Build With Integrity

Build With Integrity

Morning. Let's take our Bibles and turn to Proverbs 20, please. Proverbs 20, verse number 6. I'd like to read just a couple of verses from this passage this morning, Proverbs 20 for our Scripture reading. Verse number 6. Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find the just man walketh in his integrity, his children are blessed after him. And then in Proverbs 10, if you turn over there, I want to read one other verse in Proverbs 10, verse 9. This morning it says, he that walketh uprightly, walketh surely, but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. We want to draw from these two portions of Scripture for the message this morning. If you'll walk your Bibles to the book of Proverbs and join me in asking God's blessing on the reading of his word.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. You've given us thank you for the help we have to be here. We do remember others that are not able to be with us and we pray that you strengthen them. Lord, we ask for the Holy Spirit to minister to our hearts through the Word today. We pray that it will have an effectual, effective work in our hearts as we receive it. We know that we can repel what you're trying to say to us like the water off of a duck's back, so to speak. But at the same time, we know that the same sun that hardens the clay melts the wax. And we pray that our hearts will be like the wax today that we would receive your Word and that it may have its effective work in us. Bless us as we prepare for this new year. We know that this past year has been full of its ups and downs and we just pray that you'll guide us in the uncharted unknown territory that's before us. May our steps be ordered in your Word and by your Spirit. We pray that the things that we hear today will be helpful to us and instructive to us as we have that desire in our hearts. And we pray these things asking that you bless us as we continue in this worship service in Jesus' name that we ask. Amen.

There's a lot of things that we can't control. We can't control the weather. We can't control how long we live. I mean, we can, you know, hasten our death, I guess, if we do certain things, but we don't know how long we are going to live. We don't really control that. We don't control a lot of things in life. But there's one thing that we do have control of and that is our character. We have, we have say in what kind of character we have. We can't control somebody else's character. We can't make them be what we want them to be. That becomes more and more evident as you grow older and even with your children, you can influence your children in a certain direction. But you can't make your child do something. Now you can give them, you can direct them with discipline when they're in your home. But you can't say, what are you going to do when you leave home? Well, they're going to have to make their own choices. Aren't they? They're going to have to take their own path and we pray for them that they'll take the way the Lord would have them to go, but we can't make that happen.

We hear a lot among, we might say wealth and health coaches in daily life. Maybe on the radio you hear a financial show or you have a financial advisor, you have a health coach, a fitness coach. And a lot of times you'll hear this phrase they use something to the effect of, we want to learn the building blocks of success. We want to learn what the building blocks of success are. Well, when it comes to the area of finance, you need to have a budget. You need to have a budget. When it comes to the area of finance, you might say, well, you need to save. Your income needs to exceed your outgo and that might mean that you have to cut some things from expenditure so that you can properly budget. You need to be managing your finance as well. You need to invest in wise investments. Don't invest in something foolish or if you want to do that, just use a little bit of your money, not all your money in that basket. Well, these are building blocks. There's just fundamental things that you've got to follow if you want to do well as a manager or steward of your finances.

Your health, there's fundamental principles that you've got to follow. You can't just say, well, I'm a very special person and I can just avoid all of those things and still come out with a great outcome. Health-wise. Now you can do all the right things and still, you know, you get cancer unfortunately or you could end up with certain things. No matter how well you might take care of it. There's some things you could avoid by, let's see, let's say you need to get quality sleep, right? That's a building block of being healthy. If you go and you watch YouTube until three o'clock every morning and you get up at six thirty, you're not going to have great health or Netflix or whatever, you know, what you're watching television. I mean, whatever you watch, that's not good. That's not a healthy habit, right? That's not a building block for success in your health. We might say you need to regularly exercise. Maybe that's walking for some people that might mean walking five or 10 minutes. It might mean doing some lightweight training. I don't know what it is for each person. It may be different. But if you talk to someone about your health, that's what they're going to tell you. At 70 years old proper nutrition might look different than it does when you're 10 years old, you know, the kinds of things. I'm getting lots of looks out here. This is not a sermon about health, okay? But I'm just giving, and this is a bad time to even bring that up right after Christmas, right? Just so you know, I didn't eat healthy for Christmas. I had lots of yummy tasting things. But the point is these are building blocks. If you talk to those people, they're going to tell you, this is what you need to do.

