a
relationship with Jesus stillmight not be the the horse you
(44:21):
want to hit your cart to.
Right.
Um we need to be very carefulabout who we we allow influence
into our lives.
Um and and what you're sayinghere is is so important.
I I used to tell the the youthwhen I was the youth pastor, um,
you show me your friends andI'll show you your future.
SPEAKER_01 (44:41):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (44:42):
You know, you become who you hang out with.
Uh and it's just and now yourfriends might be because a lot
of us were isolationists, andour friends are our our favorite
podcaster, you know.
Right um, but it's we need to bevery careful about that.
And so here's some ways.
I'm gonna try to get throughthis quick because I know we're
(45:02):
uh we're coming up on on italready, but uh some ways that
you can begin to developintegrity in your life.
Number one, you need to decidewho you are before you're
tested.
Integrity isn't built in crisis,it's revealed.
And here's what I love aboutJoe.
He didn't scramble trying tofigure out who he's gonna be in
the moment.
SPEAKER_01 (45:22):
Right.
He knew uh who he's gonna be,even when the when everything
fell down around him.
SPEAKER_02 (45:28):
Yep.
So what are yournon-negotiables?
What lines will will you nevercross?
What who who are you becoming?
Who do you want to become?
Um, you need to answer thosequestions and decide ahead of
time.
That way, when life's fallingapart and compromising
situations come up andtemptations there in front of
you, you'll know the answer.
SPEAKER_01 (45:48):
Yeah.
Number two, practice private,private obedience.
When nobody's around but justyou and God, are you gonna obey?
Are you gonna say no?
You know, let me take it.
This is a great example, greatexil illustration.
Nobody's overweight because theysaid yes.
(46:13):
Everybody who's overweight isoverweight because they said
yes, not because they said no.
A lot of times we lose ourintegrity when we're alone and
we don't say no.
And so, number two, practicethat private obedience.
God, what is your heart in thissituation?
SPEAKER_02 (46:30):
Yeah, private prayer, quiet generosity, honest
work, um, those moral decisionsnobody sees.
Um, you know, after everyoneleaves at work and you got a
chance to, you know, steal somepaper clips from the break room,
you don't do it, you know.
Right.
Um or potato chips.
Or potato man, I I tell Jaredthis.
When Jared got his job atChipotle, they sent every month
(46:54):
he gets uh loaded on a Chipotlegift card money to pay for his
lunch.
Um, so when he's out working, hegets free lunch.
Chipotle pays for it.
I'm like, man, that's a prettygreat perk.
His mistake was he sent me ascreenshot of it to brag.
And I'm like, I got your QR codenow, buddy.
And every time I see him, I'mlike, I just want you to know,
and this is integrity, Jared.
(47:15):
I've still never used it.
I got it.
But obviously you think about ita little when I'm hungry and I'm
like, it would be so nice to runover to Chipotle.
Um here's here's the truth.
Jesus said this, who's everfaithful in very little is also
faithful in much.
And so it's in those quiet,those hidden places um that we
(47:36):
we grow our integrity.
Number three, you need to guardyour inner narrative.
Um, man, Job's friends came,they accused him, even his wife
said, curse God and die.
You know, everything is fallingapart.
But man, Job refused to letthose external voices rewrite
his theology.
He knew God is good.
SPEAKER_01 (47:56):
Man, that's that is so big.
It's hard to guard guard yourmind because uh today with uh
YouTube and and all thedifferent influences that we
have, every everybody who speakslife into your life, um
somebody's trying to tear themdown.
And it's usually anotherChristian trying to tear them
(48:18):
down.
And it's hard.
You gotta guard your mind, yougotta guard your doctrine and
guard your perspective.
Is God good?
unknown (48:27):
That's right.
SPEAKER_01 (48:27):
And if it's come to you that God is good and I can
trust him, then don't letanybody tell you different.
unknown (48:33):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (48:34):
And then finally, you need to stay rooted in our
reverence for God.
Job's integrity came back tothis.
He feared the Lord.
He feared the Lord.
And Proverbs tells us that's thebeginning of wisdom.
It's the fear of the Lord.
And so we need to stay in that.
And this isn't mean doesn't meanI'm afraid of God.
(48:54):
It means I I have a healthy awethat God is so far above me.
His ways are not my ways, histhoughts are not my thoughts.
Um, and I have this fear of theLord, and and when we keep
ourselves in that place, and wesay, God, man, you you're right
on every issue.
(49:15):
Um and I and I'm gonna try to toalign myself and align my heart
with your heart.
It keeps us in a place of ofintegrity.
And man, you can you can comeboldly before the throne of God.
SPEAKER_01 (49:29):
Quick example of that.
There's a a man named Jim Baker,and um he had a um ministry, him
and his wife, up here in umOhio, and it started it started
growing and growing and growingand growing and got bigger and
bigger and bigger and bigger,and he put up this um kind of
like a campground hotel resortthing for Christians, and he'd
(49:54):
bring in um Christian musiciansand stuff, and it was a big
thing.
And he was on TV, and then hegot caught up in um um selling
things twice, and you know,campgrounds and hotels and um
all that kind of stuff, uhdouble booking and then triple
(50:16):
booking, and then got caught upwith some kind of sexual thing
with one of his secretaries, andthen we don't all all went on.
But he ended up going to prisonfor it.
So he goes to prison and he getsout, and of course everybody
wants to talk to him becausehere's a guy who was godly and
he fell on his face, andeverybody wants a piece, right?
So one one guy said, When didyou stop interviewing him on TV?
(50:41):
Very interesting.
My wife showed it to me.
He said to him, So, Jim, whendid you stop loving Jesus?
And um he said, Never never.
I loved him through the wholething.
I just stopped being afraid ofit.
(51:02):
And that's where Job is saying,Fear the Lord.
Fear the Lord.
It is the beginning of thewisdom, it's the beginning of
the yes and no's in your life.
That's right, is when you fearthe Lord.
So um wrapping that alltogether, maybe Job would have
been a good one to to put inthere.
(51:23):
Um and I I love his integrity,and we need to surround our
ourselves with people ofintegrity.
And if you do, you'll findyourself living with integrity,
and then you'll find some peoplefollowing you.
And that's the way this whole umassembly, this whole church is
(51:43):
supposed to be.
