Sermon Central
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What Is Your Integrity Level In Godly Relationships?
Contributed by T.j. Conwell on Oct 5, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Looking at your own integrity level, compared to Ananias.
What is your integrity level in Godly relationships?
Focus: Acts 5:1-10
- Today, let us focus on our integrity in our relationships (Dive right in!)
- Integrity is loosely defined: “Doing what is right when no one is looking.”
- Let’s stand for the reading of God’s Word together. (Read Acts 5:3-10) / Pray
- Take a good long look at Ananias – notice his integrity & ability to lie in the church
- Challenge: Are you this kind of man? Do you seek to promote yourself in church?
- Or, does your own desire help you keep the church at a distance (arms-length)?
Deeper Exploration:
- Last year, Rev Shane asked a question that I have carried throughout the entire year
- I’ve carried this question with me because it has made me check myself constantly
- Asked: “What kind of man would your Pastor say you were if you were not around?”
- I am a Pastor, but my Pastor is Jimmy Dillon – so, what would he say about me?
- It’s worth exploring men; especially when it comes to our integrity – never sacrifice it
- Job 27:5, “I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity.”
Application:
- Ananias is man who looks right, smells right, dresses right, knows all the right words
- But his integrity is in the toilet! He is self-serving and lacks God-fearing ability
- Men, the first relationship you need to preserve is the one between you and God
- It is the one that matters, the one that needs to be centered, and from it others flow
- Ananias had no integrity; he came to the church house to bring his offering falsely
- Example of widow who came to offer; gave all she had as her offering (2 coins)
- Today, do you need to change that relationship with God and put Him first?
- Is there intimacy between you and God? (Psalm 51:6, “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”)
- Are you allowing God to manifest in you all the way down to your soul?
Final question:
- What is the price you will pay for risking your integrity with God’s relationship?
- Pray
