{"id":752,"date":"2011-02-14T11:04:52","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T18:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=752"},"modified":"2011-02-14T11:04:52","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T18:04:52","slug":"integrity-in-the-pulpit-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=752","title":{"rendered":"Integrity in the Pulpit (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this series of posts I’ll be speaking to the preachers. All others are welcome to listen in, but I’ll be talking to those who share my calling as a proclaimer of God’s Word.<\/p>\n

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Gentlemen, we all want to preach. God has put that compulsion within us. Rightly, we all want to preach well<\/em>.\u00a0 History affirms that one can preach without integrity, but eternity will reveal that no one ever preached well <\/em>without it.<\/p>\n

So, may I ask: What is integrity?<\/span> What does it look like in a preacher? Perhaps an answer to those questions lies on the other side of an answer to this one: What is the opposite of integrity?<\/span> Is it compromise? Is it a divided heart or mind? Are there truths that we, even as preachers, simply tip our hats at, but fail to truly believe? We expound them. We can alliterate three points related to them. But do we believe them?\u00a0 How does this relate to integrity in the pulpit?<\/p>\n

I have never found a better explanation of integrity than that of Warren Weirsbe in his book The Integrity Crisis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What is integrity?\u00a0 The Oxford English Dictionary<\/em> says that the word come from the Latin integritas<\/em>, which means \u2018wholeness,\u2019 \u2018entireness,\u2019 \u2018completeness.\u2019\u00a0 The root is integer<\/em>, which means \u2018untouched,\u2019 \u2018intact,\u2019 \u2018entire.\u2019 . . . A person with integrity is not divided (that\u2019s duplicity<\/em>) or merely pretending (that\u2019s hypocrisy<\/em>).\u00a0 He or she is \u2018whole\u2019; life is \u2018put together,\u2019 and things are working together harmoniously.\u00a0 People with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear.\u00a0 Their lives are open books.\u00a0 They are integers.[i]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What, then, does that look like in the pulpit? In this series of posts I’d like to suggest six areas to which integrity is essential, if we as preachers are to preach well — by eternity’s and God’s accounting. I will take the suggestive approach, rather than a declaratory approach. I want to invite (even instigate) your thinking. To that end I’ll set forth both some questions and quotations in each area. First, then, is . . .<\/p>\n

Integrity with God \u2014 Questions About Accountability<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Questions & Queries<\/span>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n