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Lasting Change – Why We Want it So Badly and Achieve it So Rarely

From the series How to Change for the Better

Do you have problems in your life that simply will not go away? Have you tried everything within your power to improve your situation, but find yourself right back where you started? If this sounds familiar, join Chip and find out how you can begin to experience true and lasting life change.

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Message Transcript

I wonder how many here, we’ll start with the easy ones, would like to start a sensible eating plan and stay with it for the next two years and drop all weight desired. I wonder how many here would like to be a more sensitive husband, or a more effective father.

I wonder how many, if you really believed it was possible would like to read and study God’s Word regularly and enjoy it and find yourself either early in the morning or at night opening God’s Word and having Him speak to you in a way like never before. And instead of an ought or a should it would be a delight.

I wonder how many here would like to overcome some of those down deep insecurities that thwart your confidence and inhibit relationships and produce that negative self-image so that when you look in the mirror, down deep, you don’t like you.

I wonder how many here, if it was really possible, would like to break a habit, a destructive habit. Some people know about it, maybe nobody knows about it, but it’s a destructive habit and it has been nagging and nagging and nagging. Wouldn’t it be great to be, at the end of this year, and say, “It’s in the rearview mirror”?

I wonder how many people here would like to get in great shape, look in the mirror and say, You know something? I’m taking care of my body the way I know God wants me to. Or finally, I wonder how many people here would like to slow down. Would like to be more patient with your children. Would like to be a better listener with your friends. Would like to be a person that is more at peace with yourself.

Now, I can’t image, to be very candid, I can’t imagine a lot of people saying, “Cha, man, I don’t want any of that stuff. Not me! I’m an irritable person, not a very good parent, and I want to stay that way! I’m a single person, I’m in rebellion, I’m living in a way, and the consequences are killing me and…”

See, everybody wants to change for the better. We all do. It’s inherent in your heart and God made you that way. Here’s the deal. If that’s true, why is it so hard? In fact, not only why is it so hard, but why is it, if honestly everyone in this room could say, “I would like to change for the better in this area,” why do we want it so badly and yet achieve it so rarely?

And see, the fact of the matter is is that a lot of us have Slim Fast in the closet, it’s unused. We bought a case at Costco thinking we were going to save a lot of money. Some of us have a gym or a spa pass that it wasn’t purchased this year, it was last Christmas someone got it as a gift and, by the way, the number of times we have gone, it averages out, we paid about fifty to eighty dollars a visit.

For others, we have Bibles that were brand new and the new study version. The only problem is we haven’t opened them. For still others, we have books on time management and boundaries, The Christian Family, Maximum Marriage, Single But Not Alone, and Finding Peace in a Hurried World. Except we just haven’t had time to read them.

You know what we do have? Most of it, when it comes to changing for the better, what we do have is guilt. A lot of guilt. A lot of inner voices that say, You ought to do this, you should do this, you ought to do that, when are you going to get with this? And some of you, like me, have come to points in your life where you said, New Years, or, New Year’s resolutions, I don’t do that because, you know what? It’s just a painful process to set them, not keep them, set them, not keep them, set them not keep them. So, if you don’t set them, it doesn’t feel quite so bad.

And so, what I want to talk with you about today is how in the world can we, in fact, change for the better? No short cuts. But in a way where it happens from the inside out and it lasts.

And I want to ask and answer this question: Why do our attempts to change so often fail? Now, my answer may not be the whole truth, nothing but the truth, and include everything, but it’s a premise I’d like you to listen to. My premise is this, is that the problem with change is this: Superficial analysis and superficial focus produces superficial temporary change.

And what I mean by that is our focus is usually superficial. I want to lose a little weight, or, I’d like to be a little more disciplined or have a better relationship.

 In fact, to give you the picture of what I’m talking about, pull out a pen if you’ve got it and see on this little diagram, this pyramid of an iceberg. I want you take it and put some squiggly lines right under the word behavior.

So it looks like this pyramid I have given you is an iceberg floating in the water. But above the waterline is your behavior and below the waterline is speech, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, values, and at the bottom, integrity.

