September 12, 2021 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll preaching, “The Essential Ingredient for a Godly Life”

this is the first sunday since march 2020 that our full orchestra has been on stage orchestra would you stand let's welcome them to the [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank yeah thank you and this is the first sunday since march 2020 that the car loft is full now this is half the choir because we're still putting an empty chair between singers but st car would you stand up let me thank you for being faithful through these years [Music] and the best news of the morning our inimitable senior pastor chuck swindoll is back [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Music] my [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] good morning so glad you're here and especially if you're a guest of ours we welcome you hope you will be able to come back as soon as it's convenient and for you who are watching online a special greeting to all of you as well in whatever part of this country or whatever country you were in we're so glad you were here it's appropriate that i pause today to thank bill butterworth as well as jonathan murphy and steve ferrar always do a great job and uh three sundays each this time through the summer and i understand that uh they were very well received and they did a great job didn't they aren't they great preachers [Applause] yeah we need to pray for bill he has come down with kovid since being here kathy's okay but it looks like bill has the has the full virus and we're praying for his his soon recovery from that that uh has a way of really draining a life doesn't it so we are praying for his uh help thank you for praying for us we're we're doing fine we really are we're grateful that we made it through those nine weeks cynthia and i have been able to skirt this old virus and we're we feel a little like hermits but we understand that's a safe way to handle things while it is on the move but we're grateful that we have not come down with it or any other illness i i i should probably inform you i've had a problem with my left eye uh i have a a head a cornea problem and i have early on in my time away gone through a partial cornea implant it took a while for me to learn that but that's what was done i mean can you imagine a physician making his living on something about that big you know and and the and the room is always full of people with problems with things that are that big mind included anyway they did the implant and i've spent the time away recovering i'm still not fully over it which means there's a still a blur in my left eye but i had no sight in it from the beginning of the year until the 12th of july so i was grateful to have that taken care of and it's a slow recovery i see a retina specialist this week hopefully that will all take care of itself and we'll be back to full 2020 vision look forward to that thank you for your prayers for us we always feel them and it always is marvelous to be back and to look forward to a season together i'm i'm going to do a series of biographical vignettes i'm going to choose various men and women in the scriptures who walked in integrity through times of adversity i'm going to call it and today we begin with the person of daniel as you will hear in in a few moments so i look forward to doing that with you and going through various lives in both old and new testament now julie mcmanus is uh our hostess on the screen today as she brings to our attention three important parts of our ministry that will minister to some of you if you pay close attention you will fit in one of these three if not all of them watch closely hey stonebriar family i'm julie mcmanus and here are three upcoming ways you can connect with god and others first if you're a single mom you're not alone come and connect with other single moms over dinner on friday september 24th there's no cost to attend and child care is provided up to age 11. sign up online by september 15th to join us for a night of fun and fellowship next if you've placed your trust in christ and would like to be baptized we'd love for you to join our next baptism celebration on sunday october 17th sign up to attend our adult baptism class or our family baptism orientation to learn what baptism means and prepare for this meaningful ceremony and finally if you're engaged or newly married join our marriage foundation's class for a look at god's design and purpose for your marriage you'll connect with a mentor couple and go over practical topics like communication finances and more sign up to start your marriage on a strong foundation on october 1st and 2nd find details on these announcements and more at stonebriar.org events and if you're new to stonebriar we'd love to help you connect with our church family scan the qr code on the back of the seat in front of you or stop by one of our info desks after service today to get started [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] is is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] so is [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] is [Music] uh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Applause] so so [Music] [Music] [Music] he sets the prisoner free [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] stars [Music] oh is is [Music] [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] uh [Music] is [Music] uh [Music] ah [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so paul wrote to timothy that all scripture is given by the inspiration of god it is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the person of god may become mature prepared for every good work it's easy to forget that when he wrote that there were no new testament scriptures only the old the new testament would come along of course and would be brought together in a canon of scripture to complete the 66 books but at that time the old testament was still being compiled and all scripture is inspired of god now he had in mind both old and new testament since he says all scripture and when he says inspired of god he uses a very unusual word a combined two words meaning god breathed all scripture is god breathed breathed out by god three great doctrines to remember the doctrine of revelation where the lord reveals his truth makes it known and the doctrine of inspiration where those writers of scripture record his truths and then the doctrine of illumination where the truths become alive to us the first two are complete there is no more revelation of scripture therefore the inspiration in the