Father Almighty, Your ancient words that are relevant even up to this moment, open our hearts to receive from You, Lord, let it change me, let it change you here in Jesus name. Lord God Almighty, we come before You this morning seeking Your intervention in our lives, in the lives of our leaders and in our country, in our church, in our mission, in the name of Jesus.
At a time like this, Lord, more than ever before, Your injunction to us that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth, let us manifest this in the mighty name of Jesus. Oh Lord God Almighty, take control, take charge this morning in the mighty name of Jesus. We release ourselves for Your divine surgery this morning, Lord God Almighty, let us come out transformed and better prepared for the assignment You have for us all, un Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
I would like to thank God Almighty for this opportunity to be here this morning to share His word with His people, thank You Father. I’ll also like to appreciate our father in the Lord, the APICR Region 11, Pastor Tunde Netufo, and the pastorate for this opportunity, I do not take it lightly or take it for granted. May the Lord continue to bless them in Jesus’ name.
Just to remind us that tomorrow in this local assembly we have prayer chain by 6:30 p.m. and the theme is The Curse Breaker. Every curse disturbing our nation, disturbing us as a people, the Lord shall break in the mighty name of Jesus. God will help us, God will help our nation in Jesus mighty name. Praise the Lord!
This morning I have an assignment but I’d like to put a caveat, and the caveat is in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”, that particularly applies to me this morning as I stand before you, and I pray that God will help me and God will help you.
There’s a club in Nigeria, probably one of the most interesting clubs, it’s not a football club, it’s a club of spec removers. Can we have Matthew 7: 3, and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considereth not the beam that is in thine own eye? Many of us, myself inclusive, take a lot of pleasure by pointing the finger at people, ‘oh the persons in Abuja, the persons in Alausa, the persons in Ado-Ekiti, (which is my state capital), are the ones responsible for our woes’, but really, is that it? What about us ourselves, what are we doing? Are we demonstrating integrity as we should as children of God? I pray this morning that God will help us in Jesus mighty name.
Are we modeling integrity as a people? Well, let me start by reading our Bible passage for today which talks about Joseph, and the Bible passage is Genesis 39: 2 – 12, I won’t read it all but I’ll paraphrase as I go on; and the Lord was with Joseph, (the Lord will be with you), and he was a prosperous man (you will be prosperous); and he was in the house of his master. 3And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hands.
4And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 5And it came to pass from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and all over that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. 6And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored.
7And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, lie with me. 8But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, behold, my master wotthe not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; 9there is no greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?
We are quite familiar with this story and our theme for this service is Integrity: Be a Joseph in the Marketplace. I pray that God will help us in Jesus name. What is integrity? Integrity means wholeness, consistency and moral uprightness. Integrity is all about what you are doing in your private space being in correlation or in synchrony with what you do in your public life.
Many of us in our homes are different or in church are different from how we manifest in the marketplace or in our neighborhoods; to be people of integrity means that we consistently follow what the Lord wants us to do. I remember a primary school rhyme and I’m sure many of you remember it which says, do your best and leave the rest, and your yes should be yes and your no should be no, but is that what happens? God will help us.
In various spheres of life, we see that things are not going well because we are not doing that which we ought to do. [Story shown on the screen about the impact of corruption in Nigeria], this is not a junk newspaper by the way, I’m sure you will agree with me, ‘Nigeria loses $18 billion annually to financial crimes, corrupt procurement processes’, and many of us will be here and say I am not part of it, we are all part of it either by keeping silent or facilitating issues of this nature, God will have mercy on us, God will have mercy on our country in Jesus name.
We had a provincial conference yesterday and in the course of the sessions, the nuggets that are useful for us for this sermon whereto coming out, (I hope I have the permission of the pastorate to share those examples), and one of the pastors that mounted the pulpit spoke about simple things, we want to buy an organ and thank you everyone that contributed towards the purchase of an organ.
Does anyone buy an organ and put in their living room? No, you put a piano, a grand piano, so where are organs used? Are they used in the stadium? In church, and I heard that when we wanted to buy the organ, the person selling said what do you want us to add on top of it? People are looking at me as if you don’t understand what I’m saying. The organs are sold to churches, meaning that it is a pattern and a trend for whoever from the church is buying organs from them to add something on it. We cleanse all the organs in our churches in Nigeria with the blood of Jesus. It’s a serious prayer.
That is in the church, what about at home? They say, (and I’m not going to be specific to any gender), that at times when children have school fees to pay that there are times collusion that some parents will tell the school, add on it because they want to take the excess to cover what maybe one of the partners is not giving at home. Jesus help us.
When the May 29th or June 12th pronouncement two years ago came out, ‘subsidy is gone’, do you know what happens? I know in my household, my wife does not allow the driver to go and buy fuel when she’s not in the car, and the drivers are born again Christians by the way, but it’s a racket, everybody is doing one thing or the other to enrich themselves by cutting corners. I pray that God will help us in Jesus name.
