[Troy Phelps] A successful businessman was growing old, and he knew that it was time for him to choose someone who would succeed him in his company. Instead of choosing one of his directors, or maybe one of his children, he decided to do something quite different. He called all the young executives in his company together, and he said, “It's time for me to step down and choose the next CEO, and I've decided to choose one of you.” The young executives were shocked. They looked around, wondering who would be the next CEO. He said, "I'm going to give each of you a seed today – one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, I want you to water it and take care of it, and then, a year from now, I'll have you bring in what you've grown, and I'll evaluate it and judge it, and I'll choose the next CEO."

Well, one of those men – his name was Jim – he went home that day, and just like all the other people who had received a seed, he was really excited. He told his wife all about it. She helped him pick out a nice pot. They went to the store, they got some dirt – some nice compost – and they planted this seed. Each day he watered that seed, doing everything he could to take care of it, but nothing grew. Three weeks went by, four weeks went by, five weeks went by – still nothing. By now, others in the office were talking about their plants that were growing, but Jim didn't have a plant. He felt like a failure. Six months went by. He continued to do all he could to take care of it and water it, but still nothing in his pot. He just knew he had killed the seed. Everyone else had tall trees and plants. He had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues. He just kept watering and fertilizing the seed. He so wanted something to grow there.

A year went by and the CEO told all the young executives to bring their plants in to work for inspection. Jim told his wife, “I feel like a fool to take in an empty pot.” His wife said, “Well, just, you know, take it, be honest, tell him what happened.” Jim felt sick to his stomach. It was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, he just knew it. But he knew his wife was right, so he took the empty pot, and he took it to the boardroom. When he got there, he was amazed by all the beautiful plants and trees and flowers that he saw all around him, in all sorts of sizes and shapes. Jim put his empty pot back on the floor, tried to stand in the back of the room behind some other people, hoping he wouldn't be noticed – other people did notice – they saw the empty pot. Some people laughed, some people – you could tell – felt sorry for him. He just tried to hide in the back.

The CEO came in, he looked around and he said, “Wow, what great plants and trees and flowers you've all grown!” All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim in the back of the room with his empty pot. And he asked Jim, “Come up here. Come to the front.” Jim was terrified. He thought, “Aaah, the CEO knows I'm a failure, and he might even fire me.” When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him – he said, “What happened? What happened to the seed?” So Jim recounted and told him the story.

And the CEO had everybody sit down, except Jim. He looked at Jim, then he announced to all the young executives – he said, “Behold, your next chief operating or executive officer/CEO” – this Jim. Jim couldn't believe it! He couldn't even grow a seed. How could he be the next CEO – the head of an entire corporation? How was this guy the right choice? The CEO then went on to tell, “One year ago I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But you see, I gave you all boiled seeds. They were dead. It was not possible to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found the seed wouldn't grow, you substituted it for another one, instead of the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and integrity to bring me the pot with just my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the next CEO.”

What would we have done in that situation? Today, I'd like to talk about being a person of integrity. Being a person of integrity. Integrity is a dying trait in our world, and it has been for some time. Mankind has always struggled with it, but it seems in our world today that integrity is getting harder and harder to find. It seemed the trait that used to be critical in all of our leaders, and even people in general, has lost its importance. The Barna research group, that does studies on a bunch of various topics, did a survey on parents, and they asked the parents to list the qualities that they found were, or thought were, most important for them to have in order to be effective parents. What was interesting is, only one percent of those parents listed having integrity or good character as a significant characteristic for them to have to be effective parents – one percent. Not only that, almost half of these parents also said that they teach their children there are no moral absolutes that they can live by – no moral absolutes – no principles that you can take to the bank – that you can live by.