Just like Paul said, followfollow me as I follow Jesus.
unknown (51:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (51:50):
As we close out this Marvel series, we've talked
about faith that catches God'sattention, obedience that moves
his heart, righteousness thatreflects his nature, humility
that invites his grace, worshipthat delights him, repentance
that restores, a heart thatpleases him and positions us for
his blessing, and integrity thatallows him to trust us.
(52:12):
Um and here's what we want youto know eight and a half weeks
you can do this.
Yeah, you can live a life thatheaven marvels at.
So much of the stuff um thatwe're stressed about and anxious
about, the weight that we carry,are the things that we're
choosing.
SPEAKER_01 (52:32):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (52:33):
And if we would get this right, if we would choose
integrity, if we would fear theLord, we we would position
ourselves to say no to thethings that that take us away
from God, yes to the things thatbring us closer.
And God can look at us and say,Have you considered my servant
Tim?
Have you looked at him?
He's a man of completeintegrity.
(52:56):
What if God could say that aboutus?
And here's what I want you toknow He can.
He can if we'll start to livethis way.
Past Tim, will you pray for us?
SPEAKER_01 (53:04):
Lord, I pray for our church here at A Fresh Wind that
you'll make us steady.
Not trying to run themountaintops and not get um
crushed in the valley, butsomewhere in between where every
day we consider your prioritiesand your values over our own to
(53:28):
live a life of integrity andloyalty with you so that you can
look at us and say, considerthis person.
And Lord, I I know that's uh inin our culture, that's a hard
thing to say, a hard thing tolook for, a hard thing to
(53:49):
believe that I could be thatperson.
But Lord, with the power of yourHoly Spirit, we are all that
person.
We can be a person who liveswith integrity, someone whose
life is worthy of imitation.
And Father, I pray that you'llplace it on our hearts to desire
(54:11):
that in Jesus' name.
unknown (54:13):
Amen.
SPEAKER_01 (54:14):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (54:15):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at a
freshwind.org.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(54:38):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast, broughtto you by a Fresh Wind Church.
Each week our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
SPEAKER_02 (00:27):
Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim.
And uh Tim, we're coming off a Ithink it ended up being a
three-week break.
I think we told everyone, oh,maybe it was it two, two or
three-week break.
It was a week longer than Ianticipated, but uh we are back
from the Caribbean into the thetundra.
SPEAKER_03 (00:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (00:49):
Um what a change.
Man, go from 80 in sunshine to20 in snow.
Um, you know, I guess when wedid get off the plane, it was it
was about 60 in Ohio for acouple days, so got to ease back
into it.
And then it's like, no, here'shere's normal.
It wasn't easy.
Wrong word choice there.
(01:09):
But we're back, and uh this pastSunday, we wrapped up our Marvel
series.
And um I mean, I I told everyoneon Sunday, Tim, I this has just
been a great series to study.
Um I think it's a a uniqueperspective.
I don't remember us taking thisangle uh before, and you know,
(01:30):
in prep, I tried to find otherpeople talking about this.
Not a lot out there in thisspace.
Um, but just to really drilldown on what are those
characteristics, those traitsthat that heaven seems to marvel
at.
And so we we got to talk about aa few of them, um, eight to be
precise over the past uh couplemonths.
(01:51):
We looked at faith that trustsGod, obedience that follows
them, righteousness that alignswith him, compassion that
reflects his heart, humilitythat draws us near, worship that
values God above all else, andrepentance that restores
alignment when we lose our way.
And then um finally on Sunday,we looked at the heart uh that
that puts us in a posture of ofblessing.
(02:14):
And um really the the thing thatkind of undergirds the rest of
these things.
Um most of those are actions,it's something we do, you know.
Uh obedience is is a verb, um,compassion is a verb.
The heart determines why we doeach of those things.
SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
I think it's important for us to realize,
number one, that these are notuh the comprehensive list of all
the things that happened in theBible.
So let's we're talking aboutsince the beginning of creation.
Uh the Bible has given us eightof these uh examples of people
(02:56):
that um make God sit up and takenotice of his creation.
And we haven't talked uh wetalked about Noah, but we didn't
talk about his grandpa Enoch whoGod was like, You see this guy?
I'm just gonna let him walk uphere.
Yeah, you know, and uh I thinkwhat I what we tend to do is if
(03:22):
it's not in the Bible, asChristians, you know, it didn't
happen.
We can't really have uh we hearabout great miracles and God
doing great things for people,and we always got a question in
our mind, you know, what are thedetails about that?
We can accept it when it comesfrom the Bible, but I believe
that God is taking notice ofpeople right here today in uh
(03:49):
the way they're living, the waythey're obeying, um, their
faith, um, their repentance,their worship, and the heart
that they have to serve God.
I think those people existtoday.
It's not a biblical phenomena.
SPEAKER_02 (04:03):
I don't know if I closed out the first service on
Sunday as good as I closed outservice two.
Um because uh man, I got upthere at the end of service two,
um, and right as I wasdismissing everybody, man, I I
just laid it out.
You can do this.
Yeah, we can be these people,and I don't think I said that in
service one.
(04:23):
So if you were at the firstservice, I apologize.
I want you to know you can dothis.
I mean, what what we're talkingabout faith, obedience,
faithfulness, righteousness,humility, worship, repentance.
These are things anybody can do.
It's not a, you know, oh, onlyselect people get to be that.
(04:46):
No.
All of us can develop each ofthese traits in our life, and we
can be the kind of people thatheaven marvels at.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
Yeah, Philippians tells us that he's um working in
us so that we can do the thingsin our life that'll make us
please him.
And I think ending on the heartwas uh, I know you wanted to go
on to Job, but I think ending onthe heart is is really
important.
Um David wasn't perfect.
(05:16):
And um he made a lot of hugemistakes.
Not just uh, you know, we gotthe David and Bathsheba story,
but um how he dealt with hiskids, how he ran the kingdom,
um, how he got in trouble aboutbeing prideful about God's
kingdom.
It really wasn't his.
He was just stewarding it forhim.
(05:38):
And we we we miss the fact thatin all this he still had the
right heart.
I sent you a text um aboutNumbers fifteen.
Uh and that's where Moses is umtelling the people to make this
(05:59):
shaw, this prayer shawl, and thezitzis and and how they're tied,
um the uh books of thePentateuch and how many they are
and how many knots they are andwhat they represent.
And what they do is theyrepresent the law.
And he says, I want you to wearthese every day so that when you
(06:20):
see them you'll remember God'sheart.
