Character Under Fire: Integrity Part 2

What happens when your character gets tested?

In Part 2 of our Integrity series, we move beyond definitions and into real life. Duncan Brannan, Max Mawhirter, and Josh Davis explore what integrity looks like in relationships, leadership, marriage, family, and everyday decisions.

Can a man have character without integrity? Why does God place such a high value on integrity? How do authority figures, family members, and even the people we love most influence our walk with God?

Integrity isn’t perfection. It’s consistency. It’s faithfulness. It’s choosing what is right when nobody else is watching.

Join us as we discuss biblical integrity, covenant faithfulness, honor, character, and the practical challenges every man faces in living out his faith.

“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely.” — Proverbs 10:9

#ThreeInTheFire #Integrity #BiblicalManhood #ChristianMen #Character #Faith #Leadership #Discipleship #SentinelMinistries

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We've defined it, we've explored its foundations. Now it's time to talk about how we do it in relationships and the basic principles for living it out in our daily lives. It's the thing we call integrity. I'm Duncan Brandon. Welcome to Three in the Fire. Duncan Brandon here at the Helm for you, Sentinel Ministries President. We are so glad to have you with us and excited to bring you another episode. And of course, joining me to do that, my two compadres in the fire, show producer Josh Davis. Welcome, my brother. Hey, Duncan. And Max McGuarder, color commentator, and who will be once again captaining this episode for us. Max, we got another good show lined up, and we're going to wrap up this whole series on integrity. And before we do that, I just want to remind our listeners, please be sure to like, share, and subscribe. Okay, now you can go. Well, you know, they always say that the teacher learns the most. And that's certainly the case here. Uh, is it's we were quipping after uh our last episode was that uh I had been trying to act in integrity with you guys and meeting the tip right and doing what I said I was gonna do. And I'm like, man, we're we're talking about this subject, and I'm having to live it out. And so the teacher always gets to learn the most. It was just nice to finally see you doing it. I'm just I'm grateful for that breakthrough, and it's it's it's really good. So I really I'm gonna give you an honest uh confession that uh this is an area that truly in my life, this is an area that I have had to to work on because it's easy to make things look good, and it's not always things are good, right? And that that kind of gives me the the stance or or the the the the the platform for this particular uh episode. You know, in the in the last episode, we talked about that character was who you are on the inside, and that integrity is how you carry those things out. And I believe that I made a statement that said you could have great character and not great integrity. And I and I believe that that that is true if I'm a man of the world. But I believe that if we decide that we're going to be Christ's followers and that we're going to follow the ways of our Lord, that those two have to be the same. And so the first thing I would ask you guys is are you you do you see it the same way as I do? Do you see that there has to be character and integrity instead of one or just having character and no integrity if I choose to follow Christ? Josh, I previous.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

You um you can have the appearance of character, you can have the appearance of godly character um and not have integrity. And that is what that that is what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees. You know, they they knew the scriptures, um, they had the appearance of character, they they looked clean, they looked the part they had, you know, but but they didn't, they weren't whole on the inside, they didn't have that integrity. And so uh you can certainly have the appearance. Um, but like you said, Max, um character is who you are, and integrity is how consistent you are in walking out who you are. And so, yeah, I think you, you know, god godly character is is who you are and what God refines in you, in your heart, in your mind, in your soul, um, as you pursue Christ and you pursue wholeness in Christ. Um, and then integrity is what's gonna happen when that stuff needs to be called out, when it needs to be activated. Um, and so you can you can have the appearance of it um and not have integrity.