And what I am really saying by this is that we tend to focus on change above the waterline. I need to change my eating habits, I need to change my workout habits, I need to watch less TV, I need to be a better parent, I need to get more work done. It’s above the waterline.

Our analysis, often, is superficial as well. Did you ever wonder why you eat when you’re not hungry? Why, if you really believe you need to get in shape, you don’t. Why, if you really believe that you want to have a deeper marriage, you don’t really spend much time cultivating it more than a few quick runs.

What I want to tell you is that when we do in-depth analysis, when you start looking below the waterline, the Scripture says, in fact, we’re going to look at a passage of Scripture where all of this is developed out of.

The Scripture says that whatever comes out of your mouth is the best indicator of what is really going on in your heart. Not what you think is in there but what is really in there.

And the Bible will talk about thoughts that we have and attitudes that we have that really shape our behavior. And behind our thoughts and attitudes there are some values and some belief systems that are deeply ingrained in you and that is what is creating these behaviors above the waterline.

My premise is this: We don’t look down deep underneath the waterline and, therefore, we have problems that have deep-root issues, we give a superficial analysis, a superficial solution, and three weeks to three months later, there is no change. Did you notice what is at the bottom of the pyramid? What is the word? Integrity. The verse on the top is from Proverbs 10:9, “He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his way will be found out.”

If you walk in integrity, if you walk in honesty, if you are willing to say, God, I want to see myself the way You see me, if you’re willing to look in the mirror and say, I want to see myself accurately, not what I want to believe but what is true, if you’re willing to look below the surface and say, What values and attitudes and thoughts and beliefs do I really hold dear that is producing these kind of behaviors?

If you’re willing to look there, you’ll be secure. “But he who perverts,” the Hebrew word literally means crooked, takes a shortcut, “but he who perverts his way will be found out.”

Let me give you a picture, okay? I think it’ll help you pull it together. For the first, probably, ten, twelve years that I was a believer, I was a full-blown workaholic. Okay? It started early and it got worse, worse, worse. By the time I was in college I was playing two sports, working a job, in a Bible study, leading a Bible study, and meeting with five people individually every week.

It worked. If the goal was to get through school and get good grades, it works. I stayed up late, got up early, pushed my body to the limit, got involved in some ministry, got involved in coaching, then I got married, then I went to seminary, then I was in a church.

And, by the way, some of those behaviors began to catch up with me. Behaviors like I was always late, above the waterline. I was very insensitive. See, you know why workaholics are late? You can get one more thing done before you leave for that meeting.

I was insensitive because I always multitasked. You see, while I’m on the phone I am reading something and filling something out at the same time, you get a lot more done. But it means I don’t really listen to what you are saying. I’m thinking about what I am going to say and where I am going to be later, even with my kids.

I was always in a hurry. I was exhausted a great deal of the time. And I was overcommitted. I said yes to everything and everyone. And I ended up in the hospital a couple of times. Totally exhausted, drained, I had a doctor look me in the eye and say, “You know what? You are a fool.” I worked sixteen, eighteen-hour days all the time. No day off.

And my wife would say this and my friends would say that. And somewhere along the line, because of my spiritual roots, two things I didn’t neglect. One, I didn’t neglect my time with God and, two, I did not neglect my family. All through seminary and all my workaholism, my wife will tell you, “He was there for me and he was there for our kids.”

But what I found out was they were sleeping from three, four, five, six in the morning, I could get work done. And after they went to bed, I could get more work done.

And so, I tried to be less hurried and I tried to be more sensitive – above the waterline. Try this, try this, try this. Three weeks, failure. Three weeks, failure. I’m going to try harder. I became a workaholic at trying not to be a workaholic.

“But he who walks in integrity walks securely.” God brought some people and some books and some friends and some walls where I finally realized, I need to look underneath the hood. And I started examining my speech and I found that I, in my speech, would let people know how early I got up. And I let them know how many things I was doing. You know what it produced? Aren’t you wonderful! I found that I would tell people how exhausted I was and they would see me and I would say, “Well, you know, when you’re serving God like I do…” Poor little me, victim.

