Grab your Bibles, we'll get into the sermon now.
Grab your Bibles and turn back to the book of Job.
The book of Job.
So, today I decided to take a,
to move away from the book of Luke
just for this one Sunday,
seeing that it is our final Sunday for the year.
In fact, it's our final service for 2018.
And as I was thinking about the change of year,
it's often a time, right, when we come into a new year,
it's often a time when you reflect back
and you look at the year that's gone by
and you think about all the great things
that were accomplished.
But you also think about the things
that could have been better.
You could have done better, you could have done more of
areas of maybe your life that you need to improve in.
And that's why so many people create New Year's resolutions.
And they say in this new year, I'm going to lose weight.
In this new year, I'm gonna be healthier.
In this new year, I'm gonna read more Bible.
In this new year, I'm gonna go soul winning
more than I did before, or whatever it is.
People create these new year resolutions
because it is a good time to reflect
and think about, hey, we're coming into a new year.
And what is it that we want to achieve in 2019?
All right, and I was thinking about our church.
I was talking a little bit about this on Wednesday,
how our church is only a year old.
I'm only a one year old pastor.
And I'm thinking about, hey, what can we do greater?
What can we do better in 2019?
Hey, what is it that we need to do?
And if you look at Job chapter two, verse three,
there's something that God says about Job, okay?
If you remember Job chapter one,
what happened in Job chapter one
is that the devil comes with the sons of God,
and God points out his servant Job
as being a perfect and upright man, yeah?
And then Satan challenges that.
He says the only reason he's upright and good
is because you've blessed him.
You've blessed the work of his hands.
And so God allows Satan to take away the possessions of Job.
And Job loses his cattle.
Job loses his wealth, you know?
From some enemies come and take his sheep and cattle.
There's also fire from heaven that falls on,
I can't remember right now, Job chapter one,
but on some other livestock that he has.
And worse than that, worse than losing all his possessions
is that his 10 children die.
His 10 children lose their lives,
his seven sons and his three daughters.
It reminds me of me.
And I've got seven sons and three daughters.
If I were to lose them, well, that would be crushing.
That would be a big blow, right?
All in one hit to lose your family as well, your children.
And so in chapter two,
we see Satan come to the Lord again, okay?
And look what the Lord says about, in verse number three,
look what the Lord says about Job.
It says, and the Lord said unto Satan,
hast thou considered my servant Job,
that there is none like him in the earth,
a perfect and an upright man?
Hey, wouldn't you love God to say that about you?
Wouldn't you like God to say that
about New Life Baptist Church,
that it's a perfect and upright church
after losing all our possessions,
after losing family members,
God can still say that about us?
I don't know about you,
I'd probably be questioning God a little bit, right?
But look, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.
And this is what I wanna talk about today.
It says, and still he holdeth fast his integrity,
although thou moveth me against him
to destroy him without cause.
So the title of the sermon this morning
is hold fast your integrity.
Hold fast, hold firm, hold strong,
your integrity.
Hey, we wanna be a people in 2019
that's known for their integrity,
a church that's known for the integrity,
that we are an upright, we stand with God,
we fear God and we eschew evil, right?
That's what I wanna see in 2019.
It's saying, why are you choosing this topic?
It's well, basically, if you've been
in the construction business before,
I've worked for a construction company for two years
or two and a half years, roughly.
And one thing you learn is that when a house is going up,
when a building is being put together,
once you have laid foundations
or once you get through different phases
of that construction, guess what?
It's always important that someone goes
and checks the integrity of what's being built, okay?
You lay the foundation, the concrete slab
for a house, for example,
before you start putting the framework up,
you send the site supervisor out there
to check the integrity of the foundation, okay?
And usually there's a third party person,
an inspector that comes along
and checks the integrity of the work that is being done.
And until that work is being checked off,
yes, it meets the standards,
it meets the codes and practices that we have,
then the next phase of building is done, okay?
And what we're doing right here on the Sunshine Coast
is building a church, okay?
And I would say for the first year and a bit,
what we've been doing is laying the groundwork, okay?
Laying down the foundations
so we have something strong and firm to build on, okay?
One thing I've learned in business is this saying,
you know, under-promise and over-deliver.
Who's heard that before?
Under-promise and over-deliver.
Hey, that's very important, okay?
Because what's the opposite to that?
You over-promise and you under-deliver, okay?
You over-promise.
You know, I wanna be a people with integrity.
You know, if you're someone that promises something
but you don't do what you promise,
then you're lacking integrity, okay?
You're lacking integrity.
But if you're someone that under-promises
and you over-deliver on what you promised,
you'll be someone with great integrity.
Not only do they accomplish what they said they will,
but they've gone above and beyond that, okay?
And it's so important when you build
that you check the integrity of what you're building, okay?
Make sure there's nothing faulty.
Make sure whatever holes there are,
that they're plugged, okay, and fixed up.
Now, if we look at just the definition
of the word integrity,
the first definition for the word integrity is wholeness,
something that's whole, entire, and unbroken, okay?
Whole, entire, and unbroken.
In fact, it's very much like the word perfect.
