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Week 1: In a world full of competing voices, wisdom begins by listening to the right one.

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Wisdom = Understanding how God designed life to work and happily choosing to live accordingly, following that path.

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Week 1: In a world full of competing voices, wisdom begins by listening to the right one.

Week 2: “What Does Wisdom Sound Like?”

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Week 1: In a world full of competing voices, wisdom begins by listening to the right one.

Week 2: “What Does Wisdom Sound Like?”

Week 3: What Do I Do with My Anger?

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Proverbs 10:9

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

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How Do I Live Honestly in a Dishonest World?

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Big Idea: Living a life of integrity means pursuing truthfulness and honesty in all interactions, living as the same person in public and private because you fear God more than you fear people. 

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  • What is Integrity?

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What is Integrity?

Integrity = Being truthful, honest in all interactions. Determined to promote things as they actually are.

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What is Integrity?

Integrity = Being truthful, honest in all interactions. Determined to promote things as they actually are.

Lying = When we deliberately present an inaccurate view in order to motivate someone else to think or act in a way they would not if they had an accurate picture.

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  • What is Integrity?

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  • What is Integrity?
      • We must put forth effort to hear God’s voice, pray with desperate dependence for his answer, and pursue it enthusiastically.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

1 My son, if you receive my words�    and treasure up my commandments with you,�making your ear attentive to wisdom�    and inclining your heart to understanding;�yes, if you call out for insight�    and raise your voice for understanding,�if you seek it like silver�    and search for it as for hidden treasures,�

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Proverbs 2:1-22

1 My son, if you receive my words�    and treasure up my commandments with you,�making your ear attentive to wisdom�    and inclining your heart to understanding;�yes, if you call out for insight�    and raise your voice for understanding,�if you seek it like silver�    and search for it as for hidden treasures,�

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Proverbs 2:1-22

1 My son, if you receive my words�    and treasure up my commandments with you,�making your ear attentive to wisdom�    and inclining your heart to understanding;�yes, if you call out for insight�    and raise your voice for understanding,�if you seek it like silver�    and search for it as for hidden treasures,�

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Proverbs 2:1-22

1 My son, if you receive my words�    and treasure up my commandments with you,�making your ear attentive to wisdom�    and inclining your heart to understanding;�yes, if you call out for insight�    and raise your voice for understanding,�if you seek it like silver�    and search for it as for hidden treasures,�

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Proverbs 2:1-22

1 My son, if you receive my words�    and treasure up my commandments with you,�making your ear attentive to wisdom�    and inclining your heart to understanding;�yes, if you call out for insight�    and raise your voice for understanding,�if you seek it like silver�    and search for it as for hidden treasures,�

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  • What is Integrity?
      • We must put forth effort to hear God’s voice, pray with desperate dependence for his answer, and pursue it enthusiastically.
      • THEN God provides – HIMSELF – AND protects those in relationship with Him.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

then you will understand the fear of the Lord�    and find the knowledge of God.�For the Lord gives wisdom;�    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;�he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;�    he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,�guarding the paths of justice�    and watching over the way of his saints.�

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Proverbs 2:1-22

then you will understand the fear of the Lord�    and find the knowledge of God.�For the Lord gives wisdom;�    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;�he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;�    he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,�guarding the paths of justice�    and watching over the way of his saints.�

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Proverbs 2:1-22

then you will understand the fear of the Lord�    and find the knowledge of God.�For the Lord gives wisdom;�    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;�he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;�    he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,�guarding the paths of justice�    and watching over the way of his saints.�

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Proverbs 2:1-22

then you will understand the fear of the Lord�    and find the knowledge of God.�For the Lord gives wisdom;�    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;�he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;�    he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,�guarding the paths of justice�    and watching over the way of his saints.

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  • What is Integrity?
      • We must put forth effort to hear God’s voice, pray with desperate dependence for his answer, and pursue enthusiastically.
      • THEN God provides – HIMSELF – AND protects those in relationship with Him.
      • We cannot and do not have to hide from God, and we don't have to hide from others.