And I arranged to get strokes and feedback from people to try and build my self-worth. See, everyone operates in a way that works for them. And then I went behind the thoughts and the attitudes to the belief systems. And I came to the conclusion that was really scary. I believed, down deep, even though I was a believer, that God didn’t love me unconditionally. I believed God loved me when I was good. I believed God loved me when I got a lot done. And then I somehow had this perverted thing that turned into being a little martyr. And I couldn’t say no to people because I had to come through for everybody.

And then I looked at that value. I remember being a pastor, the first year, we would be at the supper table, the phone would ring, I would jump out, “Hello! Who is it?” Dut-da-daaa! Da-da-da-da-da-dut-da-daaa! “Excuse me, dear! I’m going to get in my phone booth!” You know? My wife would turn to me and say, “Let it ring, hun!”

And then you know what I found? I found that because I didn’t believe God loved me unconditionally, I didn’t believe people could either. And so, I tried to come through for everybody all the time.

You know when change occurred? Not when I tried to stop hurrying, not when I tried to change my driving, not when I tried to make some amends above the waterline. Change occurred when I got honest with God, honest with me, when I took a journey and looked down deep inside and I examined where those issues came from and then began to see God accurately, me accurately, and I changed from the inside out.

Integrity is the prerequisite for lasting change. Choices made after an honest look below the waterline grow out of convictions. Do you know the difference between convictions and intentions? Convictions are something God gives you, you have to do, it’s from inside. Intentions are: ought, should, everybody wants me to, I think I should but…

You never follow through with those. When we approach the need to change from a heartfelt repentance to honor and please God, rather than simply get relief or feel better about ourselves, then and only then are we in a position for lasting change to occur.

It goes beyond self-help, short-term strategies, no short cuts. It starts with integrity. It starts with being honest with God, honest with yourself, honest with others at a whole other level. And I’m going to tell you something, okay? It’s painful.

See, if you’re really honest with God, if you let Him speak to you today, I think God loves you so much that He is going to let you know that, you know something? The issue has nothing to do with working out. The issue has nothing to do with media. The issue has nothing to do with eating when you’re not hungry. The issue doesn’t have to do with work, work, work, work, work. There is something under the hood, below the waterline that you don’t quite get right about God or right about yourself.

And, by the way, He loves you. He wants to help you. So, let’s define integrity and then after that, here’s what I want to do.

I want to give you three reasons and, unapologetically, I’m going to try and sell you, all right? So you don’t feel manipulated, I’m trying very hard. I’m going to try to persuade you to get as honest before God as you have ever been, as honest with yourself and honest with others because I am going to tell you there is so much at stake that if you don’t go this direction, you’ll pay such a high price that you will walk out of here saying, You know what? I am going to get honest with God. It may be painful but it can’t be half as painful as not being honest. All right?

So, let’s make sure we’re on the same page. Let’s define integrity. The Hebrew word means: complete moral innocence. It’s the state or quality of being complete, undivided, moral soundness, upright, truthful. Walking honestly. It’s when your life and your words are telling the same story. It’s not speaking this way but thinking and living another way.

It comes from the same root word as to integrate, or to bring unity and wholeness. It’s this idea of living a life where there is not a dichotomy, where you don’t project this to people but your attitudes and your thoughts and your beliefs or your lifestyle is different. It is when your walk and your talk tell the same story. That’s what integrity is.

The synonyms are: sincere, authentic, real, consistent. Even now, think to yourself, who are the people that you love to be around? Aren’t they people that are real, authentic, sincere? Don’t you want to be that kind of person?

All I am telling you is, the journey there may be painful, but the alternative is lethal. So, let me give you three reasons why you can’t afford and I can’t afford, if you really want to change for the better, three reasons why integrity is essential.

Number one: relationships are impossible without integrity. Not hard, they are impossible. As you scan Scripture, you’re going to find it’s impossible to have a relationship with God without integrity. It’s impossible to have a relationship with yourself without integrity. And you can’t have a relationship with others without integrity. You know what you’ll have? Pseudo-relationship, pseudo-relationship, pseudo-relationship.