Well, spiritually speaking, I want to speak about integrity this morning. Integrity is one of the crucial things that we must have in our lives that must be a part of who we are and how we live. If we are going to be successful spiritually speaking, you know, spiritual success is something that Joshua was told about, you know? Take heed to this book of the law. Don't turn to the right hand. Don't turn to the left. And if you take heed and observe to do what I've written in this book, then you will have good success, right? Not by the world's standards, not by those who know not Christ. They might look at you and say, you're foolish, right? But you will have good success in God's eyes if you will follow God's plan and God's directives.

So in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we see there that there are literal building blocks that are mentioned. There are building materials at least that are mentioned there. And they're, they're talking in that passage, there's a foundation that is pointed out and that foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have no foundation, it is pointless to build, right? You don't, you can't build a house when you don't have a foundation to build it on because we know that if you try to build on the foundation of shifting sand, then you're just wasting your time, right? You have to have a foundation for a house. You have to have something for that house to be built on if it's going to last, right? And so we see in that passage that first of all, the foundation is Jesus Christ upon which our life is established. But if any man is in Christ and he's built on Christ, is the foundation of his life that in any individual man, woman, boy, girl, we see here that there are different building materials mentioned there. We can build our Christian lives with wood, hay, and stubble. We can build with those materials. But what do you notice about those things?

We, we raise chickens and rabbits and that kind of thing and we noticed that if you build something cheaply, you know, if you build it out of just a scrap, sometimes we do this and then you have to rebuild it every few years because it composts, it becomes part of the soil eventually, it breaks down, right? Especially if you build it out of a thin, you know, thin pallet wood or something like that. If you built something just as a temporary structure, you knew it was going to be a temporary structure. It was not going to last. If it doesn't break down or if it doesn't burn up, it's going to break down, right? And then we see in that passage in 1st Corinthians 3, there's other building materials mentioned there, gold, silver, precious stones. Why do they cost so much? Why do we put them in rings and on necklaces and they're pinned, why? Because they last and they're beautiful and they're, they're not quite as abundant as pallet wood is and they're not quite as readily available as things like straw, you know? And that is why they're valuable when they cost money because they last and they're rare, there's a rarity to them. And this is what we're exhorted to build, we're commanded here to build with in 1st Corinthians chapter 3, build those things.

You know, we don't have control over what happens tomorrow, we don't even know if we have tomorrow, but we have today. We have right now in our lives and what do we do? Well, we might say it's described in a lot of ways in the scripture, the way we live our Christian lives is a walk, isn't it? I walk, I put one foot in front of the other and I walk. Well, I'm not, it's describing something spiritual, isn't it? It's describing a journey, it's describing a way, a path that I'm walking in, but it can also be described and we are, we see in that we are to edify one another. That language is talking about building up, right? We are building up in the things that we think, that we say, that we do on a daily basis, we're either building up or we're tearing down or we're putting up things that are going to be torn down. We're putting up things in our lives or with our words towards others that are going to be what the scripture calls corrupt, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the use or the purpose of edifying, right? Building up, building up.

Sometimes when I look, but the ultimate purpose of telling me I'm wrong and the Holy Spirit moving upon that word to my heart to make me realize, yes, I was wrong with that attitude. I was wrong with that thought is ultimately don't build with the wrong materials, build with the right materials and that's the whole purpose of even the reproof is not to condemn me because thankfully I'm in Christ but to make me what the Lord wants me to be and so that I can then be more of what I ought to be to other people. I can have a true integrity in my life and that integrity will in turn make me a greater blessing to other people that I come in contact with. A good, we know the foundation if we are in Christ, we know the we're building on that foundation. How are we building? What kind of materials are we building with? We might say that we could build something that looks good but it's undergirded by or it's built with pride, it's built with envy, it's built in I'm comparing myself with someone else, no. I'm saying I'm better than somebody else, my brother over here, look at me, that's all going to crumble, it's all going to fall down, it's all going to degrade but if I build my life with integrity, what is integrity?

