June 3, 2024 • 32 mins
What does it truly mean to live with integrity? Join us on this enlightening episode of the Soul Fuel podcast as we explore the profound lesson from Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:37—letting your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no." Discover how this simple yet powerful principle is a cornerstone for maintaining integrity in every aspect of our lives. We delve into the perils of indecisiveness, referencing James' teachings about double-mindedness, and how wavering commitments can erode our moral fiber and lead us astray from our promises.
Integrity goes beyond mere honesty; it’s about being whole and undivided in our principles. This episode uncovers how true integrity ensures security and builds trust, contrasting it against the deceits often perpetrated on social media. Using personal stories, we demonstrate the crucial role of integrity in fostering trust and respect in both parental and professional relationships. We draw parallels to God's unwavering nature and His fulfillment of promises, underscoring the importance of living an honest and upright life.
As we conclude, we stress the vital role of integrity for believers, emphasizing the importance of being guided by the Holy Spirit to live a life of peace, joy, and righteousness. We discuss the need for accountability and the dangers of false teachings. Through personal anecdotes, we highlight the necessity of admitting faults and correcting mistakes as essential components of a life of integrity. Our heartfelt thanks go out to our listeners for their continued support. Stay connected with us across various platforms, and tune in next Monday for more soul-enriching content. Your integrity is the bedrock of your faith and relationships—cherish and nurture it.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jesus says this.
He says, but let your statementbe yes, yes or no.
No, anything beyond these is ofevil.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
Hold up Jesus.
What up everybody.
(00:26):
It's the soul fuel podcast, thepit stop for you to get your
soul fueled up for your journeyin life.
I'm your host, willie robbins,the third, aka pastor will, and
listen.
I'm so excited to have you, uh,listen to this episode today
because because this is a reallygood one, this is a really good
(00:46):
one.
I believe that everybody isgoing to start paying attention
to what they're saying and whatthey're doing a little more
often, because today I want tojust get into talking about
keeping your word.
Your word is all you have.
I know, as a man, my word isall I have.
(01:08):
When I was coming up, my dad,all he had with me really was
his word, of course, hisintegrity, and so we want to
talk a little bit aboutintegrity today, how you need to
have integrity with everythingthat you do.
How can you have favor with Godand favor with man?
Well, it's simple.
(01:30):
All you have to do is do whatyou said.
Do what you said.
You said you loved him.
You said you worship him.
You said you adore him.
You said you do all of thesethings right, and so if you
can't have integrity with theLord, you won't have integrity
with people out in the world.
You just won't.
This is a fact, and so thisdraws me to a scripture that I
(01:54):
want to read today, and it'scoming from Matthew, chapter 5,
verse 37.
Jesus says this.
He says but let your statementbe yes, yes or no.
No, anything beyond these is ofevil.
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
(02:14):
Hold up.
Jesus, you said that your yesbe yes and your no be no.
Anything else beyond that is ofevil.
Well, how so I begin to sitwith this thing, y'all, and it
(02:36):
kind of messed me up, becauseI'm like okay, so I can't not
know, like I don't, I'm, I'mhaving a hard time trying to
figure this out.
Are you saying I'm, I, I haveto know, I have to understand.
And it began to make more senseto me, because then James uh
pops up and comes to mind, and,and, and comes to my, it comes
(02:56):
up in my spirit and I'm likeokay, james says don't have a
double mind.
Basically, a double-minded manis unstable in everything that
he does, everything that they do.
Um, you don't know, you don'tknow, you don't know so.
But jesus, before james evensays this, jesus says let your
yes be yes or no be no.
(03:21):
Anything beyond these is evil.
And this makes so much sensebecause you have to understand
something.
When you don't really know whatyou want to do, you often
choose the thing that youprobably shouldn't do, and this
is not in every case, but justin in the case of where all
things where, where you to, as Ijust said, in certain cases,
(03:48):
but no, like when you live alife that is unsure, then it's
easy to go against your word.
So how does a double-minded manthat is unstable in everything
that he does?
How does that relate to whatJesus says when he says let your
(04:09):
statement be yes.
If your statement be yes, letit be yes, and if your no is a
no, then let it be no.
Don't be indecisive, don't beindecisive.
And so there are otherscriptures that go along with
this, as we just read Matthew,chapter 5, verse 37, and just to
(04:35):
put it in context, matthew,chapter 5, verse 37, this is
Jesus speaking on, you know, notmaking an oath or swearing.
Or he says in verse 36, norshall you make an oath by your
head, for you cannot make onehair white or black.
(04:58):
But let your statement be yes,yes or no.
No, anything beyond these is ofevil.
And I believe that it would goback to what, uh, james says in
the book of james right, like adouble-minded man, is unstable
in all of his ways.
(05:18):
And in another part of james hetalks about how he says cleanse
your hands.
You sinners, you double minded,right, you double minded.
Those that say that you lovethe Lord.
You say that you love God.
You said yes, let it be yes,and if it's going to be no, then
(05:40):
let it be no.
Remember, jesus talks aboutbeing lukewarm.
I'd rather you be hot or cold.
This is the same thing.
All of that goes together,right?
So here I have Proverbs,chapter 10, verse 9.
It says whoever walks inintegrity walks securely, but
whoever takes crooked paths willbe found out.
(06:04):
See, walking in integritysimply means that you're walking
in a way that you know you'resure of.
Right, I can't walk inuncertainty.
I can't walk in uncertainty.
(06:26):
When I walk in uncertainty, I'mwalking in a way where it's
easy for me to make a decisionout of my flesh, meaning that if
I say that, I give my wordtowards a thing, I give my word
to somebody.
If I give my word to my wife, Igive my word to my children.
I give my word.