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A great challenge we are now facing is the denial that there is truth.

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  • Integrity Begins in the Heart

  • Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

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Proverbs 2:1-22

then you will understand the fear of the Lord�    and find the knowledge of God.�For the Lord gives wisdom;�    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;�he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;�    he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,guarding the paths of justice�    and watching over the way of his saints.

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What is Integrity?

Integrity = Being truthful, honest in all interactions. Determined to promote things as they actually are.

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He increasingly gives the picture of the way things actually are.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • The Truth of Relativism - There is no objective truth.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • The Truth of Relativism - There is no objective truth.

  • Relativism:
    • no absolute, objective truth, a particular individual or culture determines their truth.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • The Truth of Relativism - There is no objective truth.

  • Relativism:
    • no absolute, objective truth, a particular individual or culture determines their truth
    • the denial that there is objective truth grounded in the character of The Almighty God or any other source.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

“Relativism poses as humble by saying: “We are not smart enough to know what the truth is—or if there is any universal truth.” It sounds humble. But look carefully at what is happening. It’s like a servant saying: I am not smart enough to know which person here is my master—or if I even have a master. The result is that I don’t have a master and I can be my own master. That is in reality what happens to relativists: In claiming to be too lowly to know the truth, they exalt themselves as supreme arbiter of what they can think and do. This is not humility. This is the essence of pride.” - John Piper

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • The Truth of Relativism - There is no objective truth.

  • Relativism:
    • no absolute, objective truth, a particular individual or culture determines their truth
    • the denial that there is objective truth grounded in the character of The Almighty God or any other source.

Creating your truth

Discovering what God really said about truth

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

Our view:

  • Objective Truth = God

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

Our view:

  • Objective Truth = God -> Bible interpreted

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

Our view:

  • Objective Truth = God -> Bible interpreted ->Accurate picture of God, the world, and ourselves

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

Our view:

  • Objective Truth = God -> Bible interpreted ->Accurate picture of God, the world, and ourselves

Relativist’s view:

    • Truth = Their view of the world

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

Appeal of relativism:

    • tolerant
    • open minded
    • all ideas equally valid
    • promotes humility
    • diminishes responsibility

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

Appeal of relativism:

    • tolerant
    • open minded
    • all ideas equally valid
    • promotes humility
    • diminishes responsibility

Aversion to objective truth

    • intolerant
    • close minded
    • superiority
    • promotes arrogance
    • demands responsibility

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

“It is easy to be relativists when it suits us, especially if we hate conflict. But the second that someone cuts us off on the freeway, cuts the queue in front of us, hacks our online identity, breaks into our car, slanders us behind our back, or take too long delivering our order, all our sanctimonious slogans about not passing judgement and others living their truths evaporate internally in the heat of our moral indignation.”

- Thaddeus Willams

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity is grounded in objective truth, not relativism.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity is grounded in objective truth, not relativism.
  • A life of integrity, built with God, gets revealed under pressure.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity is grounded in objective truth, not relativism.
  • A life of integrity, built with God, gets revealed under pressure.
  • A life of integrity does not 'shield’ us from being falsely accused.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity is grounded in objective truth, not relativism.
  • A life of integrity, built with God, gets revealed under pressure.
  • A life of integrity does not shield us from being falsely accused.
  • Temptation to compromise our integrity will sometimes present itself with obvious, immediate consequences.

The greatest danger is not the extreme, but the subtle movement of the heart away from God.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity is grounded in objective truth, not relativism.
  • A life of integrity, built with God, gets revealed under pressure.
  • A life of integrity does not shield us from being falsely accused.
  • Temptation to compromise our integrity will sometimes present itself with obvious, immediate consequences.
  • Though God does not always keep us or ‘shield us’ from challenging circumstances the way we may believe, He promises to always be with us in it and deliver us from it as He sees fit.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity is grounded in objective truth, not relativism.
  • A life of integrity, built with God, gets revealed under pressure.
  • A life of integrity does not shield us from being falsely accused.
  • Temptation to compromise our integrity will sometimes present itself with obvious, immediate consequences.
  • Though God does not always keep us or ‘shield us’ from challenging circumstances the way we may believe, He promises to always be with us in it and deliver us from it as He sees fit.
  • The ultimate deliverance found in Christ alone is always available to us.