I talked about it, I've used the word a number of times and I know I've explained this word in the past but the idea of integrity we have, you can just think if you remember from math class the integers and math, there are whole numbers, right? One, two, three, four, five, we have fractions and I know Esther loves fractions and fractions are part of a number but an integer is a whole number so that carries over with the idea of integrity, of being of wholeness, of completeness, not missing something that we ought to have, right? Being, it even goes over into the realm of whether or not I'm hypocritical in what I say, do I say something to Esther and I say something different to Anna? I mean I'm one way towards one person but I'm another way over here, the Bible says that the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, he's unstable, you know if a man is not faithful to his wife and he's running around with all these other people or maybe he's, maybe I should say a boyfriend, girlfriend thing and yet he's got multiple others, she's going to eventually find out or he's going to eventually find out and say wait, I thought you said you were all for me but you're for all these others, that's not integrity, that's a good picture of not being, you're presenting yourself as one thing but you're actually something else.

Well, the Lord wants us to be 100% dedicated to Him. You know that's the only way we can be a blessing really to each other is if we're dedicated to Him, in fact he's jealous over us with godly jealousy, that's what he tells us, he's jealous over us with godly jealousy, he doesn't want us to have divided allegiance, now it's not a divided allegiance for me to love my wife and love God because that's what he told me to do, right? He told me to love her and he's told me to bring up my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, that's part of loving God, is loving my neighbor and in this case in my family, my neighbor is my wife and my children but it certainly extends beyond my immediate family that extends to my brothers and sisters in Christ, it extends to people that I come in contact with as I'm just going about my daily life, I can't necessarily have a relationship with everybody on the planet but I can have a relationship with the people that God's put in my path so to speak, that's what you know, it was the example that was given there of the Good Samaritan who is my neighbor, well he's the man that's lying in the street when he walked right by, you know he's the one there that's been left for dead, it's not somebody overseas somewhere that you don't see or don't know about but it's the person that's right in front of you.

Well, integrity affects how I am at home, how I am at church, how I am on the job, how I am, where I am? You know some people we say it's so refreshing when you meet someone, you say what you see is what you get, you see that person and you just, I mean we could say that in a negative way I guess but they're just down-to-earth, aren't they? When they say something they mean it, you know this is who they are, they're not trying to maintain this multi-tiered understanding of their reality of who they are, no they're just who they are and that doesn't mean that they don't have room for improvement, none of us are perfect in that but what I'm saying is being genuine, for the Lord and loving Him and loving one another as God would have us do, we cannot build with wood, hay, stubble and expect God to be honored and our neighbors to be blessed and edified through living in that way.

David was imperfect and yet he had a heart after God's own heart and that's amazing, he failed, he failed on his face and we went through that study not too long ago we saw that he was not perfect, there's no doubt about it, he sinned, what did he do when he realized I've sinned, he got it right and he made amends where he needed to make amends and he, we've seen some kings in Israel, when they were confronted about stuff that they had wrong, they said kill that guy, I don't want to hear him talk from, I don't want him to be a conscience to me about what I've done wrong, get rid of him, cut him off, no, he listened and said I am the man, I am the one that's done this thing, you know sometimes it's far more refreshing not just to have a pure, see someone that has an appearance that everything is well but to have a good response when they are confronted with something they've done wrong, just get it right and make it right.

David prayed for integrity, if you will look with me in Psalm 139, we'll come back to our text here in a moment but Psalm 139, to build the picture here of what we need, why we need integrity, Psalm 139 verse 23 says this prayer, search me oh God he says, search me, we can say search my brother, search my father, search you know some high ranking official search, search this guy over here, no search me, search me oh God this is the prayer, this is a humble prayer isn't it? This is a humble prayer for integrity, search me oh God he says and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Lord take your searchlight and look in my heart and help me to see, you find it and if there's something in me that's not like it ought to be help me to see it, help me to know it because what do we say integrity was a whole number right but if there's this part in me that is inconsistent with what I'm saying from my mouth help me to see it and then give me the humility to let you change that in my life to let you make me what I ought to be instead of just what is the natural mode of operation?