SPEAKER_04 4:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

That's good. I uh I my uh my take on that, Max, is I I first of all, I'm I'm I'm old school, you know. I and for me, character and integrity have always been synonymous, you know. Um kind of like uh either if they're not the same, then integrity is the shadow of character. It kind of follows along. It's the trailer attached to the truck character for all the guys out there who are going, oh, okay, truck trailer, yeah. That I got that now. Um, but but that's kind of how I always see it. If if if character is the composition of a thing, we talk about the the character of a structure. We're talking about its composition, right? What makes that thing up? Um, what are the elements that go into it? That's the character of it. Um so when I think of character, I I think of of all of those virtues um that that the scripture lists in different places from the fruit of the spirit to Paul's list in Philippians 4, the truth, honesty, justice, purity, loveliness, all of those things. It's really the whole picture. And I I I do. I I think I track with you guys on integrity being the activation of it, the actuation or manifestation of it. But obviously, in integrity is not something that's not just something that you can choose, you have to have that backbone of the character to begin with in order to do the thing. It's like faith and works, you know. Um it's just not gonna happen. And and so it's I think character is the backbone or spine for the thing. And then integrity is what we see or what we experience from others or the lack of it in kind of the working out of it, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think it's the proving of your character or lack of character. Yeah, yeah, like it reveals it reveals, it reveals what's really on the inside.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

I do love the truck and trailer because I I think that's important, that's a great visualization that the two go together. They really do. Um, you know, one of the things that um I also want to uh I want us to dive into has to do with uh the importance of integrity to God and and the way that we act. And that um when you look at the the word that we translate into integrity in the English from the Hebrew, which I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, Duncan, but tom, um uh that that word includes the the aspect of covenant fidelity. And and in other words, it's the same thing that that God was was asking of of Abraham or of Moses or of David or in the new covenant of Jesus, right? These covenants that he contend he has put in place, and now he has this covenant with us, which is integrity, right? And that's where it came back, and as we're thinking about this, I thought, there's no way, right? There's no way you could have that you can have godly character and not have integrity. You could have worldly character and and it'd be good, but it not be what God's calling us to do. And so as I thought about the the importance of a covenant with God and the different way that he has always had those covenants to benefit his people. But the the he would continue on his side of the covenant, regardless of what the children of Israel do, and it's the same story with us, is that he continues to be a loving father, he continues to be a guide, he continues to be all the things that God is, even when our integrity, our covenant kind of wanes. And one of the things that just came to mind faithful even when we are faithless. Yes. Yes, thank you, Lord. But but one of the things that I wanted us to jump into was that we have these competing covenants, covenants that we have formed in other aspects of our life that I believe cause problems with the covenant that God wants with us and with our integrity. And um, there are a few here that we're gonna go through. And so Duncan William, we jump in with the the first covenant um uh with people of authority. How do you see people of authority in our lives that can either keep us on the track of integrity or quite possibly take us off the track of integrity? I I think it starts with with the the preeminence, the uh the the emphasis, the the worship for lack of a better word, that we give them um or we give God. Uh there's going to be a a competition. The first part of integrity, you know, kind of circling back just for a second so I can come back to this point. Uh remember that the that the the the breastplate of the priest with the tumim, um you know, the urim and the tumim, which was the integrities and the illuminations, the that was right next to the chest of the priest. And so when we talk about integrity, the heart of the definition, the centrality of the definition starts with God and the place that we give him in our lives and our universe, and then framing everything else, every other relationship around that. Uh, and so naturally, leaders, teachers, coaches, all of these people, they're powerful figureheads in our lives, our fathers, of course, grandfathers, all of that. But God is supposed to have the high, you know, the highest place. He's supposed to have the throne, and then everybody else is supposed to be subordinate to that in our minds, in our affections, in our desires. Jesus made that indelibly clear when he said that the love that we have for a father, mother, brother, sister, son, or daughter in Luke 14, 26, he said, it can't compare with the love you're supposed to have for me. And if we go back to Old Testament, Exodus 20, and about what was it, the the second or third verse there, God says, I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, out of the house of slavery, you shall have no other gods before me. And I love that statement because we've talked about this before. If we don't have the proper order there, if God's not first, slavery is what follows in the other relationships. If God is first, you are free to enjoy those relationships. And again, the trailer is behind the truck, cart's not before the horse, and things start working right. So it starts with the the preeminence, the place that I put those people in versus Jesus, and then after that. No servant can serve two masters, Matthew 6, 24, Jesus said. And so I want to put God in his place first, and then those leaders second, and and then vice versa. I'm gonna hope that they that they look at me the same way, that they treat me that same way. And if they're focused on Christ, if we're uh both aiming at that same thing, I think we can get there.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