(06:47):
I have to have integrity to beable to go back and say what I
can and what I cannot do.
This is very interestingbecause I want to give you the
definition of integrity.
I want to give you thedefinition of integrity.
Integrity is the quality ofbeing honest and having strong
moral principles, moraluprightness, the state of watch
(07:11):
this here.
It is the state of being wholeand undivided.
My God, my God.
Integrity, the seconddefinition for integrity is the
state of being whole andundivided.
In other words, this means whenyou have integrity, there is no
(07:34):
room for double mindedness.
There is no room to have adouble mind.
When you are a person ofintegrity, it is the quality of
being honest and having strongmoral principles.
This is why, when you do awaywith the elementary principles
(07:55):
of the world, such as lying,such as lying your way to the
top, lying your way into aposition, lying your way into
different platforms, even peopleon social media that stunt for
the gram people that do it, forthe gram people that do it, for
TikTok, people that do it forFacebook, people that do it just
(08:16):
to appear a certain way, watchthis.
That's a double mind, becausethey already know that they
don't really have it like this.
They just want to projectsomething that is not true.
So that means they have nointegrity.
And when you come across thesekind of people, listen.
Of course we got to pray foreverybody, but you got to learn
(08:37):
how to stay away from peoplethat have no integrity Because,
again, when you don't haveintegrity, you are a liar and
all liars will have their partin the lake of fire.
Right, and if you are a liar,then jehovah's not your father,
satan is your father, becausesatan is the father of lies.
(08:59):
Scripture tells us, right, but?
But I just can't get over thisdefinition of integrity.
The second part.
The second part says the stateof being whole and undivided.
See, when the Lord has yourundivided attention, you are
made whole.
Right, when the Lord has yourundivided attention, you are
(09:24):
made whole.
This means that you are lettingyour yes be yes and your no to
the devil means no.
A lot of people can't reallybreak free because they have no
integrity, but a lot of peoplecan't break free from habits
because they don't have anyintegrity.
They don't have what it takesto say no to the devil.
They don't have what it takesto say no to the devil.
(09:45):
They don't have what it takesto say no to bad habits.
They don't have what it takesbecause they choose not to
believe God in everything thathe said that he would do, that
he can do, and even the thingsthat he's already done.
They don't believe him enoughto realize that he's the first
(10:06):
one that had integrity.
What did he?
What did he say?
What did the father say in inGenesis?
What he was going to do to thedevil?
He was going the the seeds, howhe was going to bring forth
something.
Basically, he was prophesyingand threatening and holding on
(10:32):
to his word that he told thedevil I'm getting ready to send
something.
I know what you did, I knowwhat you did, Satan, but guess
what I'm getting ready to do?
In so many words, he'sbasically saying I'm I'm gonna
send my son, I'm getting, I'mgetting ready to come down in
the, in the, in the sun, jesus,and I'm getting ready to turn
(10:54):
this thing around because youhave perverted what I intended.
You have tried to pervert myintegrity, and the Lord is
honest.
There is no other way for theLord to be but honest, because
he is God and he has a strongmoral principle.
(11:16):
He has strong moral principles,he is honest, he is upright
right and he is holy.
And if he is holy, this meansthat he is his.
The, the mind state of the lordis nothing but whole, it's not
half.
He is so sure about everythingthat he does.
(11:37):
The lord does not slack or lackconcerning his promises.
He will provide, he willperform, he will do everything
that he said he will do.
Why?
Because he is a holy God.
He is a God of integrity andwhen his yes is yes, his no is
(11:58):
no.
And if you listen to the lastepisode we talked a little bit
about, when the Lord says no, itis what it is.
He knows what he is doing.
When I was growing up my dad youknow when there were things
(12:20):
that I would want maybe it wasfor Christmas or different
events, different things thatthat were going on.
If I ever needed something, orif I asked my dad for something,
I can honestly and truthfullysay that he would say you know,
we'll see.
Depending on what it is, he saywe'll see, and if he said he'll
(12:42):
do it, he either did it orbefore he, before he would let
me know he couldn't do it.
Then sometimes I would find outwhen I needed it that he
couldn't do it, but he tried,right.
And so, as a father, that'sreally all you have.
That's what children have, justreally.
As a parent in general, for amother who's listening in the
(13:03):
court, for any any person in inuh, a parental, uh role, your
integrity is what you got, evenon your job, that's what you
have.
And so my dad, being able tocome back and be honest and say,
okay, I'm not gonna be able todo it or we're not doing this,
you know, it's one thing right.
And then there's this otherbalance of having integrity when
(13:26):
you know you can't do something.
But then, for example, mychildren would.
I would always, even now,because they're still small,
when they want to do something,I will, or their mother will,
you know, give some stipulations, some requirements.
(13:46):
Okay, in order to be able to dothis, you got to do xyz, you
got to make sure you have goodgrades, and then we'll go here
or we'll do this, right, and we,we, we say these things so that
it will give them some type ofincentive so that they could do
right, right, right.
You don't always need anincentive and we don't always
(14:07):
give our children incentives forthem to do right.
We want them to do rightbecause they're supposed to do
right.
You don't get a reward fordoing right all the time.
You do right because that'swhat is expected of you.
And this is how the modern-dayChristian operates, is they do
good and then they look up.
It reminds me of like when Iwas training our dog Samson.
(14:29):
You know, you know, every timeI tell him good job, good sit or
good stay, he always lookingfor the treat.
But he wants to get up and hewants to look for the treat
because he felt like he did good.
And so it came a time where Ihad to stop giving him rewards
for doing what I commanded himto do.
And so I say that in order to goback to our children, to say
(14:51):
that having integrity also meansthat you cannot, as a parent or
authoritative figure, youcannot manipulate what you said
you were going to do or changewhat you said you were going to
do based on their actions, orblame it on their actions when
you really couldn't do it, ifthat makes sense, like don't.