sense of god-breathed inspiration is also a completed fact but there continues to be illumination in fact every time we open the scriptures and become aware of what god is saying we gain an understanding in it we are being illumined all of this is made possible through the power of the invisible holy spirit just as much god as the father and the son so today as the lord uses his word to encourage you or inform you or perhaps correct you in an area of your life it's the work of the spirit he's doing that as he illumines his truth my bible is open and i invite you to open yours to daniel chapter 6. these first few verses are magnificent reminders of how god had his hand on one man really the only jew in the group the others are gentiles and there is prejudice against him for other reasons as we will see and daniel stands firm in integrity i want to read for you the first part of this chapter daniel 6. i'll be reading from the new living translation you follow along in the version you use as we look into the scriptures together to be illumined let's stand please for the scriptures darius the mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province the king also chose daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king's interests daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers because of daniel's great ability the king made plans to place him over the entire empire then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way daniel was handling government affairs but they couldn't find anything to criticize or condemn he was faithful always responsible completely trustworthy so they concluded our only chance of finding grounds for accusing daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion so the administrators and high officers went to the king and said long live king darius we're all in agreement we administrators officials high officers advisers and governors that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced give orders that for the next 30 days any person who prays to anyone divine or human except to you your majesty will be thrown into the den of lions and now your majesty issue and sign this law so that it cannot be changed an official law of the medes and persians that cannot be revoked so king darius signed the law but when daniel learned that the law had been signed he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room with its windows open toward jerusalem he prayed three times a day just as he had always done giving thanks to his god bow with me will you what a magnificent model of integrity and this man of god is and how unusual to read of such especially in a day filled with corruption lies false promises meanderings empty words thank you for models like daniel who inspire us to become men and women who carry out your truth in everyday life i pray today for those in high places that you would use those godly men and women rare though they are few though they are to reach the hearts of those without your son christ give them the courage to speak openly of him equally important give them the character to live in such a way that nothing in their life belies what they say of christ use us as well lord we who live in this area equally in need of models of truth speak to us in this series as we learn of men and women who walk with you in such a unique way that others were impacted thank you for the confidence we can have to live like this because others have done so as well you have placed them in your word as models to motivate us to encourage us to stimulate us toward love and good works we realized having gone through all the memories of yesterday that our country has gone through an enormous amount of trials heartache death sorrow grief as well as great heroism determination integrity we pray lord that you will sustain us by your grace though we do not deserve it that you will use the memory of yesterday to give us a brighter and hoper and hope-filled tomorrow so that our lives know the joy of your promises fulfilled help us in this decadent and difficult era to serve you faithfully and to do so with clear and pure motives i pray for those who gather in this worship building today that you'd speak to all of us from an ancient book about an ancient life who modeled a message that is as needed today as it was in that day now we place before you the week that will unfold guide us that we might walk in the truth and we say we believe these things we ask in the name of christ our savior who loved us and gave himself for us even jesus everyone said amen please be seated [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] over 62 years ago i walked onto the campus of dallas seminary i was a first-year student only a few months out of the marine corps talk about a contrast from a marine corps barracks to classroom at dallas seminary it was really really a contrast and there i found myself sitting at the feet of some of the finest teaching theological truths that sent me into the heavenlies as i began to drink it all in i realized this is a place to learn it and i must take it from here to a lifetime of ministry i gleaned from those four years a biblical knowledge a system of theological thinking as well as if you will a box of tools that i would take with me and it would be my responsibility to keep them sharp to use them regularly to teach myself the truths that others had been teaching me for a whole lifetime lay before me i also left with a reminder that there were a few of that small faculty at the time who had touched my life deeply two or three of them had become mentors and to this day i can quote for you some of the things they said to me even six decades ago what a difference those men made in my life and still make in my life though they are all past they've all died but their words live on it occurred to me during the time i've been away that there was a course no one could teach because this particular truth is not learned in a classroom i realized that um even keeping my tools sharp as i would use them regularly in my own study would not provide me with this quality that would be essential for life not just for ministry but for life and that essential quality that one ingredient that must be a part of any life that is to be known as a godly life is integrity integrity i don't know that i heard the word used that much during my theological training or even today i'll listen closely to the news as you did especially during the last few days as the whole event of 9 11 was brought before us on the television screen i think i heard the word used and i