The Power of Integrity

[Speaker 1] Trusties and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God will indeed desire a godly home. These are words of solution and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] I appreciate God for bringing us into the last month of 2024 and of course, the last episode of Singles Club for the year 2024. The next time we will be meeting on this program, we trust in the Lord who have brought us this far to bring us again into the new year and beyond. It will be Singles Club in 2025. Honestly, we cannot but be grateful to God for His love, His mercies, His grace, His goodness over us. Journeying through January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and now we are in December. All the glory, all the glory, all the glory, all the glory be to God. We have come a long way together. The opening of the year we opened up with, “It is God who lead us to profit.” And we said all that the Lord will be instructing us through 2024 will be that which should make our lives as bachelors, as spinsters, as matured singles, singles in relationship—those things that will profit our life. And we have gone through several topics in the year: Critical Moments, Fit Like Joseph, Faithfulness, so many topics through the year. And today, we are rounding up this seventh day of the month of December, which also happens to be the first Saturday. We are rounding up with the topic: The Power of Integrity. The Power of Integrity. The Power of Integrity. Let us have a word of prayer as we proceed this morning. All the glory must be to the Lord, for He is worthy of our praise. No man on earth should give glory to himself. All the glory must be to the Lord. Lord our God, all the glory must be to You. We thank You again as we come into Your presence this morning, connecting with our singles, hearers on Telegram, on Mixlr. Lord our God, we all connect together this morning. And we are praying that as we look through scriptures together, as we learn from scriptures, Lord, we pray that You will meet with us. You will instruct our heart. You will teach us the way to go in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord our God, our eyes are on You. The Bible says You are the author and the finisher of our faith. Lord, You have authored our faith. As we come into Your presence this morning, Lord, further perfect our faith. Lord God, make us more and more like You. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Now, The Power of Integrity. If you look at the flyer that we sent there—nothing in the flyer—we said, “The Power of Integrity, Saturday, 7th December 2024.” We said the month of December Singles Club focus on the power of integrity. Integrity is a virtue that has become overwhelmingly scarce in the land. Integrity is a virtue that has become overwhelmingly scarce in the land. I was discussing with a brother Saturday night. We were discussing, and he said, "Brother Wale, honestly, when it comes to the matter of money, sometimes it is so difficult to know who is a Christian." He was talking about the incident of unfaithfulness in the handling of money. And as we were both discussing, we just both told ourselves that indeed integrity is something that is very, very scarce today. He was saying particularly when it comes to the matter of money. So integrity is something that is very, very scarce. And by the way, what is the meaning of integrity? How do we define integrity? How best can we put integrity? I want us to just look at the English dictionary, then from there we begin to move to some other explanation. From the English dictionary, the word integrity etymologically is said to be borrowed from Middle French, from a Middle French word which means—which is pronounced as *integrité*. From Latin, *integritas*, then also *integra*, pronounced as integrity. Integrity is actually a noun. It is something. So when we say integrity is a virtue, integrity is actually a noun, an abstract noun. Integrity is something, just as we talk about love. Integrity is an abstract noun. Integrity is something, something that we should have. And then talking about what integrity is, the first explanation from the dictionary is that integrity means steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. A steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. That is, to follow the rules according to the rules. If that is the agreed rule, then integrity means that I am strictly adhering to that rule. I am strictly abiding by that rule. I am strictly complying with that rule. I am strictly obeying that rule. I don't try to bend the rule. I don't try to outsmart the rule. Integrity simply means that this is the rule, then let us follow it. So when you notice that you are somebody who bends the rule, you are somebody who breaks the rule, you are somebody who circumvents the rule, it means you don't have integrity. Integrity means promoting the rule. Integrity means making sure everything goes according to the rule. You can then imagine how many Nigerians have integrity when an average Nigerian will never do anything according to the rule. So integrity first means doing things according to the rule, making sure you abide by the rule. Number two, it says integrity is also the state of being wholesome, unimpaired. That is, integrity has to do with being total. You are whole. You are total. When you say, "This is where I am," that is where your spirit, soul, and body is. When you say, "I am not there," your spirit, soul, and body—none of them is there. I mean, you move as a whole person. You don't—you are not double-tongued. You are not double-hearted. You are not somebody facing Sokoto and we think that you are facing Abuja. You are not somebody facing Lagos, and in our mind, we are thinking that you are facing Ibadan. So it is very, very important to see that integrity also means that somebody is whole, somebody is total. Now, number three, integrity is the quality or condition of being complete or pure with regards to data. So integrity again talks about being pure. It talks about the quality of being total. That's integrity. Integrity. Then lastly, it says integrity could also mean trustworthiness. You can be trusted. You can be trusted. Can you be trusted? I was looking at a sticker one day, and the sticker reads, "Believe it or not, I'm a Christian." So I began to wonder who is arguing with you? "Believe it or not, I'm a Christian." If it becomes a problem for men to know that you're a Christian, then I really begin to wonder whether you are one. The reason why I'm saying that is, the Bible says, > "Let your light so shine that men will see it and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." [Matthew 5:16] But if your own life is that whether you like it or not, believe it or not, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, there is the reality is that there is something wrong somewhere. If your light is so shining as it ought to, men will see your good deeds. I'm only speaking in respect to that sticker, "Believe it or not, I'm a Christian." I don't think the Christian life should be a life that could not be readily recognized. If you're in a particular office, you are a student somewhere, you are a worker somewhere, and it becomes difficult to know whether you're a Christian, it becomes controversial to pick your Christianity, then the reality is that your life might be falling