(15:14):
Don't say, uh, we not, we notgoing to six flags, or we're not
going to disney world, we'renot going out of town because
y'all cut up.
No, just say you can't do itbecause you don't have, you
don't have the funds or things.
Change plans, change you got towork or whatever it is.
Just say that.
But you can't.
And especially and really onlyif it's really that, if you're
(15:36):
really being honest as to thatbeing the reason and I'm just
using my children as an example,but you have to think about
this the same way, when you makepromises to people, don't say
that you're going to do it andthen, if they make you mad in
the process, you don't, youdon't do it.
(15:57):
So and listen, that speaks alot to the love of God in your
life.
That speaks a lot to the loveof God in your life keeping your
word, regardless of how youfeel.
And this actually speaks on adifferent level.
You got to keep your wordregardless of how you feel.
You may not feel like I mean, Ifeel like taking my children to
(16:21):
the movies.
I may not feel like taking mychildren out to go get something
to eat, but I told them that Iwould, and sometimes my wife
would be like she was like, hey,they ain't been good anyway.
You know I'm like, nah, well,we told them.
You know, at times we do playthat card because it's necessary
sometimes to, to to let themknow that their behavior hey,
(16:42):
your behavior does not warrantthis.
So you're not going to get apass this time we're not doing
it.
And then they're like man, andso they get that.
But the moment you begin toabuse it, the moment they start
to take in that, okay, theydon't know.
They may not know the wordintegrity, but they know that
(17:02):
you don't do what you say, theyknow that you don't do what you
say, they know that you don't dowhat you say.
And that's one of the worstthings that you could ever do is
build that type of mentality inyour children and again, I'm
just using my children as anexample.
But you don't want to instillthat mentality in anybody around
(17:23):
you, anybody that knows you,especially, really especially,
if you're in Christ.
Right, this is a pretty much aword for generally, for anybody,
but I'm talking to theChristian, I'm talking to the
believer today, because this isthe SoulFuel podcast and this is
you know, you get your soulfueled up with a fuel that helps
(17:43):
you for this journey in life,right?
So you need to understand thatyour word, like they say in New
York I don't know like some ofy'all New Yorkers that listen to
this, don't kill me for whatI'm about to say we're going to
say like word is bond, son.
Like word is bond, like word isall you got like for real.
(18:03):
And Jesus, what Jesus came to do, all he had was his word.
Of course, he had his power, hehad all of these things, these
other things to go along withthat, but he had his word and so
it was either the the peoplewere gonna they believe.
Uh, he worked signs andmiracles, he did wonders, he did
these things, but he wantedpeople to believe him for his
word more than anything.
(18:25):
Of course, see the great worksthat he does, see all of the
amazing things that he did, buthis word, he wants you to
believe on him.
Why do we know it was his wordkey?
Because he says believe on me,as the scriptures have said, and
out of your belly shall flowrivers of living water.
There's a river of living water.
The spirit, the Holy Spirit,brings peace like a river.
(18:47):
It brings peace, it brings joy.
It brings all of these thingsthat well up in you to cause you
to be in this, in this mindstate, so that you have no
choice but to have integrity.
You have no choice but to walk,even as he did.
So whoever walks in integritywalks securely because you are
(19:08):
sure you are whole.
You walk in integrity when youare sure, when you are whole,
and so you have to make surethat you make it your business
to walk diligently according tothe standard of God.
This has been the most prevalentthing that I believe the church
(19:31):
is missing.
Right, because how can you sayyou love God but you're doing
different things?
You can't keep your word.
And if you can't keep your word, you can't keep his word.
Right, it's like what Paul saysin Titus when he writes to
preachers.
He says how can you be anoverseer, how can you be a
(19:54):
pastor or a shepherd over God'shouse, when your own house is in
disarray?
You must first have controlover your house so that you may
be able to govern righteouslyover the Lord's house.
Right, and so integrity, again,is about being honest.
So it's not so much that thefact that you can't do it, or
(20:15):
the fact that you may not beable to be successful at what it
is that you are trying to do orthe thing that you said that
you would do, but it's about thehonesty of being able to come
back and say, hey, I can't do itthis time.
Hey, even your integrity withthe Lord, because I'm one that
(20:39):
would always, that will always,teach and preach that we are
able to live free from sin,right, but integrity simply says
it is again is a quality ofhonesty that knowing that if you
have sin, you come back, youmake it right with the Lord, you
don't continue in sin in thehopes that grace may abound.
Paul said God forbid, it's notso.
That's not what it should be,but you should always take
(21:01):
accountability for your actions.
Do what you said.
Let your your yes be yes, yourno be no, all right.
Because, again, if you walk inintegrity, you walk securely.
And the other part of that saysbut whoever takes crooked paths
will be found out.
Your fall, a lot of people'sfall from grace, people who go
(21:27):
back.
They go back to sin.
They were running well, butthey were hindered because they
decided to listen to a falsegospel, false message that
caused them to go back into sin,go back into a life of living
(21:48):
that isn't conducive to thelifestyle of a believer, and
eventually that fall is going toexpose them, and it's not
necessarily that they will beexposed to people.
Now, people that walk in thespirit or walk by the spirit
will know them by their fruitRight, but the crooked path will
(22:10):
be found out.
That's why it's best to walk inintegrity.
That's why it's best to behonest.
We see this in the news.
We see this with Mr Diddy Do it, mr Diddy, do it, mr Diddy Do
it.
We see it with him.
We see no integrity.
(22:32):
We see how people try to escapetrouble by not being honest and
all you do is essentially, youmake it worse, you make it worse
, you make it worse.