The word perfect in the Bible,
you know, when the Bible says be ye perfect,
it's not saying be ye sinless, but be ye whole, okay?
Be a well-rounded Christian, you know?
And if you look at Job 2, verse 3,
if you look at it again,
where it says, you know,
hast thou considered my servant Job,
that there is none like him in the earth,
a perfect and an upright man.
It's very similar to the word perfect, okay?
But integrity is making sure
that whatever is lacking is being fixed up, okay?
That it's strong, that it's a whole thing.
The second definition of the word integrity
is more like the word,
the way we commonly think about it,
is moral soundness, purity, and genuine, okay?
Hey, I want that for this church.
I want people to see this church and say,
hey, they are sound, they have morals.
You know, they have purity in their church, right?
They preach against sin, and if there's a sinner
that's worthy to be cast out of the church,
then they would cast out that sinner
and maintain the purity that's in this church.
Hey, that's what I want for this church.
People say it's genuine, it's a genuine church.
Hey, these are genuine believers,
they believe the Bible, okay?
And they preach it in season and out of season.
Yes, I want people to look at New Life Baptist Church
and say this is a church of integrity, okay?
We've built some, you know, first years or so,
we've built, we need to make sure
that we check the integrity of this church
before we continue building
and doing greater things for God, all right?
Now, if you are, oh, actually,
you don't need to turn there,
I'll just read it to you quickly.
You guys know it from Matthew 16, verse 18.
Jesus says to Peter,
upon this rock will I build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Hey, you know what a church is?
It's something that is being built, okay?
It's a building, as it were.
And of course, we're not talking about this building.
We're not talking about, you know, what is it?
Unit nine, you know, 16th Sidon Street, no.
I'm talking about the building of the people.
You guys are that church.
You guys are being built up by Jesus Christ.
And we also know in 1 Corinthians 3, nine,
it says for we are laborers together with God.
Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
Hey, ye are God's building.
How can we ensure that we maintain
integrity in this church?
It's by making sure you guys are built up by Jesus Christ,
that you become fellow laborers with Jesus Christ
in your own lives and in this church.
Okay, yes, Jesus said he will build the church,
but we are co-laborers with him, okay?
So in our second year as a church,
I want us to check on the integrity of ourselves,
the integrity of our church.
How well are we doing?
Are we doing great, good?
Is there anything that needs to be replaced?
Yeah, let's fix it, let's replace it, let's do better, okay?
When you've built a house and you've put up a framework,
you put up the wooden beams,
there's several beams that the carpenters would put up
for the framework of the building, all right?
Several beams, but what if one of those beams
is termite-ridden, like back there,
like where the toilets are, okay?
What if one of those beams are termite-ridden
or they're not in the right place?
Do you think the inspector's gonna come and say,
well, you know, 99 of the beams are set up right,
so we'll just ignore that one?
No, to make sure that we maintain the integrity
of that building, that beam would need to be replaced, okay?
That beam would need to be replaced.
So we need to make sure that we identify where we fail,
if we have failures, I'm sure we do, okay,
where we can improve and what we can change, okay?
2019 is to make sure that we have a church of integrity.
Look at Job chapter two, verse seven.
Job chapter two, verse seven.
Now, we as a church, we've not really gone
through any major tribulations.
Maybe in your own personal life,
you've gone through some tribulation,
but I would say as a church,
we really haven't gone through anything major,
but look at this in verse number seven.
So when Satan sent forth, sorry,
so went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord
and smote Job with sore boils
from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
And he took him a potshed to scrape himself with oil,
and he sat down among the ashes.
So we have now Satan, God allows Satan
to hurt Job in his body, okay?
But God says, but look, you can't kill him, okay?
You've got to save his life.
I'll let you destroy his body,
but you've got to save his life.
You can't kill him.
And so Satan puts these boils,
these sores all over his body,
and it's said there in verse eight
that he got a piece of potshed just to scrape himself.
I mean, you've had a probably mosquito bite
and gets itchy and scratchy
and gives you some measure of satisfaction, right?
Well, it's kind of like that for Job.
He gets his piece of, I don't know,
maybe a piece of clay or something
and starts scraping at his sores.
I mean, that's how bad he is, right?
And then look at verse number nine.
Then said his wife unto him,
Dost thou still retain thine integrity?
Curse God and die.
Hey, those are the words of Job's wife.
She says, look, you maintain your integrity.
Forget about it.
Look at the state you're in.
We've lost our children.
We've lost our possessions.
You've lost your health, Job.
You know, just curse God and die, okay?
So what is Job's wife thinking here?
She's thinking, look, God's obviously angry at you, Job.
That's what she's thinking, you know?
God's no longer on your side.
God's no longer your friend.
Just curse him.
God wants to kill you.
Just die, you know?
But hey, look, when she looks at Job,
what does she see?
She sees his integrity, okay?
He doesn't curse God, okay?
He doesn't blame God for his tribulations
and his anguish, okay?
He doesn't do that, okay?
And what does he say in verse number 10?
But he said unto her,
Thou speakest as one of the foolish women's speaker.
What?
