Week 1

KEEPING YOUR INTEGRITY (Part 1)

By Sandra Clifton, D.Min.

 

Begin your study by reading “How to Resist Compromise” by Beth Moore (SpiritLed Woman magazine, Aug/Sept, 2006).

 

Introduction

When you think about life in today’s culture—with its vast variety of beliefs and practices that coincide or conflict with our Christian beliefs and practices—you begin to realize the extent to which we Christians are pressured to compromise, to give, in and to merge our Christian standards with the world. In God’s Word, the book of Daniel serves as a powerful example of how to maintain your walk of integrity when bombarded on all sides by beliefs that attempt to corrode your own.

 

What God Says

Read  Daniel 3:14-30.

 

Write out Matt. 5:14-16.

 

Deeper Insight

Read the following Scriptures (in New King James Version, as the exercises to follow will be based on that). Make brief notes of what each passage has to say about not compromising our beliefs in Jesus Christ.

 

Matt. 5:13:_____________________________________________________

 

Matt. 5:14-16:___________________________________________________

 

Heb. 13:9: _____________________________________________________

 

Gal. 5:1: _______________________________________________________

Application

Fill in the blanks of the Scripture below (NKJV) taken from the previous Deeper Insight section. Check afterward to see how you did by looking up each one. Put each one on a 3x5 note card and carry them around with you, memorizing them.

 

Matt. 5:13: “You are the ____ of the ____; but if the ____ loses its flavor, how shall it be _____? “

 

Matt. 5:14: “You are the ____ of the ____. A ____ that is set on a ____ cannot be ____.”

 

Heb. 13:9: “Do not be carried about with various and _____ doctrines.”

 

Gal. 5:1: “Stand fast therefore in the ____ by which _____ has made us ___, and do not be ______ again with a ___ of bondage.”

 

For Group Study

Begin your group time by reading aloud Matt. 5:13 and then Matt. 5:14. Discuss how the two are similar and what both of them mean to members of the group (testimonies encouraged). Next, discuss the fine line where each one might differ from the other.

            End the meeting by taking prayer needs and praying that each member of the group will become the salt and the light that Jesus has called us to be. Pray that new boldness move through each member as she ministers Jesus Christ to others—whether fellow workers or strangers.

 

Prayer

Memorize Matt. 5:14. Give thanks to the Lord that your light from Him shines and rips apart the darkness wherever you go. Thank Him that as His mighty vessel, you spread and make felt the mighty light of Jesus Christ.