And then it actually says in uhNumbers 15 um 39 to 40 says, so
that you won't follow your ownheart.
And I I you know that is that issomething we talk about all the
(06:41):
time.
Don't follow your heart becauseit is deceitfully wicked, and no
one no one can know it exceptfor God Himself.
Even David said, Search my heartand find any wicked way in me.
Right.
And that's we need to be uhunderstand that our um our heart
can be turned and will Avon,which is um our uh sense of what
(07:10):
is right and wrong get twisted.
Uh that's the there's threewords for sin.
One is ends in a ka.
The second one uh is pesci, anduh the pesci is the legal term,
miss the mark.
And then um the first one, ka isthe is the rebellion.
(07:35):
Uh I no, I know that's wrong,I'm doing it anyways, that flat
out sin, but all these words gettranslated as sin.
And the third one is Avon, whichis twist it.
You think you're doing right,like say that president down in
Venezuela.
You know, he thinks he's doingright, sending drugs to America,
(07:57):
who's his enemy, and uh at thesame time he's profiting for
that for his people.
So he's like, I'm gonna hurtthose people, but it's good for
us, and they're our enemiesanyway, so I'm gonna I'm gonna
do it.
It's a good thing.
And uh we get wrapped up in thata lot in our lives that we think
(08:19):
we're doing something good, andthen it goes too far, and uh we
get trapped following our ownheart instead of the heart of
God.
That's powerful.
SPEAKER_02 (08:30):
Um you know, a little side note on Avon.
I also beat them in high school.
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
Aha! And if you live in Avon, you live in sin.
I'm just you live right there.
You're live right now.
SPEAKER_02 (08:41):
Now you're a multi-state champion the past
couple years, but I did beat youback in 07.
Man, uh, we've been asking thisquestion.
SPEAKER_01 (08:52):
Didn't we talk about pride not too long ago?
SPEAKER_02 (08:54):
No, uh-huh that wasn't one of them.
We've been asking this questionuh each week in the series, man.
What kind of life catches God'sattention?
Um, but here's here's thetension in all of this is some
of the most impressive traits inscripture aren't loud.
They're not flashy, they theydon't trend, they're the quiet,
(09:15):
hidden, tested things.
Um, often the things that we doin secret.
And that's why I think the heartis so important because it
answers the question, why?
Why am I doing these things?
Um I a lot of us, I mean, weshow up to church because it's
well, that's what I'm supposedto do.
Um, my wife wants me to go, oryou know, my kids are begging me
(09:37):
to get out of bed and come tochurch.
So I go to take the kids.
And I challenge people on Sundayto ask that question, why do you
do it?
Why?
Why why do you follow Jesus atall?
What what is the heart behindthese things?
Um are you just trying to to getout of hell because hell sounds
bad and heaven sounds better?
Um okay.
(09:59):
And but or or are you trying toto follow Jesus and get to know
him as well as a forgiven sinnercan?
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
Yeah, it's not a it's not a peak thing.
I I think that when we weencourage people to follow
Christ and we want you know thismountaintop experience.
But have you ever been on amountaintop?
We went out to um thepresidential what do you call a
bunch of mountains?
(10:26):
Range.
Range, yeah, the presidentialrange.
And we went out on top of MountWashington, which where the
highest um uh wind uh everrecorded in the eastern United
States is was up on top of that,272 miles an hour.
They actually have an oldbuilding, weather building that
they put up there and they ranthese huge log chains over the
(10:50):
roof so it wouldn't blow away.
It's a pretty cool place.
But up on top of there, there'sno life.
There's no trees, there's nogrowing.
Uh the trees that are up thereare these little alpine things,
and they're about a foot and ahalf tall, and they say, yeah,
they're like over a hundredyears old.
Things don't grow up here.
(11:10):
You know, if you're looking fora mountaintop experience so that
you can grow and know the Lord,that's not where you go.
Where does everything grow downin the valley?
Right.
My dad used to tell me, he said,son, I'm not trying to teach
people how to get out of thevalley, and I'm not teaching
them to live on top of themountain shop top.
I want them to live steady.
(11:33):
Right there in the in between,so their life can be consistent,
and that's how you follow God.
And these, you know, the peoplethat we are pulling out of like
um Elizabeth and Zachariah, theythey consistently served the
Lord, and that consistencycatches God's eye.
SPEAKER_02 (11:58):
It's yeah, it's not flashy, and I I think you're
right.
So many people we want thatmountaintop thing.
Um all the time.
And I, you know, some of it isprobably well, the people on the
mountaintop are the people whoget seen, right?
You're up above everybody else,and I want that.
I want that recognition that youknow I love God more than the
rest of you.
You know, some of us we're justdesperate for some experience
(12:21):
with God.
You know, I I'm not looking forany recognition, I just want an
experience, you know.
Um, but I I think it's it's thatconsistent life um that God
honors the most.
And I think when you do that,sometimes he brings you up on
the mountaintop um and gives youa glimpse.
But then you you go back downand it's that consistent life
(12:44):
day after day.
I mean, even David in thePsalms, what did he write?
Yay, though I walk through thevalley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil.
That's a man after God's ownheart.
Right.
Where's he walking?
The valley of the shadow ofdeath.
Right.
Wait, hold on.
I thought we were getting to themountaintop.
Um, it's that day after day,just living consistently.
(13:05):
Right.
Um, and so the the you broughtthis up earlier, the person I
didn't get to talk about in thisseries.
Um, and I told everybody you gotto tune into the podcast because
we're gonna talk about themtoday.
So this is Marvel part nine oreight B, however you want to
look at it.
Um, but I think it addressesthat that consistency that we're
(13:26):
talking about.
Um one of the other traits thatGod marvels at is our integrity.
Our integrity.
Um and not our reputation or orwhat people think of us.
Um He he's looking for that whatkind of life do you live over
the long term?
Um that day in, day out,consistent life.
(13:50):
And man, there's there's no oneuh who models this better than
Job.
Uh he has been, I mean, as farback as I can remember, one of
my favorite characters in theentire Bible.
SPEAKER_01 (14:01):
Um, Job was the first book of the Bible.
Um they think Job lived um hislife while Moses was growing up
in Egypt.
And that's what a lot oftheologians believe.
I don't know if that's true ornot, if he was before that or
not, but the way they talk aboutGod just is one of those things
(14:25):
with me.
It's like people who knew Godthey knew who God was.
It was like they weren't bereftof God.