So integrity is a keyingredient to righteous living.
(22:53):
Integrity is something that youhave to have in the workplace.
When you tell your supervisoror your boss what it is that
you're going to do, you must dothat.
If you give them a specifictime, you must be at that.
You must do what it is thatyou're supposed to do at that
time.
(23:14):
I've been guilty of it on myprevious job not being on time.
I've been guilty of not beingon time for a morning prayer
Many times.
I've asked everybody on the livelike, hey, y'all forgive me.
I said I was going to be hereat six and everybody's like, no,
(23:34):
it's okay, pastor, you good,you good?
No, it's not, I'm not good.
I'm not good because I told youand that was in me, because,
again, I don't walk in the flesh.
And this is not to exalt myself, to make myself feel like I'm
uh, I'm, I'm on top of everybody.
No, it's just to show you thatthis is the human side, this is
(23:57):
the imperfection, and it's onlysin if you refuse to correct it.
It's not just that, it's onlysin, um, to based on your
conviction.
If it convicts you and Ibelieve that I owe the people an
apology Was the Holy Spirit led?
I just felt it was the rightthing to do.
(24:18):
I don't necessarily think Idon't believe that the Holy
Spirit led me to apologize, butI know that if people are
expecting you, if you, if yousay something, then you need to
be about it.
So I believe that the righteousthing in in that situation of
not of you know, when youhaven't been showing up on time,
is to apologize, right.
So, yeah, people give you graceand and people and people have
(24:43):
given me grace, people still,you know, show up to the live,
show up to the live and thingslike that.
But it's just important that youdo not rest in those
insufficiencies.
You shouldn't rest in thatimperfection.
If that makes sense, whateverneeds fixing, fix it.
If you have the power to fix it, you can fix it Right.
(25:06):
Psalm 25, 21 says may integrityand uprightness protect me
because my hope, lord, is in you.
May integrity and uprightnessprotect me.
May integrity and uprightnessprotect me because my hope, lord
(25:29):
, is in you.
And this is the NIV version.
I'm quoting scripture from NIV.
When your hope is in the Lord,when your hope is in the Lord,
you are protected.
Because of who you hope in, youare protected, right, you can't
(25:59):
say that you aren't.
You can't because it's yourintegrity, your ability to be
honest.
This is one of the things thatthe Lord loved about David is
that he was willing to be honestEven in the moments where he
(26:23):
wasn't thinking things through.
And we have to also understand,because I know a lot of people
like to draw parallel.
A lot of New TestamentChristians like to draw parallel
to the imperfections of OldTestament figures right.
Many try to compare today's sinwith the actions of those in
(26:47):
the Old Testament, when we oftenforget that those in the Old
Testament didn't have theindwelling of the Holy Spirit.
They didn't have that extrahelp.
It was tough for them then.
Daniel's faith was based on hisstrong love for God and the fact
that he knew that Jehovah wasusing him through dreams and
(27:09):
being able to interpret dreamsand being able to interpret
dreams.
Moses had an anger issue, butthe Lord still used him.
Noah may have gotten drunk andwas naked after the flood.
You know, samson had a thingfor Babylonian women, women that
(27:37):
he was not supposed to beinvolved with, but the Lord
wanted to keep his word.
It didn't matter.
It mattered who he used,because he was very specific in
who he used.
But he kept his word All theway, from the beginning, even in
Genesisesis again, genesis,chapter three, when he tells the
devil what he's getting readyto do.
He does it through all of these, but he's.
(27:59):
He does it through all of these, uh, um, these, this, this one
lineage.
The lord does these things toall of these different.
So let your integrity prove thatyou really are for the Lord by
(28:21):
letting your yes be yes and yourno's be no.
Proverbs 11 and verse 3 saysthis the integrity of the
upright guides them, but theunfaithful are destroyed by
their duplicity.
You have to be able to performto the level that you said that
(28:43):
you were able to perform.
You have to be able to live upto everything that you said.
It's your word.
It's your word.
You took in his word, youbecause you believed his word.
(29:06):
And when you prove the way thatyou prove that you believe his
word is through your actions,it's through your actions.
Your integrity will guide you.
Your integrity will guide you.
First, peter, chapter three,verse 16 says keeping a clear
(29:28):
conscience so that those whospeak maliciously against your
good behavior in Christ may beashamed of their slander.
These scriptures definitelyemphasize the importance of
living with integrity, honestyand righteousness in all aspects
(29:49):
of life.
They remind believers thatintegrity not only guides our
actions, but also protects andsets an example for others,
because when you do what you say, people will believe you, and
(30:09):
when you do what you say, itmakes it easier for the world to
see Christ Jesus shiningthrough you.
Before we go, I got to make sureI hit you with this next
segment.
They must be stopped this week.
What must be stopped?
(30:30):
People who got so much to say,with bad breath, it's got to
stop.
We got to stop doing this.
We got to stop doing this.
You don't get to say, hey, allup close and your breath smell
like a public restroom, right, adumpster.
(30:51):
You got dumpster breath.
Okay, we need to understand.
We need to make sure thatthere's no gingivitis working in
our mouths.
We got to make sure that wedon't have a potty mouth.
I'm not talking about youcussing.
I'm not talking about you usingprofanity.
Um, I, we should be past that,right, but we got to make sure
that we're brushing our teeth,making sure we hitting that
(31:13):
tongue, all right, and I meaneverything that's back there,
all that little white, thatwhiteness.
When you wake up, you put yourtongue out.
Go hit all that back to get allof that back there, because
it's going to smell bad, right,and don't drink, don't, don't
try to drink coffee, don't tryto eat over it, because it's
going to come back out, and it'sgoing to come back out worse,
(31:34):
all right.
