SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole.
SPEAKER_01: I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.
SPEAKER_01: Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Born for War podcast.
SPEAKER_01: Well, interesting passage today from Psalm 15.
SPEAKER_01: And I chose Psalm 15 because it's so different than the other Psalms that we've been looking at.
SPEAKER_01: And I felt like it was a good balance to the other Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: But who do you trust?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what kind of people do you trust in business?
SPEAKER_01: What kind of men and women do you trust to date your kids?
SPEAKER_01: Do you know who's dating your kids?
SPEAKER_01: You probably should know that, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: What kind of friends are your kids hanging out with?
SPEAKER_01: What kind of business dealings are you involved in in the work that you do?
SPEAKER_01: Can you trust that person?
SPEAKER_01: Is there something in your spirit that gives you a kind of, we say like a kind of check in your spirit when you're around a certain person?
SPEAKER_01: Or when they say things, you just know it's not true.
SPEAKER_01: They're just using flattery, or they tend to have a deceptive way about them.
SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're a person of righteousness and you're a Jesus follower, you have the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And with that Holy Spirit, if you become intuned to the voice of the Holy Spirit, then there are times when you're in situations where there's something in you that tells you to beware.
SPEAKER_01: To beware of that person, to beware of what they've said because you have the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, if you're not really a Christian yet, you've never given your heart to Christ, then you don't have that.
SPEAKER_01: You just have your own conscience.
SPEAKER_01: You have your own ability and wisdom to think things through, which you're creating the image of God.
SPEAKER_01: So there is an image of God called your conscience that's even among the unbeliever.
SPEAKER_01: But isn't it exciting that when you have the image of God lined up with the Spirit of God, how in tune you can be with certain types of situations and certain kinds of people?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it seems in Psalm 15 that David's giving us an indication of some of the qualities of what God looks for in the people He entrusts Himself to, He entrusts His work to.
SPEAKER_01: There's also the God side of things in which God's eyes, what is it, 2 Chronicles 16, 9, look to and fro across the land for those whose hearts are wholly His, completely His, that He might strongly come and support them.
SPEAKER_01: So it appears that God is actually doing interviews all the time.
SPEAKER_01: You're getting interviewed every day by God.
SPEAKER_01: So you get put in situations that nobody knows about with what you look at on the internet.
SPEAKER_01: With for you men, when your wife's not there, what are you looking at?
SPEAKER_01: You know, what are you up to?
SPEAKER_01: At work.
SPEAKER_01: With business deals, when nobody really knows exactly what you're doing, and nobody can really find out.
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of how you find out if you fear God or fear man.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you fear God, you know God's there and he's interviewing you, and he's actually created the situation you're in to see if you'll pass the test.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you in this room are locked into crummy jobs.
SPEAKER_01: And you hate your job or you hate who you work with.
SPEAKER_01: And it's rough, it's tough, it's difficult.
SPEAKER_01: And you keep wondering why you never seem to have any doors open at your work for new opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it might be because, and it might be, I'm not saying it always is, but it might be that you're actually not passing the tests of God in the secret, and God can't open doors of opportunity for you.
SPEAKER_01: So, pass the test.
SPEAKER_01: Start being interviewed by God and then be a man of integrity.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what I've entitled this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna call this today marks of integrity, or marks of a man or a woman that God can trust.
SPEAKER_01: Because if God can trust you, any human being can trust you.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 1, and this is how David describes it.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle and who may dwell on your holy hill?
SPEAKER_01: So the question that David is asking is, what are the qualities of the man or the woman that God wants to have fellowship with?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, isn't that exciting to think that in your life God wants to have fellowship with you?
SPEAKER_01: Now, God wants to have fellowship with everyone, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
SPEAKER_01: So he loves all of us.
SPEAKER_01: So, in one sense, even without God, God loves us and he wants to have a relationship with us.