And these people were not Jews.
Joe, Job was not a Jew.
unknown (14:37):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
Uh he was not an Israelite.
There were no Israelites at thattime, they were all enslaved in
Egypt.
And so um we this is uh uh uhstory about a man who um
searched for God, found God, andlived for God in a very um we
(14:59):
use that word uh integrity andintegrity is you can be trusted.
That is so important I thinkwhen we're dealing with this guy
Job and we're talking about howmy life should look in heaven is
(15:20):
that God can trust not that youcan trust him, we talk about
that all the time.
You need to be able to trustGod, but can God trust you?
unknown (15:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
And um, you know, last year I've been in this word
loyalty uh all year, just tryingto what does it mean to be loyal
to Jesus in my life?
And how can I be not him beingthere and loyal to me when I'm
in the depths of whatever andwhen I'm struggling, but how do
(15:50):
I be loyal to him?
And Job has figured that out ina way that God would say, Hey
devil, look over here.
SPEAKER_02 (16:02):
Yeah, well, this is how it starts.
Job 1-1 says, There was a man inthe country of us named Job.
He was a man of completeintegrity who feared God and
turned away from evil.
Man, could you imagine if if Godwould inspire an author to write
that about your life?
(16:22):
Could he?
A man of complete integrity, awoman of complete integrity, uh,
a son, a daughter, a student,um, a boss, a husband or wife of
complete integrity.
I mean, I think a lot of us werelike, you can use a lot of words
to describe my life.
Integrity is probably not one ofthem.
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
Yeah, I think you know, we use it as one of our
values here at A Freshwind,integrity, and we we describe it
as living a life um that'sworthy of imitation.
That that another person, Paulsaid, follow me as I follow
Christ.
A lot of us are like, followChrist, uh, don't follow me.
We'll end up.
SPEAKER_02 (17:01):
Do as I say, not as I do.
SPEAKER_01 (17:02):
How often have you heard that before?
And so uh Paul Paul says, No,follow me as I follow Christ,
which is a big statement, but atthe same time, uh Job had done
that.
And um so when you think aboutintegrity, you just expect Job
(17:24):
expected to do what was on God'sheart and not his own desires.
He God expected him to do it.
He even challenged uh the Satanuh in this story.
He is a man of completeintegrity.
When he spoke about Job, hespoke with all the confidence in
(17:49):
the world.
I well, he already knew whatSatan was going to do to him,
but he says, I already know thisis who this man is.
SPEAKER_02 (17:58):
I mean, that's what God told Satan when he comes and
he's standing before him.
One, this is the story's sointeresting because God's like,
Well, have you considered Job?
It's like, whoa, whoa, hold on!What are you doing to this guy?
SPEAKER_03 (18:11):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (18:11):
Um, but this way he says, There's no one on earth
like him.
And again, a man of perfectintegrity.
It keeps coming back to thisintegrity, integrity, integrity.
There's and God says, There's noone else like him.
You can search the whole earth,and you're not gonna find
another guy like Job.
SPEAKER_01 (18:30):
It's not about sin.
It's not about has he eversinned?
Has he ever no, it's not aboutthat.
He did the sacrifices that he hethought he needed to do.
Now there was no law at thistime, but he wanted to be right
with God.
He wanted his kids to be rightwith God.
He did every time they messedup, every time he messed up, he
(18:51):
went back to make things rightwith God.
And so it's it's not about sin,it's about your heart.
unknown (19:00):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (19:00):
You know, it's about where you uh where your loyalty
lies.
And his loyalty lied in Godcompletely.
And no matter when he strayed,he found out, he came back.
That's the integrity that we'retalking about.
Right, right.
Because integrity means to say,I was wrong and I'm sorry, too.
SPEAKER_02 (19:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's good.
He's in those moments, I mean,again, verse one, he feared God
and he turned away from evil.
And and he he had a habit ofdoing it over and over and over
again.
And that's what builds a life ofof integrity.
And then, you know, God allowsSatan to go and and test Job,
(19:41):
and Job loses everything.
SPEAKER_01 (19:44):
Everything he loves.
SPEAKER_02 (19:45):
He loves his famine, his wealth, his children, all in
one day.
I mean, they're like, hey, allthe animals, they're dead.
Someone else runs in.
Hey, your kids were all togetherin one house, they're all dead.
I mean, he loses everything in amoment.
Then he his health gets uhafflicted, his his reputation,
(20:07):
you know.
He even has his buddies show upto comfort him, and you're like,
Golly, someone needs to givethese guys a counseling course
first.
But they're like, you didsomething wrong, obviously, Joe.
But scripture says this in allof that, he still retained his
integrity.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
And that's a struggle for us in in today
because, you know, just on thetop of it, if you really have to
force yourself to see what'shappening here.
Because Job wasn't pickedbecause um he was a really good
guy.
He wasn't picked because of allthe things that he had.
(20:47):
He had developed uh he was richand he had worked hard and he
got all that.
He wasn't uh picked because hiskids were good.
He did sacrifices for them allthe time.
So it sounds like he was busywith that.
Um so you know, we think thatthis guy must be, you know, the
(21:08):
spotlights on him, he's high andwhatever.
No, he was picked because of hisintegrity.
unknown (21:15):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (21:15):
And that's who God brags on.
Not the not the president, notthe you know, uh quarterback or
whatever we uh value.
He picked someone who hasintegrity, loyalty to him.
SPEAKER_02 (21:30):
Yeah, he reserves his marvel language for those
who uh who walk that way.
Not the people that we we'veseen to idolize and promote.
You know, going back to thesermon on Sunday, God had to
tell Samuel don't do not look atat this guy and his outward
appearance, because I'verejected him.
So you guys, humanity, you onlysee the outside of people, but I
(21:54):
see I see their heart.
And son after son after sun getsuh of Jesse's son.
Gets rejected until we get toDavid, a man after God's own
heart, and another guy whodidn't get it all right.
Um, and you talked about thisearlier, but he kept coming
back.
He had a heart to be right withGod.
God, I want I want thatrelationship with you, I want
(22:16):
that intimacy, intimacy withyou.
And when David was confrontedabout his sin, he repented.
He came back.
Um and so integrity is notperfection, it's what we've been
talking about along.
It's consistent consistency.
It's who you are when there'snothing to gain and you got
everything to lose.
SPEAKER_01 (22:35):
And who you are is what God is working on in your
life.