Shall we receive good at the hand of God?
And shall we not receive evil?
In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Hey, you know what?
When you go through tribulation,
you're gonna be tempted to blame God, okay?
But what does Job say?
Hey, we get good from God and we have salvation.
We have the best thing that we can possibly ask for
eternal life in heaven forever.
And we can't take a bit of hurt in Job's position,
a lot of hurt, a lot of loss, you know?
And blame God?
No, that's foolish, okay?
That's foolish speaking.
You're like one of the foolish women, okay?
He says to his wife.
But notice that he does not sin against God with his lips.
Okay?
And you know, we need to be careful
when we go through tribulation, okay?
And just let me give you an example of this.
You know, when you go through trials or hardships,
you might start saying things like,
you know, why does God allow this difficulty in my life?
Why did God allow this?
You know what you're really saying?
What you're saying,
when you're asking those kinds of questions,
what you're usually saying is,
God shouldn't have allowed me to go through this.
Hey, that's blaming God.
Okay, that's blaming God.
Hey, you know what?
If there's something I wish we could change about this world
and this generation is that people would just be accountable
when things don't go right, okay?
Instead of blaming God, instead of blaming other people,
sometimes you just gotta look at yourself and go,
well, you know, this has happened because of me.
Or you rejoice in the tribulations that come your way.
God wants to use that to make you more perfect,
to improve you, to change something about you, okay?
I mean, some of you wouldn't even be saved
if you didn't go through the tribulation.
And then yelled out and called unto God for that salvation.
Sometimes God has purposes for the tribulation in our life,
okay, to lead us to salvation sometimes, yeah.
Or to get us through and make us to be better Christians,
Christians with integrity, okay?
Job's wife did not have integrity at this point in her life.
Now, keep your finger in Job.
Turn to Romans chapter five, Romans chapter five.
Romans chapter five, Romans chapter five.
So as you're turning there, instead of asking,
why does God allow this?
Your question should be,
what does God want me to learn through this difficulty?
What does God want me to learn through this trial, okay?
Maybe he's chastising me.
Maybe there's something I've done wrong
and God has allowed some chastisement to come my way.
But look at Romans chapter five verse one.
Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand
and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, okay?
We rejoice in the glory of God, we rejoice in salvation,
that we have peace with God, verse number three,
and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.
Hey, if this church goes through tribulation,
that's a time for us to glory in our tribulation, why?
Why, is it that we really want to suffer
and go through difficulties?
No, because look at this.
Knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope,
and hope maketh not ashamed
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Hey, look at this, tribulation.
It's not really what we like, right?
But what does God use tribulation for?
To give us patience, experience,
hope to be unashamed of godliness,
to be unashamed of the Bible.
Hey, these are marks of a man with integrity,
a man who's patient, a man who's got good experience,
who's unashamed of God, who has hope.
These are attributes of integrity, and how do we get it?
Sometimes God needs to put us through tribulations
in order to achieve that in our lives, okay?
And if anything, Job was already a man of integrity.
If anything, after this trial, he came out even better.
I can't wait to see the rewards
that Job will have in heaven
for facing the difficulties with integrity.
All right, let's turn to Genesis chapter 20.
Genesis chapter 20.
Why do we wanna walk in integrity?
Why is it important?
Genesis chapter 20, Genesis chapter 20.
Number one, walking with integrity
will cause God to take extra measure
to warn you before you destroy your life, okay?
If God sees you walking in integrity,
he's going to take extra steps
to protect you from destroying your life.
Look at Genesis chapter 20, verse three.
And if you guys remember the story,
Abraham was passing through,
and he was afraid that he would be killed
because Sarah, his wife, was very beautiful.
He was afraid that people would take his wife
and kill him to take his wife.
And it almost happens.
King Abimelech comes, and Abraham lies about his wife,
and he says, well, that's my sister,
because he didn't wanna lose his life.
And then so King Abimelech takes Sarah to be his wife,
but look at verse number three.
Genesis chapter 20, verse three.
It says, but God came to Abimelech in a dream by night
and said to him, behold, thou art but a dead man.
For the woman which thou hast taken,
for she is a man's wife.
But Abimelech had not come near her.
And he said, Lord, would thou slay also a righteous nation?
Said he, not unto me, she is my sister.
And she, even she herself, said he is my brother.
In the integrity of my heart
and innocency of my hands have I done this.
He says, Lord, I've been tricked.
I'm innocent.
In my integrity I took her to be my wife.
But look at verse number six.
And God said unto him in a dream,
yea, I know that thou hast done this
in the integrity of thy heart.
So the reason I know you have integrity,
and then it says, look,
for I also withheld thee from sinning against me.
Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
I said, look, King Abimelech, I've seen your integrity.
This is why I'm coming to warn you,
so you don't sin against me.
You see that?
You see, King Abimelech here,
you know, could have done a major sin,
committing adultery here with another man's wife.
You know, but he was innocent.
You know, he had integrity.
He wouldn't have done it if he knew it,
is basically what he's saying.
And God says, yeah, that's right.
And that's why I'm warning you,
so you don't sin against me,
so you don't become that dead man that you almost are.