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Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity is grounded in objective truth, not relativism.
  • A life of integrity, built with God, gets revealed under pressure.
  • A life of integrity does not shield us from being falsely accused.
  • Temptation to compromise our integrity will sometimes present itself with obvious, immediate consequences.
  • Though God does not always keep us or “shield us” from challenging circumstances the way we may believe, He promises to always be with us in it and deliver us from it as He sees fit.
  • The ultimate deliverance found in Christ alone is always available to us.
  • Our integrity becomes a platform for His Glory.

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You don’t build your integrity in a crisis, you reveal it there to

a watching world.

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  • Integrity Begins in the Heart

  • Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity Reflects the Wisdom of God to a Watching World

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Integrity Reflects the Wisdom of God to a Watching World

  • God protects by giving us wisdom, to grow us step by step into people of integrity

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Proverbs 2:1-22

Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

10 for wisdom will come into your heart,�    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;�11 discretion will watch over you,�    understanding will guard you,�12 delivering you from the way of evil,�    from men of perverted speech,�13 who forsake the paths of uprightness�    to walk in the ways of darkness,�14 who rejoice in doing evil�    and delight in the perverseness of evil,

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Proverbs 2:1-22

Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

10 for wisdom will come into your heart,�    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;�11 discretion will watch over you,�    understanding will guard you,�12 delivering you from the way of evil,�    from men of perverted speech,�13 who forsake the paths of uprightness�    to walk in the ways of darkness,�14 who rejoice in doing evil�    and delight in the perverseness of evil,

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Proverbs 2:1-22

Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

10 for wisdom will come into your heart,�    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;�11 discretion will watch over you,�    understanding will guard you,�12 delivering you from the way of evil,�    from men of perverted speech,�13 who forsake the paths of uprightness�    to walk in the ways of darkness,�14 who rejoice in doing evil�    and delight in the perverseness of evil,

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Proverbs 2:1-22

Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

10 for wisdom will come into your heart,�    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;�11 discretion will watch over you,�    understanding will guard you,�12 delivering you from the way of evil,�    from men of perverted speech,�13 who forsake the paths of uprightness�    to walk in the ways of darkness,�14 who rejoice in doing evil�    and delight in the perverseness of evil,

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Proverbs 2:1-22

Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

10 for wisdom will come into your heart,�    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;�11 discretion will watch over you,�    understanding will guard you,�12 delivering you from the way of evil,�    from men of perverted speech,�13 who forsake the paths of uprightness�    to walk in the ways of darkness,�14 who rejoice in doing evil�    and delight in the perverseness of evil,

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Integrity Reflects the Wisdom of God to a Watching World

  • God protects by giving us wisdom, to grow us step by step into people of integrity
  • God empowers us to discern and avoid those promoting evil.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

10 for wisdom will come into your heart,�    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;�11 discretion will watch over you,�    understanding will guard you,�12 delivering you from the way of evil,�    from men of perverted speech,�13 who forsake the paths of uprightness�    to walk in the ways of darkness,�14 who rejoice in doing evil�    and delight in the perverseness of evil,

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Proverbs 2:1-22

15 men whose paths are crooked,�    and who are devious in their ways.

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,�    from the adulteress with her smooth words,�17 who forsakes the companion of her youth�    and forgets the covenant of her God;�18 for her house sinks down to death,�    and her paths to the departed;

19 none who go to her come back,�    nor do they regain the paths of life.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

15 men whose paths are crooked,�    and who are devious in their ways.

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,�    from the adulteress with her smooth words,�17 who forsakes the companion of her youth�    and forgets the covenant of her God;�18 for her house sinks down to death,�    and her paths to the departed;

19 none who go to her come back,�    nor do they regain the paths of life.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

15 men whose paths are crooked,�    and who are devious in their ways.