Because once you have integrity,once you have it, you're gonna
live a life of wholeness.
That's right.
It's because you're you're gonnapick and choose your life with
God's priority and values andnot your own.
Um, you're gonna be complete.
(22:57):
You're not gonna want any morethan what God wants for you.
And you can be happy in that.
And then all this, you know, I'mrunning back to God, I you know,
I gotta rededicate my life, ornow I gotta get saved again, or
whatever, however, you see thatrelationship you have with God,
(23:18):
none of that matters anymorebecause you don't choose that
anymore because you're loyal toyour king.
Um then when someone tries totie you up, like Satan did, your
character, um you don't haveanother person inside you that
is gonna be a different personat work and gonna be.
SPEAKER_02 (23:40):
Trying to figure out which mask I'm supposed to put
on in each situation that itdoesn't exist for you.
SPEAKER_01 (23:46):
Right.
And uh you can just be you.
And I tell you what, guys, whenyou when you sit down and think
about it for just five minutes,it's like that's life would be
so much easier if I could bethat person.
SPEAKER_02 (23:57):
It would be freeing.
Yeah, you know, and and we lookat integrity, we look at these
things like, oh man, that'sgonna be so tough.
The truth is it's freeing.
Imagine if you didn't have tocarry around a backpack full of
masks and trying to rememberwhich mask goes on and which
situation and around whichpeople, you could just be free.
You could run for president andnot worry about people digging
(24:20):
up your social media accounts.
Well, what did you say, and whohave you been talking to, and
who DMs were you in?
And right, yeah, no, here it is.
Yeah, you're you're free, youdon't carry around that constant
weight all the time.
I mean, people we've definedintegrity this way for a long
time.
The alignment between yourprivate life and your public
(24:42):
life.
When those things match, and I'mnot pretending anymore, I'm not
putting on the front, you canfinally be free.
And man, if we could if we couldstep into that and experience
that, I think it's one of thethings that once you get a taste
of it, you're like, man, I don'twant to live any other way.
(25:03):
Um because as soon as you assoon as you start to give in,
man, you feel those chains,those hooks coming back into you
and pulling you back, and you'relike, oh man, here we go again.
SPEAKER_01 (25:13):
I can't let my family see my email account.
I can't let them see my text.
I'm always worried about willthey get my phone, and then, you
know, or my browser history oror whatever it is, or even my
Netflix history.
Those type of things, you don'thave to live that way.
Right.
You don't have to live withthat.
I mean, just say yes to God'spriorities and no to the rest,
(25:39):
and you you can sleep.
SPEAKER_02 (25:42):
You need to understand what he just said.
You don't have to live that way.
That means that pressure thatyou're you're living under all
the time, worrying about yourphone and your account.
You choose that.
You do.
You are choosing that.
You don't have to live that way.
Why?
I mean, think how absurd it isthat we choose to live in that
(26:03):
kind of stress all day, everyday.
And it's no wonder why anxietyand all these things are through
the roof.
We we are choosing it to livethat way, and you can be free
from it.
Integrity is what does that foryou.
Integrity is when your charactermatches your confession, right?
And your devotion matches yourdeclaration, where your
(26:25):
obedience matches your belief.
What we're talking about isn'treputation.
That's what people think aboutyou.
And it's great to have a goodreputation.
We all want that.
But integrity is what God knowsabout you.
It's who you are when nobody'swatching.
Um when when the lights are offand no one's home, it's it's who
(26:45):
you are when you're making thatdeal and no one knows what's
going on.
It's, you know, I could I couldshave a little off the top here,
and nobody would would realizethat I did it.
Integrity comes in in thosemoments.
SPEAKER_01 (26:58):
Here's a good uh example that Peter brings out uh
about people who gossip.
When you gossip, and uh we'reagainst gossip here at AFresh
Win, if you didn't know, um, butwhen you gossip, you've got so
many different stories rollingaround in your head, and you
(27:20):
don't know who's who.
Because if you're a good gossip,you gossip about the things
people want to gossip out,gossip about, depending on the
group that you're with.
And when it gets all together,and then someone gets hurt and
they find out you were involved,you know, you got this thing on
you, and whether you know it ornot, you're building anxiety.
(27:44):
You're you're just building amountain of anxiety about the
things you got involved in thatyou know you shouldn't have got
involved in, and you just usedyour tongue.
Peter says, if you want to lovelife and see good days, keep
your tongue from evil.
And that's the what we'retalking about, the peace.
(28:04):
You don't have to worry aboutsomeone coming up and say, Did
you say this about me?
Or did you say this about myhusband?
Did you talk about uh whateverin this manner?
Uh and you you think, well,that's just gossip.
I was just no, that's stress.
And it's not just stress onChristians, it's stress on
everybody.
(28:25):
Your friend group can bedestroyed by something that you
say and you said it, and nowyou're just waiting for that to
come back around and someoneconfront you about it.
It happens all the time.
But a lot of the anxiety we'rewalking around with is with
something as simple as engagingin a conversation that you
(28:46):
shouldn't have got involved in.
SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
Those simple things, man, they get us over and over
and over again because we've notbuilt our integrity muscle.
Right.
We we try to adapt and be whatwe think people want us to be in
that situation.
And man, there you you stay in asituation or conversation too
long, and you're like, oh boy,yeah, I should have left a long
time ago.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (29:08):
Um and that's just one one aspect of it.
But Peter said, Do you want tolove your life?
Your life should be a life ofintegrity.
If you want to love your life,live with integrity.
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Yep.
When we were on that cruise, uhJoy and I went to see one of the
comedians.
Um, I love comedians, I lovecomedy shows.
We just did one at the chilicook-off.
It that guy was hysterical.
Um, so I love a good comedian.
We show up and sit down.
I think we made it all of 45seconds.
This lady comes out, she starts,and I'm like, ooh boy.
(29:47):
Well, if that's the opening, um,she wasn't even through her
opening yet.
This was her intro preamble, andwe're like, nah, let's just go
listen to music or somethingsomewhere.
We can't sit through this.
Um, because the problem is youyou and we do it over and over,
we justify those little things.
I'm on vacation.
How easy would it have been?
(30:08):
I'm on vacation.
Ain't nobody from church here.
Nobody's gonna see what comedyshow we go to.
Um, this doesn't matter.
It's a little thing.
We know that you know, we don'ttalk like this back home.
Yeah, and we can justify allthose things, but man, you you
put these hooks and they do,they get you.
SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
And you know how you know you got a hook?
Is when your wife says, Don'ttell anybody we saw this movie.
That's a hook.
That's a hook.
And you know, suddenly, ohright.
Now that's this was bad.
And I was on my phone half thetime.
It really wasn't my fault.
I wasn't paying attention, andthen the ending was, what?
(30:49):
And uh I shouldn't be involvedin this thing.
And but at the same time, weneed to avoid those times when
we are gonna have to say, Don'ttell anybody I said this, or
don't tell anybody I saw this,or I hope nobody saw me coming
out of this comedy club, youknow, that would think that I am
(31:09):
engaged in in that kind ofstuff.
Um and it's tough.
It's hard to find a good comicthat uh we had a good comic the
other night that was clean anddidn't add all that um stuff.
I I think we only had one personmad, and that was um uh oh
what's uh Larry's wife's I'vebeen with we've been Bridget?
(31:33):
Bridget.
Oh my gosh, I'm done.
I need to get me some echinaceaor whatever it is.
Um Bridget was the only one mad.
I I guess he ended on crossbowsand and raccoons, and uh she did
not think that was funny.
Um she loves animals, man.
(31:54):
But you can find you can find asituation that you wouldn't be
embarrassed if your mom knewthat you watched that, you know,
or your or your pastor knew thatyou watched that, or your life
group uh leader knew that youwatched that.
Why bring that stress andanxiety onto yourself?
SPEAKER_02 (32:16):
And again, you're choosing that, right?
You could choose not to do that.
Well, then you know, I wouldn'thave fun, I wouldn't.
There's plenty of of greatthings to watch out there.
Um, and you don't have to chooseto live this way, and you can
start to walk and live a lifefree from those things, and you
do it over time and you build alife of integrity.
(32:39):
Integrity isn't built overnight,man.
Um it you know, we've used thatword a lot, consistency.
It's doing the right thing overand over and over and over
again.
Um, and that takes time todevelop.
I mean, we're talking weeks,months, years, really.
SPEAKER_01 (32:56):
Years.
Well, Job raised a family.
Yep, you know, and and Satan'sgot the same, uh uses the same
attack that we attack otherswith.
You know, well, he's goteverything a person can want.
He's got a great wife, he's gota great job, he's got, you know,
he's he's got recognition andaffirmation, and if he didn't
have any of that, would he beliving that way?
(33:18):
And let's look at John theBaptist.
He didn't have any of that.
And he suddenly he's on thescene, and everybody, man, he
must be a prophet.
No, he's a guy who lives a lifeof integrity.
And nobody noticed him before,but when God points him out, uh
then suddenly everybody's ohwell if he you know if he had
(33:40):
lived a life like mine, hewouldn't be that way.
And Satan just stuck his foot inhis mouth when it came to Job.
And that's that's amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (33:48):
Well, that's what you're exactly right, because
Satan says, Well, he only servesyou because you bless him.
You know, you take all thisstuff away, and he's gonna curse
you.
Um, and yeah, you wouldn't talkabout a face plant, you know.
Right.
Um, God allows Satan to take allthis stuff uh away from Job, and
the very first thing Job does isworship.
(34:10):
Satan had to be like, What areyou kidding me?
You've lost everything.
And Job's response is Man, theLord gives, the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I I can't even wrap my mindaround it.
You know, I was talking to uh abuddy of mine that um from high
(34:30):
school, and man, I apart frommaybe a couple words here and
there, I haven't like had aconversation with them in
probably 15, 20 years, you know,a real conversation.
We got together, got had lunchthis past week.
Um, and his family has just beenthrough I mean, really hell.
I mean, some of the things thatthey've had to deal with, uh
(34:52):
cancer, spouses dying, lost hisdad, um, I mean, health issues,
medical issues, uh, withdifferent people in the family.
I mean, just it's like if lifecould throw it at him, it's
thrown it at him.
Um, but we were talking abouthis mom, who was one of uh my
Sunday school teachers uh when Iwas growing up.
When I took over my first youthdepartment, she was one of my
(35:13):
very first adult leaders um thatI had on our team.
Um, and I'm 15, 16 years oldleading this youth ministry.
And I she was one of the veryfirst.
I'm like, I'm gonna need yourhelp with this.
Um but he's like, man, she'sshe's my modern day Job.
You know, she has lost so muchin her life, and yet she's been
(35:35):
faithful.
She never questions God, shenever curses God.
She, you know, she she keepstrusting him, she keeps showing
up, her faith is is steady.
And then we got talking about mygrandma.
He knew my grandma, and I waslike, dude, same thing, right?
Um, here's a woman who lost somuch, lost her husband, got uh
(35:56):
diabetes, and then lost hereyesight, lost her leg, um,
ended up with cancer, um, youknow, all the just one thing
after another.
And I remember my pastor growingup said he tried to call my
grandma one time after one ofthe procedures she had to
encourage her, and he got offthe phone and said, Man, I don't
know if I encouraged her at all,but I sure do feel good.
(36:18):
Yeah, you know, like just one ofthose people.
And for Satan to step back andjust see Job's response to this
whole thing and be like, How?
Yeah, how why you've losteverything.
Satan thought Job's obedience,his devotion, his loyalty to God
was tied up in all those things.
(36:39):
And for a lot of us, the truthis it is.
SPEAKER_01 (36:42):
It is.
SPEAKER_02 (36:43):
I'm completely loyal to God when life is good.
SPEAKER_01 (36:46):
We have that same mindset that Satan has when it
comes to those things.
You know, I lived a life with aguy who same thing happened to
him.
He lost his wife and he lost histwo sons.
And it's like, how many morehits can this guy take?
Had an incurable d lung disease,and uh and it was but he never
(37:11):
he would never be disloyal toGod.
And uh that was a great it'sgreat that we have role models
in our life.
But I want you to look at what'sthat verse in Job.
I think it's verse twenty-one ofthe first chapter.
It says, Lord g the Lord gives,the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
(37:33):
This was written down about fourthousand years ago.
It was true then and it is truetoday.
It is ancient history, anancient, ancient truth about who
God is and and Job knew it.
(37:55):
And we need to know it too.
unknown (37:58):
That's so good.
SPEAKER_02 (37:59):
That's so good.
And you can lose you can losemoney, you can lose your
position or career, you can loseyour health, you can lose your
influence.
But if you lose your integrity,you lose the foundation of
everything else.