Look at number seven, verse number seven.
And look, even when he was warned of God,
he still had to make the right decision, okay?
He still had to give back Sarah back to Abraham.
But verse number seven.
Now therefore restore the man his wife,
for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee,
and thou shall live.
For if thou restore her not,
know thou that thou shall surely die,
thou and all that are thine.
So you see, when you walk in integrity,
God's gonna protect you from making major
mistakes in your life, okay?
He's gonna step in and make it very clear
that you don't make that bad mistake to destroy your life,
but that you would continue walking
in the integrity of your life.
That's the first mention of the word integrity in the Bible.
I thought it was interesting there
that it's also related to being innocent,
that that word like genuine, okay?
He didn't mean anything harmful toward Abraham or to Sarah.
Now turn to Psalm 26, please.
Psalm 26.
Have you guys heard of the term backsliding before?
Okay, quite often when there are believers
that once were faithful to church,
that once were faithful to God,
and then they get out of church for whatever reasons,
you know, and they pursue a life of worldliness
or, you know, self-pleasures and et cetera,
quite often these people are labeled as backsliders, okay?
And of course, when you're backsliding,
you don't have integrity, okay?
And look at Psalm 26, verse one.
A Psalm of David, it says,
judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity.
I have trusted also in the Lord.
Therefore, I shall not slide.
Hey, you know what's gonna keep you from backsliding?
What's gonna keep you in church?
What's gonna keep you faithfully serving the Lord?
What's gonna keep you faithfully out-soul winning?
Is integrity, okay?
Being a person of integrity, but not just that,
trusting also in the Lord.
Therefore, I shall not slide.
Hey, if you've gone for a period of being backslidden,
it means that you're lacking integrity.
It means there's been a time
that you've not been trusting the Lord, okay?
We need integrity to prevent us from backsliding.
We wanna check the integrity of this church, okay?
We don't wanna be backsliders.
We wanna be sliding forwards.
We wanna be taking steps forward
and being more Christ-like, okay?
Being more holy, being more in the will of God, okay?
That means we need to be people of integrity,
a church of integrity.
Go to verse number nine in the same Psalm, Psalm 26, verse nine.
You know, walking with integrity
will separate you from the wicked.
If you've got wicked friends around you,
you know, wicked colleagues that are trying
to peer pressure you to make wrong mistakes, you know?
If you walk in integrity,
it's going to separate you from the wicked.
Psalm 26, verse nine.
David says, gather not my soul with sinners,
nor my life with bloody men,
in whose hands is mischief,
and their right hand is full of bribes.
But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be merciful unto me, okay?
Look, if you're walking with integrity in your life,
you're not gonna be numbered amongst the wicked
in this world.
You're gonna stand out like Job stood out to God,
you know, and he was able to look at Job and say,
look, that's a man of integrity.
You're not gonna be numbered with the wicked people,
all right?
Don't give in to peer pressure,
especially young, you know, young guys, children, teenagers.
You're gonna be often tempted by friends that you make
that are not believers.
They're gonna want you to walk in paths of wickedness, okay?
But you need to be kids, teenagers, and even adults
of integrity to stand for what we know is true
and what is right in the word of God.
And look, it's gonna cause you to lose friends
when you stand for the word of God, okay?
They're gonna think you're a, you know, a goody-goody.
They're gonna think that, you know,
what's wrong with this person?
Why can't they have a bit of fun?
And what they mean by fun is why can't this person sin,
you know, and rejoice in wickedness, you know?
Quite often, if you just stand in your integrity,
you're not gonna have to leave them.
More often than not, they're gonna just leave you, okay?
Because, you know, they're gonna see the goodness in you,
they're gonna see the genuine in you,
genuine nature in you, the good morals in you,
and that's gonna make them feel bad about themselves, okay?
And they're not gonna wanna be par, you know,
be friends with you, but that's okay.
You know, we don't wanna be counted amongst the wicked,
okay?
Now go to Proverbs chapter 20.
Proverbs chapter 20, verse seven.
Parents, parents, do you love your children?
I hope so, amen?
Do you love your children?
Look at Proverbs chapter 20, verse seven.
The Bible says, the just man walketh in his integrity.
His children are blessed after him.
You want the Lord's blessing on your children,
you've gotta walk in integrity, okay?
You've gotta set a good example for your children,
so your children know what it means to be just, okay?
What it means to be people of integrity.
You know, children, you know, because they've got
like a clean mindset usually, you know, when they grow up,
it's very easy for them to see hypocrisy.
It's very easy to see someone that's disingenuous,
disingenuous, did I pronounce that right?
Someone that's not genuine, okay?
It's very easy for a child to see that.
It's a little bit harder when you become an adult,
because, you know, you're sort of tainted with the world,
and, you know, maybe you are hypocritical
in some areas of your life, okay?
But look, if you want your children to be blessed by God,
you need to set an example
of what it means to have integrity, okay?
Very, very important that walking into integrity
will bless the next generation.
And guys, yeah, we're a church that's one year old,
but, you know, I'm already thinking
about the next generation.