So, in other words, what I'm hearing you say is that these people of influence and people of authority in our lives, they they need to be pointing us to God. They need to be letting us know that, hey, look, uh, I'm playing a role here, but God is the authority, and not so much that we should emulate them, but that we they are pointing on to God. They're they're saying, Hey, he's the one to emulate. Am I am I hearing you correctly? Yeah, uh, you know, I I think of of two things that Paul said here, you know, Philippians 4 9, he said, Whatever you've learned or received or heard from or seen in me. What have you learned, received, heard, or seen in me? Yeah. Um, he said, Do these things and the God of peace will be with you. Well, that's a pretty bold statement. If somebody looks at you and says, Hey, whatever I do, do that. Whatever I say, say that. Because if you do that, then you're doing the thing that God wants you to do. That is a serious gauntlet to throw down, a serious challenge. Um, either you're living that or you're absolutely deluded. You are very, very, very, very deceived. Uh, and Paul makes that statement. And in another place with Timothy, 2 Timothy 1.13, he says, follow the pattern of sound speech, of sound words that I set before you. So he's constantly setting himself up in this place to mimic and to be followed, to be emulated by Timothy and by the Philippian believers and by the rest of the church. And so you can't do that if you're not walking in integrity with God for yourself. You can't be an example of integrity to anybody else. Excellent. So, Josh, uh, sometimes it is our family, the people that we grew up with, our mother, father, uh, sisters, brothers, family that um take us off of the road of integrity. Um in a situation, I you know, just creating it uh of maybe your brother or some type of some family member going, hey, can you just bend the rules? I'm your brother, you know, something along those lines. What what have you seen and and how would you suggest that we don't go get knocked off the road of integrity or the path of integrity by family members, people that we love and respect?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Um it's a good question. Family, family's difficult. Family dynamics can be difficult because uh you live with them, you can't avoid them. Um and uh, you know, uh and but when you look at you know, when you when you look at um family versus um, say your friends and coworkers and other people that you can choose to associate with, um, you know, those people that you choose to associate with, um, you know, there's a quote that that I like and it's a very famous quote. You guys, you guys know it. Jim Rohn said, You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And that's so true, and it's backed up by uh by scripture. You know, Proverbs uh 1320 says, Walk with the wise and become wise. Uh, walk with the fool and you'll suffer harm. Yeah. Um and it's it's so much, it's it's it's so true. And it's why as parents we um don't want our kids to hang out with certain kids because we say, Oh, well, I don't like that kid because he's a bad influence. Right. Right. And so the the same thing applies to us as men, um, there are bad influences, and and we have to choose um we have to choose who those people are and and make sure that we're choosing good influences and guys that have um high character and integrity. Um otherwise, you know, because we're gonna be more like them. If we're if we're hanging around with, if I'm hanging around four other guys that are high character, high integrity, smarter than me, wiser than me, um, you know, they're gonna pull me up. I'm gonna, I'm gonna suddenly have more wisdom, have more insight, um, have uh uh have more character and integrity. But if I'm hanging out with guys that don't have character, don't have integrity, they just want to sit around and and tell jokes and you know, just bad bad influences their life as they're going nowhere in their life, then I'm gonna go nowhere in my life. Um so it's so it's really important. And then when you look at family, um, the family dynamic, um, you know, in in uh Matthew 10, 37, Jesus said, uh, anyone that loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy uh of me, and anyone who loves the son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Um and that uh so going back to your original question in terms of family, um, that's a tough, that's a tough verse to read. Um, you know, you read that and you're like, wow, so I'm supposed to, you know, not love my family, or you know, like uh what do you you kind of wrestle with that, with that. Um, but it's interesting, um, you know, because as we've we've talked about, I think in previous episodes, um, in the English language, there's just one word for love, and that's love. In the Greek, yeah, there was four or five different words for for love. Um, and so when you read that verse, you need to look and see what was what was the Greek word being used there in that, and it's it's philaleo, so it's um uh brotherly love. That's where we get the word philadelphia. Um and so, but what that what that word, what Jesus is really saying is it's uh loyal love. Yeah. Saying, where's your loyalty? Is your loyalty in me or is it in your family, in your in your dad, your parents, your your brothers? Um and so just like you were talking about, Duncan, it's it's the the order of things. I put Jesus and my loyalty to Jesus first, and then and then other people second. And there's nothing wrong with being second. But if your loyalty is not to Jesus, then when your integrity, when it when it when it when the time calls for your integrity, when the when the moment calls for integrity, if your loyalty is not to Jesus, then you're not gonna display the character of Jesus and and have consistent integrity.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Oh, that's good, man. I want to ask you, and then and and you might want to pick this ball up, Duncan. I just uh in recalling some of the the parts of your story and and how you grew up and without having to go into great detail. But I I believe that there were some people that were in your life that were not moving you towards integrity, but yet were probably pulling you off the path of integrity and you had to trim around, right? I mean to a certain extent. Is that is that fair to say? Yeah. How how did you go about doing that? Is it it how'd you go about trimming out the people that were in your life that you needed to you needed to get away from so that you could draw closer to Christ and walk in integrity? I I think one, I I think there's a there's kind of a natural pruning process that just begins to happen if you draw near to God. It you know, James 4.8, draw near to God, he'll draw near to you. Well, if God starts drawing near to you because you're drawing near to him, either people are going to get attracted to that or or people are going to be like, Yeah, I don't want any of that Jesus stuff. I don't want any of that light stuff. Um we kind of chuckle at that, but in in John 3, when Jesus is having that epic conversation with Nicodemus, you know, that leads to John 3.16, for God so loved the world, he he says, This is the condemnation about the 15th verse. This is the condemnation or the judgment that light has come into this world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. And nobody comes into the light lest his deeds be exposed. But the one who does the truth, he comes into the light so that his deeds can be revealed that they have been wrought in in God, wrought in Christ. And so if you draw near to God, one of two things is going to naturally happen. There's going to be people that either see that, and and we've all seen this. You know, somebody gets newly saved and then uh an unsaved relative or something goes, What's different about you?