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,�    from the adulteress with her smooth words,�17 who forsakes the companion of her youth�    and forgets the covenant of her God;�18 for her house sinks down to death,�    and her paths to the departed;

19 none who go to her come back,�    nor do they regain the paths of life.

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Integrity Reflects the Wisdom of God to a Watching World

  • God protects by giving us wisdom, to grow us step by step into people of integrity
  • God empowers us to discern and avoid those promoting evil.
  • God offers direction and clarity to live full, happy lives.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

20 So you will walk in the way of the good�    and keep to the paths of the righteous.�21 For the upright will inhabit the land,�    and those with integrity will remain in it,�22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,�    and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

20 So you will walk in the way of the good�    and keep to the paths of the righteous.�21 For the upright will inhabit the land,�    and those with integrity will remain in it,�22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,�    and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

20 So you will walk in the way of the good�    and keep to the paths of the righteous.�21 For the upright will inhabit the land,�    and those with integrity will remain in it,�22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,�    and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

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  • Integrity Begins in the Heart

  • Integrity Is Tested Under Pressure

  • Integrity Reflects the Wisdom of God to a Watching World

  • Integrity Requires a Daily Alignment

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Proverbs 2:1-22

20 So you will walk in the way of the good�    and keep to the paths of the righteous.�21 For the upright will inhabit the land,�    and those with integrity will remain in it,�22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,�    and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

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Proverbs 2:1-22

20 So you will walk in the way of the good�    and keep to the paths of the righteous.�21 For the upright will inhabit the land,�    and those with integrity will remain in it,�22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,�    and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

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Integrity Requires a Daily Alignment:

  • Assess your current attitude toward truth.

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Integrity Requires a Daily Alignment:

  • Assess your current attitude toward truth.
  • Be aware of where our integrity is most tempted in our life.

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Gather �data

Reflect

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Gather �data

Design a course of action

Reflect

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Gather �data

Act

Design a course of action

Reflect

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Gather �data

Act

Design a course of action

Reflect

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Gather �data

Act

Design a course of action

Reflect

LENGTH OF TIME???

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Integrity Requires a Daily Alignment:

  • Assess your current attitude toward truth.
  • Be aware of where our integrity is most tempted in our life.
  • Every morning, pause, Pray that God would help you get rid of any unholy complacency toward integrity.

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Integrity Requires a Daily Alignment:

  • Assess your current attitude toward truth.
  • Be aware of where our integrity is most tempted in our life.
  • Every morning, pause, Pray that God would help you get rid of any unholy complacency toward integrity.
  • Seek guidance about how best to confront integrity issues that may arise.

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MONDAY MATTERS:

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MONDAY MATTERS:

  • Make a list of the costs of compromising your integrity has produced in your life?

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MONDAY MATTERS:

  • Make a list of the costs of compromising your integrity has produced in your life?
  • Make a list of the benefits from Proverbs 2:5-21 that
  • come with living wisely, with integrity?

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MONDAY MATTERS:

  • Make a list of the costs of compromising your integrity has produced in your life?
  • Make a list of the benefits from Proverbs 2:5-21 that
  • come with living wisely, with integrity?
  • If there is a relationship in which you have shaded the truth, confess and address.

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MONDAY MATTERS:

  • Make a list of the costs of compromising your integrity has produced in your life?
  • Make a list of the benefits from Proverbs 2:5-21 that
  • come with living wisely, with integrity?
  • If there is a relationship in which you have shaded the truth, confess and address.
  • Commit to living with integrity in all of life.

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Prayer from St. Aquinas:

  • Give me, Lord God, a watchful heart that no stray thought might distract me from you.
  • Give me a noble heart that no unworthy affection might pull me down.
  • Give me a just heart that will not be divided by any dark intention.
  • Give me a strong heart that will not be broken by any tribulation.
  • Give me a free heart that will not follow any violent desire.

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Prayer from St. Aquinas:

Father, be our wisdom. That we would know you, and seek you diligently. A mind to follow you and a life to please you. Perseverance to wait faithfully for you and the trust that will finally embrace you.