SPEAKER_01: But on the other hand, there's those that are believers in Christ that God can't have fellowship with because of the unrighteousness that courses through the veins of the lack of integrity of their lives.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's David, and man, if anybody understood men, it would have been David.
SPEAKER_01: David was betrayed times without number.
SPEAKER_01: David hung out with people who turned him in.
SPEAKER_01: David was always having to evaluate people.
SPEAKER_01: He had a son that so betrayed his father that he took over the, he took over the kingship.
SPEAKER_01: He took over the palace in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: So David understood men.
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder if David, under the inspiration of Scripture here, in asking this first question, is asking the question even for himself, because we want to have relationships, you guys, with people God can trust.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if God can trust them, you can trust them.
SPEAKER_01: And so the integrity that goes with walking with God is something that works well in business, works well in who your sons and daughters marry.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've got concerns, you need to go with that gut sense.
SPEAKER_01: And here's one of the best, I mean, there's probably a dozen different passages in scripture where God gives us a list of some of the qualities of what he's looking for.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Psalm 5.
SPEAKER_01: Just turn real quickly to Psalm 5.
SPEAKER_01: Just turn left or click on your phone.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 5, 4 through 7.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost the same phraseology of Psalm 15.
SPEAKER_01: For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you.
SPEAKER_01: The boastful shall not stand in your sight.
SPEAKER_01: You hate all workers of iniquity.
SPEAKER_01: You shall destroy those who speak falsehood.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
SPEAKER_01: But as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: In fear of you, I will worship toward your holy temple.
SPEAKER_01: Now, last week I talked about fear of God, so I'm not going to go into it here, but in a nutshell, I believe that the fear of God is one of the great boundaries of the Christian faith that keeps us in a place of integrity and truthfulness and honesty within our own spirit and also with others, in that on one side there's the fear of God, and on the other side there's the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: So, in the boundaries of the fear of God and the love of God is the route to intimacy with God.
SPEAKER_01: So he speaks of the fear of God, and that's really the essence of what's going to be said in Psalm 15.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: Now back at Psalm 15, he says, He who walks uprightly.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just stop there.
SPEAKER_01: He who walks uprightly.
SPEAKER_01: God is looking for men and women who walk uprightly.
SPEAKER_01: So that's the point of the Psalm.
SPEAKER_01: The English Standard Version says blamelessly.
SPEAKER_01: The New American standard says, he who walks with integrity.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm choosing that title.
SPEAKER_01: He who walks with integrity.
SPEAKER_01: Integrity doesn't mean sinless, it means someone who sins less.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean sinless, someone who sins less.
SPEAKER_01: Cambridge English dictionary, integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change.
SPEAKER_01: Some definitions speak of wholeness, completeness, soundness.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I say: who we are when everyone is looking is the same as who we are when no one's looking.
SPEAKER_01: That's to me a great definition of integrity.
SPEAKER_01: Who we are when everyone is looking is the same as who we are when no one's looking.
SPEAKER_01: So listen to what I just said.
SPEAKER_01: That means you can have integrity as an evil person.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, if you're evil on the outside, you're evil on the inside.
SPEAKER_01: There's wholeness to that.
SPEAKER_01: But what we're speaking of is believers, Jesus followers, Christians.
SPEAKER_01: What is it that we that we say that we believe?
SPEAKER_01: And then do we act on it?
SPEAKER_01: Do we live it?
SPEAKER_01: Now, everybody in this room, if I asked you to show of hands, how many of you would say that I have areas where I don't have integrity?
SPEAKER_01: If your hand doesn't go up, you're deceived.
SPEAKER_01: So we all struggle, we all battle, but what I'm gonna say today, and I want you to understand this really clearly as we go through these eight marks, is that we're in this process of growing in these areas.
SPEAKER_01: Because to stay fired up, to stay on fire, to stay complete and whole, we're doing the best that we can in the power of the Holy Spirit, because you cannot change without God's Spirit in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's leaning into the Spirit in those areas of our life where we know that we don't have it all together.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 2 again.