SPEAKER_04 21:02

What what's what what's what what what's what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 21:05

What's going on here? You know, or even if you've been away on a retreat and you've had some type of renewal going on, you know, the similar thing, wow, you look, you look different. What's going on with you? You know, and so so I think there's that relationship, uh, that, or that, that nuance. But the other thing I think is is just the natural thing of not necessarily having to say anything, but just stepping away from it and just going, I'm going to go over here and do this relationship instead. I'm just going to divert my time and attention and my money, everything. I'm just going to divert it elsewhere because there's not a godly return on this. And at first, I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea that we should not have um, you know, lost people in our lives and friendships with them. But we have to do that that divine scaling uh of going, um, is this a relationship that I Influencing or is it influencing me? And to the degree that you can either you can either have, let's say, a you know, a stalemate, maybe because it's somebody who's just dug in in his heels and he's an atheist, but he respects you. I have a I have friends like that. There's one I'm thinking of right now. He he has great respect for my faith, he has great respect for the way I live it out and practice it. But he's like, you know, we've had talks, I've witnessed him, but he's just like, yeah, no. That's not on me, that's on the Holy Spirit to draw him. Okay. So I I can so I can hang out with him. Another person, though, I might not be able to do that because they just there's there's a stronger influence there, or maybe it's because of an activity. They want to go drinking. That you know, there's certain there's certain things that I do think you have to go. Okay, if we're gonna be in this bar, if we're gonna be in this particular place or around these particular people or doing a certain activity, there's where you do the scaling also. Look at the activities. Is it gonna compromise your witness in some way? Could somebody look at that and go, hey, I saw you doing this thing, or hanging out, or watching this, or you know, all of that. So you look at some of those parameters, and I think that can really help you be your guide.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Oh, that's good. Uh really good.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