short of what it means to live the Christian life. The Bible says that if our light so shine, men will see it, and they will give glory to our Father. So integrity. Integrity means trustworthiness. If you say something, "Don't worry, I will bring it tomorrow," and men begin to say, "Oya, swear!" or men begin to say, "Hmm, anyway, when we see you tomorrow, we will know that you have come," then it means your life lacks trustworthiness. It means you are somebody who don't say what you mean or who don't mean what you say. People over time have come to know that when you say something, you don't do it. You don't always mean what you say. You don't always say what you mean. You just say things for the sake of pleasing somebody. As a result, when a time came that you promise somebody and say, "I'm going to do this," the person just quickly remembered Mama Rita, Rita's dad, Rita's mom, Rita's auntie, Mama Bose, Mama this—that you have said a lot of that to but you never did it. And that's why they are saying, "When we see you tomorrow, we will agree that you will bring it." So sometimes when people begin to say, "Ah, you cannot even trust me," I just laugh. You don't need to demand trust from people. Your life needs to command trust. If you live correctly, you will not need to be telling people, "So you cannot even trust me, you cannot even trust me." If you have lived a trustworthy life, they would have always been trusting you. So the problem is not with the people, the problem is with you. You have not lived a life that is straight before them. That is why when you now say something, they are wondering whether you will bring it—whether you actually do what you are saying. That's the reason. And so it's important to know that integrity also means trustworthiness. You are living in such a way that you can be trusted. And the English dictionary added something to trustworthiness. He said, "Keeping one's word." When you say something, you keep to it. And that's why the Bible says, > "Be slow to speak, be quick to listen." [James 1:19] When you say something, do you keep to it? Do you keep to what you say? You have said a hundred things and you kept to only ten. You are a foolish person. You are not a wise person because what you are doing is that you are destroying trustworthiness. Trustworthiness is a dimension of integrity. A man you cannot take for his word, a man you cannot believe will do what he says, is a man who also lacks integrity. That's what we are saying. So when you begin to say things that you don't mean and you begin to—and you don't say the things you mean, over time what you are doing is that you are destroying yourself. Over time, whenever you speak, people will just laugh inside them and say, "Hmm, he has come again, she has come again, another lie, another lie." Not because they want to be like that, but because that is the consistent pattern your life has always shown. Integrity. Integrity. Now, we want to move on. We have been able to define what integrity is. We now know what it is. We know what integrity is now. We want to put things together. Integrity, we have seen, means that you are steadfast, you stay by the rule. Integrity means the ability to be wholesome. Integrity means trustworthiness. Integrity means keeping to one's word. So we have been able to define integrity. We have been able to also see that integrity is scarce. We want to move on to our topic: The Power of Integrity. We have defined integrity. We have seen that hardly will you find people that have integrity. And if you move around in the land, you will discover that if you take a thousand people, you may find one person in a thousand that have integrity, who has integrity. You may find that the general populace don't have. And that cut across every human sector. In the family, you hardly find wives that have integrity. You hardly find husbands that have integrity. In the school, teachers and students, you hardly find the one that have integrity. In the religious center, sometimes it can even be the worst. You hardly find leaders and followers that have integrity. If you leave that and you enter into politics, in fact, that's another world. You hardly find people that have integrity. If you leave there and enter—I don't know, just enter into any societal institution, you hardly find integrity. It's something that is scarce. It's overwhelmingly scarce in the land. To find people who stay by the rule is scarce. To find people who adhere to the rule is scarce, who abide by the rule, who comply with the rule—it's very, very scarce. To find people who always mean what they say and who say what they mean—it's very, very scarce. To find people who are total, who are holistic, who in whatever they are, they are completely sincere and true. When they say, "This is what it is," there is nothing they are covering. That is just exactly what it is. To find such holistic people, people who are total and whole—honestly, it's very, very scarce. Yet, our focus this morning is the power of integrity. The reason why we are looking at the power of integrity is to challenge you as a fellow Christian on the need to have integrity. The need to have it. Integrity is scarce. You hardly find it. But as a believer, the reality is that integrity should not be lacking in the life of the believer. Integrity should be the normal thing because the believer understand the power of integrity. The believers understand it. But perhaps you don't even understand the power of integrity. That is why we are looking at this topic this morning. Integrity has a lot of power. And I'm telling you, when you don't have it, your life is lacking a very, very powerful thing. You are lacking something very, very powerful. Integrity is a very powerful—it's a powerful thing, it's a powerful force, it's a powerful principle. And as we look through the Bible, you will see that what I'm saying is not an exaggeration. Let's go into the Bible as we look at the power of integrity. The power of integrity. Let me open to my note quickly. The power of integrity. All right. Now, we want to look at biblical references in terms of why we say integrity has power. And the first scripture I want us to go and look at is Proverbs Chapter 11. Proverbs Chapter 11. Let's see that scripture together. Proverbs 11:1-6. Look at how Bible put it. The Bible says, > "Dishonest scales are abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight." [Proverbs 11:1, NKJV] The NLT says, "The Lord hates cheating, but He delights in honesty." The Lord hates it. What I want you to see is that if you lack integrity, you are abominable to the Lord. You may be praying—one thing that we don't realize about God—like I was speaking somewhere on taking the name of the Lord in vain. If you look at that quotation, it's in Exodus Chapter 20. The Lord said, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." And if you look at what immediately follows, He says, "For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." Now, I want you to note that. He didn't say the Lord will immediately kill the man who takes His name in vain. He didn't say the Lord will immediately punish the man who takes His name in vain. Rather, He said the Lord will not hold him guiltless. That is, when the person is doing it, the Lord may not be saying anything, but it doesn't mean that He will not eventually act. The Lord will not hold him