SPEAKER_01: He who walks uprightly and works righteously.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you the first.
SPEAKER_01: First mark is a person of righteousness in dealing with people.
SPEAKER_01: A person of righteous dealings with people.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean you're good in business and you can turn the key and you can turn the deal.
SPEAKER_01: It means you're actually good with people.
SPEAKER_01: Righteousness is not just being right in the choices that we make, but it's also right in how we handle people.
SPEAKER_01: So, why is this important?
SPEAKER_01: The reason it's important is because I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: And I have this interesting relationship with you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, in which I want to see this church thrive.
SPEAKER_01: I want to see every one of you, I want to see you successful, I want to see you effective for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the problem.
SPEAKER_01: I've been doing this for 27 years.
SPEAKER_01: The problem is when I people come to me and say, hey, do you know a good plumber?
SPEAKER_01: Or do you know a good electrician?
SPEAKER_01: And I know.
SPEAKER_01: I know all the good plumbers and all the good electricians in the whole city.
SPEAKER_01: I've been here 27 years.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna initially say someone from the road, because I want to benefit, I want my people, my family to benefit more than this other guy over here.
SPEAKER_01: So I'll say, well, so and so is a good plumber, so-and-so is good.
SPEAKER_01: And then from time to time, not often, but from time to time, I hear, what a jerk.
SPEAKER_01: That guy you recommended, man, he he ripped me off and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01: I've heard that three or four times.
SPEAKER_01: In 27 years, that's not bad, but three or four times I've heard that.
SPEAKER_01: I've also had people that I've sent to people's houses who are reputable Christians, and that reputable Christians, in most cases not from the road, have just treated my buddy who's an electrician or my buddy who's a mechanic, like, you know, really looked down on them, treated them badly.
SPEAKER_01: And I have to apologize for them.
SPEAKER_01: I have to apologize for the faith.
SPEAKER_01: I almost have to apologize for Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: You guys know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: So, so be a person of integrity.
SPEAKER_01: Be who you say you are.
SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna put a fish or something on the back of your, that you may notice that we don't have any bumper stickers for the road.
SPEAKER_01: I know you guys.
SPEAKER_01: Look, I know me.
SPEAKER_01: You don't see, you don't see a road little symbol and then senior pastor on the back of my car.
SPEAKER_01: You cut people off, I cut people off.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it happens, man.
SPEAKER_01: Not good, right?
SPEAKER_01: But let's grow in that.
SPEAKER_01: Let's ask God to give us the ability to love everybody, even that person who comes to our house who doesn't have a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe their communication skills aren't what you'd like them to be.
SPEAKER_01: But they're trying.
SPEAKER_01: They got a job, they started their own company.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta respect that.
SPEAKER_01: I think I can say with all honesty, except for maybe a few exceptions, over all my years, I've always tried to treat everybody the same.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care whether they're wealthy or they're poverty stricken, they deserve a respect, they deserve dignity, they deserve honor, and I'm there for them.
SPEAKER_01: And I think people feel that way when they work with me.
SPEAKER_01: But some of you guys don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: You got this pecking order.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of Southerners are like this.
SPEAKER_01: I is one, so I know what it's like.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a caste system.
SPEAKER_01: The cell is the caste system, man.
SPEAKER_01: I really felt that when I was in um at University of Georgia in school because I was just middle class, regular kid, you know, athlete guy, and I get around, you know, these fraternities rush you and everything, and so you're in these fraternities and stuff, and they got the khaki pants and they got the little you know polo shirts, and and you could tell papa's paying for everything, and they're just arrogant a mile long.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time this guy, I I went into his fraternity house and they were rushing me, and the only reason they rushed me is because I was an athlete.
SPEAKER_01: Because I did not, I mean, I didn't measure up on anything else.
SPEAKER_01: And um this arrogant little frat boy, who's actually a big frat boy, was talking down to this black kid who was there.
SPEAKER_01: Man, it ticked me off.