I'm already wanting our children
to be greater Christians than what we are.
I want them to do greater work than what we've done, okay?
And to continue New Life Baptist Church,
to continue for this church to be a church of integrity.
You know, quite often in many churches,
you see a change of generation, and it gets worse, okay?
It doesn't get better, but the next generation
takes the church down a notch.
It becomes more worldly, okay?
And, you know, they desire for the church to grow
and desire to follow after the flesh,
and they take the church down a bad path,
and it's not different to many churches,
like a nightclub in the world, okay?
No, I want every generation that goes past this church
for this church to stand out even more,
to be more salty, to be a greater light in this world, okay?
How do we do that?
We need to be a people, adults of integrity,
that the kids can see that and emulate that.
You know, when I was a child,
I was in a dead Baptist Union church, all right?
And I'd go to church because my parents made me,
but I wanted to be in church,
because I was saved, and I loved the Lord,
and I just wanted to know more about the Lord,
but I didn't have good examples,
and I saw watered-down believers,
and I'm like, it doesn't look like the people
that I read in the Bible, you know?
These people that go to war, like King David against Goliath,
I'm not seeing that in my church, you know?
And then I'm growing up as a teenager,
and my friends invite me to their Pentecostal churches,
and I'm like, wow, maybe, you know,
these Pentecostals, they look really excited.
They look like they're on fire for God,
so maybe I'll go there and catch a bit of fire
and bring it back to my dead church, so I thought, you know?
They're going to those churches, no Bible, alright?
I mean, just foolishness, you know,
jabbering nonsense, which they call tongue-speaking,
you know, that gave me, you know,
I mean, I was like, man, Lord,
where are the good churches, God?
You know, where do I need to go to find a bit of excitement?
You know, I was looking for a church of integrity,
a church that believes the Bible.
That's what I was looking for as a young man.
It took me until I was 20 years old,
after I won my first soul, my wife, you know, to the Lord.
Alright, we were looking for a good church.
Why am I an independent fundamental Baptist?
Is it because I grew up independent fundamental Baptist?
No, it's not.
It's because I was looking for a church with integrity,
a church that believed the King James Bible,
believed we had the perfect word of God somewhere
and taught it, okay?
And even if I didn't like what was being taught,
if I knew it was coming from the word of God,
I believed it.
That's what I was looking for.
I was looking for people that actually believed in hell,
that believed they could get out there
and preach the gospel and save souls.
That's what I wanted to see.
That's what young people want to see.
They want to see adults that actually believe this book.
Alright?
Look, there's no perfect church.
You know, I know that,
but we can be a church of integrity.
Okay, that's what we can be.
And that's what I, you know,
that's why I'm an independent fundamental Baptist.
It's because I made the decision
to find a church that was real, okay?
That they said they were Bible believers
and actually read the Bible as well.
They knew what the Bible contained.
We need to be a church of integrity.
Did I get you to turn somewhere?
No, that's okay.
You know,
we need to have integrity to maintain the course.
I mentioned that we're an independent fundamental Baptist.
Hey, even when we had our name as the church in Caloundra,
you know, it made it very clear what we stood for, okay?
And these three words, independent, fundamental, Baptist,
are words of integrity for a church, okay?
It's not just some brand.
It's not just some movement.
They actually mean something, okay?
Independent, why independent?
Because we're ensuring that Jesus Christ
is the head of this church.
Not some man, some president, some pope.
No, Jesus Christ is the head of this church, okay?
Hey, that's what's gonna make us a church of integrity
to ensure that it remains Jesus Christ.
That we don't become a church
that's trying to fit, you know, some system
or fit some denomination, no.
Okay, we're here to serve the Lord.
You guys are still, no, you guys went to Proverbs,
but if you go to Psalms, it's not too far.
Psalm chapter seven, verse eight.
Look at this, in Psalm chapter seven, verse eight.
The Bible says, the Lord shall judge the people.
Hey, who's the judge of this church?
A pope, a president.
No, it's the Lord.
The Lord is the judge of this church.
Then it says, judge me, O Lord,
according to my righteousness
and according to my integrity that is in me.
Yes, that's my desire for new life after church,
that God will come and judge this church
and judge us in our righteousness
and judge us by our integrity, okay?
If we're part of some denomination,
it's not the Lord judging us,
it's that denomination.
It's that president, it's that man, no.
Independent because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the head of this church.
Fundamental, fundamental, important, okay?
We stand for the fundamentals of the Christian faith, okay?
Fundamental is the same as the foundations.
You know, if the foundations be destroyed,
what shall the righteous do?
Hey, we stand for the fundamentals of the faith.
What's that?
The virgin birth, the deity of Christ,
the second coming of Christ,
the blood atonement and the salvation
by grace through faith.
Yes, and even the Trinity.
You know, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
These are fundamentals of the Christian faith.
These are fundamentals of new life Baptist church, okay?
And if we're going to maintain our integrity
and already have to do this,
you guys know that we have to separate from those
that do not hold those to those fundamentals, okay?