Um you talked about can Godtrust you?
unknown (38:17):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (38:18):
This is an integrity issue.
Can you trust God?
Absolutely.
Now you might want to wrestlewith that for a little bit, but
the truth is he is completelytrustworthy.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He's faithful even when we arefaithless.
He's the same yesterday, today,and forever.
So you wrestle with it as longas you want.
He's trustworthy.
It'd be better for you if youjust laid down that and said,
(38:41):
Okay, I trust him.
The question is, can God trustyou?
There's situations that aregonna come up, and God's gonna
look for someone and say, Whocan I send?
unknown (38:53):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (38:54):
Can he look at you and say, hey, I'm gonna send
this person because I can trusthim.
He's gonna do everything.
This is what he said aboutDavid.
He'll do everything that Icommand him to do.
Can God say that about us?
I love what Proverbs 11:3 says.
It says, the integrity of theupright guides them.
Our integrity becomes a compassby which we we live in any
(39:17):
situation.
When we live with integrity,we'll know what to do.
You're not gonna have to worry.
Does this take me towards thethings of God or away?
There's your compass.
And I'm gonna, if you live withintegrity, the answer becomes
obvious.
I'm going this direction.
Why?
Because it brings me towardshim, it keeps me under his
(39:39):
favor, under his protection.
Um, and I'm not gonna letanything come and pull me away
from that.
I want that freedom.
SPEAKER_01 (39:48):
I think in this day of who do you follow, because of
Twitter accounts and Instagramand all that kind of stuff.
Who do you follow?
And I know we're talking aboutwe're just following their feed,
it's not like we're doingeverything this person says, but
think of the words we're using.
Who do you follow?
You people, you need to followpeople with integrity who are
(40:11):
the same as they were yesterdayand will be the same tomorrow.
I don't know in our politicallandscape we get a vote for one
or the other, and they'reusually um some of the most um
disloyal and untrustworthypeople that we can vote for, and
(40:32):
we just try to pick which one isthe least untrustworthy, right?
And um and I think it gives usthis mindset that it's okay for
these people for you to followthese people and and be led
by 'em.
No.
If they've crashed and burnedbefore over one thing, they'll
(40:53):
probably do it again.
Their history is is a good ideaof what's going to happen next.
So when you're picking people tofollow on Instagram and Twitter
and pick people who's lived alife of integrity that they
throw mud at and the mud don'tstick.
Um you know, we've had a lot ofa lot of great ones.
(41:16):
Um Billy Graham.
Um we've seen uh a lot ofpastors rise and fall, but Billy
Graham in the United States andnobody still.
I remember um um somebody toldI'm trying to think, remember
(41:37):
that uh study we did on the endtimes with um remember who that
guy taught?
Was that Sproul?
Sprall.
You know, uh Billy Graham andand um sprawl didn't have uh the
same soteriology and um sprawlwas up and um taking questions
and a guy got up and saidAlright, Billy Graham didn't
(42:00):
believe this way at all.
You know, you've said all this.
Do you think you'll see BillyGraham in heaven?
And Sproul said, No, I won't seehim because he'll be so far out
front next to Christ that Iwon't be able to see him in the
(42:20):
gap between him and me.
And man, you you need to searchin your in your life if you can
and try to follow people withthe most integrity.
Yeah, and that that goes uh foryour boss, your friends, um uh
the people you listen to.
(42:42):
Uh find someone with integrity.
And I know a lot of the peoplewe listen to haven't lived life
long enough, but um you know, uha lot of these rap artists are
not the person you should befollowing.
You know, they're not the um ohwhat's that family out in
California?
(43:03):
Uh Kardashians Kardashians arenot a person you should be
following.
You know, they've lived theirlife right in front of you.
You should know.
SPEAKER_02 (43:14):
And I would even caution you because especially
um on the kind of the right wingmovement right now, we're seeing
some Christianity looks likeit's gaining a lot of ground,
and I and I think God's doingsome pretty amazing things and
powerful things in and through alot of people.
SPEAKER_01 (43:32):
He always is.
SPEAKER_02 (43:34):
But um a buddy of mine, he so turning point USA
did this alternative halftimeshow, which I honestly
appreciated that there wassomething other than what the
NFL's usually showing, becauseit's usually not great, um, even
though the Tom Petty one waspretty good.
Um but he was posting the lyricsto I think it was Kid Rock's
(43:57):
opening song uh for the TurningPoint US.
Show.
Um, and it's like I don't wantmy kids listening to that
either.
Right.
Um, and so we we need to becareful, even people who
identify with us politically andeven claim to have a
relationship with Jesus stillmight not be the the horse you
(44:21):
want to hit your cart to.
Right.
Um we need to be very carefulabout who we we allow influence
into our lives.
Um and and what you're sayinghere is is so important.
I I used to tell the the youthwhen I was the youth pastor, um,
you show me your friends andI'll show you your future.
SPEAKER_01 (44:41):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (44:42):
You know, you become who you hang out with.
Uh and it's just and now yourfriends might be because a lot
of us were isolationists, andour friends are our our favorite
podcaster, you know.
Right um, but it's we need to bevery careful about that.
And so here's some ways.
I'm gonna try to get throughthis quick because I know we're
(45:02):
uh we're coming up on on italready, but uh some ways that
you can begin to developintegrity in your life.
Number one, you need to decidewho you are before you're
tested.
Integrity isn't built in crisis,it's revealed.
And here's what I love aboutJoe.
He didn't scramble trying tofigure out who he's gonna be in
the moment.
SPEAKER_01 (45:22):
Right.
He knew uh who he's gonna be,even when the when everything
fell down around him.
SPEAKER_02 (45:28):
Yep.
So what are yournon-negotiables?
What lines will will you nevercross?
What who who are you becoming?
Who do you want to become?
Um, you need to answer thosequestions and decide ahead of
time.
That way, when life's fallingapart and compromising
situations come up andtemptations there in front of
you, you'll know the answer.
SPEAKER_01 (45:48):
Yeah.
Number two, practice private,private obedience.
When nobody's around but justyou and God, are you gonna obey?
Are you gonna say no?
You know, let me take it.
This is a great example, greatexil illustration.
Nobody's overweight because theysaid yes.
(46:13):
Everybody who's overweight isoverweight because they said
yes, not because they said no.
A lot of times we lose ourintegrity when we're alone and
we don't say no.
And so, number two, practicethat private obedience.