I mean just as we look around us in the world people just generally they deflect from any need in their own life and say well it's so and so, I'm the way I am because so and so over here, no that's not what David said, I'm this way because so and so, it's this way and they treated me this way and they said that to me and I'm just a victim right of circumstances, no David says search me, try me, see if there be any wicked way in me, he didn't say he was completely wicked, no he was a just righteous man, he believed God, but there could be some bad and there were bad building materials in his life even when he numbered the people he did it with the wrong motive and his conscience directed by God smote him when he did that and he says I've sinned, I've done the wrong, I've not been consistent with the very things that I've said that are true and are right and so I must make it right, I must make it right. Have you ever had to make something right that was wrong? Have you ever had to, you know, I mean I know with my wife you know I've said things in a spirit that aren't right, you know, and you can just go on and act like everything's okay but it's not okay right, you've got to make it right and that's part of the daily building blocks for success when it comes to our character. When I say success it's not really about us, it's about our lives being proper pointers to Christ and so people can see him instead of stumbling at us because we're stumbling.

Humility, integrity, faith, love, all these things are building blocks to spiritual well-being and spiritual success. Dwight L. Moody was said to have said the Christian on his knees sees more than the philosopher on tiptoe, he said a man can do great things if he is on his knees. It reminds me of another quote that I had, I read and I can't remember who said it but something to the effect of the church moves forward on its knees so to speak, the church moves forward on its knees, in other words we're at our greatest when we realize how weak we are and humbly ask God to help us be men and women of integrity, men and women of character because we don't have character naturally speaking, we're not, we're not automatically good, no we, we know that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above but we must humbly ask for God to strike out and help us to see and lay aside and put off and cast off anything in our lives that would not be consistent with what is true, what is honest and what is good and what is of integrity. Our state motto, what is it? Sicut um vidari, to be rather than to seem, right, to be rather than to seem, well that's a good motto for us as Christians, right, to be what God wants us to be rather than to merely keep up a facade of seeming to be something that we ought to be. Oh, you know it's advantageous to appear to be righteous but the Bible, God very clearly condemns the form of godliness while denying the power of godliness, to have a form of godliness, in fact Paul told Timothy that in the last days perilous times will come and that one of the marks of those days was going to be, well men will be lovers of their own selves, they'll be lovers of pleasures but they'll have a form of godliness yet deny the power, the essence of that godliness, it just, they just like the form of it, looks good on the outside right, it helps me to be in this religious social circle for my own advantages but it's not genuine, it's not real, it's not who I am before God.

You know we're going to stand before God one day as Christians, we're going to stand before Christ and we're going to give an answer for the things we've done and the motives for which we did those things, why did we do it, what spirit did we do it in, what manner did we do those things in? I was reading recently Oswald Chambers said my worth to God in public is what I am in private, my worth to God in public is what I am in private, you know that means even more to me than ever now that truth, the longer you live you realize you find out who people are, you find out who they are, who you thought they were and then you find out who they really are and then some people that maybe you thought were not what they ought to be, maybe you know they, they got it right and they actually, they actually made things right whereas the other that appeared right didn't make things right and they, and they were really the hypocrites and yet we've got to make sure once again, search me, try me, see if there be any wicked way in me.

And our text, most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, well Paul said I am the chief of sinners, Paul said I am the chief of sinners, he said I know that I have done everything possible to deserve God's wrath but God who is rich in mercy has, has received me unto himself because of my faith in Christ, I'm paraphrasing, that's not what he, the word he said but in so many words, for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, he's made a way for us to be reconciled to him and we see that he didn't proclaim his own goodness, he says I have no confidence in the flesh, he says I am what I am by the grace of God, I am nobody, even his name was changed right from Saul to Paul, means little, from Saul to Paul, and we noticed that, that even he, he was, he was much different from that before, he said in Philippians again, he said that if anyone has reason to boast and I'm paraphrasing again, it's me, I have the pedigree, I had the religious pedigree to boast but those things that were gain to me I counted loss for Christ that I might know him and the power of his resurrection, that I want, I want to know him and I want to make him known in my life.