And it’s in genuine, authentic relationships that you are nurtured. You were made for relationship. In fact, do you remember John chapter 4? Remember this woman at the well? She’s not like a Sunday school teacher. She has had five marriages in her past, she’s shacking up with a guy now, she is only out there because she is a social reject. She went out to get the water when the other women weren’t around.

And Jesus strikes up this conversation, it gets a little bit religious and talks about where authentic worship is going to occur and Jesus turns to her finally and says, “Hey, hey, babe, let me,” He probably didn’t call her “babe” but you know what I mean.

He said, “You know, this really isn’t about, this really is not about location.” And then He gives us some of the most profound words in the New Testament about worship. He says, “Those who worship God worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

For such the Father eagerly pursues. God is looking for, God is seeking after, “If you seek Me,” the Bible says, “you will find Me if you search for Me with all your heart.” See, God is looking for people who will be honest.

I put a passage in there for your further study, Psalm 15 is one of my favorite passages. It’s a little passage that I would encourage you to memorize because it starts with a question, it gives the answer, and then it gives you a promise.

The thumbnail sketch on it, the Psalmist says, “O Lord, who may abide or dwell in Your tent? Who may abide on that holy hill?” In other words, who is it that can have an authentic, awesome relationship with You?

And then the answer is verses 2 to 5: “He who walks in integrity and works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart; who doesn’t slander with his tongue, who doesn’t do evil to his neighbor; those who do evil are a reproach to Him but He honors those who fear the Lord. He doesn’t put out his money with interest; he swears to his own hurt, and does not change. The man, the woman who lives like this will never be shaken.”

God is looking for a special kind of person. It doesn’t have to do with intellect, background, education, or socioeconomics. It has to do with a heart that says, God, I am willing to be honest.

Psalm 145:18 is one of those “epiphany” verses for me. See, I grew up with this idea that if you had a bad sin you should feel bad for a day or two. A real bad sin, maybe three or four days or a week. A little sin, you have to feel bad for a few hours. You know what the Scripture says? The Lord is near to those who call upon Him, to those who call upon Him in truth.

And you know what I learned? I learned that God isn’t waiting for me to play some sort of mental penance game, that when Christ died on the cross, He forgave all of our sin and the instant, the millisecond I am willing to be honest with God, He will meet me.

Now, there may be consequences, He may take me through a journey, but He will meet me and when He meets me, I won’t get the boney finger of a father who is down on me. I will meet a Father who says, “Chip, I have been waiting for you to come. I love you. I want to pick you up. I want to clean you off.” The moment you are honest with God, you are a candidate for genuine relationship.

It’s impossible to have a relationship with God unless you are honest. It’s impossible to have a relationship with yourself. There are a lot of people that look in the mirror and they don’t like themselves. And they don’t like themselves because they are in such levels of denial, they don’t even know who they are looking at.

Things that are unpleasant about themselves, I don’t want to look at that. And it produces very negative things. Do you remember the story of David? Remember that great man of God? The Bible says he was a man after God’s own heart. Remember him?

And do you remember that on a weak day, in a bad moment and a bad place when he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, that he looked out and saw a very beautiful woman in the nude, Bathsheba? He took her for his own and then he covered his tracks by killing her husband. He kept the whole thing hush-hush, eventually marries her.

And for a period of somewhere between nine to twelve months, he lives a lie. Complete duplicity. “I’m the king!” He led the people in worship, he played the game, “I love God!” Did the whole nine yards, ruled like a king of Israel would, but behind it all was a lie.

And God sent a prophet named Nathan and he brought him to the reality of the truth. And during the time of that nine to twelve months, I think David wrote a couple of Psalms. Psalm 32, I put the reference because a lot of this message, I want you to check out on your own.