About a month or so ago, my wife and I were watching one of my favorite movies – I finally convinced her to watch it again with me – it's called, Cinderella Man. It's based on a true story about a boxer named Jim Braddock, and his family's struggles through the Great Depression. In the middle of the story, this family has really fallen on hard times – they're struggling. The electricity had been turned off, they owe everybody money, they barely are scraping by to get enough food. Jim got hurt. He can't box anymore. He goes down to the docks. He occasionally gets picked for shifts, but there's tons of men trying to get shifts, so they're just really struggling. And then, there's this scene where he comes home at the end of the day, and he finds out that his son, Jay, had stolen a salami from the local butcher. Now, put yourself in that situation – your kids are going hungry, you're going hungry – the boy didn't get caught. You guys really need the food, but when Jim comes home and was informed of the theft, he marches his son right back to the butcher, makes him return it, and apologize. And then after they leave the store, they walk outside, and he looks at his son and kneels down and says, “Just because things ain't easy, doesn't give you the right to take what's not yours, does it? That's stealing, right? We don't steal. No matter what happens, we don't steal – not ever. You got me?” That left such an impression on me. What an example!

People used to have integrity, even in difficult times – absolute values that they didn't break. Where's integrity gone? What would happen now if we had another Great Depression? I sometimes wonder that.

Based on the research I've done, it seems that up until the 1950s, that integrity was important to people – a good family name, moral values, trust on a handshake – but since then, it seems that integrity has been disappearing at an alarming rate. In the 1960s they talked of that. There was this huge knowledge explosion that has continued all the way through our present age. In 2 Timothy 3, and verse 7 – we won't turn there – we're probably familiar with this – it talks about things that will happen in the last days. It said that people will always be learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Is that true about our times? Certainly. People are learning, knowledge has exploded, but with it, evil and moral decline has exploded too. What has happened to integrity? Our politicians rarely have it. Wall Street can't seem to find it. There are new standards that are now becoming mainstream: cut corners, lie to get ahead, step on people if necessary. It's okay if everyone's doing it. Negotiations don't have to be honest – get the deal done, make the sale. It's okay to cheat in school, because everybody's doing it, so, it's really a level playing field. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity and hardihood. The virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are: prosperity at any price, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory.” Wow, doesn't that describe our America, and probably our world?

Integrity is vanishing. Do you have it? Would people describe you as a person of integrity? We'll use a simple definition today for integrity. It's always doing the right thing, no matter what. Always doing the right thing, no matter what – even when no one's looking, even when the choice isn't easy, even when there's consequences for the choice you're making – always doing the right thing, no matter what. Our simple definition starts with always, and that's one aspect of integrity. You either have it, or you don't. People can either count on you as a person of integrity, or they can't. It's not some light switch that we can turn on and off. In an on position, we have integrity. But, when it's off, we don't. True integrity is something you always are – a way of living. It's the choices that you make in life. And you make those right choices consistently, no matter what. Let's turn to Deuteronomy 30, and verse 19. This is a memory scripture for many people. And like many memory scriptures, they almost can, sometimes, lose some of their real punch, because we've read them so many times. But, it's interesting what God tells us here in Deuteronomy 30, and verse 19. He says:

Deuteronomy 30:19 – I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you – choices – life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

God made men and women to have free will – to be able to make choices – good choices and bad choices. It started a long time ago with the choice between two trees. The choices between a way of life and a way of choices that produces pain and difficulty and death. And thankfully, we aren't left to guess which of those choices are good and which ones of those are bad. We're blessed to be living with copies in our hands of God's instructions – His life-instruction manual for us – informing us of which choices lead to blessings, and which choices lead to pain and things that are contrary to God's way – that lead to bad consequences. One of the scriptures that has just constantly been coming up in my mind lately is Galatians 6, and verse 7. I'll read it, it's pretty – Galatians 6:7. God promises through His inspired word, He says:

Galatians 6:7 – Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

God is not mocked. What it says here is true. What a man sows, he will reap. We all have choices that we make. Throughout this message, we'll look at some of those choices that we each will have the opportunity to make. One of the surest things I've come to believe, with all certainty, is, if we make choices that go against God's principles, that there are always consequences. We can't be smarter than God. We can't go against them. Otherwise, God would be a liar. God would be mocked.