guiltless. That is, the Lord will note it. The Lord will circle it. The Lord will put it somewhere. That is why the Bible says that because judgment against an evil work is not executed speedily, the heart of men is fully set to do evil. Because God don't execute judgment speedily. Do you know why? His patience is towards us whether we will repent. His patience is that, ah, maybe this person will still turn around. Maybe the person will come to realize. And what God does is that God keep doing good. Like you will see a man who say, "Look, get away with Jesus," and then the person in an accident situation, God will deliver the person. "Ah, ah, hey, in fact, in fact, I almost died." God still intervene despite the person's attitude towards God. You see the Bible says God makes it to rain upon both the good and the evil person. God causes His rain to shine—His sun to shine, His rain to fall. That is God. The goodness of God is not dependent on what man do or does not do. And that is why many times when I see Christians saying that because he did evil to me, that's why we also do evil, I tell them you don't know God. Your goodness should not be dependent on the attitude of people. Your goodness should be independent of the attitude of people. That is God. But it doesn't mean that the wicked will go unpunished. It doesn't mean that. That you are doing evil to me and I keep doing you good because that is my nature, does not mean that you will not reap what you sow. You will still reap the wickedness you sow. Somehow, some way, God has a way of making sure that look, the wicked don't go unpunished and that the righteous don't go unrewarded. That is God. Judas have always been stealing all his life. At a point, he even argued, "Ah, this ointment should have been sold, and the money given to the poor." The Bible recorded that he did not say this because he loved the poor. He said it because he is a thief, because he's a treasurer. So what was the point? If the money becomes very small, if he takes out of the money, they will quickly know. So he wants more money to be inside the purse so that the small-small stealing he's doing will not be seen. But eventually, what was the end of Judas? So you get some things right about God. That you are doing evil, that you are doing wickedly, and it looks like you are prospering, it looks like—if it is stealing, look, that's Nigeria, God understand—and it looks as if nothing is happening, please understand. Every time you cheat on somebody, you are an abomination to the Lord. I'm talking about the power of integrity. Please don't forget that once it's 11:30, we'll start responding to questions. Brethren online, please as you are speaking, if you have your question, just go ahead and just put it. Technicals will note it and they will send it to us. Whether you put it on the Telegram page or you put it on the Mixlr page, it will get to us. Once it's 11:30, we'll start responding. So if question is to come, please just be putting it there. We will come to those questions if you have. Brethren who are hearing the same thing, you might want to put it on the platform and you may want to write it down as they come to your mind. Please as we journey together, be noting your question if you have one. By 11:30, we start attending to them. So the first thing I'm trying to make you see is that a man of integrity is the Lord's delight. Integrity make you to be somebody that God delights in. I'm telling you the power of integrity. Do you want God to delight in you? Do you want God to be pleased with you? Do you want God to be happy with you? Do you want God to see you and say, "Wow, my child!"? One thing you must always do in life is you must be someone who follows the rule, somebody who don't cut corners, somebody who is holistic. You are completely sincere and true. You must be someone who is trustworthy, someone who mean what he says and who says what they mean. You must be someone who is transparent through and through. You don't cheat on people. You don't take advantage of them. You don't deceive. You don't turn around. You are not deceptive. Sometimes believers don't tell lie, but they are deceptive. Somebody asked me one day, "Sir, is there a difference between telling lie and being and deception?" I said there is a great wall of difference between the two of them. I said lying is just an aspect of deception. Deception don't mean everything lie. Someone may be telling the truth—somebody may be saying what is true and the person is still deceptive. And the young man said, "I don't understand, sir." I said, "Okay, let me help you." I said, "When Abraham told Pharaoh, 'Sarah is my sister,' was Abraham lying?" The young man said, "No." I said, "But by telling Pharaoh that Sarah was his sister, what was he actually doing? He was hiding the truth of the matter that this my sister is actually my wife. He was trying to see how, according to him, he was afraid that they might kill him for Sarah's sake because Sarah was beautiful." So he was telling—he was making a true statement, but the true statement was a deception. So there is a great wall of difference between the two. Be careful not to cheat on people. When you cheat on people, you become an abomination to the Lord. He says so. "The Lord hates cheating, delights in those who are honest." Just note—look at what follows, verse 2: > "When pride comes, then comes shame, but with the humble is wisdom." [Proverbs 11:2] I will not expand that immediately. I will come back to that later. But the simple thing to note is this: every time we go against the word of the Lord, we are proving arrogance against God. The correct thing is to let us follow the word of life. When the word of God says don't do and you are doing, you are putting yourself against God. It's arrogance. You are setting yourself against God. The Bible says when pride comes, then comes shame. But with the humble—people who submit themselves to the engrafted word of God, people who submit themselves to the truth of God—who will say, "Ah, God said You want me to do otherwise? You want kill me? I can't oh!" People who are like that, they have wisdom. That's wisdom. People who don't care what God says on matters, they will soon be ashamed. It's just a matter of time. Now look at verse 3. Verse 3. It says, > "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them." [Proverbs 11:3, NKJV] Let me read it to you in NIV. I like it more in NIV. "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity." So are you seeing something? One, integrity make you to be a delight of God—the power of integrity. Number two, integrity is a guide. Integrity guides you from destruction. Integrity guides you from danger. You see, we don't all know tomorrow. And every time this thing comes to my mind, I remember this my friend, a medical doctor, who was working with a particular establishment. And so that he will not just leave abruptly, unannounced, there was an agreement between him and them. If they are to terminate his job, they will give him one month notice. If he is to terminate the job, he should give them one month notice so that they will be able while he has given them the notice, within that one month, they will be able to get somebody else. But it happened that he went for an interview in the same town and luckily, he came first in that interview. That establishment will be paying him virtually three times