And in Psalm 32, about 2 to 5, David says, “Blessed is the man who lives purely before the Lord.” He says, “In whose spirit there is no deceit. But as for me, my soul was like a parched land. As for me, there was groaning all day long. As for me, the heavy hand of my God was upon me.” And then finally when he confessed, when he got right with God, it is found in Psalm 51.

And what does he do? He didn’t blame people. He said, “Against You and You only have I sinned.” And then about verse 6 he says, “For You desire truth” – where? “in the innermost parts.”

See, I’m asking you to go on a journey with me. I’m asking you to look below the waterline. I’m asking you to say that there is probably a bigger reason behind some of those behavioral patterns you want to change that are a lot bigger than not eating as much or not watching as much TV or these little resolutions.

There is probably something underneath that’s at the core in your thoughts and your values and your belief systems. That’s what God wants to change! But I’m asking you to have the courage to go there. Because if you don’t, you can’t have authentic relationship with God, you can’t have authentic relationship with others, and you can’t have authentic relationship with yourself.

In fact, Ephesians 4, that great book about the Church and then how it’s lived out. Speaking the truth, what are we supposed to do? “Speak the truth in love to one another” – what’s the result? “that we grow up in all aspects, and to love, becoming all God wants us to be.”

Here’s all I’m saying: if you want relationships that matter you’ve got to come clean, you’ve got to get real, you’ve got to unzip your heart, and you’ve got to ask the way David did in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me and then lead me in the everlasting way.” God, I don’t want to play a game.

But you don’t have, are you ready? In this fallen world, you don’t have the power to get an accurate view of who you are. You can only be aided by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and the community of God’s believers in the atmosphere of love to help you see clearly where you are. And when you do that, you’ll never regret that day.

There is a fellow I had the privilege of doing a memorial service for. In fact, his wife and some of their friends are here. And he is a picture of this. At times, he was a picture of it very negatively, and at times, a picture very positively. He was in charge of the electrical work on the new buildings as they were being built and his name was Dan.

And he and I just happened to hit it off. We hit it off for the same reason that you hit it off with people. Dan shot it straight. There was no pretense. If he didn’t like you, he’d say, “You know, I don’t really like you.” If he didn’t like this, he told you he didn’t like this.

And we had this sort of bantering back and forth and I just, he was a delightful guy. He told great stories. And little by little we became friends and a couple of his bosses were believers that go to this church and they began to build a relationship.

And Dan made the comment to one of his bosses, “You know, I’ve done a lot of bad things and I probably deserve a lot of bad things later. And if that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is. You know what? Integrity. Dignity. That’s what matters.”

We would have little conversations but it was, look, he had some bad experiences with the Church, he said, “I’m not going to go there.” Then the buildings got done and a few months later he found out he had cancer. Pancreatic cancer.

And they began to talk with his wife as he shared with me and he said, “You know what? I need to talk to someone, I’d like to talk to you.”

I’m telling you, in all my years as a pastor, I don’t know if I have ever had a more honest conversation with any human being on the earth. There was no jovial stuff, he had dropped thirty or forty pounds already, and he just laid out his life, told me why he felt the way he did about the Church and about God and where he was at and where he had been, what he had done, and he just laid it all out.

And he basically said, “Hey, is there any hope for a guy like me?” And I sat down and I shared the gospel with him. And when I got done sharing the gospel, see, he did something that most people aren’t willing to do. He was dead honest with God and himself.

And after I shared the gospel and God’s desire to forgive him of his sins and give him a new life and it was a gift and he couldn’t earn it, he couldn’t perform it, and, yes, there are some consequences of living your whole life apart from God. “He had a lot better life for you than you lived!” And he said, “Okay, I got that.”

I drew the little picture as you do of the bridge and there is a cliff over here and I drew a picture of the cross and I said, “You need to trust God to come across this bridge and trust Jesus’ work on the cross and resurrection to have relationship with Him.” And I gave him the pen and I said, “Where are you at on this little picture?” He said, “I’m over here.” I said, “What is keeping you from trusting Christ, letting Him forgive your sins, and having a new life?”