This year I had the great opportunity, once again, to go out to Hye Sierra for camp – just got back about a week-and-a-half ago, I think. And this year at camp, our United Youth Camp theme was, Leaders –  eople with Character. We talked to the campers about their choices – about their influence and how all of them are leaders – how their influence and example, you know, it's always being shown to people. These principles we're teaching our campers are going to affect their lives. They're going to go with them through their entire life. It's going to affect them in school. It's going to affect them in their first real jobs. And the sooner they learn to be people of real character, the better, and the better that life will go. Businesses and organizations want people that they can trust – that demonstrate a high level of integrity. It's no surprise, but studies show that people of integrity receive more promotions – do better in business. Yet, our world still doesn't seem to place that value on it in their daily lives. They seldom teach it and hold people to it.

I imagine most people are familiar with who Warren Buffett is. This year he's listed in Forbes as the fourth-richest person on the planet. He has a net worth of 62.9 billion dollars that was self-made. He was once asked the question of what he looks for in people that he hires. He said, three things: integrity, intelligence and energy – and if they don't have the first one, the other two don't matter. I have proven this to be true.

At work I have the responsibility for hiring and firing analysts for my team. And I love the interviewing process and that whole process that takes place there. I was at dinner a month ago with some of my senior leaders of my company, and they were praising the high performance of my team and the happiness they have with the group, and they asked about the background of each of my analysts. And I told them what their degrees were and what their previous jobs had been. I could tell – they weren't all that impressed, nor should they be really. The individuals on my team don't have fancy degrees. None of them even have a Master’s degree, let alone some doctorate in statistics or something. They don't have what a lot of the people in my company have – these health scientists, or health outcome scientists – with long titles after them. So then they asked me, “Well, how did you go about hiring these individuals?” And I told them, “I don't interview for traits that I can teach. I interview for the traits I can't teach. I told them I look for bright, hard-working, honest people, that get along with others.” And I told them, “I can't teach them integrity, honesty or hard work, but I can teach them how to use programs and how to get better at Microsoft Excel, and things like that.” And I could tell by their look and the conversations that continued afterwards, that they were pleased with that answer. You can't teach integrity.

At camp each day, we took different aspects of character. And I had the pleasure and opportunity to speak one day to the campers for the morning compass check on integrity. After talking with them for a little bit about integrity and the choices that they make in life, I asked them, “Now what if integrity wasn't something that was invisible – that you couldn't see? What if your integrity was physical – something that you had with you at all times? And every time you made a choice, you would see the impact on your integrity? You could see when you made a choice that was good – that everything with your integrity was just fine. But you make a bad choice, you could see its immediate impact.” I asked them, “What if today, your integrity was like an egg? And what if every choice you can make, you see whether that egg remained intact – your integrity remained intact, perfect, unharmed – but if you do something wrong, you get a little crack in your integrity? Another bad choice, another crack in your integrity. A little white lie, maybe a little bit of damage, a big lie….” I don't want Tim and Connie mad at me, so I won't bust up the egg anymore.

Because in a very real sense, that's what happens with every choice we make. We might not be able to see it in something physical, like this egg, but every choice we make, either our integrity remains perfect and intact, or it's damaged when we compromise on our values. So then I gave each of the campers an egg. For that day, a hundred eggs went around camp to every single activity they went to. From activity to activity, we wrote the word integrity on the side, and they wrote their names on it as well. And at the end of the day, we saw what choices they made and how it affected their physical integrity that we gave them. Would it show neglect or abuse, or would it remain perfect? I came around to them throughout the day, and I started to see some that were showing some wear and tear. We talked about their integrity, and we talked about, more importantly, their integrity that was on the inside. So at the end of the day, at the last evening campfire, we collected all the eggs back and we wrote down the statistics of how many were completely destroyed, how many were cracked a little bit, and how many remained perfect. About 25% were completely destroyed, usually because, while they had been diligent to be careful and watch and protect their integrity, there was a moment of carelessness – a temporarily taking the eye off the ball, so to speak. And then, in that moment, wham! – something happened to their integrity. Their integrity took a major blow. Isn't that how real life is? We can go through life making many good choices day to day, protecting our integrity. Then, all of a sudden in a moment, wham! – damage to our integrity.