SPEAKER_01: So when he was done, I went up to him and I let him know what I thought about him.
SPEAKER_01: And then he just looked at me like, Who are you?
SPEAKER_01: And then he pushed me against a wall and said, Look, you can do all the pushing and shoving you want, but I'm telling you what you did was wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And I wasn't even a believer yet.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So stand up for the little guy.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody look at me and go like that.
SPEAKER_01: Stand up for the little guy.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody stands up for them.
SPEAKER_01: These other people, these, I mean, they've got all their money and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I love this in Proverbs 11:1.
SPEAKER_01: Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 2010.
SPEAKER_01: Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So the idea here of dishonest scales was that in that day, you know, you didn't have scales you stood on, you had the old timy scales, like my granddaddy had on the ranch.
SPEAKER_01: So you got the old timing scales.
SPEAKER_01: So you you put a certain amount of weight on one side.
SPEAKER_01: So if a person came into a setting where they were getting five pounds of sugar, that particular uh businessman, businesswoman would put five pounds on one side and then measure out until it balanced out the five pounds of sugar.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what if what he had is a rock that he said was five pounds, but it was four pounds, and he was ripping that person out of a pound of sugar.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it means about being dishonest.
SPEAKER_01: So, guys, be honest in your dealings.
SPEAKER_01: Even go beyond that and be known as someone who thinks of others, and even, and you'll see later why this is important, is one who would even take a loss in order to bless somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 2 He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: So the second mark would be a person who speaks truth in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: So, so we know from Proverbs 23:7, for as one thinks in his heart, so he is.
SPEAKER_01: So how you work in business, how we treat people, is in essence how you view yourself.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're speaking truth in your heart, you tend to start speaking truth verbally.
SPEAKER_01: If you believe in your heart truth, you tend, not always, not perfectly, but you tend to start acting that out.
SPEAKER_01: So he's saying right here at the beginning, this is actually a hard issue.
SPEAKER_01: So walking with integrity and holiness is a hard issue.
SPEAKER_01: That's why, in any situation, whether it's political or moral, whatever, to, I mean, you should we we need to take stands, but we need to also understand that those who believe certain things that are different than us that we might consider immoral, who don't have the Holy Spirit and don't have truth, it's a little bit unfair to think that they're really gonna change that much in a particular moral issue or even a religious issue if they don't have a heart that's been transformed by truth through the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: So I would, you and I, we would view entirely, have an entirely different set of criteria of what we consider truth if we didn't have God in our life.
SPEAKER_01: But God has given us the ability to discern truth.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm such a big believer that in the political realm or the economic realm, we should be better than everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to follow what everybody else does.
SPEAKER_01: So if everybody's just taking pot shots, why not be a believer who doesn't do that and lives with a standard higher because we have the Holy Spirit living in our heart?
SPEAKER_01: But if we act like everybody else, which is typical American Christianity, revival's not gonna come.
SPEAKER_01: Somehow we think that revival is gonna be this entity that just sort of shows up one day and suddenly there's revival.
SPEAKER_01: No, revival begins in our own individual hearts by walking in integrity.
SPEAKER_01: If you're walking with a fire in your heart and you're treating people well, you bring, you become the revival.
SPEAKER_01: You bring the revival wherever you go.
SPEAKER_01: Because people are like, what?
SPEAKER_01: He did what?
SPEAKER_01: He gave what?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody does that.
SPEAKER_01: And suddenly you're set up to bring revival to others because they've never seen somebody who's that honest and tells the truth and treats people so well.
SPEAKER_01: So as one thinks in his heart, so he is.
SPEAKER_01: Verse three.
SPEAKER_01: He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: And I put those two together because I believe that probably the most that we do, and some of the deepest things that we do to wound others is with our tongue.
SPEAKER_01: It's through backbite.
SPEAKER_01: So I term it this way.
SPEAKER_01: Third mark, a person who does not slander others.