If we're gonna protect the integrity of this church,
we are a fundamental church and we're Baptist
because I don't wanna confuse this church
for some baby sprinkling Protestant church, okay?
We believe the Bible, we believe in baptism,
which means immersion, okay?
And we believe in believers baptism,
not as a requirement for salvation,
but as something done after someone is saved,
identifying publicly with the death, burial and resurrection
or identifying publicly with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Okay, Baptist because of practice,
but Baptist also because of history.
Hey, because there's been believers before us
that have stood for the word of God.
There's been believers before us
that have stood with integrity.
And more often than not,
it's been those that have come out of the Baptist churches
in the past, okay?
So we're following up that in the history as well, all right?
Can you go to Proverbs chapter 19?
Proverbs chapter 19 verse one.
Integrity is better than riches, okay?
Integrity is better than riches.
Proverbs chapter 19 verse one.
Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity
than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.
Hey, you know what?
We can grow this church faster if we wanted to, yep.
You know, more people, more offering, more riches.
It can be done.
Yeah, there's plenty.
I mean, just take me to Kurong.
You know, I'm sure there's a whole aisle
of how to grow your church
and how to make it, you know, more attractive
and bring in the finances.
Yeah, some people take that path.
They do, you know?
They do take that path because of riches, okay?
But you do that and you lose the integrity of your church.
All right?
I'd rather be poor, okay?
I'd rather, you know, I mean,
one of the best decisions I've made in my life, honestly,
is becoming a pastor, coming up here to the Sunshine Coast
and preaching for you guys, you know,
and trying to help you guys and edify you guys.
It gives me so much joy in my spirit, you know?
But it doesn't make me rich, you know?
I've had to give up my riches very much so, you know?
And I didn't really have riches to begin with,
but you know, I had plenty.
God had given me a lot, you know?
But one of the best decisions has been come
and be a pastor and to serve in the local church
has been one of the best decisions of my life, you know?
I'd rather have the integrity of this church.
And I know if we do that,
Jesus Christ said, he will build our church, okay?
We just have to be faithful,
we have to be people of integrity
and we need to just trust in the Lord, have faith in him.
All right.
Now, can you go back to Job?
I don't know if you can keep the finger there.
Go to Job chapter 31, Job chapter 31.
Because I'm approaching the end now,
but you know, integrity requires examination, you know?
Think of the construction job, you know?
They finish a phase of construction,
then comes the site supervisor or the inspector
and they're checking the integrity of the work.
And so they examine, they examine what's been done.
But you know what?
Examination is not a time,
you know, it's often an uncomfortable time, okay?
Because you're identifying where the failings are,
you're identifying where the faults are.
It's not, people aren't really comfortable
because you're being tested, you're being prodded, okay?
And so if you wanna be a church of integrity,
we also need to learn to examine ourselves
and put our hand up if we're doing something wrong.
Just say, yeah, you know what?
We messed up, we stuffed up, you know?
You know, we failed in this area.
Just put your hand up and just admit it, okay?
And then we can fix it and be people of integrity.
But Job chapter 31, verse one.
Job chapter 31, verse one.
This is Job speaking, he says,
I made a covenant with mine eyes.
Why then should I think upon a maid?
For what portion of God is there from above?
And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
Is not destruction to the wicked
and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps?
If I have walked with vanity
or if my foot have hasted to deceit,
let me be weighed in an even balance
that God may know my integrity.
You know, these questions that Job is asking,
they're rhetorical questions, okay?
He knows that he's been walking in the spirit
and not walking the flesh.
He says all these things.
Have I been looking at a maid?
No, I've made a covenant in my eyes.
I'm not looking at any other woman except my own wife.
You know, I've not walked with the wicked.
I've not walked in vanity.
You know, these are questions he's looking at himself.
He's examining himself, you know?
Have I been doing wickedly?
No, he says I'm a man of integrity.
You know, I need these, what does it say there?
An even balance.
God, come and balance my life.
Come and check the weight of my integrity, okay?
You know, he was willing to be examined by God.
And sometimes that's uncomfortable, okay?
How do we examine ourselves?
By examining ourselves in the word of God.
How well do we fare?
Are we walking with integrity?
Are we people of integrity?
And that's really what I wanna be focusing on in 2019, okay?
And I might make you a bit uncomfortable.
We're going to be preaching on sins.
We're gonna be preaching on areas of our life
that we're lacking in in our spiritual walk, okay?
But it's to fix it, okay, to make us better.
And I'm not a perfect man.
I mean, some of these sermons
are gonna be applicable to me.
They always are, okay?
Whatever I preach comes from the word of God.
And I still, even as the pastor,
I have to decide, hey, I'm gonna make these changes
in my life or whatever, okay?
We need to be people of integrity like Job
and say, hey, yeah, God, please weigh me in an even balance.
That even balance is in the word of God, it's in the Bible.
Okay, that's how we're gonna know
whether we're righteous or not, okay?
And look, the only part of you that has any integrity,
the only part of you is that new man, okay, is the spirit.
When you're born of the spirit, that's what has integrity.
The flesh, the old man, the carnal mind, no integrity, okay?