Didn't this happen to David – a man, that throughout his life, had been such a model of integrity? He stood up to Goliath. After that, when Saul was trying to kill him day to day, he still showed honor and respect to that authority position. Yet, one day, he's up on the roof, and he spots naked Bathsheba. And then, the series of events that transpired after that and, wham! – his integrity took a major bashing. Now, he would repent and change – and I think all of us would regard David as a man of integrity at the end of his life – but will we ever forget the cracks in his integrity? We almost can't talk about his good without mentioning the cracks. Another 25% of the eggs came back with some cracks, some minor cracks. They weren't perfect. I was pleased to see how successful many of our campers had been with their eggs. About 50% of them came back perfect. They were constantly guarding and protecting their egg. Some of them even made contraptions to keep them extra-safe throughout the day, so that they would be well-protected.

Satan is constantly trying to smash our integrity. As these last days approach, Satan is methodically attacking our moral values and Godly principles, undermining their importance and the need for them in our lives. Now the world we live in will afford us many opportunities to put our integrity to the real test. To be successful, we must constantly be focused on protecting our integrity. There are many areas that can trip us up. One of the greatest and most often that will present itself in front of us is the love of money. Let's turn to Acts 5. Previously, at the end of Acts 4, we see many Christians have begun to – in the New Testament and the early church – begun to sell off their possessions, their properties, their homes, and give monies to the apostles, so that all the followers could be taken care of. And then, in the next chapter, in Acts 5, starting in the first verse, we're told of a husband and wife – you probably know where I'm going – the names of Ananias and Sapphira. They are known for the quality of their integrity, or perhaps the lack thereof. Let's pick up the story in verse 1:

Acts 5:1 – But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession – turned out to be land – and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?” Peter's saying, “You had choices here. It was your own. No one made you do this. You could have kept it for yourself. Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. He dies and men carry him out.

V-7 – Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.

They had choices. Satan put before them one that is commonly difficult – the love of money. They obviously didn't want to give all the money away. But, there was also a status, an image that they desired. They wanted to be considered generous. Their integrity was tested. They could have been honest. They could have been people of integrity, but they weren't.

This dishonesty over money and a desire to look generous isn't unique to just Ananias and Sapphira. Another one of the Barna research group's studies – they did a study and they found that American adults who said that they had given 10% or more of their income to churches and related ministries, in the past year. So they got that group of people. And then they did an examination on their finances. And they found that two-thirds of all those people were lying about their generosity. Two-thirds of people weren't giving what they said they were to their churches. Have you ever withheld money that belonged to God? Malachi 3 and verse 8, again, we won't turn there today, it says:

Malachi 3:8 – Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings.

Tithing is a matter of integrity. God clearly shows that it's His money, and that He considers it robbing Him if it's kept back. Does our integrity have a price tag? Can our integrity be bought? What would you be willing to do for a million dollars? Would you compromise your integrity? Would you steal? Would you lie for a million dollars? What about a small little white lie? What if it was ten million dollars? Does your integrity have a price?

A man asked a woman – he said, “Would you sleep with me – have sex for a million dollars?” She said, “Yeah, I guess I would.” He goes, “Would you sleep with me for ten dollars?” She goes, “No, of course not. What do you think I am?” He said, “We've already established what you are. Now we're just haggling over the price.” Now, that's kind of a silly joke, but numerous studies have shown that peoples' integrity often does have price tags. If the amount is raised high enough, then the values are negotiable.