Think about Daniel with me. Daniel, when he was down in Babylon, it was said of Daniel in chapter six verse one, it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes which should be over the whole kingdom and over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first that the princes might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage, then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, why? Because an excellent spirit was found in him or was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm, then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him, then said these men, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna do, he's, he's a law-abiding citizen, he's a man of his word, he does what he says, I mean he's just, he's just honest, he's a man of integrity, there's an excellent spirit in him, he wouldn't even, he came into this position because the king trusted him, he's well known for being consistent with his words and actions, we will not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the law of his god, we're gonna have to trip him up by creating a law that would cause him to have, cause him a conflict between serving God and obeying the laws of the land right, that's the way we're gonna trip him up, that's how we're gonna catch him and that's why, but, but notice they could not and they did not deny that he was a man of integrity, he was a man of his word, he would do what was right in not only the greatest of matters but in the least of matters, they knew, they knew he prays every day, we see him, we, we know he prays, he's, he practices what he preaches, we might not agree with him but I mean he is who he says he is.

Can the world say that of you and me? Can the world say that of us? Can they look at us and say that's a man of integrity, I don't like him but, but he, I don't agree with him, I may not want to serve his god but you gotta say, you gotta give it to this person that they are who they say they are, that would be one of the greatest things that could be said of us, and, and if they're wrong they admit it and they get it right, that's integrity, that's integrity. Well, but our text it says the just man walketh in his integrity, he lives, he lives day by day what he preaches, what he professes to believe, he, he lives it and his children are blessed after him, you know I do what I do and sometimes they say things I say, I go oh no, I say that, you know they're saying that after me, they, they like to imitate their parents, they want to be like their parents.

God has naturally put us in a position as parents, grandparents, even as role models for the children, they, they want, they at least in early life they think you're the greatest thing in the world, you're greater than the president or something, you know, you're greater than some great leader, no, well in a way the role that we have as parents is greater than a great leader in the world is, it's a very important role that God has given to us, the just man walketh in his integrity, his children are blessed after him and that, and, and you know a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, a good name is rather to be chosen, what is that talking about? It means when people think of your name what do they think of, when they think of Nathan Reed, when they think of George Johnson, they think of Ronnie Pete, Andrea Pete, Rebecca Ball, what do they think of those, your name, that's an honest person, that's a person of integrity, you know when I was a teenager getting a job and people will see me, oh, oh you're Ronnie Pete's son, you're, you're, you're so-and-so's son, he's a good guy, you know and so they automatically have sort of an impression about me because they know who my dad is right, you know they, they know who your, your father, your mother, whatever is and it's because of, there's a, there is an integrity that they associate with that name or maybe we could say it the other way, maybe you have the misfortune of being associated with a father or mother that is, they have a bad reputation, well it doesn't mean you'll always be stuck with that but you might start with it right, you might start with a bad reputation, some of, maybe some of you today have had that, that you've had to work through but thankfully God judges us individually based on our own character doesn't he, he looks at us individually, not, and thankfully but also there's a word of warning, maybe if you have a good father, don't, don't just, or mother, don't just rest on the fact that you had a good father or mother, you have, we saw this morning in Sunday school didn't we, Jehoiada was the counselor, the high priest, he was counselor of Joash and Joash was just riding on the coattails, he was riding on the coattails of Jehoiada but he had no character of his own, it became very apparent as soon as Jehoiada died, he's a scoundrel, he's a scoundrel, he starts killing people and just doing terrible things, and, and, and the very things that it looked like he was doing, it was actually Jehoiada was doing the good things and then as soon as Jehoiada dies, he, he says here, hey Hazael King of Syria, our main king of Syria, take all these vessels, we just spent money to put into the temple, into the temple, he had no character, he had no integrity, he was, he was just riding on someone else's, he was riding on someone else's name.