So people who you know want tosay, hey, with bad breath,
listen, you gotta be stopped.
You gotta be stopped, and itstops right here.
It stops right here.
So again, I want to thank youall for listening to the soul
fuel podcast.
This has been another I believeanother blessed episode.
I want you to leave comment,leave a review for this episode,
(31:58):
share it with somebody.
Apple Podcasts, spotify, amazonMusic, iheartradio, deezer
again also on YouTube.
All right, so if you'rewatching on YouTube, also
subscribe there to the channel,and I pray that you keep coming
back for more and more fuel foryour soul.
(32:20):
Again, this is this, is this.
This concludes another episodeof the Soul Fuel podcast, and
I'll see you next Monday.
Peace.
Jesus says this.
He says, but let your statementbe yes, yes or no.
No, anything beyond these is ofevil.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
Hold up Jesus.
What up everybody.
(00:26):
It's the soul fuel podcast, thepit stop for you to get your
soul fueled up for your journeyin life.
I'm your host, willie robbins,the third, aka pastor will, and
listen.
I'm so excited to have you, uh,listen to this episode today
because because this is a reallygood one, this is a really good
(00:46):
one.
I believe that everybody isgoing to start paying attention
to what they're saying and whatthey're doing a little more
often, because today I want tojust get into talking about
keeping your word.
Your word is all you have.
I know, as a man, my word isall I have.
(01:08):
When I was coming up, my dad,all he had with me really was
his word, of course, hisintegrity, and so we want to
talk a little bit aboutintegrity today, how you need to
have integrity with everythingthat you do.
How can you have favor with Godand favor with man?
Well, it's simple.
(01:30):
All you have to do is do whatyou said.
Do what you said.
You said you loved him.
You said you worship him.
You said you adore him.
You said you do all of thesethings right, and so if you
can't have integrity with theLord, you won't have integrity
with people out in the world.
You just won't.
This is a fact, and so thisdraws me to a scripture that I
(01:54):
want to read today, and it'scoming from Matthew, chapter 5,
verse 37.
Jesus says this.
He says but let your statementbe yes, yes or no.
No, anything beyond these is ofevil.
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
(02:14):
Hold up.
Jesus, you said that your yesbe yes and your no be no.
Anything else beyond that is ofevil.
Well, how so I begin to sitwith this thing, y'all, and it
(02:36):
kind of messed me up, becauseI'm like okay, so I can't not
know, like I don't, I'm, I'mhaving a hard time trying to
figure this out.
Are you saying I'm, I, I haveto know, I have to understand.
And it began to make more senseto me, because then James uh
pops up and comes to mind, and,and, and comes to my, it comes
(02:56):
up in my spirit and I'm likeokay, james says don't have a
double mind.
Basically, a double-minded manis unstable in everything that
he does, everything that they do.
Um, you don't know, you don'tknow, you don't know so.
But jesus, before james evensays this, jesus says let your
yes be yes or no be no.
(03:21):
Anything beyond these is evil.
And this makes so much sensebecause you have to understand
something.
When you don't really know whatyou want to do, you often
choose the thing that youprobably shouldn't do, and this
is not in every case, but justin in the case of where all
things where, where you to, as Ijust said, in certain cases,
(03:48):
but no, like when you live alife that is unsure, then it's
easy to go against your word.
So how does a double-minded manthat is unstable in everything
that he does?
How does that relate to whatJesus says when he says let your
(04:09):
statement be yes.
If your statement be yes, letit be yes, and if your no is a
no, then let it be no.
Don't be indecisive, don't beindecisive.
And so there are otherscriptures that go along with
this, as we just read Matthew,chapter 5, verse 37, and just to
(04:35):
put it in context, matthew,chapter 5, verse 37, this is
Jesus speaking on, you know, notmaking an oath or swearing.
Or he says in verse 36, norshall you make an oath by your
head, for you cannot make onehair white or black.
(04:58):
But let your statement be yes,yes or no.
No, anything beyond these is ofevil.
And I believe that it would goback to what, uh, james says in
the book of james right, like adouble-minded man, is unstable
in all of his ways.
(05:18):
And in another part of james hetalks about how he says cleanse
your hands.
You sinners, you double minded,right, you double minded.
Those that say that you lovethe Lord.
You say that you love God.
You said yes, let it be yes,and if it's going to be no, then
(05:40):
let it be no.
Remember, jesus talks aboutbeing lukewarm.
I'd rather you be hot or cold.
This is the same thing.
All of that goes together,right?
So here I have Proverbs,chapter 10, verse 9.
It says whoever walks inintegrity walks securely, but
whoever takes crooked paths willbe found out.
(06:04):
See, walking in integritysimply means that you're walking
in a way that you know you'resure of.
Right, I can't walk inuncertainty.
I can't walk in uncertainty.
(06:26):
When I walk in uncertainty, I'mwalking in a way where it's
easy for me to make a decisionout of my flesh, meaning that if
I say that, I give my wordtowards a thing, I give my word
to somebody.
If I give my word to my wife, Igive my word to my children.
I give my word.
(06:47):
I have to have integrity to beable to go back and say what I
can and what I cannot do.
This is very interestingbecause I want to give you the
definition of integrity.
I want to give you thedefinition of integrity.
Integrity is the quality ofbeing honest and having strong
moral principles, moraluprightness, the state of watch
(07:11):
this here.
It is the state of being wholeand undivided.
My God, my God.
Integrity, the seconddefinition for integrity is the
state of being whole andundivided.
In other words, this means whenyou have integrity, there is no
(07:34):
room for double mindedness.
There is no room to have adouble mind.
When you are a person ofintegrity, it is the quality of
being honest and having strongmoral principles.