In a book called, The Day America Told the Truth – the authors are James Patterson and Peter Kim – it revealed some shocking statistics on how far people in this country are willing to go for money. People were guaranteed anonymity, and they were asked, “What would you be willing to do for ten million dollars?” Simple question – What would you be willing to do for ten million dollars? And they gave them choices. One in four people – 25% – said they would abandon their entire family. 23% said they would become prostitutes for a week or more – one in four. 16% would leave their spouses. I guess in this world that's not too surprising. 10% would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free. That's one in ten people. The last two I find even more disturbing. 7% would kill a stranger – that's almost one in ten. And 3% – three out of a hundred people – would put their children up for adoption. That's disturbingly shocking. Yet, on the other hand, maybe it shouldn't be. That's the world that is developing around us.

All these shocking stats aside, for us today, a much bigger question is: What's our integrity worth? And does our integrity have a price tag? Proverbs 28 – Dan's spent a lot of times in the Proverbs – today we'll hit a few more throughout the rest of this message. Proverbs 28 and verse 6 says:

Proverbs 28:6 – Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity. What is more important to us? Our integrity or getting wealth? God says it's better to be poor.

Yesterday I was late to the office, and I was required to stop and buy donuts. Required? Yes, required! My team and I started a couple years ago, a self-policing policy that says, “If you're late for work, you have to buy donuts for the 13 people in the office, or in our group.” I like the policy, because (1) my group isn't late very often, and (2) when someone's late, nobody is upset about it. Hey, free donuts!

I bring this up because it reminded me of an article I read by Mark Sieverkropp. He has a Website about business and leadership. He was purchasing some food for an office meeting that he was having, and as he got up he picked up a dozen donuts – a box of a dozen donuts – and got up to the cashier, and the cashier asked – amongst the other things he bought – he said, “How many donuts did you get?” And he said, “Twelve,” which was accurate. And after paying, he began to walk outside, and he got to thinking about the amount he just paid – that was too low. He got the receipt out and realized he hadn't been charged the $5.99 for the donuts. Now, this is where our human nature kicks in, right? He began to rationalize, “Well, it's not my fault. It was the fault of the cashier. He knew I had the donuts, I told him I had twelve. Nobody's going to know the difference. I'm running late for work. I really need to get to work. I don't have time to go back and pay. It's only $5.99. It's not going to bankrupt Safeway.” Then he heard the words in his head, “Would you sell your soul for $5.99?” He walked back to the check stand, stood in line, and informed the cashier that he had neglected to charge him for the donuts. The article ends with, “What's the result of me doing so/him doing so?” He said, “I paid $5.99 more for the refreshments than I would have otherwise, but I reinforced it within myself that integrity is important to me. The cashier will, from now on, think of me as a person of integrity. The next time I'm faced with having a choice of being a person of integrity, I will have another reminder of the importance of honesty. I have a story to illustrate this to my children, and I have a clear conscience.”

Whether it's a box of $5.99 donuts, or a deal at work for 5.99 million dollars, we must always do the right thing. What's our integrity worth? And does it have a price? We've probably all found ourselves in similar situations before, right? I used to play Monopoly with my nephews a lot, and there's a card in there that says, a bank error in your favor, collect $200. Do we apply the Monopoly principle if we get back too much change – a buck fifty? Is that just a bank error in our favor? What about it? Does the answer change if it's a $150, instead of just a buck fifty? Is there a value that would lead us to do the wrong thing? If so, then our integrity does have a price. Let's go to Luke 16, and verse 10, and read some of Christ's own words. Luke 16:10 says:

Luke 16:10 – “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.” Like we said before, integrity is not a light switch. It cannot be turned on and off again. You either have it or you don't. If you have it, you always have it, regardless of whether it's a small matter or a large matter. Regardless of whether it's a box of $5.99 donuts, or again, a 5.99 million-dollar deal.