And you know what? He said something that most people never do. He said, “I’ve got two sins I really like; I don’t want to give them up.” You know what most people say? “Oh, I need a little more research, I need a little more time, what about the archeological…” You know?

I like this guy. “I’ve got two sins, I really like them, I don’t want to quit.” And so, I felt led, I said, “Can I draw one more picture?” He said, “Sure.” So I opened the sheet of paper and I put a line down it and I put a line over here and on the left side I put, “This is what will happen in your life if you place your trust in Christ.” I talked about heaven and his wife is a believer, being with her, and peace and forgiveness. And I had a big list, all the things, forever and ever and ever.

And then I wrote, “This is what will occur in your life if you refuse and reject God’s free gift of grace. You get to do these two sins that you like for three more months and then you die.” He looked at me and he said, “Kind of dumb, isn’t it?” I said, “Those were your words, man.”

Now, don’t miss this. I said, “Dan, do you see what is at stake?” He said, “I think I really do.” And, by the way, they weren’t some terrible, terrible sins. Actually, I didn’t think God was too uptight about either of them. But the issue was not the sins, the issue was pride and control, and he knew it.

And so I said, “Dan, what are you going to do?” And he said, “For right now, I’m going to keep those two sins. If I have any more questions, I’ll give you a call.” And I said, “By the way, I just wanted to make sure, you’ve got three months to live?” “Yeah.” I said, “Now, if you wanted to move from this side to this side, tell me how you would do it.” He had the gospel down.  I said, “When you pray to receive Christ, here’s my cell phone number. Would you tell me? I’d just like to know.” He said, “Yeah.”

And he just looked me right in the eye and I was reminded of the words of Jesus in Revelation. “I would that you were either hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of My mouth.” See, I think you’re a lot closer to God when you are absolutely authentic and on fire or when you know, You know what? I’m not in. I don’t want to be in. This is where I’m at.

See, Dan knew where he was at. The day after Christmas he prayed to receive Christ. And he didn’t pray to receive Christ because he wanted a last minute ticket out of this or that. He prayed to receive Christ because he was a person of integrity and he pondered it and he prayed and he realized the issue was pride. And he asked God for forgiveness. And we got to spend some time with his friends and his family.

Do you hear what I’m saying? Integrity is the prerequisite to lasting change. It’s so important because without integrity there are no meaningful relationships.

Second, peace is impossible without integrity. Colossians 3:15 says, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which you were called into one body, and be thankful.” This little phrase, rule in your hearts, it literally means: act as an arbitrator. Kind of like an umpire. Let the Spirit of God call balls and strikes about your behavior.

The Bible says there is a peace that a believer has. Not a peace like everything is working out and your circumstances are great and you have enough money and everybody likes you. No, no, no, no. This is a supernatural peace that is beyond understanding for those who are in Christ, it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, that regardless of your circumstances you can have this overwhelming peace.

The hole in your heart gets filled, the sense of God’s sovereignty and goodness and love reigns, even in difficulty. But when we step out of fellowship with God, He removes that peace to say, “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Over here!”

I’ll never forget the most vivid time this happened. I was a believer about five years and I didn’t have a lot of spiritual background so every new experience for me has been like, “Oh! So this is how it works.”

And I was in seminary at the time, first year, and I got a call from this fellow who is in charge of this organization, nationwide. He is going to take a group of really good basketball players into China and it was Communist China and you couldn’t get in.

And I wanted to go so bad. And he had already contacted a fellow I was playing with who was 6’11” and another guy, 6’10” and I thought, I want to go and throw the ball to those guys and I want to see China.

And so, Bud calls and he says, “Hey, how you doing, Chip?” “Good!” And I had been on a couple of teams and he said, “Well, are you in shape?” I said, “Oh, Bud, man, you should see me, Bud. Man, I am in shape! I am at my, I think I’m in my A game.” And he said, “Well, like, how many points are you averaging?” And I said, “Oh, I’m in a league.” And I said, “Oh, twelve or fourteen points. Probably nine or ten assists. And, Bud, I’m really just, man, I’m playing great. And I think I would really fit in on this team.”