And there are so many other examples, but why choose Joseph this morning to speak about Joseph? Because Joseph is a model of integrity in the marketplace. In service, as we read in the passage, Joseph was a slave yet he served faithfully. I know a number of people who render eye service in church, render eye service in the workplace, they show that they are working when their bosses are around or in church case where the senior pastors are around. But Joseph worked diligently and faithfully, he didn’t steal, he didn’t cheat, neither did he complain.
Let me tell you something, in today’s world, if you were in that situation of Joseph where you are the custodian of the inventory of money and resources and the master is not even checking on the inventory, checking on what is happening, many of us – no, we’re not here, many people would have taken undue advantage to enrich themselves. You know if Joseph had sought to enrich himself, the master would not have known but he was diligent, and his diligence, we all know, earned him prosperity even in captivity.
What’s the takeaway from this? Do your work well, whether your boss appreciates you or not, do it well, and you know why? God is our true employer. The Bible says that we should render our service as unto God, at times people struggle to employ [skipped] shared an example, she went to conduct business in a business place and when she got in to conduct the business, the person meant to attend to her shut her down, no no, we are praying – during work hours.
Let me tell you, it is a lack of integrity when you are using the time that you are meant to dedicate to your work to be holding your own not-God-conveyed prayer meetings. Integrity is about doing the right thing at the right time, if you are not serving well and you are spending half the work hours praying, conducting praise and worship sessions, you are stealing, may God help us in Jesus name.
With Joseph there was integrity in temptation; Potiphar’s wife sought his attention, I am saying in my mind that if Joseph was in Nigeria, it is not Potiphar’s wife that will approach him, is most likely that Joseph might be the one approaching. I think if King David was a Nigerian, what do you think? He wasn’t at his duty post; number one, he was meant to go for war, he didn’t go for war, he was in his patio and started seeing what he should not see, but Joseph maintained his integrity in temptation. Some of us will say, “Ah, the money was too much, they brought it to me.” May God help us in Jesus name.
And I just want to throw some personal examples, but you know how I started this sermon, I’m far from perfect; many years ago, about 20 years ago, we had a debtor who owed us money, and around Christmas we had gone to see him, normal customer relationship stuff, and as we were leaving, he led us downstairs, myself and a colleague of mine, and offered us two brand new cars. Brethren, at that point in time, you know I’m a village boy, December, I needed money, I really needed that car, but the ethics of the profession does not allow me to do that.
I didn’t take the car and I reported to my bosses and some people thought you’re a mumu, and when you want to behave like a person of integrity people will cuss you out. Let me tell you, if I had taken that car 20 years ago, because of certain things that is happening right now, I would have gotten into trouble, and I know many of you have resisted different types of temptations and as a man you also face those temptations.
Some ladies and the other way by the way, I will show you something later, would want to tempt you and provoke you, and when you do like you are a shume (you know what I mean), they will start hailing you ‘pastor, pastor’. Not that we didn’t know about it in the past o, but we are now new creatures in Christ.
What about integrity in power? Joseph had that. In Nigeria today, we have a pepper dem culture, ah, I suffered, now I’m at the pinnacle of my aspirations or ambitions as a governor, as a prime minister. We see that in Genesis 41: 39-44, but I don’t need to read it because we all know it; when Joseph got into power he did not oppress people, he did not oppress his brothers that offended him, be had integrity. Many of us, give us small position, the tyranny will not have part two.
Integrity is also about discharging your responsibilities in a responsible manner. So brethren when God promotes you and indeed you are promoted in Jesus name, you know what our theme for the month is, divine enablement, when you get it, please use that position to advance mankind and not to become a terrorist. God will help us in Jesus name.
Why does integrity matter particularly in our local environment? In business today, we see inflation of prices, causing of artificial scarcity just because we want to rip off the other person, but God wants us to build a reputation that money cannot buy.
Many people today, they are prosperous but they don’t have the reputation because people just know how they made their money. Proverbs 22: 1, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold; having a good name, in those days in the part of the country where I come from, they would always give an injunction, ranti omo eni ti o se, I translate, remember whose child that you are, so when you want to do funny things you remember that you cannot tarnish the name, more so we are ambassadors of Christ and we must represent Jesus well. And I pray that we’ll represent Him well in Jesus’ name.
In public service, it’s your ministry, your place of ministry, you must do your work well. If you are responsible for tarring roads, ensure they are tarred; if you are responsible for sanitation, make sure the environment is clean and do not cut corners. It is also estimated that in Nigeria today that almost 20% of our GDP is lost due to shady practices and shady dealings, I pray that God will help us in Jesus name.
In corporate life, don’t join to forge documents, forge figures. People have now taken it as a normal way of life, it is wrong, do not do it, we must be dependable. Matthew 5:37, but let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil, and there is power in being able to say no, you probably want to ask a question that but it’s not our fault nau, do you know the pressures that we are going through?
There are pressures at home, one spouse might want the children to go to a school that the family cannot afford, one spouse might want the family to live in a place that they will struggle to afford and it causes a lot of problem, and when the problem comes, it throws the family into disarray. So we must be able to say ‘no’ so that we do not get tempted into doing the things that we should not be doing.