Verse 11 – “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon – money – who will commit to your trust the true riches?”

Verse 13 – “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Is money our desire? Is that our idol? Is that what we serve? Or is God our Master? Does God and His ways – is that what we serve? What if the love of money comes in the form of our job? What would you be willing to lose your job over? What if you were told to cook the books, which financial analysts are saying is happening more and more, as the pressures from Wall Street to keep stock prices increasing, is becoming even more intense. You can't just keep a flat line. You've got to always be growing your stock prices. They're saying more and more books are being cooked. What if you're told you had to lie to a client? Work on the Sabbath? Our integrity is always being tested. Does our egg remain perfect, or does it get cracked?

What about non-mammon things? Non-money things? Would we be willing to compromise our integrity to impress friends, or have friends? Or do we always do the right thing, no matter what?

Our integrity can be tested in materialistic things, in opportunities for advancement, in relationships with the opposite sex – either before or after marriage – having a good time at the expense of right decisions. Let's turn and look at some good examples in the Bible from Daniel. Let's go to Daniel – we'll start in Daniel 3. The book of Daniel has many wonderful, inspiring examples of what true, uncompromising integrity really looks like. Daniel 3 and verse 15 – here is a common story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. They have been commanded to bow down to an idol and break God's commandments. Did their integrity have a price? Daniel 3 and verse 15 – again, this is a common story, but let's look at it from the standpoint of integrity:

Daniel 3:15 – Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king – I love that. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.

This, of course, makes the king angry. They're thrown in a furnace that's heated many times over, but the fire has no effect on them. Not even their clothes smell like the smoke. And they live. But they've proved that their integrity did not have a price tag – not even if it cost them their physical life. And their integrity made a huge impact on the king himself. Let's turn over a few pages to Daniel 6, verse 9. We'll hit another one of the amazing examples here – Daniel 6:9. From children, we're often familiar with Daniel in the lion's den. The king had been conned into signing a new law that whoever would petition any god or man for thirty days, except for the king himself, would be cast into a den of lions. Verse 9:

Daniel 6:9 – Therefore King Darius signed the written decree. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home – now notice – when he knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down – three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

The law was signed. Daniel does exactly what he's always done. He didn't hide. He didn't keep the windows closed. He didn't rationalize and somehow try to convince himself that it's okay not to pray for these next 30 days, and stay close to God. No, he opened his windows and he prayed as he always did. He put his life on the line for his integrity. And he was thrown into the lion's den, but God protected him from them. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and Daniel are amazing examples of integrity. And their examples impacted those around them, and they still set an amazing example to us today.

Another major aspect of being a person of integrity, is maintaining honesty. Maintaining “honesty, no matter what. A man's word used to be valued. It could be trusted. Two-hundred-page legal documents weren't necessary for every little thing. There weren't teams of lawyers trying to find loopholes to undo deals and go back on an agreement. Actually, my wife and I just recently bought and sold a house, and my wife was commenting to me, “What happened to the days when you could, you know, put your hand under someone's thigh, or give them your sandal, to seal the deal?”

Jon Huntsman is another self-made billionaire. He wrote a book called, Winners Never Cheat. And the book has the sub-title, Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten). The book is a quick read. It's a small book, but the book is a call to business people everywhere to return to the principles of integrity in business. He says that the fact that everyone does it – everyone cheats, everyone lies – doesn't make it right. And that you can succeed at the highest level without sacrificing the principles of life that makes it really, truly worth living. In the book, he shares a powerful example, where he agreed to sell a division of his company back in 1984, for fifty-four million dollars. It was 40% of his company – fifty-four million. After long and difficult negotiations, they finally settled on that price, and ended the deal with a handshake – he and the other CEO. It took then, 6-1/2 months for the lawyers on the other side to get the papers drawn up and to get them back over to him. In the meantime, the profits for his company had tripled. The CEO from the other company, realizing this, called him and said, “40% of your company, Huntsman Chemical, today, is now worth two-hundred fifty million dollars, not fifty-four million. According to my bankers, you and I shook hands at fifty-four million – I'm willing to split the difference with you – willing to split the two-hundred fifty million. I'll pay one hundred twenty-five million now, instead of fifty-four million.”