God, what is your heart in thissituation?
SPEAKER_02 (46:30):
Yeah, private prayer, quiet generosity, honest
work, um, those moral decisionsnobody sees.
Um, you know, after everyoneleaves at work and you got a
chance to, you know, steal somepaper clips from the break room,
you don't do it, you know.
Right.
Um or potato chips.
Or potato man, I I tell Jaredthis.
When Jared got his job atChipotle, they sent every month
(46:54):
he gets uh loaded on a Chipotlegift card money to pay for his
lunch.
Um, so when he's out working, hegets free lunch.
Chipotle pays for it.
I'm like, man, that's a prettygreat perk.
His mistake was he sent me ascreenshot of it to brag.
And I'm like, I got your QR codenow, buddy.
And every time I see him, I'mlike, I just want you to know,
and this is integrity, Jared.
(47:15):
I've still never used it.
I got it.
But obviously you think about ita little when I'm hungry and I'm
like, it would be so nice to runover to Chipotle.
Um here's here's the truth.
Jesus said this, who's everfaithful in very little is also
faithful in much.
And so it's in those quiet,those hidden places um that we
(47:36):
we grow our integrity.
Number three, you need to guardyour inner narrative.
Um, man, Job's friends came,they accused him, even his wife
said, curse God and die.
You know, everything is fallingapart.
But man, Job refused to letthose external voices rewrite
his theology.
He knew God is good.
SPEAKER_01 (47:56):
Man, that's that is so big.
It's hard to guard guard yourmind because uh today with uh
YouTube and and all thedifferent influences that we
have, every everybody who speakslife into your life, um
somebody's trying to tear themdown.
And it's usually anotherChristian trying to tear them
(48:18):
down.
And it's hard.
You gotta guard your mind, yougotta guard your doctrine and
guard your perspective.
Is God good?
unknown (48:27):
That's right.
SPEAKER_01 (48:27):
And if it's come to you that God is good and I can
trust him, then don't letanybody tell you different.
unknown (48:33):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (48:34):
And then finally, you need to stay rooted in our
reverence for God.
Job's integrity came back tothis.
He feared the Lord.
He feared the Lord.
And Proverbs tells us that's thebeginning of wisdom.
It's the fear of the Lord.
And so we need to stay in that.
And this isn't mean doesn't meanI'm afraid of God.
(48:54):
It means I I have a healthy awethat God is so far above me.
His ways are not my ways, histhoughts are not my thoughts.
Um, and I have this fear of theLord, and and when we keep
ourselves in that place, and wesay, God, man, you you're right
on every issue.
(49:15):
Um and I and I'm gonna try to toalign myself and align my heart
with your heart.
It keeps us in a place of ofintegrity.
And man, you can you can comeboldly before the throne of God.
SPEAKER_01 (49:29):
Quick example of that.
There's a a man named Jim Baker,and um he had a um ministry, him
and his wife, up here in umOhio, and it started it started
growing and growing and growingand growing and got bigger and
bigger and bigger and bigger,and he put up this um kind of
like a campground hotel resortthing for Christians, and he'd
(49:54):
bring in um Christian musiciansand stuff, and it was a big
thing.
And he was on TV, and then hegot caught up in um um selling
things twice, and you know,campgrounds and hotels and um
all that kind of stuff, uhdouble booking and then triple
(50:16):
booking, and then got caught upwith some kind of sexual thing
with one of his secretaries, andthen we don't all all went on.
But he ended up going to prisonfor it.
So he goes to prison and he getsout, and of course everybody
wants to talk to him becausehere's a guy who was godly and
he fell on his face, andeverybody wants a piece, right?
So one one guy said, When didyou stop interviewing him on TV?
(50:41):
Very interesting.
My wife showed it to me.
He said to him, So, Jim, whendid you stop loving Jesus?
And um he said, Never never.
I loved him through the wholething.
I just stopped being afraid ofit.
(51:02):
And that's where Job is saying,Fear the Lord.
Fear the Lord.
It is the beginning of thewisdom, it's the beginning of
the yes and no's in your life.
That's right, is when you fearthe Lord.
So um wrapping that alltogether, maybe Job would have
been a good one to to put inthere.
(51:23):
Um and I I love his integrity,and we need to surround our
ourselves with people ofintegrity.
And if you do, you'll findyourself living with integrity,
and then you'll find some peoplefollowing you.
And that's the way this whole umassembly, this whole church is
(51:43):
supposed to be.
Just like Paul said, followfollow me as I follow Jesus.
unknown (51:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (51:50):
As we close out this Marvel series, we've talked
about faith that catches God'sattention, obedience that moves
his heart, righteousness thatreflects his nature, humility
that invites his grace, worshipthat delights him, repentance
that restores, a heart thatpleases him and positions us for
his blessing, and integrity thatallows him to trust us.
(52:12):
Um and here's what we want youto know eight and a half weeks
you can do this.
Yeah, you can live a life thatheaven marvels at.
So much of the stuff um thatwe're stressed about and anxious
about, the weight that we carry,are the things that we're
choosing.
SPEAKER_01 (52:32):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (52:33):
And if we would get this right, if we would choose
integrity, if we would fear theLord, we we would position
ourselves to say no to thethings that that take us away
from God, yes to the things thatbring us closer.
And God can look at us and say,Have you considered my servant
Tim?
Have you looked at him?
He's a man of completeintegrity.
(52:56):
What if God could say that aboutus?
And here's what I want you toknow He can.
He can if we'll start to livethis way.
Past Tim, will you pray for us?
SPEAKER_01 (53:04):
Lord, I pray for our church here at A Fresh Wind that
you'll make us steady.
Not trying to run themountaintops and not get um
crushed in the valley, butsomewhere in between where every
day we consider your prioritiesand your values over our own to
(53:28):
live a life of integrity andloyalty with you so that you can
look at us and say, considerthis person.
And Lord, I I know that's uh inin our culture, that's a hard
thing to say, a hard thing tolook for, a hard thing to
(53:49):
believe that I could be thatperson.
But Lord, with the power of yourHoly Spirit, we are all that
person.
We can be a person who liveswith integrity, someone whose
life is worthy of imitation.
And Father, I pray that you'llplace it on our hearts to desire
(54:11):
that in Jesus' name.
unknown (54:13):
Amen.
SPEAKER_01 (54:14):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (54:15):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at a
freshwind.org.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(54:38):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
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