was listening for it i heard it maybe twice perhaps three times it isn't something one talks about as much as it is lived out could you give a definition of it let me help quoting from the late warren weirsby in his book the integrity crisis here's an amplified version of the definition of integrity he writes the oxford english dictionary says the word comes from the latin integritos which means wholeness entireness completeness he continues the root word is integr i n t e g e r which means untouched intact entire integrity is to personal or corporate character what health is to the body or 20 20 vision is to the eyes a person with integrity is not divided that's duplicity or merely pretending that's hypocrisy he or she is whole life is put together and things are working together harmoniously people with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear their lives are open books close quote the bible says much about integrity 27 times in the new american standard the word is used 22 times in the niv 16 times in the king james proverbs is especially fond of the term such verses as he who walks in integrity walks securely but he who perverts his ways will be found out proverbs 10 9 and again the integrity of the upright will guide them but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them 11 3 and again many a man proclaims his own loyalty but who can find a trustworthy man a righteous man who walks in his integrity how blessed are his children after him proverbs 26 and 7. how magnificent to have had a mother and or father who walked in integrity it stays with you through life at least the memory is there though they may pass i've always loved the last few verses of psalm 78 god chose david his servant and took him from the sheepfolds from following the ewes with suckling lambs he brought him to feed jacob his people and israel his inheritance so david fed them according to the integrity of his heart and he guided them with skillful hands i've sat alone and pondered how great it must have been to live in the kingdom of david not a perfect man because integrity doesn't require perfection he just requires character it doesn't mean you never fail it means when you fail you acknowledge it what does it mean to live our lives with integrity here are some of those character traits worth remembering it means that we are verbally trustworthy we speak truth we do not lie we do not put a spin on the report or the story or the statement we are privately pure we hide no shameful secrets we live no double life it means we are intellectually honest we're not guilty of plagiarism what we write we wrote we didn't copy from someone else and not give them credit we check our facts so that what we state as fact we can back up from another reliable source outside our own it means we're ethically clear and clean we have nothing to hide or fear we're thorough we have the highest business practices based on honesty we do not blame others for our wrongdoings or our bad decisions we own them we do not fail to admit our failures we're openly vulnerable a person of integrity acknowledges his or her own weaknesses or lack of knowledge if we don't know we say i don't know we don't fake it we don't deny or cover up our inadequacies we acknowledge them we make no attempt to impress others or to make a name for ourselves we're morally pure and relationally fair we refuse to participate in acts of corruption though everyone else does so we do not we do not commit acts of deception or manipulation we don't use people or take unfair advantage of them because of our powerful title or position note the more powerful ones position the more the need for self-awareness and the more the great and the greater the need to check up ones to determine one's own checkpoints and restraints no one else has to put a restraint on us we do that on ourselves when you consider a life like that you take a deep breath and ask is anyone qualified of course of course god's never given a standard we're not able to live up to he empowers us he enables us he smiles on our actions when we live like that even though we may be the exception rather than the rule he finds great delight when his people walk in integrity which prompted me to begin a series on walking in integrity through times of adversity in answering the question can anyone live up to it i decided to begin with a man who did so his name is daniel daniel was a prophet yes also just a man not part angel not semi-perfect just a man before you talk yourself out of thinking you could live like daniel lived pause and remember he's human just like you are even though there is no sin recorded against him he's sinful he's depraved born with a sinful nature but he stood out above the others because of his integrity people who have integrity always do they always do the back story of daniel's life is the medo-persian empire which was vast governed by a king named darius and because a vast kingdom is often corrupt financial misdealings lack of honesty people you can't trust darius decided he would set up a plan to keep his empire as clean as possible so we read in the first verse that he decided to divide the kingdom into provinces 120 of them and to appoint a high officer to rule over each province your bible may read strange word sat traps it's an old persian word for governor he appointed 120 to govern one each per province and on top of that he chose three [Music] to watch over those 120 translated administrators to supervise the high officers and to protect the king's interest so darius decided if i'm going to keep any kind of control on the kingdom i've got to have people i can trust so he carefully chose these 122 people really 123 but once stood out above the others we read that daniel proved himself more capable if you're a teacher in your classroom you have a student or two in that category they just stand out if you're a coach you have a few athletes who stand out sometimes they're so good they earn a scholarship to college or they get on the olympic team they stand out if you're in business and you have an employee who just does seems everything seems to do everything right follows the directions thinks creatively is responsible diligent and all the above you that person stands out that's what we see in daniel daniel stood out in fact we read because of his exceptional or great ability the king made plans to place him over the entire empire much like we would think of a prime minister so daniel would be the one even not only over the empire but over the other 122 officers now let's uh take off our