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SPEAKER_00 25:59

And it is it's the woman. It's the woman of influence. If you're a married man, it's your wife. Or the the woman of interest, the one that you're trying to attract. And we've heard stories throughout our lives about how women have absolutely either destroyed a man or made the man, right? And it without making it just kind of a crapshoot and go, oh well, we're 50-50. Then I want us to talk a little bit about the the the chance that that our relationship with the woman could take us off of our integrity. The two things that come to mind, Adam in the garden, right? He's right there with Eve. She decides to take the fruit and she gives it to him and he eats, right? And part of the uh part of the curse, God says, because you listen to your wife, not not in casual conversation, and we're not talking about that, but but because he put her in a place above God. There you go. I'm gonna throw the same thing out there with uh Sarai and Abram because they want a child and and God's promised him, and they're thinking, well, let's help him out. So Sarai gives Hagar to Abram, and you don't see him going, I think this is a bad idea. He pretty much goes right along with it and it causes problems. And so because of the influence that women have over men, um, I think they have a great opportunity to take us off of the path of integrity. And I'm curious if you guys would agree with that. Is that have you seen that in your life? And if so, would you speak to that? The the influence that a woman has over a man's integrity. You gonna take a crack at that first, Josh? Or do you want me to?

SPEAKER_02 28:17

I was waiting to see what you would what you were wanted to do. Um sure, you know, I think um for me, um I would say um what I what I've seen, um, if if a woman's gonna take you down the wrong path, let's look at the two paths, um down the wrong path, it's typically because the man is looking for validation or identity from a woman. That's good. So if if you are looking to get validation of of your manhood, of who you are, um, or you're looking for identity in in a woman, then you're in trouble. And that's what's going to take you off course in terms of uh lack of character and lack of of integrity. Um and then uh on the flip side, um, if you if you're secure in your identity, um, and and if you get your validation from the Lord, um then and and uh and a godly woman by your side, she's she's going to build up your character. Um she's going to make you um want to have integrity and be consistent and show up every day and work hard. Um there's gonna be uh there's gonna be honor. She's gonna honor you, and you're gonna honor her, and she's gonna submit to you, and you're gonna act as the head, you're gonna sacrifice and serve. So it it all it all comes back to um one, do we or it all comes back to the belief uh of uh in our identity? Do we do we really believe um uh what God says about us? Um and are and are we going to get our worth, our validation, and our identity from Him, or are we gonna get it from a woman or from any other source? But that that's where we're gonna get um jammed up. And it's easy. It's really easy for for a guy to fall into that trap.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Tag tagging on that, I would, I would just note, you know, there was a moment um, you know, in uh um Matthew's gospel, and uh matter of fact, uh uh Luke records it, I believe Mark does also, I believe it's in three of them, um, where you know Jesus is teaching in a certain place, the scripture says, and then a guy comes and tugs his shirt sleeve and says, Hey, uh Lord, uh your your family wants to talk to you. And, you know, without batting an eye, he he he pulls that rabbi thing again and he says something, then the guy's head just kind of turns on a swivel, I think, when he says, Uh, my mother and my brother and my sisters are those who do the will of God. Nobody expected that. I kind of think that the apostles, if they were standing behind and just went, what did he do? Whoa, whoa, tell me out, tell me out. Tell me out. I thought Mary was like really cool. Why did he just say that about his mom? You know, or a lot of it. We know that his brothers, you know, it's specifically his brothers, they didn't start out believing in Jesus. So we know that they had already given him given a little bit of razzing and you know, and and and all that kind of stuff. They they thought he was kind of loopy, and of course they they come to believe in him later on. But there's that framing right away of of the Lord going, um, let's let's take, let's pause and let's take a teachable moment right here to make sure that again, trailer behind the truck, the first thing is doing God's will. The first thing is is ordering affection. The first thing is is is everything in its in its proper place. And if I'm going to love my wife, the command of scripture is love her the way Jesus loved the church. Jesus loves unconditionally. Jesus says what I need to hear, not what I want to hear. Jesus does what I need him to do, not what I want him to do. Jesus goes to a cross when I'm there standing there with Peter going, uh no, we got plans for you. We're gonna we're gonna put you up in lights, we're gonna have chasers and your name and all that kind of stuff. We got it, we already bought the the the billboard, Jesus, and all of that. And he goes, get behind me, say you have in mind the things of men, not the things of God. And and so there's there's again the the prioritizing, the ordering of relationship under Christ, and and then it starts working its way through the family. So if I love my wife the way Christ loves the church, my focus, as Josh has said so well before, it's on serving and sacrificing for her the way that Jesus would. And that is going to naturally lead me down a path of integrity with God. If I'm emulating Christ's service and sacrifice for her, then I'm gonna be faithful with God and I'm gonna be faithful the way I'm supposed to be with her. Yeah. There's a uh there's a friend of mine, his name is Richard, and Richard is a cowboy, and uh he was giving me some relational advice, and uh, I want to pass it on because I thought it was just priceless. Is he he he met this woman and this is before he knew the Lord, but he met this woman and they had a a great relationship, had a lot of things in common, which is one of the things you want to look for. And then they they also had common goals, things that they wanted to accomplish together. He said, but then he came to the realization that she, unlike he, that she was willing to cheat to get to win, or she was willing to cheat to get the goal. And he was like, No, no, no, we're gonna do this the way that we're supposed to, honest and moral. And and he said to me, he said, you know what? It was one of the hardest things in the world because here was a woman that he really connected with, he was very attracted to her, they had all these things in common. One of the things' biggest thing was rodeo, uh, and she was willing to cheat to to bring home the trophy, and he was not. And he said, and the gap was so wide, and it it it put him his heart in this situation of do I choose to stay and and be with this beautiful woman that I'm highly attracted to, or I do I do I not stay with her because she's a cheater. She's not, she doesn't have any integrity, right?