This is why, when you do awaywith the elementary principles
(07:55):
of the world, such as lying,such as lying your way to the
top, lying your way into aposition, lying your way into
different platforms, even peopleon social media that stunt for
the gram people that do it, forthe gram people that do it, for
TikTok, people that do it forFacebook, people that do it just
(08:16):
to appear a certain way, watchthis.
That's a double mind, becausethey already know that they
don't really have it like this.
They just want to projectsomething that is not true.
So that means they have nointegrity.
And when you come across thesekind of people, listen.
Of course we got to pray foreverybody, but you got to learn
(08:37):
how to stay away from peoplethat have no integrity Because,
again, when you don't haveintegrity, you are a liar and
all liars will have their partin the lake of fire.
Right, and if you are a liar,then jehovah's not your father,
satan is your father, becausesatan is the father of lies.
(08:59):
Scripture tells us, right, but?
But I just can't get over thisdefinition of integrity.
The second part.
The second part says the stateof being whole and undivided.
See, when the Lord has yourundivided attention, you are
made whole.
Right, when the Lord has yourundivided attention, you are
(09:24):
made whole.
This means that you are lettingyour yes be yes and your no to
the devil means no.
A lot of people can't reallybreak free because they have no
integrity, but a lot of peoplecan't break free from habits
because they don't have anyintegrity.
They don't have what it takesto say no to the devil.
They don't have what it takesto say no to the devil.
(09:45):
They don't have what it takesto say no to bad habits.
They don't have what it takesbecause they choose not to
believe God in everything thathe said that he would do, that
he can do, and even the thingsthat he's already done.
They don't believe him enoughto realize that he's the first
(10:06):
one that had integrity.
What did he?
What did he say?
What did the father say in inGenesis?
What he was going to do to thedevil?
He was going the the seeds, howhe was going to bring forth
something.
Basically, he was prophesyingand threatening and holding on
(10:32):
to his word that he told thedevil I'm getting ready to send
something.
I know what you did, I knowwhat you did, Satan, but guess
what I'm getting ready to do?
In so many words, he'sbasically saying I'm I'm gonna
send my son, I'm getting, I'mgetting ready to come down in
the, in the, in the sun, jesus,and I'm getting ready to turn
(10:54):
this thing around because youhave perverted what I intended.
You have tried to pervert myintegrity, and the Lord is
honest.
There is no other way for theLord to be but honest, because
he is God and he has a strongmoral principle.
(11:16):
He has strong moral principles,he is honest, he is upright
right and he is holy.
And if he is holy, this meansthat he is his.
The, the mind state of the lordis nothing but whole, it's not
half.
He is so sure about everythingthat he does.
(11:37):
The lord does not slack or lackconcerning his promises.
He will provide, he willperform, he will do everything
that he said he will do.
Why?
Because he is a holy God.
He is a God of integrity andwhen his yes is yes, his no is
(11:58):
no.
And if you listen to the lastepisode we talked a little bit
about, when the Lord says no, itis what it is.
He knows what he is doing.
When I was growing up my dad youknow when there were things
(12:20):
that I would want maybe it wasfor Christmas or different
events, different things thatthat were going on.
If I ever needed something, orif I asked my dad for something,
I can honestly and truthfullysay that he would say you know,
we'll see.
Depending on what it is, he saywe'll see, and if he said he'll
(12:42):
do it, he either did it orbefore he, before he would let
me know he couldn't do it.
Then sometimes I would find outwhen I needed it that he
couldn't do it, but he tried,right.
And so, as a father, that'sreally all you have.
That's what children have, justreally.
As a parent in general, for amother who's listening in the
(13:03):
court, for any any person in inuh, a parental, uh role, your
integrity is what you got, evenon your job, that's what you
have.
And so my dad, being able tocome back and be honest and say,
okay, I'm not gonna be able todo it or we're not doing this,
you know, it's one thing right.
And then there's this otherbalance of having integrity when
(13:26):
you know you can't do something.
But then, for example, mychildren would.
I would always, even now,because they're still small,
when they want to do something,I will, or their mother will,
you know, give some stipulations, some requirements.
(13:46):
Okay, in order to be able to dothis, you got to do xyz, you
got to make sure you have goodgrades, and then we'll go here
or we'll do this, right, and we,we, we say these things so that
it will give them some type ofincentive so that they could do
right, right, right.
You don't always need anincentive and we don't always
(14:07):
give our children incentives forthem to do right.
We want them to do rightbecause they're supposed to do
right.
You don't get a reward fordoing right all the time.
You do right because that'swhat is expected of you.
And this is how the modern-dayChristian operates, is they do
good and then they look up.
It reminds me of like when Iwas training our dog Samson.
(14:29):
You know, you know, every timeI tell him good job, good sit or
good stay, he always lookingfor the treat.
But he wants to get up and hewants to look for the treat
because he felt like he did good.
And so it came a time where Ihad to stop giving him rewards
for doing what I commanded himto do.
And so I say that in order to goback to our children, to say
(14:51):
that having integrity also meansthat you cannot, as a parent or
authoritative figure, youcannot manipulate what you said
you were going to do or changewhat you said you were going to
do based on their actions, orblame it on their actions when
you really couldn't do it, ifthat makes sense, like don't.
(15:14):
Don't say, uh, we not, we notgoing to six flags, or we're not
going to disney world, we'renot going out of town because
y'all cut up.
No, just say you can't do itbecause you don't have, you
don't have the funds or things.
Change plans, change you got towork or whatever it is.
Just say that.
But you can't.
And especially and really onlyif it's really that, if you're
(15:36):
really being honest as to thatbeing the reason and I'm just
using my children as an example,but you have to think about
this the same way, when you makepromises to people, don't say
that you're going to do it andthen, if they make you mad in
the process, you don't, youdon't do it.