Jon Huntsman said, “No.” He said, “It wouldn't be fair to you to use the appreciated value, nor should you split the difference. You and I shook hands and made an agreement at fifty-four million dollars, and that's what I'm going to have the lawyers finish drafting up.” This is almost five times less than now what that segment of his company was worth – almost a two-hundred million-dollar difference. And this other CEO was fine paying half. Nothing had been put in writing. They hadn't signed a thing. They had nothing on paper. But, Huntsman valued his word – his handshake. In the book he said, “Your word is your greatest asset – honesty your best virtue.

Integrity does still exist. It's just becoming more and more rare. Let's go to Psalm 15. It's one of my favorite Psalms. It's a short, five-verse psalm that has a great deal to do with our integrity. It's packed with how we should be living our lives. It starts with asking, in Psalm 15 verse 1. It says:

Psalm 15:1 – Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

And then it goes on to list a number of qualities that we should all strive to have. Qualities that a person of integrity has. But, I want to focus just on one today, in the last part of verse 4. The last part of verse 4, Psalm 15, says:

Psalm 15:4 – ...He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.

We won't go there, but in Matthew 5, and verse 37, Christ said that we shouldn't even swear. Our no should be no and our yes, yes. Often in life leaders often will choose to go to the same people. People that they typically use – not because they're unwilling to go and use someone else, but so often, because people don't keep their word, and when they find somebody they can truly count on, they tend to use that person over and over. Because some people, even though they say, “Yeah, I'll do such and such,” they either call and back out at the last minute, or don't call at all, and they drop the ball. This is a key part of integrity. God just says that whether we say yes or no, that we should keep our word. And it says, even to our own hurt. Even when it causes us difficulty. That's when many people go back on their word – when they're put out – when something isn't going to go really well for them – to keep it, or they'll be impacted negatively in some way. But God says, when we say we'll do something, whether it's big or small, we do it no matter what, even if it hurts. In our definition of integrity, we said, “Always do what is right, no matter what. No matter what. Do we have that kind of integrity? We must always tell the truth, regardless of the consequences – regardless of what's at stake.

Michael Josephson started the Josephson Institute. He's conducted over a hundred thousand different leadership workshops for influential leaders, and the mission of his company and Website is to improve the ethical quality of society by changing personal and organizational decision-making and behavior. He occasionally writes an article on a blog called, Something to Think About. Something to Think About is his blog. He told a story of when he was a law professor, and he would administer multiple choice questions or tests, and he scored them by hand. One day a student came to his office, informing him he'd made a scoring error, but it was in his favor. He got a better grade than he deserved. He was so impressed with the student's honesty, and he told him so. And then he got out his book and he began to change the grade. And the student was horrified. He said, “You're going to lower my grade?” And the professor said, “Of course. I'm entering the correct score.” The student said, “I would have never come to you...” and he stopped. He didn't have to finish. It was obvious he expected to be praised for his great integrity, but he thought that the professor would reward him with letting him keep the grade. He left the office angry, muttering at the professor that he'd punished him for being honest.

The story should really make us think about honesty, integrity, and our motivation for doing the right things. The student hadn't earned a better grade than all the other students. Should his GPA honestly reflect a better score than theirs? Would it be fair to those other students? Integrity is about doing the right thing because it's right, not because it gives us some advantage. If the student hadn't said anything, he could have kept the better grade, sure, but it would have been no different than keeping more change when you went to the cashier. The student wasn't punished. He received the exact grade he had earned. But in this case, his honesty and his integrity was counterfeit. Honesty is an aspect of integrity that we must dedicate ourselves to.