unknown 34:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

It made me think about a question. Let's say that uh you guys uh make a decision, and I I find this the this is so asinine that you neither one of you would do it. That's why I'm asking you this question. So you make a decision in your work on the statement before you make it. Just gonna say you can always go back and edit. But we um you make a decision, you you make a decision in one of the other aspects of your life that was not it's not a good decision, right? You cheat on something, or you you told you tell a white lie, or you know what I'm saying? And as we discussed, there's there's no such thing as those. And then you bring it home and you tell your respective spouses, you tell them, um, I told a lie today, right? What would be the response? What would your what would your spouse say if you brought this lack of integrity to her? Would she say, well, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do, you gotta lie sometimes, or would she say, Who are you? Right? How would she respond to your lack of integrity? Uh I I don't have any hesitation there. Uh, you know, because Roland and I have had those conversations about workplace, about relationships with other people, um, and and just about the need for truth in relationship because it's it's just foundation. It's you know, if you're if you're pouring the slab, truth is the concrete. I mean, if if we don't got that, we got nothing, you know, and and we've that's how we how we built our relationship of just looking each other in the eye and you know, tell me like it is, you know, good, good, the good, the bad, the ugly. And you know, there's never been a time that I can recall where she didn't look at me and go, okay, and then what did you do after that? Did you, did you make it right? Did you did you say you're sorry? Did you, you know, did you say, hey, you know what? I need to, you know, or are you gonna go back? Uh, you know, I don't think that there's ever been a moment uh like that. And this is probably one of many reasons. And I've told this to Rolandna for years. I I've when I years ago, I'd asked God to give me a blessing to speak over my wife. And I tell her Roland, you're the love of my life, the woman of my dreams. You are Proverbs 31 with skin. And I I mean that, I mean that she is a woman of Chail, um, a woman of character, the wife of noble character who can find Proverbs 31 asks as it as it opens that beautiful section, and then it talks about all of her exquisite qualities. Uh, she's not idle, she she you know invests in a piece of land and all that kind of stuff. I look at my wife and I tell her that because I go, that's you, that's you, girl. And and that type of woman helps you keep virtue. That type of woman helps you, and that's the Azer help right there, really from Genesis. She's she's really upholding helping me tow that line of integrity when it would be easier for me to not to not do the right thing. And she's really good at encouragement. And there's moments where she's looked at me going, no, you ain't gonna do that. We've had those conversations too. And Josh is nodding because because I know I I know his wife has the same character.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Yeah. Yeah, it would be a very similar response, you know. What do you what are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna repent and are you gonna make it right? And you know, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Like I um are we married a Max? Yeah. I know that um that is something that is exceedingly important to me. And the as I mentioned at the beginning, and I'm gonna I'm gonna close this episode with this, is that it it had become easy for me to to hide my my um lack of integrity. And that eventually led to unfaithfulness, infidelity, because if you can lie about a little thing, you can lie about a big thing. And none of that, none of that involves any type of integrity. And so um the the decision about little tiny things, which we talked about last week, and I think Josh did a great job on that. Those little tiny things are the rocks that we use to build and use the cement example, they're the rocks that are in the cement, right? I mean, you have to have that in there to build solid integrity. Um if you were to um if you were to put uh just a a bow on integrity, do either one of you have something that you want to add into what we've already talked about as far as integrity, the importance of it, uh the things that can take us off the off the path, anything that you'd like to share with us, Josh.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