what he was earning where he was. Oh, he was very, very happy. And then he was told he came first and all of that. But at the point of interacting with them, they asked him when he will resume. He said he will resume in a month's time, that he will need to give where he's working now a notice, one month notice, so that he can now come to join them. "Ah," they said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! We want somebody that will resume immediately. No, no, no, no, no!" Ah, he said, ah, he will not be able to resume immediately that because—they said he should go and consider it. He should go and consider it. So that was what led to discussing with one or two persons. But you know, he said what kept coming to his mind is the scripture, > "A good name is rather to be desired more than silver and gold." [Proverbs 22:1] He says he was just thinking, "I've given these people my word that I will not leave without notice. If I just leave them like that, ah, there is already a rule that we have both agreed to. No, that would not be correct. It would not give me a good name as a Christian." Some other people felt, "Ah, na your papa work? This Nigeria, hey, don't miss opportunity!" He weighed it back and forth. He went back, he told them that he would not be able to resume immediately, that if the job cannot wait for a month, they can give the next person in line. Of course, so the job went to the next person in line. He resumed back to where he was. But do you know the funny thing? Within the space of six months, that same year, that new establishment folded up. The establishment newly came into town, so they started—I mean within the space of six months. I mean the same year. Something—what we are talking about happened around maybe say March. Before December, that company, I mean everything in that thing, they were lay off. So how will it have looked like? Nobody knows tomorrow, but integrity is a guide. I want to show you another one what we completed that—if you remember we completed that when we were looking at "Fit Like Joseph." If Joseph had decided to be sleeping with Potiphar's wife, he wouldn't have gone to prison and he would never have entered into the purpose of God for his life. But he just said, "Ah, ah, madam, you know that everything my master has, everything that belongs to him is under my care. The reason why you, you are not under my care is because you are his wife. Ah, I cannot do this thing oh! Hey, I'll be sinning against God. How will I face God?" The master was not there. The master would not have known. It would have just been jolly-jolly the two of them. But look at how things will have turned out. Joseph would have remained a prosperous slave, and he would have died a slave. But the purpose of God for his life was that Potiphar should be his servant because Potiphar is a principal officer of Pharaoh. So when Joseph became the Prime Minister, Potiphar became a servant of Joseph. I pray you don't miss the purpose of God for your life. Integrity is a guide. Young man, young woman listening to me, you don't know tomorrow. Not all that glitters is gold. Stay in the path of integrity. Stay in the path of sincerity. Stay in the path of trustworthiness. Stay in the path of uprightness. Stay in that path. It may look slow, but you will be guided. I want to tell you, there was no voice that spoke to that brother—I don't want to mention his name, let me just use a name, Brother S. "Brother S, don't go and take that job because in six months' time, that company will fold up. Don't go!" There was no voice. There was no angelic, there was no Gabriel, there was no Michael—no, nobody came to speak. But the word of God has said a good name is to be desired more than silver and gold. That is the rule. I have told someone I would not go except I give one month notice. I should mean what I say. Jesus tell let your yea be your yea and your nay be your nay. That was what he did. But do you see that it was a guide? Many times we fall into destruction because we don't know that it is not all the time that God will speak. Many times, God want integrity to guide us. There was no voice speaking to Joseph. "Joseph, see, I have a plan for you to be the Prime Minister." There was no voice. That's why many times people are saying that "I don't know, God did not speak to me." I asked them, "But did you follow the path of integrity? Are you sure this thing that happened, you were sincere? You were upright? You were true? There was no cunning? You didn't start this thing with yoyowayo, with konikoni? You were not manipulative? There was no—are you sure?" You see the same thing in life of Lot. There was problem between Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. Lot was a young—was a nephew of Abraham. Abraham took him along when his father died. And they got to a point when there was problem and Abraham said, "Oh, there's a problem between my herdsmen and your herdsmen. See, we don't need to be fighting, we don't need to be fighting. See, let us part. Lot, if you go right, I will go left. If you go left, I will go right. Okay, choose, just choose." If not that Lot was greedy—greed, covetous—it should be, "Ah, Father Abraham, I was nothing when you took me. I have increased with all of this today. Please oh, please oh, you will be the first to take or choose for me. Be the first to take. How will I be choosing first before you? You're the elder. You choose first or divide it, which side should I go?" But you know what the Bible says? When Lot was given that opportunity, he just grabbed the whole thing. The Bible says and Lot chose all the plain of Sodom because it was well-watered. It was like the garden of the Lord. That was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He did not even choose part of the watered land. He chose everything to himself. And of course, immediately he moved and left Abraham in the desolate land, what began to happen? Not too long, there was war. Lot was taken captive alongside those that were taken captive. It was Abraham that ran, "Hey, my brother! Hey, hey!" Abraham did not even think of what he did. He ran again to deliver him. Abraham went to deliver Lot from being taken captive. He brought him back. Not too long again, God was to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham began to pray again. "God, if You can find ten righteous people there." From fifty, to thirty, to twenty, to ten. Abraham was busy interceding because he knew Lot was there. He was not even minding what Lot did. But I want to ask you, didn't Lot reap what he sowed? How many children came out with him from that place? How many goats, how many servants? Not one thing that went to Sodom came out with him. The wife and children that were going with him, one became a pillar of salt. It remained two children. The children again did not have husband to marry. They made their father drunk, they slept with their father, and gave birth to bastards. Look at how just one decision of greed could ruin a family. So young people, I'm trying to make you understand something. Integrity is power. Integrity is power because integrity is a guide about the unknown future. It's a guide. Integrity guides you. It's not all the time you will hear the voice of God. It's not all the time. Like when I was teaching my teenagers in the church, I gave them a good example. I said, "Listen, a teenager, you are a Christian