There's no integrity.
So how do we make sure that we're walking in integrity?
We make sure we're walking in the spirit.
We gotta make sure that we're not walking after the flesh.
And still, I know, in 2019,
you're gonna be walking in the flesh, I know that.
But we need to reduce that and walk more in the spirit.
That's how we're going to be tested, okay?
We need to walk more in the spirit
than we were walking the flesh in 2019, okay?
We need to change that ratio, you know?
And that's why I think I mentioned on Wednesday
that I have a desire to go through
and preach on the fruits of the spirit, you know?
Because the only way you can have
the fruits of the spirit in you
is if you're walking in the spirit.
That's the only way.
If you're walking in the flesh,
those fruits will never come out.
Hey, those fruits are going to determine
if you, in your own personal life, are someone of integrity.
Okay?
So that's gonna be an important part.
Early in the new year, I'll be preaching
on the fruits of the spirit.
But look at Job chapter 27, look at Job chapter 27.
Job chapter 27, verse one.
It says, Moreover, Job continued his parable and said,
As God liveth, who have taken away my judgment
and the Almighty who have vexed my soul,
all the while my breath is in me,
and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils.
So there in verse number three, he says,
Look, all the while my breath is in me,
says, you know, while I'm alive,
is essentially what he's saying.
Well, the Spirit of God is in my nostrils.
While I'm living, he says,
My lips shall not speak wickedness,
nor my tongue utter deceit.
God forbid that I should justify you,
says, till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me.
My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go.
My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
So I love that Job.
He says, doesn't matter about my tribulations.
Doesn't matter when I lose everything
and I lose my health and I'm close to death.
No, all the days of my life, says Job,
I'm going to have mine integrity before God.
That's what I want for our church, okay?
And ourselves as individuals,
that we would truly say with Job,
hey, all the days of our life,
as long as there's breath in me,
I'm going to be someone of integrity.
I'm gonna walk in integrity.
I'm gonna have that clear conscience
before God in my dealings.
That's what I want for our church
all the days of our lives.
Until the Lord comes back,
I would love for New Life Baptist Church
to be a church of integrity.
Say how, how do we do that?
I'll give you some practical points here right now.
Number one, our preaching
needs to be preaching with integrity, okay?
When we preach behind this pulpit,
we want to ensure that our doctrine
that is being taught
is built upon clear scripture.
You know, scripture that emphatically
teaches that truth, you know?
Let's just look, whatever's clear
in the Bible, we teach that, okay?
And if you have your opinions, that's fine.
But mention, those are your opinions.
And your opinions might be right, okay?
But make sure people know the difference
between your opinions
and what the Word of God emphatically says.
That's how we're gonna be sound in doctrine, okay?
Number two, we've been, we've preached in.
Not only do we preach behind the pulpit,
but we preach door to door, okay?
And we need to tighten up
our soul-winning techniques a little bit, okay?
So, by the way, I've, our,
do you guys remember the soul-winning conference
that was had earlier in the year?
Well, that DVD's on its way,
so I'm gonna choose some of the best portions
of that DVD and we'll watch it together
at the church one day, okay?
But I'll make sure that everybody
gets a copy of that as well.
But we can improve in our soul-winning.
You know, we can improve in our techniques.
We can be a little bit more consistent
with how we do things.
And the last, I don't wanna turn us into robots
where you're just following the script
and you're exactly the same.
And if you're not exactly the same,
we're gonna call you out and, you know,
no, no, no, no, you know?
But there are areas of our life
that we can improve,
we can make our soul-winning more sound.
Hey, we need to make sure that our soul-winning
is with integrity, okay?
And what else?
When we preach, sometimes when we preach,
we expose false teaching
or we expose false teachers, false prophets.
That's fine, you know?
To make accusations, that's all good.
But let's make sure when we do that,
we do it with integrity.
We do it in truth, okay?
If there's a false preacher to expose,
go for it, all right?
But make sure that you correctly,
what's the word I'm looking for?
Can't remember what I'm saying right now,
but don't exaggerate, okay?
Oh yeah, correctly represent what they're saying.
You know, take down what they're saying.
Take down the false teaching, it's all good.
But don't over-exaggerate, okay?
Don't misrepresent, don't lie about them.
You say, well, who cares?
They're a false prophet.
I tell you why it cares,
because then you're not doing it with integrity, okay?
And when you expose false teachers
and you lie about it and you misrepresent,
people are gonna notice that, okay?
And what's gonna happen,
instead of people looking at the falsehoods of that teacher,
they're gonna look at how you misrepresented them
and think of you as the false accuser, okay?
Integrity is important when we expose the false prophets
and the false teachings.
Integrity with our Bible reading.
You know, people say, you know,
what kind of Christian are you?
What kind of, we're a Bible-believing Christian.
That's good.
But when's the last time you read your Bible?
Has it been several days, maybe several weeks?
I mean, is that a person of integrity?
You say, I'm a Bible-believing Christian,
but you haven't picked up your Bible in days.
You know, there's dust gathering on your Bible.
Hey, that's not integrity, okay?