Search me, try me, see if there be any wicked way in me. And then in Proverbs 10 verse 9, what do we read? He that walketh uprightly, we talked about the just man, he walks in his integrity, his children are blessed after him, but he that walketh uprightly walketh surely, surely, what is that talking about? Um, Habakkuk the prophet talked about even though he was living in troublesome times and the, in the, the Chaldeans were going to come, the Lord itself, the Chaldeans are going to come, that bitter and hasty nation, they're going to take away into captivity my people, Habakkuk said yet I will rejoice in the Lord, he came to that conclusion even though he was trembling and fearful to begin with, he said I will rejoice in the Lord, even if things aren't going well, he said he will make my feet like hinds' feet, like one that would walk in the unstable, unsure places, he would walk sure-footedly, he would walk sure-footedly, think about the mountain goats and they walk on those cliff, the, the edges of these cliffs and they find little crags in the rocks and they, and they walk up in these high places, that's what we see here, the, the, the, the man of integrity walks uprightly, he walks surely, but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

Just as true as it is that a man, what does it say, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and, and, and the good name is rather to be chosen because like we saw with Daniel, what did, what do we see, there was an excellent spirit in him and the king knew it, everybody knew it, everybody knew, the presidents and princes and counselors, all these people, they knew that is a man of integrity, but it's also true that someone who is perverse, someone who perverts the right way and they, they twist things to their own advantage, but they don't live in integrity, they, they turn the truth and they twist it and they make it what they wanted to be to serve themselves and to their own advantage, it's also true that his ways shall be known, in time it will come out who that person is when they're not living according to the right way, when they're, when they're not who they appear to be, note it will be, it will be known, it will come out.

You can't control the length of your life, you can't control what people say about you, but you can control where you walk and how you walk and how you build, you can control that, and, and you, and you must, and when I say control it, with God's help you can, we wouldn't even be here today if it wasn't for God's grace, Paul said I am what I am by the grace of God, but, but as God's grace was working in his life, he had to respond to what God wanted him to be and say yes Lord, he had to humble himself and say yes, we told our children, you know when they're very young, I think in Sunday school, you know what do we do, we say yes to Jesus and no to the devil right, yes to Jesus, no to the devil, let God have his way with us, that's the only way we can be people of integrity, that's the only way we can be.

You first of all have got to acknowledge the basic fundamental truth that I'm a sinner, I need the Lord Jesus Christ to save, I can't save myself, I've got to have my house built on a rock, not on the sand, if I keep thinking that I can save myself, I'm going to be building on the sand, I'm going to be building on the sand, and, and I can, I can make it look good but when the wind comes, the floods rise, the storm beats against that house, it's gonna fall down flat, I've got to be on the Lord Jesus Christ, I've got to have my faith in him and having my faith in him and having been born again, having a new foundation, not, I'm not founded on myself in my good works, I'm founded, I've founded it on the Lord Jesus Christ, be careful how we build, let's be careful we don't bring shame to the name of Christ, be careful that we are, we are going to, in the man of integrity, he's the true, the true man of integrity, there's, there's no other one that has integrity like he has, he's the source of integrity and as we look to him, he'll make us, what do we see in James, come to the mirror, look, come to the glass of God's word, we better not return the same person we were right, but if we look into the perfect law of liberty and continue walking therein, not being forgetful hearers but doers of the work, the things we read, we say yes Lord, oh that's me, I need, I need to lay that aside, yes, if we will not be forgetful hearers but doers of what God tells us, we'll be blessed in our deed and that, what God says. Amen.

May God help us to be men and women of integrity. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for those gathered here today, we pray for those not able to be here, we pray Lord that you would help us to, help us to make sure first of all that our lives are built upon the Lord Jesus Christ and then as we build our lives day by day in the steps we take and the building blocks we use, may we not build with pride, selfishness, bitterness, the spirit of revenge, may we not, may we not build with desire for attention, but may we build with humility, may we build with prayer and, and a true love to God and love for our neighbor, may we build lives step by step, day by day in the decisions, the, the mundane choices that we make in daily life are very important choices even if they don't seem to be on a large scale at the moment, they are being observed by the eye that sees all things, our, our heavenly Father, we know you see all things that we do and you're with us, you're present with us, there's nowhere we can go that we're out of your presence, if we go to the very depths or go up to the heights or go to the farthest extent we can go, still you're there and so may we, may we have that humility to pray and to seek you daily for integrity and to search us, try us, see if there be any wicked way and lead us in the way that we ought to go, bless now as we, as we prepare hearts to enter this new year, may we enter it with a, a burning desire for this integrity that we've seen in your word this morning, may we want to be a Daniel, may we want to be a David, may we want to be what you'd have us to be in our own lives, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.