Let's go to a few more proverbs as we wrap up. Let's go to Proverbs 13, and verse 5. We'll stay here in Proverbs. Proverbs 13:5 says:

Proverbs 13:5 – A righteous man hates lying. Does this describe us?

There is no such thing as an innocent white lie – a little lie. A lie is a lie. As people of integrity, we must always tell the truth, no matter what. As I studied this topic of integrity, I found a number of common steps that I was able to put together from a variety of places – one being Stephen Carter, a Yale law professor who wrote a book on integrity – an article called, Preserving Integrity from MyTools.com, and also from the book from John Huntsman, Winners Never Cheat. I found that, basically, there are three things we need to do to have integrity

(1) Define right and wrong. We must know what we believe before we can always live by those values, no matter what. These core values are the values that no matter the consequences – no matter what those may be – we'll always live by them, We won't compromise. We get our absolute core values from one place: God's word – our Bible. We must know it, we must search it, we must study it. Only then will we know the principles like Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abed-Nego applied, and are willing to lay our very lives down for. That we will not compromise from or stray from. So, number one: define right and wrong.

(2) Analyze every choice. As we read in Deuteronomy at the beginning, God has given us free will. And we have the choices between good and evil that we must make every day. Our integrity is constantly being tested, and therefore, we must take each and every opportunity seriously. Even when no one is looking, even when we think it doesn't matter, or no one will notice. We must always do what is right. The Preserving Integrity article gave two helpful questions to ask yourself when you're analyzing a choice – if you're not sure which one's the right way. You know, you got this extra buck fifty, what should I do? A. If my choice was printed on the front page of a newspaper for everyone to see, would I feel OK about it? If my choice was printed on the front page of a newspaper, would I feel OK about it? And B. If I make this choice, will I feel okay with myself afterward? Those are two questions when we're analyzing our choices.

We're still in Proverbs. Let's turn over to Proverbs 11, and verse 3. It says:

Proverbs 11:3 – The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.

When we have and use integrity, it will lead us down the right path. It's not convoluted like the world likes to make it seem. There's a right path.

Matthew 7:14 – another memory scripture says:

Matthew 7:14 – “…narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

There are few who are willing to live this lifestyle. The choices aren't always easy, but there's a path.

(3) Act on what you have discerned, even at personal cost. Once you have evaluated and analyzed your choices, you must do the right thing, even if it comes at a cost, even if it's unpopular. Right is right, no matter what. If you've made a mistake, own up to it. Take responsibility, and do what it takes to make it right. Choose to stand out – to go against the grain in this world around us. God is not mocked. We will reap what we sow, and so will our family.

Another Proverb, Proverbs 20, and verse 7 says:

Proverbs 20:7 – The righteous man walks in his integrity – and notice – his children are blessed after him.

There are blessings to our children and their children, based on our integrity – possibly financial or other physical blessings – but certainly blessings from having a strong, right example to follow. And that will produce blessings for them and their own individual lives, and so on.

We read at the beginning to choose life, not just so that we can live; so that you – both you and your descendants – may live. Our choices and our integrity isn't just about us. It affects our family and others.

And our final proverb – Proverbs 10, and verse 9:

Proverbs 10:9 – He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.

When we always do what is right, no matter what, we don't have to worry about the direction our life is heading. Our path is steady and secure. We don't have to remember what we said yesterday, or watch our back, due to some shady deal that we made. But if we walk in a crocked path, we surely will fall, because God is not mocked. We could read so many more examples – the Psalms are full of promises from God to take care of those that have integrity. The Bible is full of other examples from Job and Ruth, but it's also full of people who lacked integrity. Which will we be? Which will you be?

Brethren, integrity is disappearing from our world. But, at the return of Christ – which, hopefully is in the very near future – there will be some that are people of integrity, who always do what is right, no matter what – whose integrity cannot be bought – does not have a price – people whose word is true, and will even place a value on integrity above their own life. Let's choose life. Let's each be a person of integrity.