No, we need to make sure that we're Bible-believing
Christians and that we read our Bibles.
We know what the word of God says, all right?
And look, New Year's resolution,
and I'll say this every year,
if you've not read your Bible cover to cover yet,
2019, guys, this is the year
that you're gonna read through your Bible, okay?
Be someone of integrity.
Read through your Bible cover to cover in 2019.
And I've put together a Bible reading plan.
I forgot to bring it.
I still need to print it out, actually.
I did put one, like a plan that I put together, okay,
where basically you've got an AM session and a PM session,
that you can read maybe in the morning,
seven minutes in the morning or eight minutes in the morning
seven minutes at night before you go to bed.
Anyone can do that.
You might find it hard to find 15 minutes of the day,
but you can find seven minutes in the morning.
You can find seven minutes at night, okay?
So if you haven't read your Bible cover to cover,
then I'll send it to everybody.
I don't need to know who you are.
I'll send it to everyone.
If you wanna use it, use it.
I'm not saying to use it.
If you're already doing it or you're reading
through the Bible more than once a year,
don't worry about it, okay?
But if you haven't done it, please be someone of integrity,
a Bible-believing Christian of integrity,
and read through your Bible at least once every year, okay?
We need to be a church with integrity.
We need to be a church of integrity with our finances.
I can't tell you guys through my whole life, okay?
Every time I've seen churches go through problems,
internal turmoil, so many times, it's about the finances,
okay, and it's because of a lack of communication,
a lack of transparency, okay?
Or in some very wicked cases, you've got leadership
taking money, stealing money for themselves or whatever,
okay, it's important, and you know,
you guys never really ask me and never question me.
I don't care.
I wanna tell you what we're doing with the finances.
You know, the men in the church, you guys know,
I tell you every month when we pay the lease
of this building, just so you know where the money's going
and that things are being taken care of, you know?
And probably in the next week or two,
I'm gonna give you guys an update on the finances anyway
for the whole church, so we need to make sure
that we're good stewards with what God has given us,
take care of what God has given us.
You know, the finances are not mine.
The finances are the Lord's, the finances are the church
for us to make sure the work of God continues
here on the Sunshine Coast, all right?
And I said, integrity with what God has given us,
not only the finances, but the Lord, beyond my expectation,
has given us this building, okay?
I was never really asking for a building for ourselves,
right, I was just looking for a place
that we can meet on Sundays, and God has come
and given this building to us, guys.
Let's have integrity with what God has given us.
Do your part to maintain this building, okay?
You know, if you're walking along and you see rubbish
on the floor, just pick it up, chuck it in the bin, okay?
Don't have this mindset, well, that wasn't my rubbish.
You know, oh, yeah, I know whose kids did that.
Hey, look, if you're walking along, just take care of it,
put it in the bin, whatever.
If there's something in the building that needs
to be fixed up, you know, I went to the toilet,
that door's creaky, yeah, get some WD-40 or whatever
and put some oil on the hinges there, you know,
so it opens nice and smoothly, whatever.
Whatever there is, look, let's take care
of what God has given us.
You don't need to check everything with me.
If there's something that's obvious that needs to be done,
just do it, you know, take care.
And look, what you bring into this building,
please take with you.
You know, if you bring food or whatever,
please make sure you throw it in the bins
or take it back with you,
because the ants over here get crazy.
They smell a bit of sugar or whatever,
and then this place is infested with ants, right?
So, you know, please be careful, take care of this building
that God has given us.
If you see rubbish, please pick it up.
If we all do a little part, then, you know,
nobody has to go out of their way
and do a lot of work in this building.
The last thing I wanted to say is,
let's have integrity in our families.
Integrity in our families.
You know, we've gone through this series on the family.
You know, fathers, husbands, take ownership for your family.
Be the head of your house, be the leader.
Give yourself sacrificially to your wife and to your family.
And wives, be submissive to your husbands.
You know, give them the respect, give them the authority
that God has already given them.
Okay, be subject to that man.
You know, we're losing the family structure in this world.
Okay, and my, an old pastor of mine,
he always said it, and I love it.
You know, a church can only be as strong
as the families that are in it.
Okay, you know, if your family
is stressed and strained and there's problems
in your marriages, that's gonna reflect in this church.
Okay, we wanna be a strong church,
we wanna be a church of integrity,
then your family needs to be strong.
Your family needs to be one of integrity.
Okay, because you are the church.
You know, the church is not Kevin Sapulveda.
The church is everybody here, okay?
We're all fellow laborers with the Lord in this building.
So, that's what I wanted to cover today, guys.
2018's been awesome, I love it.
You know, we've done a lot of great works, you know?
We've established strong foundations.
God has come through and given us many wonderful blessings.
Praise God, you know?
And we've not gone through any major tribulations
or anything like that, praise God, you know?
But they might come, you know?
And when they do come, and they will come,
you know, I wanna make sure that we're standing strong,
that we're a church of integrity, okay?
That we're a church that's genuine,
that's standing strong for the word of God.
And it doesn't matter if you stay poor, good.
I'd rather be poor, but have our integrity.
Okay, let's pray.