(15:57):
So and listen, that speaks alot to the love of God in your
life.
That speaks a lot to the loveof God in your life keeping your
word, regardless of how youfeel.
And this actually speaks on adifferent level.
You got to keep your wordregardless of how you feel.
You may not feel like I mean, Ifeel like taking my children to
(16:21):
the movies.
I may not feel like taking mychildren out to go get something
to eat, but I told them that Iwould, and sometimes my wife
would be like she was like, hey,they ain't been good anyway.
You know I'm like, nah, well,we told them.
You know, at times we do playthat card because it's necessary
sometimes to, to to let themknow that their behavior hey,
(16:42):
your behavior does not warrantthis.
So you're not going to get apass this time we're not doing
it.
And then they're like man, andso they get that.
But the moment you begin toabuse it, the moment they start
to take in that, okay, theydon't know.
They may not know the wordintegrity, but they know that
(17:02):
you don't do what you say, theyknow that you don't do what you
say, they know that you don't dowhat you say.
And that's one of the worstthings that you could ever do is
build that type of mentality inyour children and again, I'm
just using my children as anexample.
But you don't want to instillthat mentality in anybody around
(17:23):
you, anybody that knows you,especially, really especially,
if you're in Christ.
Right, this is a pretty much aword for generally, for anybody,
but I'm talking to theChristian, I'm talking to the
believer today, because this isthe SoulFuel podcast and this is
you know, you get your soulfueled up with a fuel that helps
(17:43):
you for this journey in life,right?
So you need to understand thatyour word, like they say in New
York I don't know like some ofy'all New Yorkers that listen to
this, don't kill me for whatI'm about to say we're going to
say like word is bond, son.
Like word is bond, like word isall you got like for real.
(18:03):
And Jesus, what Jesus came to do, all he had was his word.
Of course, he had his power, hehad all of these things, these
other things to go along withthat, but he had his word and so
it was either the the peoplewere gonna they believe.
Uh, he worked signs andmiracles, he did wonders, he did
these things, but he wantedpeople to believe him for his
word more than anything.
(18:25):
Of course, see the great worksthat he does, see all of the
amazing things that he did, buthis word, he wants you to
believe on him.
Why do we know it was his wordkey?
Because he says believe on me,as the scriptures have said, and
out of your belly shall flowrivers of living water.
There's a river of living water.
The spirit, the Holy Spirit,brings peace like a river.
(18:47):
It brings peace, it brings joy.
It brings all of these thingsthat well up in you to cause you
to be in this, in this mindstate, so that you have no
choice but to have integrity.
You have no choice but to walk,even as he did.
So whoever walks in integritywalks securely because you are
(19:08):
sure you are whole.
You walk in integrity when youare sure, when you are whole,
and so you have to make surethat you make it your business
to walk diligently according tothe standard of God.
This has been the most prevalentthing that I believe the church
(19:31):
is missing.
Right, because how can you sayyou love God but you're doing
different things?
You can't keep your word.
And if you can't keep your word, you can't keep his word.
Right, it's like what Paul saysin Titus when he writes to
preachers.
He says how can you be anoverseer, how can you be a
(19:54):
pastor or a shepherd over God'shouse, when your own house is in
disarray?
You must first have controlover your house so that you may
be able to govern righteouslyover the Lord's house.
Right, and so integrity, again,is about being honest.
So it's not so much that thefact that you can't do it, or
(20:15):
the fact that you may not beable to be successful at what it
is that you are trying to do orthe thing that you said that
you would do, but it's about thehonesty of being able to come
back and say, hey, I can't do itthis time.
Hey, even your integrity withthe Lord, because I'm one that
(20:39):
would always, that will always,teach and preach that we are
able to live free from sin,right, but integrity simply says
it is again is a quality ofhonesty that knowing that if you
have sin, you come back, youmake it right with the Lord, you
don't continue in sin in thehopes that grace may abound.
Paul said God forbid, it's notso.
That's not what it should be,but you should always take
(21:01):
accountability for your actions.
Do what you said.
Let your your yes be yes, yourno be no, all right.
Because, again, if you walk inintegrity, you walk securely.
And the other part of that saysbut whoever takes crooked paths
will be found out.
Your fall, a lot of people'sfall from grace, people who go
(21:27):
back.
They go back to sin.
They were running well, butthey were hindered because they
decided to listen to a falsegospel, false message that
caused them to go back into sin,go back into a life of living
(21:48):
that isn't conducive to thelifestyle of a believer, and
eventually that fall is going toexpose them, and it's not
necessarily that they will beexposed to people.
Now, people that walk in thespirit or walk by the spirit
will know them by their fruitRight, but the crooked path will
(22:10):
be found out.
That's why it's best to walk inintegrity.
That's why it's best to behonest.
We see this in the news.
We see this with Mr Diddy Do it, mr Diddy, do it, mr Diddy Do
it.
We see it with him.
We see no integrity.
(22:32):
We see how people try to escapetrouble by not being honest and
all you do is essentially, youmake it worse, you make it worse
, you make it worse.
So integrity is a keyingredient to righteous living.
(22:53):
Integrity is something that youhave to have in the workplace.
When you tell your supervisoror your boss what it is that
you're going to do, you must dothat.
If you give them a specifictime, you must be at that.
You must do what it is thatyou're supposed to do at that
time.
(23:14):
I've been guilty of it on myprevious job not being on time.
I've been guilty of not beingon time for a morning prayer
Many times.
I've asked everybody on the livelike, hey, y'all forgive me.
I said I was going to be hereat six and everybody's like, no,
(23:34):
it's okay, pastor, you good,you good?
No, it's not, I'm not good.
I'm not good because I told youand that was in me, because,
again, I don't walk in the flesh.