SPEAKER_01: And this is interesting in the Hebrew.
SPEAKER_01: The Hebrew for slander is literally means to spy out.
SPEAKER_01: So in other words, you're spying out to find stuff wrong with that person that you might slander them to others.
SPEAKER_01: And it happens, it happens in the church.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have a covenant of harmony.
SPEAKER_01: So you that went through the roadmap last week, you know, we read, we talked about the covenant of harmony.
SPEAKER_01: All of the staff, anybody who gets a nickel from the road for working here, has to sign off that they will follow the covenant of harmony.
SPEAKER_01: Every small group leader has to sign off that they will follow the covenant of harmony.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what's the covenant of harmony?
SPEAKER_01: The covenant of harmony is an Essence, Matthew 18, that when you have disagreements, when you have struggles, you will go to that person, not tell anybody else about it, and work it out.
SPEAKER_01: And then we have all these different ways to learn how to do that, the skills to develop that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to go into it here.
SPEAKER_01: But that's what we believe in.
SPEAKER_01: The reason we believe in it is because of how many of you have been hurt by the church?
SPEAKER_01: Just raise your hand if you've been hurt.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there you go.
SPEAKER_01: That's the answer right there.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have left a church because of hurt in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's the reason we do it.
SPEAKER_01: Because most of us in this room are hurt by the church, have been hurt by the church.
SPEAKER_01: We've run from that church to another church, and there's a problem with that, and the biggest problem is that who you are at the other church is the same as who you are when you get to our church.
SPEAKER_01: So now we got to deal with you.
SPEAKER_01: So if we let you be you, not good.
SPEAKER_01: Because you already haunted another church, you're gonna come and haunt our church.
SPEAKER_01: Now, but if we can equip you, if you want to be equipped, because it can't make anybody do anything they want to do, but if you want to be equipped, we can train you in a covenant of harmony.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to have enemies anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Now you have people that don't like you, but you don't have to not like them.
SPEAKER_01: And so you start to become a person of integrity because you, here, I'll tell you, man, you want to snuff out slander?
SPEAKER_01: Just tell someone, you know, I don't really do slander.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not really into slander and gossip and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, Matthew 18 tells me that you should, you need to quit telling me about that person.
SPEAKER_01: You need to go to that person and make things right.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you got a 50-50 chance that you actually might have a really good friend there that you're slandering right now, but you be the first one.
SPEAKER_01: And the most mature in a relationship is the first one.
SPEAKER_01: It's the one who goes and starts trying to make things right.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't tell you the countless dozens of people at the road through the years, through following the covenant of harmony by becoming a member of the road, then saw their marriage transform because they actually started doing it in their home.
SPEAKER_01: What a novel idea that you could be married to someone and you actually work out your problems.
SPEAKER_01: That's really possible.
SPEAKER_01: Supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, man.
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you.
SPEAKER_01: All right, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: He who does not backbite with his tongue nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend.
SPEAKER_01: Kind of similar, fourth mark, a person who's not a gossip.
SPEAKER_01: So one's a slanderer, the other one's a gossip.
SPEAKER_01: Slight difference.
SPEAKER_01: I think one's spying out, the other one's probably been hurt by one, but both are related, and it's it's taking evil against someone, but it's also someone who won't listen to gossip.
SPEAKER_01: So if you won't go there with people who slander and gossip, and they're unwilling to change, you'll probably lose a friend.
SPEAKER_01: But isn't that the kind of friend you want to lose?
SPEAKER_01: Because some relationships are built on gossip.
SPEAKER_01: Some relationships are built on kind of knowing that the next thing.
SPEAKER_01: And you, you know, they you kind of run to each other at the end of the service.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, and you hear about all that stuff and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And then you say, I'm not doing that anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Because Pastor C said I shouldn't do that, I'm not gonna do that because I want to be successful, I want to be effective, I want to have a clear conscience at night, and I want to walk in joy.
SPEAKER_01: And they go, Oh man, that sucks.