as a teenager, and your friend in the school told you, 'Oya, go and lie to your parents that we will not close today by two, we'll be closing four, so that we can go to cinema house together.'" I said, "Then the teenager got home and he began to pray, 'God, God, please should I lie to my parents or not? No, please open my eyes.'" All my teenagers started laughing. I said, "Why are you laughing?" They said, "Ah, is he not supposed to pray?" They said, "Ah, he knows what the word of God has said." I said, "That is integrity." That is what we mean by integrity. There are things God will not speak because He has spoken. He will not speak again because He has spoken. May you not lose that which is investment of God in your life. Lot came back to zero point. May we not come back to zero point. May we not be desolate. May we not be desolate in any way in the name of Jesus Christ. Look at what the Bible says again in the verse 5, talking about the power of integrity. We have looked at two power of integrity, we are going to the third one. Power of integrity. It says, > "The righteousness of the blameless directs his way." [Proverbs 11:5] Are you seeing that again? Integrity is a guide. Number two, integrity gives direction. When you are between two things and you don't know what to do, that's the example of that my friend I gave you. Integrity says, "This is the way." So integrity is a voice of direction. It's a voice of direction. Integrity is a voice. A voice of direction. "This is the way, walk in it." I can remember as a young undergraduate in University of Benin, that was my first year in the university. Yeah, that was my first year in the university. You know, my usual nature of—you know, I was a class rep. I don't know how I was singled out as a class rep anyway, I can't even remember what led to that. I was the class rep. I have been the class rep, I became very popular. You know, and then somehow, the mathematical courses—because I have a good background in maths—so the mathematical courses that we were doing in 100 level, Eco Maths, that Maths, Sociology, they were just very simple for me because in any case, I have done accounting in the poly, polytechnic, before I came to the university to start all over again. So I had a good background in calculations and all of that. So before you knew it, a lot of people were just flocking around me and my usual nature—I will teach this one, teach that one. In fact, all my life as a student, in 100 I was teaching 100, in 200 I was teaching 100 and 200, in 300 I was teaching 100, 200 and 300, in 400 I was teaching 100, 200, 300 and 400. That was my life. I was just teaching, teaching—maybe I was already a teacher set before I entered into the ministry of teaching. You know, so—but the point I'm making is this. In that 100 level, you know, I have flocks of people. Then at some point, some ladies began to take special interest in me. They took special interest. And so one day in my room, I was in my room, one of them came in. These ladies that were taking special interest in me. One of them came in. I was lying down on my bed. And do you know what she did? She just lie down with me on the bed, across me on the bed like that. Is that not a free food? If a lady makes herself that available to a young man? Free food! And it also happened that day—you know devil knows how to set the trap very well—nobody was in the room. Do you know what I did? You know the way you react when you have electric shock? I just sprang out of my bed as if I was shocked by electric. And she said, "Wale, what is your problem now? What's your problem?" Ah, I said there is a lot of problem. What am I trying to bring out? We are all tempted at different situation. Several things come at different point. Some look like free opportunities. Some look like, "Wow!" But be careful. Integrity is the voice of direction. I knew the direction to take. The direction to take was clear to me because the voice was clear. What was the voice? "Flee fornication." [1 Corinthians 6:18] That's the rule. I don't need to begin to explain myself. I needed to run. I needed to run! Because in a bid to explain yourself, before you know it, you are through—you are through with sexual intercourse with the lady. So the next thing was to run. I ran for my life. What am I trying to make you understand? Integrity is a voice of direction. It makes it a voice of direction. "This is the way, walk in it." The Bible says that the righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright. It will always direct his way aright. I want you to note that. The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright. That's KJV. NIV, look at how NIV puts it. "The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them." Are you seeing it? Their way will not be crooked, perverse. You know when the way is straight, what happens? What do you notice about traveling, vehicles? When the road is straight, what happens to the speed? You gain speed. But when the road is crooked, what happens to speed? It reduces speed. Integrity increases your speed. Don't let people tell you that it slows you down. Integrity don't slow down. Integrity make the way straight so that you can fire on. You don't need to be going at 20 kilometers—you know when you are in corner-corner, all vehicles will slow down. But when the road is straight, go and check vehicles. They start accelerating, they start going, they start going. May your way be straight in the name of Jesus Christ. May your way be straight as a young man, as a young woman. May your way be straight because it gives you speed! Don't believe the lie of the devil. "Ah, if you are sincere, you will not make it in Nigeria oh! Hey, hmm! You better, you better know how to cross corner so that you can make it fast." There is nothing fast about destruction. There is nothing fast about destruction. I was talking to somebody, a young man. We were discussing building to last. And I told him this. I said, "Listen, it's better to endure and endure to eventually succeed than to succeed and succeed to eventually fail." I was telling the young man, and I'm telling you too, that's the reality of life. It's better to endure and endure to eventually succeed than to succeed and succeed to eventually fail because the reality of life is this: it is how a man ends that matters. It is how a man ends that matters. So don't ever think like the world is thinking. Integrity will slow you down. Integrity does not slow down. Integrity make the way straight and therefore gives speed. The power of integrity. Look at the fourth thing in that place for us, which is the verse 6. The fourth thing about integrity. It says, > "The righteousness of the upright will deliver them." [Proverbs 11:6] Integrity guides, integrity gives direction, integrity delivers. There are a lot of traps, let me tell you. The road is rough and there are subtle dangers. In this part of life, there are subtle dangers. You remember Mother Eve? She never saw a danger. She never saw a danger. She saw what will make her wise and she didn't listen to the Lord. What happened to her eventually? You know the end of that story. Look, the Bible says, > "Be vigilant, be sober, for your adversary the devil..." [1 Peter 5:8] Don't live your life as if you don't have an adversary. And don't be looking at people here and there as a wizard and witches that want to kill you. Your real