Lead Up | Jan 22, 2023
Lead Up: Integrity of Heart
Psalm 78:70-72
3 Lead Up Hurdles
Satan opposes all God movement.
The leaders with the most potential rarely realize it.
6 Lies for 6 Circles
of with
He chose David his servant
71 from tending the sheep he brought him
and took him from the sheep pens;
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
Israel his inheritance.
skillful hands he led them.
1. Yourself. “I am who I am – I can’t change/grow/learn/adapt.”
2. Your family. “I have made too many mistakes to overcome.”
3. Your church. “I am not qualified. I have nothing to offer.”
4. Your community. “I am anonymous with zero current influence.”
5. Your workplace. “I am insignificant, just a cog in the wheel.”
6. The World. “The problems are too big and I am too small.”
Satan opposes all God movement.
The leaders with the most potential rarely realize it.
It’s easier to go with the flow than lead a movement.
LeadUp Like Jesus
Philippians 2:1-8 (The Message) gives us some words about spiritual leadership and the ultimate example to follow. 2 1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. 5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
Psalm 25 (NIV) In you, LORD my God, I put my trust. 2 I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause. 4 Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. 5 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good. 8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. 12 Who, then, are those who fear the LORD? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. 13 They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land. 14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. 15 My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 17 Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish. 18 Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins. 19 See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me! 20 Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. 21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you. 22 Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!
21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.
The Hebrew word that can be translated hope and wait is also the same word used for making rope.
Discipleship is a waiting/hoping/binding process with God through Jesus Christ. As we grow as disciples, God’s integrity and uprightness wraps itself around us and becomes He becomes our identity. Abiding is our binding discipleship process (see/study John 15).
Galatians 2:20
Guard - a security guard who guards a building or office.
Protect - a personal body guard whose sole job is to protect you from any harm.
The Hebrew word for uprightness means “to be perfectly in tune with God so that all you do is correct and right”.
The Hebrew word for integrity is the word for perfection and completion.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Note: In the binding process, God’s uprightness and integrity protects us and
becomes us.
Why does spiritual integrity matter?
Because our circles are filled with people whose ethics and integrity are situational
not spiritual. Someone in their circle has to lead them in the Way.
Q: Is it possible to grow your spiritual integrity?
Q: Is it possible to grow in your spiritual-discipline to avoid the pull of self-interest, self-protection, self-defense?
A: Yes, but your own strength will only take you so far. The type of integrity and discipline growth God is calling us towards, is to be bound, intertwined in Him.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Response – Decide to Abide. Learn to Abide. Abide.