And he said, “Well, we’re praying it through and we’re looking for players. It was great to talk to you.” And I took the phone and I hung it up and I still remember in that little apartment, the receiver clicks and then, Whooo. Peace had gone. God is gone. I mean, gone.

And I’m thinking, You know what? They don’t even keep statistics in the league that I’m playing. Now let me get this right. The leader of a Christian organization asked me to play on a team, I’m a seminary student preparing for the gospel ministry, and I just told him a bold-faced lie. It wasn’t a fib, it wasn’t an exaggeration, it was a lie!

And the peace of God went, whoo. Well, you know what happened? Man, I got depressed. And now I have a bigger problem: my pride. Who can I tell this to? Who do you say to, you know what? Some people were looking to me for spiritual leadership, basically, I just told a bold-faced lie. I mean, a biggie.

And after about two days and being really depressed, Theresa saying, “Is there a problem here?” “Well, honey,” and I was grieved and I told her what I did. And about twenty-two percent of the peace came back. I’m rounding. I’m not sure. But it felt better. I confessed it and it was like, Oh, you know, I owned up to it. That was good. And I’m wondering now, Where is the other seventy-eight percent? Oh no. I have to call Bud? I have to admit to this leader of this Christian organization? Yeah.

And so I still remember, I went back in the bedroom, shut the door so my kids wouldn’t hear me. And I said, “Bud, this is Chip.” And I said, “I have something to share.” He said, “Oh, the team is coming together!” I said, “Bud, wait a second. You know those statistics, all that stuff I told you? It was a lie. I made it up. It was like an out of body experience. I was on the phone, I wanted to go so bad, it just came out of my mouth. I just lied!”

And he said, “Chip, thanks.” He said, “You know, this is what you need to do to learn to become a man of God.” And he said, “We have plenty of players for this team, by the way, but you’re not one of them.” And I hung up the receiver and, whoo. The peace of God. Do you know God wants you to experience His peace?

And you know what happens to believers like you and believers like me? Is that we say something that is a little critical, we watch something we know, Mm-mm, and we get busy and there are all kinds of things and there is a little layer of envy and then a little layer of our tongue and the little layer of irritability and then some unrighteous anger.

And little by little what happens is we smother and quench the spirit of God and we don’t have His peace. And we have this uneasy feeling and we don’t like it so you know what I do? I go home and I put on something on sports and I eat. And while I’m watching the game and while I’m eating, I feel a little bit better. Because, see, I don’t want to deal with it. I’m not even sure what it is that’s in the back of my mind, but there’s not peace.

And then when I get in my car, I have to turn on music because I don’t want to be alone because when I’m alone I’m aware of how little peace I have. And if that doesn’t work, I found out, if you go get a workout, those endorphins and you can feel better for an hour, two hours!

And you know what you really need? You really need to get quiet before God and you need to say, God, I’m not sure what’s going on inside, but I don’t have Your peace. And if you will sit quietly and say, Lord, search my heart, He will bring specific pictures of who you have offended. And when the Spirit does it, it’s specific. It’s won’t be vague, it won’t be general, it won’t be condemnation, and He will give you insight into attitudes about lies and you will confess them and you will go, whoo. Peace.

I have a sneaking suspicion, in the body of Christ, that there is a huge percentage of people that are genuinely born again, a part of God’s family, that are not experiencing this peace I’m talking about. And the reason they are not experiencing it is that they are living a life of duplicity.

And a lot of the eating issues and a lot of the viewing issues and a lot of the workaholism issues and a lot of the issues in relationships, because, see, when you feel like this, a couple of things happen. When I feel like this, “Theresa has got a problem! And my kids have got a problem! And our staff needs to get with it!” And there are all kinds of problems but it’s not me.

But when I come before God and I get clean, it’s amazing, boy, my wife and our staff and, boy, they all just seem to get better almost overnight!

Can I ask you something? Do you have God’s peace? By the way, when you don’t have a desire for the Word of God, when you don’t have a desire to be around God’s people, when you don’t have a desire to pray, I would suggest there is a very high probability that there has been little layers of sin that have gone unconfessed because when there is openness before God, He creates spiritual thirst.