rose-colored glasses let's look at this realistically what do you think the other 20 122 thought of that you think they go good for daniel that is terrific are you kidding they were eaten up with jealousy envy even though they may have known intellectually that he out-did them in most areas they didn't want him to be promoted over them even though it says he he possessed an extraordinary spirit quite likely included a great work ethic he was competent he was honest he was accountable he gave attention to details and priorities he was loyal to authority his probably was great in relational skills and so that didn't go unnoticed the king decided i'm going to put him over all of them the news of darius's plan quickly spread among those 122 others the governors and the supervisors there's a mixture of resentment and envy and jealousy it never fails so what did they do well we we see it in action verse 4 then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way daniel was handling government affairs so they began to rifle through his files in today's terms they checked his computer they went through the details of his life they asked other people about him it was like an ancient 60 minutes investigation on daniel's life probably he knew about it what's interesting to me is that we read not one word of daniel's panic he's not he's not afraid remember when you have integrity you have nothing to hide there's no dirt to find there's no scandal to uncover there's no paola there's no self-serving so daniel doesn't have some kind of knee-jerk reaction against this to cover up his wrong real quickly there isn't wrong going on he's living in integrity integrity is like a warm thick blanket on a cold night it gives you comfort and security so they couldn't find anything they were frustrated into verse 4 says they couldn't find anything to criticize or condemn pause and imagine put yourself in daniel's sandals let the investigation go on around the way you do your business handle your finances what you view on the internet how you conduct your life when no one is looking how you handle your expense account when you're on the road all of these things are very real we read that they couldn't find anything to criticize or condemn because he was faithful responsible completely trustworthy i'm speaking to you today and to myself as well believe me i've been in this for weeks now a lot of soul searching going on in our lives even at this moment all of you who are hearing me are thinking this is a corrupt time in which we live i've never known of national leaders with less integrity in my life i've never heard such lies i've never witnessed such false and empty promises i've never seen examples of dishonesty like i see now the only way you know most of them are lying is their lips are moving it goes on all the time people shrug it off they pass it off with well that's the way it is with politicians it's not the way it is that's the way it is when you lack integrity that's what's missing [Applause] you and i love for it regardless of our political uh persuasion it has nothing to do with that has everything to do with character everything we know ministers who live one way and then when they're gone things are found out that revealed they they weren't living that way there was another life going on which breaks the hearts of their family members who knew nothing of it and cuts the heart out of what was once an effective ministry you cannot have an effective ministry and lack integrity not in the long haul am i saying a person must be perfect i want to repeat again this does not mean you're sinless it means when you do wrong you say it was wrong you put checkpoints in your own life and you acknowledge this is a weakness this is an area where i made a bad mistake was a decision i should never have made not because my predecessor set me up but because i'm the one doing this i'm i if you knew what i was holding back you'd be proud of me right now uh there's so much more i could say the fact is and we'll get on with it here uh their failed investigation was twisted into a conspiracy of deception they set the king up for a decision and they knew what they were doing even the motive in this decision was wicked they went to darius they appealed to his pride they said to darius wouldn't it be great to set up a law for 30 days that no one could pray to anyone no one could worship anyone but you o king darius being the kind of guy he was said sounds good to me bring on the rule they wrote it out he signed it suddenly he realized daniel is now the target they never mentioned that it's another thing about integrity you don't hold back information to make yourself look better or to make the story look good matter of fact it's always been amazing to me especially when i was a child that uh daniel didn't wind up in the lion's den because he did something wrong he was there because he did things right he continued to pray as he had always done to the god of heaven three times a day he didn't stop he wasn't worried about those 122 envious men or a king that had made a stupid decision he answered to his god he has an audience of one how rarely we think of that we're not called to this earth to please people we're called to live our lives before an audience of one few of those who do that that will mean criticism won't cut your legs out from under you i came across an interesting story about that when asked why he was not stung by a vicious attack from a fellow member of the parliament winston churchill replied if i respected him i would care about his opinion but i don't so i don't period why do you care so much about someone else's opinion especially when you know the whole truth and they don't especially when you know you answer to only one who will be your judge and your reward no one else in this room will be either only your god he's the audience he's the one whom we answer unless you think that gets you off the hook remember he sees us day and night public and private when no one else is around or even aware our god is there back to the audience of one that's how daniel lived his life so when he was thrown into the lion's den god protected him i've always loved vernon mcgee's answer to that while the lions didn't sink their teeth into him he was three-fourths gristle and the rest backbone there was nothing to eat god protected him miraculous of course he's not out of miracles they're rare but they're available they're always up to him if it requires that to protect your integrity as it did with daniel he'll make it happen they came to the king the king