adversary is the devil. Devil only use people. Devil make use of people. You have an adversary, and that adversary will come in different ways. Look at it. When he appeared to Mother Eve, did he appear like a voice of destruction? No. When we are talking about be vigilant, be sober, we are talking about the fact that we are dealing with trap. What is a trap? What is a trap? You will say a trap is a device that catches things. But my question is, what makes a trap a trap? That's the answer. Thank you, Samuel, from technical room. What makes a trap a trap is that a trap must never look like a trap. That is the power of the trap. Once a trap looks like a trap, it is no more a trap. So it must looks like something great, something good, something nice. And I like this illustration. If you want to kill a rat that is troubling you, what do you do? You set a trap. Now, when you set a trap—look at what the Bible says in Proverbs Chapter 13 or 14—let me quickly check that out. Is it 13:13 or 13:14? Yes, it is 13:14, I'm right. Look at what the Bible says. I want to make you understand something about death. Don't forget that the enemy seek to kill, to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Look at something about death. > "The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn away from the snares of death." [Proverbs 13:14] So the Bible talked about snares of death. What does death normally do? It sets traps. Death sets traps. Now, I'm trying to make you understand trap and I'm using the rat. Now, if you want to kill a rat and you carry your stick and you stand before the rat to hit the rat, what will the rat do? Of course the rat will run. But if you now leave the scene, like I did to some rats inside my poultry. They were disturbing me because from the poultry they were entering the car. I now went and took roasted fish, the one that have oil. You know that Titus that have oil? I now look, I took Indocid. I mixed it with Indocid. The thing was still smelling the fish so nice. I now scattered it at different spot inside the poultry. Now, when the rat got there and they saw fish that was smelling nice—now, I want to make you understand something. That fish that's smelling nice, what actually is that fish? In the actual sense, that fish is me holding a stick. True or false? It's true! But what were they seeing? They were seeing fish that they can eat. But in the real sense, it is still the same thing with me holding a stick. That is why that is a snare. If death appear as death, nobody will die. So death normally set snares. Even though you enter the shadow of death, you won't know that you are already in that shadow. You will think you are in the shadow of life. You will think, "Wow, come and see what the Lord has done!" That's what you will be singing as you are entering into death. And I just see the rat, just jingling the tail. "Ah, come and see provision of God! Come and see what the Lord has done! Come and see oh, come and see!" and he goes gradually. And he begin to eat the fish. "Oh, the provision of God! Come and see provision of God!" After two hours of finishing it, what begins to happen? "Ye! Ye! My stomach! My stomach!" What am I trying to say? That's how death works. If you will be delivered from the snares of death, you must have integrity. Integrity delivers from the snares of death. Death normally set traps. May you be delivered in the name of Jesus Christ. As we are rounding up this morning, because we are moving towards question time gradually, I want to make you see something again in Proverbs Chapter 4 and Proverbs Chapter 16 and quickly, Proverbs Chapter 18. We'll just read those ones on and on to just see something in them. So Proverbs 16:9. Power of integrity. > "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." [Proverbs 16:9] So it means that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The Lord order your step by integrity. So many times God will not speak. Many times you will not hear His voice. Many times you will not see angel. You will not see sign. The Lord ordered the step by integrity. So many times, don't think it's just integrity. No, it's actually the Lord. It's actually the Lord. A man's heart, as you are planning your way, plan it in sincerity. Plan it in integrity. As long as you are planning it in sincerity and integrity, the Lord will direct your step. Hallelujah! So it's a way of God working. It's a way of God working. And let me tell you this sincere truth in case you don't know. It is the more that God can direct you by integrity—the more God can direct you by integrity that God can now direct you by His voice. Because the more God try to direct you by integrity and you become abominable to the Lord, you are not qualified to hear the voice of God. Are you getting the point? So it's the more—some people say they have prayed, prayed, prayed, God is not speaking. I tell them no, you have not closed the door of integrity against the voice—the still voice of God? Because the voice normally follow those in whom God delight. If you're already an abomination to God because He cannot direct your path by integrity, He will never direct your path by His voice. So you must get this thing clear. You must get it clear. There is a connection between the voice of integrity and the voice of the Lord. There is a connection. You must know that very well. It's very, very important. We go to the next one. The next scripture I want us to see—I want us to see again, Psalm 18:36. Psalm 18:36. Look at what the scripture says. The Bible says, > "You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip." [Psalm 18:36] Are you seeing that? You enlarged—do you understand what it's trying to say? You know when you are climbing a staircase and the step is very narrow, what do you notice? As you're trying to use it, you'll be missing your step. So most of the time, the step of a staircase must be wide enough to take a foot so that you put your foot, you stabilize on it. So what happens is this: as we step in life, you know what God does? Integrity cause that step, that place you want to step into, He makes it not to be narrow. What does He do? He makes it to be wide so that it can take your step, you can stabilize. The Lord enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip. May your feet not slip in the name of Jesus Christ. May your feet not slip in Jesus—look at Psalm 37. Psalm 37:23 and 31. Psalm 37:23 and 31. In verse 23, the Bible says, > "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way." [Psalm 37:23] Summing up again what we have looked at in Proverbs. Look at 31. Verse 31. Look at what the Bible says. > "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps will slide." [Psalm 37:31] Are you seeing that? None, none! Except you are not working in integrity, none of his steps will slide. Let me read that to you from verse 30 so that you can get it. > "The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." [Psalm 37:30-31] Are you seeing that? None! None! None! Except you are not working in integrity, none of his steps will slide. Let me read that to you in other translation. "They fill their hearts with God's law, so they will never slip from His path." They fill their heart with God's law, so they will never slip from His path. Look at how NIV put it. "The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip." Look at how the Message put it. "His