And this is not to exalt myself, to make myself feel like I'm
uh, I'm, I'm on top of everybody.
No, it's just to show you thatthis is the human side, this is
(23:57):
the imperfection, and it's onlysin if you refuse to correct it.
It's not just that, it's onlysin, um, to based on your
conviction.
If it convicts you and Ibelieve that I owe the people an
apology Was the Holy Spirit led?
I just felt it was the rightthing to do.
(24:18):
I don't necessarily think Idon't believe that the Holy
Spirit led me to apologize, butI know that if people are
expecting you, if you, if yousay something, then you need to
be about it.
So I believe that the righteousthing in in that situation of
not of you know, when youhaven't been showing up on time,
is to apologize, right.
So, yeah, people give you graceand and people and people have
(24:43):
given me grace, people still,you know, show up to the live,
show up to the live and thingslike that.
But it's just important that youdo not rest in those
insufficiencies.
You shouldn't rest in thatimperfection.
If that makes sense, whateverneeds fixing, fix it.
If you have the power to fix it, you can fix it Right.
(25:06):
Psalm 25, 21 says may integrityand uprightness protect me
because my hope, lord, is in you.
May integrity and uprightnessprotect me.
May integrity and uprightnessprotect me because my hope, lord
(25:29):
, is in you.
And this is the NIV version.
I'm quoting scripture from NIV.
When your hope is in the Lord,when your hope is in the Lord,
you are protected.
Because of who you hope in, youare protected, right, you can't
(25:59):
say that you aren't.
You can't because it's yourintegrity, your ability to be
honest.
This is one of the things thatthe Lord loved about David is
that he was willing to be honestEven in the moments where he
(26:23):
wasn't thinking things through.
And we have to also understand,because I know a lot of people
like to draw parallel.
A lot of New TestamentChristians like to draw parallel
to the imperfections of OldTestament figures right.
Many try to compare today's sinwith the actions of those in
(26:47):
the Old Testament, when we oftenforget that those in the Old
Testament didn't have theindwelling of the Holy Spirit.
They didn't have that extrahelp.
It was tough for them then.
Daniel's faith was based on hisstrong love for God and the fact
that he knew that Jehovah wasusing him through dreams and
(27:09):
being able to interpret dreamsand being able to interpret
dreams.
Moses had an anger issue, butthe Lord still used him.
Noah may have gotten drunk andwas naked after the flood.
You know, samson had a thingfor Babylonian women, women that
(27:37):
he was not supposed to beinvolved with, but the Lord
wanted to keep his word.
It didn't matter.
It mattered who he used,because he was very specific in
who he used.
But he kept his word All theway, from the beginning, even in
Genesisesis again, genesis,chapter three, when he tells the
devil what he's getting readyto do.
He does it through all of these, but he's.
(27:59):
He does it through all of these, uh, um, these, this, this one
lineage.
The lord does these things toall of these different.
So let your integrity prove thatyou really are for the Lord by
(28:21):
letting your yes be yes and yourno's be no.
Proverbs 11 and verse 3 saysthis the integrity of the
upright guides them, but theunfaithful are destroyed by
their duplicity.
You have to be able to performto the level that you said that
(28:43):
you were able to perform.
You have to be able to live upto everything that you said.
It's your word.
It's your word.
You took in his word, youbecause you believed his word.
(29:06):
And when you prove the way thatyou prove that you believe his
word is through your actions,it's through your actions.
Your integrity will guide you.
Your integrity will guide you.
First, peter, chapter three,verse 16 says keeping a clear
(29:28):
conscience so that those whospeak maliciously against your
good behavior in Christ may beashamed of their slander.
These scriptures definitelyemphasize the importance of
living with integrity, honestyand righteousness in all aspects
(29:49):
of life.
They remind believers thatintegrity not only guides our
actions, but also protects andsets an example for others,
because when you do what you say, people will believe you, and
(30:09):
when you do what you say, itmakes it easier for the world to
see Christ Jesus shiningthrough you.
Before we go, I got to make sureI hit you with this next
segment.
They must be stopped this week.
What must be stopped?
(30:30):
People who got so much to say,with bad breath, it's got to
stop.
We got to stop doing this.
We got to stop doing this.
You don't get to say, hey, allup close and your breath smell
like a public restroom, right, adumpster.
(30:51):
You got dumpster breath.
Okay, we need to understand.
We need to make sure thatthere's no gingivitis working in
our mouths.
We got to make sure that wedon't have a potty mouth.
I'm not talking about youcussing.
I'm not talking about you usingprofanity.
Um, I, we should be past that,right, but we got to make sure
that we're brushing our teeth,making sure we hitting that
(31:13):
tongue, all right, and I meaneverything that's back there,
all that little white, thatwhiteness.
When you wake up, you put yourtongue out.
Go hit all that back to get allof that back there, because
it's going to smell bad, right,and don't drink, don't, don't
try to drink coffee, don't tryto eat over it, because it's
going to come back out, and it'sgoing to come back out worse,
(31:34):
all right.
So people who you know want tosay, hey, with bad breath,
listen, you gotta be stopped.
You gotta be stopped, and itstops right here.
It stops right here.
So again, I want to thank youall for listening to the soul
fuel podcast.
This has been another I believeanother blessed episode.
I want you to leave comment,leave a review for this episode,
(31:58):
share it with somebody.
Apple Podcasts, spotify, amazonMusic, iheartradio, deezer
again also on YouTube.
All right, so if you'rewatching on YouTube, also
subscribe there to the channel,and I pray that you keep coming
back for more and more fuel foryour soul.
(32:20):
Again, this is this, is this.
This concludes another episodeof the Soul Fuel podcast, and
I'll see you next Monday.
Peace.
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