JUNE .... Month of HONESTY. OFM SCHOOL OF THE SPIRIT LESSON 22 FOR SUNDAY JUNE 1ST, 2014. TOPIC: WHAT IS HONESTY TEXT: GENESIS 42:8 - 26. MEMORY VERSE: We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.” GENESIS 42:11. CENTRAL THOUGHT: Honesty is a standard that God expects all Christian believers to meet up with. INTRODUCTION: Many think of honesty as telling the truth not knowing that it is more than that. We have many leaders, merchants, great men of influence, affluence and wealth; warlords, kings and queens, great men of God and follower (disciples), but very few men of honesty. The Greek word for honesty is KALOS meaning that which is good and admirable. OUTLINE:- 1). WHAT IS HONESTY? 2). REASONS FOR HONESTY. WHAT IS HONESTY? Simply put, honesty is being sincere, truthful, trustworthy, honorable, fair, genuine and loyal with integrity. Honesty is simply telling the truth and it is a striaght forward conduct being exhibited by an individual or Christian believer. In GENESIS 42:11, the brothers of Joseph were trying to make Joseph see their repentant nature of honesty, while not knowing that the very man they were speaking with was the very joseph whom they betrayed and sold out. Joseph deliberately tested the level of the honesty of his brothers. We should be careful not to pay any man evil with evil (ROMANNS 12:17. PROVERBS 12:22 says, Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight. REASONS FOR HONESTY? 1). SANCTIFICATION (1 THESSALONIANS 4:3,6 - 7):- Sanctification is the Christian experience that normally follows after salvation. Salvation means the forgiveness of sins whereby an individual is counted as if she never sinned in her life because all the bad records (of her sins) have been blotted out. This is referred to as Justification. But there is still inner corruption, the nature and foundation of sin within. MATTHEW 5:8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. To sanctify is to consecrate, make sacred, dedicate, set apart totally for God only, so neither Satan, society nor self has any reasonable part in the person. To sanctify also means to make holy, to be free from sin and to cleanse from moral corruption. (PSALMS 24:4, HEBREWS 13:12, HEBREWS 12:14). 2). THE PURSUIT OF PRACTICAL HOLINESS (LUKE 1:75):- Let your heart be longing, desirous, thirsty after righteousness and practical holiness. Practical Holiness can be outlines as: H - Humility (MATTHEW 18:3). O - Obedience (ROMANS 6:17). L - Love (MATTHEW 22:37,39). I - Innocency (PSALMS 19:13). This is innocency in your place of work even when others cheating and defrauding. N- New life in the Lord (EPHESIANS 5:24). E_ Endurance (HEBREWS 12:1 - 3). It removes hindrances from your way as you follow God patiently. S- Self-denial (LUKE 9:23). You must deny self to serve God practically and honestly. S- Separation (1 JOHN 2:15 - 17) from just and worldliness. 3). BELIEVER WITHOUT BLEMISH (TRANSPARENT) (EPHESIANS 5:27):- Your heart must be touched, cleansed and purged by the Lord for a God-fearing conscience for honest walk with God ( 1 THESSALONIANS 5:22, 23 - 24 & HEBREWS 2:11). 4). THE PRINCIPLE OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY (CHARACTER) (JOB 2:3):- Job actually suffered but amidst the Christian integrity means faithfulness to Gods revealed standards. It is synonymous with honesty, sincerity or incorruptibility. Whenever you are tempted to compromise, you need to remember that God will never approve of you when you change or bend things deceitfully (JOB 2:9 - 10, DANIEL 1:8). QUESTION: 1. What is Honesty? 2. Mention the reasons for Honesty. CONCLUSION: For you to be a honesty believer, God has called you unto sanctification, holiness and integrity. Have you lost and compromised your integrity? Come back in repentance. God wants your holiness to be practical inwardly and outwardly, so keep your sanctification (Salvation) and integrity intact (1 THESSALONIANS 5:24).
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 20:13:00 +0000
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