When I first spoke about this topic at a smaller meeting, I told them that me I watched Netflix at times though, but I watch just to get lessons, one of the blockbuster films today is the film called How to Kill a Monkey; brilliant guy, excellent guy, but he didn’t get a job, struggled, things didn’t work for him, they were pressing buttons in his village and he did not know how to respond, he should just have come to Jesus, he turned down an opportunity that would have made him money but would have cost him trouble. He went back home and the spouse told him what are you doing here, you better go back, in fact the spouse went to beg that they should not mind the husband and he got into a life of crime and the end was disastrous. I pray that God will help us that we will not succumb to temptation in Jesus name.
In ministry, ministers must handle God’s resources with honesty. Joseph administered his role without compromising, and integrity is not just for the sake of it, there are rewards that come with being a person of integrity;
One is the divine presence of God. Genesis 39:2 says, and God was with him, and that’s because Joseph was a person of integrity. Another reward for being a person of integrity is protection; integrity will shield us from hidden traps. Psalm 25:21, let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee; yes, you might have been waiting a while for that breakthrough, it’s not the time to cut corners. God will preserve
What does integrity bring? You’ll be surprised, it brings promotion, your honesty will speak for you even in your absence and we saw that with Joseph in Genesis 41:14. I know of someone who was trying to get a high-profile job and they were doing character references, and one of the things they said about that person is, “You are safe with him, he will not steal your money”. I hope they can say that about me, I hope they can say that about you in Jesus name.
What does integrity bring? Another reward is peace of mind. If your ways are straight, you don’t have to be remembering the lies you told, how you will cover it, how you will do that, peace of mind. You will not get a call from EFCC, you will not get a call from Panti to come and start defending yourself.
What about posterity? The righteous leaves a lasting legacy, Proverbs 20:7, the just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him. The story is told of a lady who was vying for a very competitive position; her father had been a civil servant but an excellent one at that. Never compromised, never took money that didn’t belong to him, and out of the long list of qualified candidates, the lady was chosen for the job. Why? Because they said you are the daughter of so so and so, he was a good man.
There are some names today, if you see the names on a CV brought before you,
first of all, you will knock off that name because you do not think that there’s a lasting legacy in that family line.
But how do we stay grounded in a corrupt world? We must stay grounded in the word of the Lord, we must stay grounded.
Today’s Open Heavens gives a degree of comfort to us all, what does it say? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; we do not need to help God to do His work, He will provide for us, we will not need to compromise and do things that we’re not meant to do.
You must surround yourself with godly people. First Corinthians 15:33, people who will give you the right counsel, not people who will tell you that this is how you can scheme out the system, and there are a lot of friends like that, you need to know where you will pack them so that you do not listen to counsel from them. I pray that God will help us. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners; if you constantly expose yourself to people who will tell you to do the wrong things, trust me, it’s only a matter of time before you succumb.
What other things should we do? We must reject this slogan ‘but everybody is doing it’; please when you looked at your birth certificate or your international passport, did you see everybody as part of your name? You have a unique identity, don’t do something because everybody is doing it.
We must also seek accountability. Do you have mentors? Do you have somebody who talks to you and can lead you with the right counsel? Then most importantly, we must remember something, we must remember eternity, all the gains we get from doing wrong can never buy eternity in heaven. Let’s play the long game; the long game is a game that takes us to the destination that we desire. I pray that God will help us not to compromise in Jesus mighty name.
In conclusion, Joseph’s story shows that righteousness still pays. A few days ago, we lost an illustrious personality in Nigeria, you know what everybody thinks? ‘There goes a good man’, truly, there’s only God that knows who is good to be quite frank, but people say there goes a good man because that man was known for his integrity.
Remember brethren that they are going to play our video for us on that last day, and there’s a story, (I’m short of time but I’ll just say it briefly), a man, the CEO of a company was dating one of his direct subordinates doing it kurukere and in secret. They went for a show, in the show, God just wanted to show all of us sample, the satellite just beamed to them and stayed there and it went all over the world.
I think God was just trying to tell us the things that you do in secret, He will expose it, but if you’ve done evil in secret, God gives us a second chance, God allows us to come back to Him, He’s a merciful God.
So this morning, if you are here, you’re not happy with what you have done, you’re not the only one, many of us were in that state or are in that state, the remedy for living outside the plan of God, the remedy for being disobedient to the word of God is to surrender to Him.
[Altar call]
Please keep coming while the rest of us cry out to God and say Father, cleanse my heart from every form of deceit, greed, and compromise. Lord, cleanse my heart from every form of deceit, every form of greed, and every form of compromise in the name of Jesus. Let’s cry to God and say Father, help me to stand firm for righteousness, in my workplace, in my business, and in my community in the name of Jesus.
Let’s pray concerning Nigeria and say, Father, please raise men and women of integrity in Nigeria, in government, in business, in the church, and let righteousness exalt Nigeria.
Brethren, for a moment, reflect on your life, what are those areas you need God’s help with? Things that you need to stop, things that you need to say no to, what is it? For a minute, confess it to Jesus.
Father, we have brought our weaknesses, our struggles before You, it’s a struggle but we know we cannot win on our own. By Your grace, oh Lord, help us to overcome in Jesus name. That when we go into the marketplace from tomorrow, people will see that definite change in us, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