heart pumps God's word like blood through his veins; his feet are as sure as that of a cat." Look at the blessedness of integrity. Look at the blessedness of integrity. And lastly, in relation to marriage. In relation to marriage. Look at integrity in relation to marriage. Proverbs 18:22. Proverbs 18:22. It's a very popular scripture. Most of us can quote that scripture off-hand. Everybody pick that scripture. It's a well-known scripture among believers. Who can quote it off-hand? If you're already there, don't quote it off-hand again oh. Some people are already smiling here because they're already there. He says, > "He who finds a wife finds a good thing." [Proverbs 18:22] Please note, it's the same thing if you find a husband, you find a good thing. There's nothing like finding a wife and finding a husband. Please note, it didn't say he who married. You may marry and not find a wife oh. You may marry and not find a husband. So Bible did not say he who married. Many times we don't look at these scriptures very well. It says he who find—note, he who finds a wife or he who finds a husband, finds a good thing. But look at the underlining thing what follows: "And obtains favor from the Lord." Do you get that? In other words, the person who find a wife or a husband, the real thing that actually happened was that the person was favored. So finding a wife or a husband is a matter of God's favor. If you are not favored, you cannot find, no matter how much you seek because let me tell you, the battle is not to the strong, the race is not to the swift. Riches not only to the wise nor bread to men of understanding. The Bible says time and chance happens to them all. In Romans Chapter 9, he says, > "It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." [Romans 9:16] Are you getting it? In Psalm 33, what did he say? He said, > "A king is not delivered by the multitude of his chariot. A mighty man is not delivered by his strength." [Psalm 33:16] So don't think because—because I'm so prayerful, I can't miss it in marriage. Because ah, I am this—no, it is the favor of God. So the Bible says he who finds a wife, if you marry and that thing you find is actually a wife, a wife material—because wife material, they are very, very scarce. The Bible says a virtuous woman who can find? They are scarce! Husband material, they are very, very scarce. The Bible says every man sing his own praise, but a faithful man who can find? So virtuous women and virtuous men, they are scarce. To find them in marriage is a casting. But the Bible says he who finds a wife or he who finds a husband, you find a woman who is a wife material, you find a man who is a husband material, then note: you actually obtain favor from God. But look at something. What connect us with favor? What connect us with God's favor? Look at Proverbs Chapter 12. Proverbs 12:2-4. What connect us with God's favor? Proverbs 12:2-4. Look at what connect us with God's favor. Look at what the Bible says. > "A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked intentions He will condemn." [Proverbs 12:2] When you get to the junction of marriage, a man of wicked intention will be condemned. A good man will find favor before the Lord. Look at verse 3. > "A man is not established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous cannot be moved." [Proverbs 12:3] Are you seeing it? You will never be established maritally by wickedness. You will never be established. Look at the next thing. It now says, > "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bone." [Proverbs 12:4] If you also turn it, it's the same thing. A excellent husband is life to his wife. He is a savior, he is a deliverer to his wife because he takes him who is her head to be the head. When a woman have a head over her, a deliverer, a savior, she finds a life, you know, a savior, somebody to deliver her. It says but he who causes shame will be rottenness in the woman's bone. But look at how all of these things work. Look at how they connect together. It begins with: Are you a good man? Are you a woman or a man of integrity? Do you work in integrity? Look at how NIV put it. I like it so much in NIV. "A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but the Lord condemns a crafty man." Who are never sincere, who are never truthful, who are never trustworthy. They will be condemned by God. As we close this morning, it's exactly 11:33. Just before we pray, technical do we have question online? Okay, we don't have question online. We who are here do we have any question? No question. So we—we don't have any question to answer, so we are going to close now. The normal thirty minutes is for question and answer. We finished speaking between 10 and 11:30 unless we have questions that we want to respond to. So we don't have question to respond to this morning. So let us close the—let's close the meeting for today. Wherever you are listening to me, begin to talk to the Lord. Begin to talk to the Lord. Talk to the Lord wherever you are. Talk to the Lord wherever you are. Talk to the Lord wherever you are. Okay, somebody sent in a question. Oh! Okay, please let's just quickly respond to this question. That's why I said please send the question earlier so that once we don't get question we close the meeting. The thirty minutes is always for question. Now, I'm reading—thank you for the teaching, sir. When seeking scholarship or job, we are often encouraged to package our past experiences, making small achievement sound bigger and downplay less impressive details. Is that being deceptive? Where do we draw the line between selling ourselves well and maintaining integrity? Oh, thank you so much for this question! Thank you so much because many of our young people today honestly are seeking scholarship. Some are trying to get out of the country to Canada, to UK. You know this is a common phenomenon. It's a common phenomenon. Now, I will just try to make it very simple. I will use a very simple illustration. Now, you will notice that in relationship, the Bible says that the godly don't flatter. The godly are candid. They are candid. Now, in drawing the line, we must draw the line between truth and lies. Some things may look less simple, but if you really want to talk about them, they are great things. Let me give you a good example. I don't wear the collar "Pastor." Even when I was with a Bible school in Jos where we produce—where they train and then ordain people as pastor, I was among the teachers. They wanted me to stop bearing "Brother," get a certificate and a collar since I'm part of the teachers in the Bible school. I insisted that no, I don't need a collar. I prefer to be called a "Brother." So even though I was producing pastors, they are calling me "Brother." Because it was my choice. And all my life for over thirty years, I have been privileged to pastor people even though I don't run a church. So one day I was discussing with someone, and we were just discussing. And he said, "Do I pastor?" I said, "Yes, I do." He said, "For how long?" I said, "Wow, I've been privileged to pastor people at this place, at this, and this, and this, and that." He said, "So where is your church?" I said, "I don't run a church." And he said, "No, stop telling a lie. A pastor runs a church." Now, he said that I wasn't lying. It is because he does not understand what it means to pastor. If to pastor is only to be over a church. So