You know, I think um if you if you look at um the in in in the time the New Testament time and in if you go back 2,000 years and you look in the cultural context of of integrity and what that meant to those to those guys, um integrity meant uh it also meant in addition to the things we've been talking about, it meant honor. It meant to give to give honor um and and receiving honor. And so um I think a big part of uh of a man of of high character and high integrity is one that goes out of his way to honor um other people. And so um, you know, in in your work, um in in your family, in in ministry and volunteer work, whatever you're doing, um a man of integrity takes the time uh to honor those, pays attention to um what the people um that are around him, that are serving with them, that are working with him, pays attention to what they're doing and honors them by noticing and calling out the things that that they're doing. Um and so um so that would be one thing that I would leave um leave our audience with to dig into um is that idea of of honor um and what that might look like in your life and and who you can give honor to in your life.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

I would sum it up as as in um there's a great line. I don't know if if maybe the viewers have seen this before. There's a great uh movie uh years ago, um early 2000s, maybe late 90s even, but uh Liam Neeson, uh Jessica Lang, Rob Roy. Oh and and she talks about honor, but I'm just gonna I'm gonna throw integrity in here. And and you know, it says integrity is a is a gift is is a is a gift that a man gives to himself. So good. That's what integrity is. Integrity is a gift you give to yourself because it gives you a clear conscience before God. There is no replacement of a clear conscience before God. We when you lay your head on the pillow at night, you go to you go to sleep and you sleep soundly, knowing that you're walking uprightly in your relationships with God and with people and you're dealing justly in your affairs with men. Um, when you don't practice it, you lose sleep. When you don't practice it, you you pay for it in in in a in in dividends. It may not be right away. You might get the cookie, but you're gonna pay for it down the road and you're gonna pay for it more with interest when the reaping time comes. That's why I think Proverbs, uh Proverbs 10, 9 is really good here. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely. But whoever walks in crookedness will be found out. It's gonna come back. And so I that's the way, that's the way I I leave it is integrity. Give that gift to yourself. It's a it's a sacrifice and a way of worshiping God, of course, but it's also a gift you give back to yourself. And man, God will bless you, He will protect you, He will honor the guy who walks in integrity. Well, gentlemen, it has been a pleasure digging into this with you, and um I look forward as we walk it out and not just be talkers of it, right? We would be walkers of it. And so I'm gonna uh with that um bring it to a close. Everybody, thanks again for tuning in as uh as we've closed out this series on integrity. We've we've really enjoyed it. And once again, we hope that you are enjoying every episode of Three in the Fire. Uh, it it takes a lot of work, as you can imagine, uh to get our content together, to produce the show as Josh does for us, and then get it out there to you guys. Please consider, if you haven't already, please consider supporting us uh with your prayers first and foremost. Please pray for us. These are tough times. Our culture desperately needs Jesus Christ, and they need to hear the word of God shared with them. And they need to see guys doing this together. They need to see more of this. This is healthy. This is what life is supposed to look like. We're we've all got a fire that we've got to walk through, but it's better when we do it together. So please like, please share, please subscribe, please visit sentinelministries.com and click that that give tab to share and to donate to the ministry and support the work that we have here. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. Josh Davis, show producer, max for worter, color commentator, captain of this episode, Duncan Brandon saying salon. We'll see you next time.