SPEAKER_01: Or they change.
SPEAKER_01: I think part of what we do when we walk in righteousness and integrity is we're spreading the love of righteousness integrity.
SPEAKER_01: And those that are open to that change because you don't go there anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And so, and so, I mean, it happens in our family.
SPEAKER_01: Holts, you know, we get together.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it seven kids, and four of them are married, so you know, and start multiplying that out and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And their whole life, these guys were in the church nine months before they were born.
SPEAKER_01: So they just know, they know half of the families in Colorado Springs.
SPEAKER_01: My kids, every time we're together, say, Hey dad, do you remember so and so?
SPEAKER_01: And I go, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I remember them like 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I saw them at the post office, they came up to me and said, Man, you've really grown up, and da-da-da.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody knows like the holts.
SPEAKER_01: So you can imagine when we get together, what we have to be careful to snuff out when talk starts going.
SPEAKER_01: Well, so and so, man, you can't believe what happened over here, and da-da-da.
SPEAKER_01: And then you go on and on because you got 27 years in one place.
SPEAKER_01: Man, we man, I got more dirt on more people in this city than you can imagine.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I meet people who I know, oh you, yeah, you ran for Congress like 12 years ago, you know, and I used to know stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And oh yeah, I used to get my car work done by you.
SPEAKER_01: So you gotta be careful, especially if you've been in a place a long time.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: This is really, really fun important.
SPEAKER_01: Um, the fifth mark is a person who gives no esteem, no esteem to the vile, but honors the godly.
SPEAKER_01: No esteem to those who are people of vile, but honors the godly.
SPEAKER_01: A person of integrity doesn't esteem vile people.
SPEAKER_01: A vile person is one who is unrepentant of their sins and hardened in doing perverse things.
SPEAKER_01: That's the best example, best way I can describe it.
SPEAKER_01: A vile person is one who is unrepentant of their sins and hardened in doing perverse things.
SPEAKER_01: So be careful, church, who you admire.
SPEAKER_01: Young people, be careful who you admire.
SPEAKER_01: As it relates to rock stars or movie stars or sports figures, you may be esteeming vile people.
SPEAKER_01: And what wait, if you do that too much, you start becoming like that which you emulate.
SPEAKER_01: So read biographies, read stories of godly people, let them be your models.
SPEAKER_01: Those that have done great things and good things and righteous things, think about them, model your life after them.
SPEAKER_01: If you have a mom and dad, for the most part, who are honest and have integrity and are good people, model your life after your mom and dad.
SPEAKER_01: Honor them, honor godly people.
SPEAKER_01: So important.
SPEAKER_01: What would happen if we all ceased to admire, honor, or reward, or give special privileges to vile people in business, sports, and politics?
SPEAKER_01: What if we didn't give them the time of day?
SPEAKER_01: What if we became a people that honors godly people and we turned our back on vile people?
SPEAKER_01: Think of the church, if we did that across the nation, what a difference that would make.
SPEAKER_01: It would draw out the best, it would draw out the best in the worst people.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's still good there.
SPEAKER_01: I really believe that.
SPEAKER_01: I really believe there's good in every person because they're created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_01: So if we had a standard of righteousness that we tried to live by as best we could, it would begin to take vile people who would start to repent.
SPEAKER_01: They might not even know what the word means, but they'd want to change because they want to be someone like that.
SPEAKER_01: They would want to be like that because that's who we admire.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4b.
SPEAKER_01: He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.
SPEAKER_01: Six mark, a person who keeps promises even if it hurts.
SPEAKER_01: A person who keeps promises even if it hurts.
SPEAKER_01: The NIV reads, he keeps his oath even when it hurts.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, honor is more important than one's wallet.
SPEAKER_01: Integrity has no price tag.
SPEAKER_01: This is a person who's willing to sacrifice, even financially or physically, to do the right thing and to be honest.
SPEAKER_01: That's really hard.