signed the edict and then realized what had happened and the king was awake all night hoping that nothing would happen to the man he knew was a man of integrity i started this message by reminding you of when i began this my ministry and i took you back a number of years i now want to end this message by reminding you of the end of your life whenever that will come i do not know when but it will someday you'll be on your deathbed you'll be surrounded by those who know you best and love you the most or at least they think they know you they'll sing their songs they'll run their fingers through your hair they'll kiss you on the cheek they'll pray and they'll say the kindest words you will have ever heard as you are dying then you will be gone leaving all the evidence behind what is that everything in your computer everything on your record all the private mail notes pictures i have a friend named bob garipa bob was for many years the dean of students at dallas seminary wonderful man bob's from a large italian family and if not the oldest among the oldest and was chosen as his dad died of a sudden heart attack to be the one to go through his personal effects he didn't want to do that you understand bob's dad was a remarkable man to hear bob tell it he loved bob's mother dearly and deeply it seemed every evidence was that he was loyal and faithful he was a man that you could rely on he kept his word treated his family very well played no favorites carried himself with honesty and dignity bob's fear was as he would begin to go through his things that he might find something that no one else had known about some secret that had been kept some private set of pictures some other woman or women nevertheless she took the responsibility seriously in one weekend he tightened his belt and decided now's the time for me to do this she sat down at his father's desk picture this opened roars others had not opened took out boxes other his others had not seen in into them read letters others had not read went through files others had not seen spent time literally searching reading sometimes smiling other times tears came as he remembered this or found out about that to his delight when all the search was over and the sun was setting he had found nothing nothing against his father not even anything suspicious or questionable he was as clear and clean as bob and his siblings had hoped he was now he knew he was bob told me he wept audibly out of gratitude the man he had admired and respected throughout his life was everything he had believed him to be there was no skeleton no potential scandal no ugly piece of information to share with the family later to break their hearts he had been a man who was genuine to the core back to my opening lines a man [Music] of integrity i pray that will be true of me when i pass i also pray that will be true of each one of you i bring this message not because i'm any model of anything near perfection you know me well enough to know that i am not but i long to be a man of integrity and i long for you to be the same man or woman of integrity for someone can meticulously and tediously go through your things and at the end of the day in the end of the life find nothing to break their hearts if today you find yourself deeply convicted though a christian this is a great day to turn the corner to determine that from this day on and put the date in your in your journal from this day on you're going to clean up your life you're going to lay your life before the lord god and you're going to confess to him those areas that have been you've been negligent in perhaps even things that have been downright unlawful perhaps shameful and they're going to stop you're going to clean up the record because the lord your god is the most understanding and forgiving one you will ever know if you're without christ see that cross hanging behind me come to the foot of that cross and look up and thank the father for sending his son to die for you to pay for all the sins of the world all the wrongdoing all the corruption all the lies all the failures all the wrongdoing he will forgive you when you trust in christ that's right trust in christ that's what's necessary see it doesn't sound like much oh it took christ's life he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of god in him when i trusted in christ god transferred my sin to the cross and christ's righteousness to my life i'm now able to walk in a righteousness that is not natural or normal for me and the same for you but without christ that's impossible let's come to terms with that now i ask you to bow your heads please just right now let's not move about let's sit quietly and think are you absolutely certain that you have christ in your life absolutely certain there was a time when you came to the foot of the cross and you acknowledge that you're a sinner and you believe that christ died for you [Music] and you take him you took him into your life wonderful if there's never been such a time now is the time now's the time and god in his grace will accept you just before i preached you heard the song and can it be that i should gain an interest in the savior's blood died he for me yes he did the one who knew no shame for me he died can it be it is by his grace you can know eternal life and sins forgiven you'll be given power to live like you've never been given before but you must turn to christ for that power trust him now simple prayer lord god i'm lost you're distant from me i now turn to christ please come into my life make me new forgive me clean me up inside out that i might live a life like daniel let's pray dear father we thank you for the hope there is always hope in christ thank you for the cross that you are always willing to accept us when we come to you through christ thank you for forgiveness thank you for strength to live in a way that we are unable to live on our own and we pause this day and commit to you our weaknesses and accept your strength we return to you our sins christ is paid for and we take your righteousness thank you for coming into our lives and giving us the ability to live a life of integrity in the name of jesus christ our savior i pray everyone said amen [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] thank you for joining us this morning if you're looking for hope and belonging we invite you to connect with our church family get started today at stonebriar.org we'll see you soon [Music] you

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Length: 92min 29sec (5549 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021