when I was building and I was trying to make it clear that I pastor people, which is my grace and my calling, which God has helped me to do over the years, I wasn't telling a lie. I was expressing what I have been doing. It may look very simple. I may not have collar. I may not be called Bishop. The people that we have raised, some are bishops now, some are this, some are that in different places. But we chose to be called "Brother" in our simplicity. So it looks simple and unimpressive. But if I'm asked to apply for a pastoral job instance, I'm applying for something, I will need to describe within the context of that job what it is. I can't say because I've not been over a church, I won't say I've pastored. I have pastored this, I have done that. No, I will explain it! I will present myself the way it is. That is drawing the line. And all I have done, I've not told a lie. That is drawing the line. But when we begin to say what is not—I give a good example. One of the administrator in one of the university—I don't want to go into too many details—was employed alongside some people. They looked through the CV, honestly the CV was fantastic. So he was placed ahead of others. So the job started. After two-three years into the job, they began to notice some things about his performances. Ah, so somehow, people were wondering that if somebody has such a CV, this kind of thing he should have learned this, he should have—so before you knew it, he was not aware, investigation started. They began to go to some of the things he claimed, the places he claimed, what he said he did. In fact, in some of the places he never worked there. He never worked in that place. In some of the places, the number of years he claimed was never up to that. In some of the places, the number of—the job specification he claimed he was doing, he had never worked in that job. He worked in that place, but not in that job specification. So info—all those information was gathered by the employer and eventually, a panel was set up after about six-seven years on the job. And by the time the thing was coming up, he already knew that the cat's already out of the bag. Before the panel could do anything, the man left the university. He took a French leave. "I'm coming," till today we have not seen him. So that is what—he packaged himself in the CV, but they were not built on truth. They were not built on—so it's possible there are simple things that if we want to describe them, there are people who are doing some kind of job. It's just like somebody who have been a part-time teacher all his life and have taught for over twenty years, teaching home lesson, home lesson, and then apply for something that have to do with teaching. The person have every reason to sell himself properly because his experience on that thing for over twenty years, he knows it! He knows it! There may not be paper certification even for some of them, but we know we are qualified. In fact, what I said now make me to remember the situation of one of our—one of our brother when we were about entering university then. This brother was teaching accounting to undergraduate student. He's a secondary school—he have his School Cert. But he went to pack all the accounting textbook and he began to teach university student, Diploma, HND. He was teaching them principle of accounting. He was still having his School Cert. In fact, eventually he was teaching better than some graduates of accounting. Undergraduate, graduates were going to him. Mind you, he has not gotten admission to the university. How do you describe that? Will you say he's not qualified? There are people who are qualified but not certified. And there are people who are certified but not qualified. I'm talking about drawing the line. So that is what I will want to answer in that. As long as what we are saying is the truth, what we are saying is real, what we are saying is what is, then we may not be drawing a line trying to put ourselves properly when we have opportunity to talk about something even though we don't have some particular certification, we don't have some particular—but we know that we are qualified for those things by opportunities of some situations that we passed through. I never went to painting school to learn painting, but I painted my house. What happened? I grew up, my sister's husband was a painter. He was vast in it. And I was working under him, and I learned all the skills even though I don't have a certificate. Over time I was taking contract as painter. I did all of that to make—to make ends meet at a point in my life. So that is how we draw the line. The Lord will help us. Let's go ahead to pray this morning. Let's go ahead to pray. Let's turn to the Lord wherever we are. Integrity has power. And we have looked at the power of integrity. It integrity guides. Integrity make us to be the delight of God. Integrity direct, it gives direction. Integrity delivers. Integrity makes our life to be favored. Integrity make it such that we will not miss our step. The Lord—it will enlarge our path under us. Integrity make our step not to slip. Integrity has power. It may be scarce, but wherever you are this morning listening to me, make up your mind I will go the path of integrity. Make up your mind! Men who have integrity, they are scarce. They are not common. They are very scarce. Women who are wife material, husband material—they are very scarce. You don't have them here and there. Are you making up your mind to be that? If you work in integrity, God will favor you. Don't be afraid! I tell people, "Hey, this one that you—scarce! I hope I will get a good husband, I hope—" that is not the first thing to worry about. The first thing to worry about is that: are you a man or a woman of integrity? Because like will beget like. First put your life in a situation of favor. Don't be anxious about tomorrow. Just live your life in a way that God will favor you. As long as God favor you, you will find a wife. You will find a wife material. You will eventually find a husband material. Don't be anxious, young man, young woman! Just plug into God. Everlasting Father, we thank You for this morning. Thank You again for Your word to our—our young men, our young women who are over—you know, the globe listening to us this morning everywhere they are. Those who are physically here, those who are in different places listening to us this morning. Lord, I just pray for everybody who is under the coverage of this message. And those who will later listen to the recorded version, either on Telegram or Mixlr. Lord, I pray, I pray, I pray! Our young people will not miss their path in the name of Jesus. Lord, You will establish them in righteousness. They will be far from oppression. They will not walk in the darkness of this life. They will walk in the light of Your light, in the light of Your truth, in the light of Your mercy, in the light of Your grace in the name of Jesus Christ. Their step will not slip in the name of Jesus! Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever more. Amen. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday, 5:00 PM; Adolescents and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Family life seminars, regular school outrages and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Ijele Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are: 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.