SPEAKER_01: Because nobody's going to really esteem that.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe nobody's going to notice that.
SPEAKER_01: But you're willing, you made a promise, you made an oath, you made a commitment to something, things have changed, and you stick to it because you made the your honor, your word.
SPEAKER_01: It really is your bond.
SPEAKER_01: Sam Storms writes, one will never know of what motivates you.
SPEAKER_01: What made it motivates you is moral conviction, this is really important, or moral convenience, until you're forced to suffer loss for standing your ground or keeping your word.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: One will never know if what motivates you is moral conviction or just moral convenience until you're forced to suffer loss for standing your ground or keeping your word.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, tithing's one of those examples.
SPEAKER_01: Because nobody really knows about tithing but you and God.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes you guys suffer loss.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have a business downturn, but you stick to that commitment you've made, and guess what?
SPEAKER_01: You're being interviewed by God.
SPEAKER_01: Not interviewed by me, but interviewed by God.
SPEAKER_01: And God wants to bless you financially.
SPEAKER_01: And he can open doors and close doors according to his desires on that.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: He who does not put out his money at usury.
SPEAKER_01: Seventh mark, a person who doesn't take interest on borrowed money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this was important because the primary aim in the Old Testament for this command, which is all through, especially Leviticus and Deuteronomy, was that you have the poor, and they didn't have a social welfare system except for gleaning out in the fields.
SPEAKER_01: Other than that, the idea was that someone was poverty stricken, and a compassionate way to deal with that was not to perpetuate their poverty by taking their money or giving them money and then adding to it something they had to pay, but giving them an opportunity, one up, one opportunity here, from you, not from a bank, but just a fellow Israelite to be able to give them a chance to step up to get out of poverty.
SPEAKER_01: So it was really a compassion move.
SPEAKER_01: So I remember being around John Wimber.
SPEAKER_01: John Wimber was the founder of the Vineyard movement and had the privilege of working with him at Anaheim Vineyard before I came here.
SPEAKER_01: And he died in '98.
SPEAKER_01: And one of my friends was there and they were cleaning out stuff, and he found a drawer in his office.
SPEAKER_01: And I know exactly where that drawer was, just stacked full of IOUs.
SPEAKER_01: Well, no one knew it.
SPEAKER_01: No one knew it until after he died.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell anybody.
SPEAKER_01: But he was always helping people out financially with IOUs, and he didn't ever expect to get paid back.
SPEAKER_01: He just did it because he had love in his heart for people.
SPEAKER_01: And he wasn't doing it to have kind of brownie points with God or something.
SPEAKER_01: It's just who he was.
SPEAKER_01: It was his heart.
SPEAKER_01: He does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
SPEAKER_01: So the eighth mark is a person who won't take a bribe.
SPEAKER_01: So it's often the poor taken to court and the wealthy seem to always win.
SPEAKER_01: And usually there's an exchange of money somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: There's some kind of a thing going on.
SPEAKER_01: What if we wouldn't allow that?
SPEAKER_01: What if we would not take a bribe?
SPEAKER_01: And then look at verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: See, I love this.
SPEAKER_01: Circle it.
SPEAKER_01: Highlight it.
SPEAKER_01: Underline it.
SPEAKER_01: He who does these things shall never be moved.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that great?
SPEAKER_01: If you can't be bought, if money's not your God, if popularity is not the goal of your life, but to fear God and love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love your neighbor as yourself, you're unshakable.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody can get you.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody can bribe you.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody can talk you into doing something that's not holy and right because you don't care about those things.
SPEAKER_01: You've died to those things.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you want to be that kind of person?
SPEAKER_01: Unshakable, unchanging kingdom person?
SPEAKER_01: I do.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not there yet.
SPEAKER_01: And neither are you.
SPEAKER_01: But let's grow together.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be better by December of this year than we were right now because we're walking with greater intentionality toward integrity.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Foreign for War podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org.
SPEAKER_00: God bless.