And you know what? Going to God, instead of a bad experience, is a good experience, because He is a loving Father. And there is joy in worship before Him.

I’m asking you to go on a journey. And this journey is not going to solve it but it’s a journey to begin to become authentic. That your life and your words will tell the same story. And I’m trying to convince you that if you don’t go there, the price tag is a lot higher than going there! Because if you don’t go there, if you’re not willing to be honest below the waterline, you will not have any meaningful relationships with God, yourself, or others and you will not have peace. And you can’t afford that.

And it’s so far less than what God wants for you. But there is a third reason. The third reason for this journey of integrity is that impact is impossible without integrity. “Like a trampled spring,” Proverbs 25:26 says, “and a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.” And you say, Man, what does that mean?

The proverbs were intended to be little word pictures and often in parallelisms so you could take it like a rock or a diamond and look at it in different ways and get insight and meditate upon it.

The problem with some of them is that they were written in a day to a group of people that when they said it, bang, the lights went on. But I don’t know about you but I haven’t trampled a lot of springs lately and I haven’t done a lot with polluting wells.

Let’s move back ever so quickly into the culture. And there are camels and goats and sheep and it’s in the Middle East and that means, if you have ever been to Israel, there is this wilderness where it’s just dry and barren and terrible but, boom! There is a little spring. You know there is a spring because the grass is green and there are some palm trees.

And so, people sometimes would travel a day or two days and this is the only spring, the only source of life, the only well. Now, people knew that life and water were synonymous. But if you were just passing through with your camels and your sheep and your goats, instead of leading them there and taking great care, that they would drink out of the spring, some people would drive their animals there and they would just come and trample the spring.

And as they trampled the spring they would drink and they would urinate and defecate and guess what happened? They would ruin it! So the next group of people, instead of water being life-giving, it would be poison. And the same would happen with a well.

Do you hear what God is saying to regular people like us in our day? It’s a cliché but it’s true. You are the greatest Christian some people will ever meet. And God has created every human being on this planet with this spiritual thirst, this desire to find out, Why am I here and what is life all about and how do you get connected in relationship and significance and joy? They have this spiritual thirst. And you are a Christ-like little magnet. And He wants to bring people to you.

But what happens if you give way before the wicked? And instead of being a source of life because of your kind of speech, because of how you treat your family, because of the lack of integrity, because of issues that you’re involved in, they come and look for life and they say, “Oh, you’re just like everybody else. Yeah, I see the Bible and I hear the Jesus stuff but it ain’t real. You’re a hypocrite. You’re a phony. I thought there was something to it.”

And so they grow up like I grew up so when I was sixteen, I looked at these people, I heard their Jesus words, I saw how they lived, I saw how they gossiped, I saw their immorality, and I said, “I don’t know who their God is but I don’t need them and I don’t need Him.” And I almost missed God. Because instead of being springs of water, instead of giving life, all I saw was poison and death. See, when you don’t live in integrity, there is no impact.

I remember the first couple of years as a Christian, and it is a journey. And so, I had these three guys on my floor and I did a little Bible study and they all prayed to receive Christ. And then two days later, I went back to have the Bible study and I saw them, they saw me, and I waved and they went out the back doors. I said, Well, they must be in a hurry.

And then I saw them again and then they took off and went somewhere else. And I could never get them to have this Bible study. There was no fruit in my life. And I couldn’t understand why. I went to Bible study every Thursday night and I hit every bar in Wheeling on Friday night. What’s the problem here? The problem was I was a polluted well.

See, if there is not spiritual fruit, if God is not using you in the lives of other people, there is at least a likelihood or a significant reason to say, Maybe I had better check below the waterline to find out if there is some duplicity here.

By contrast, do you remember when Andy was here? A year, year and a half ago, something like that? And he shared his testimony. He got up here, he looked a little nervous, his wife was over there. He said, “Hi, I’m Andy, and I’m a sexual addict.” And then he told his story. And he said it in a very delicate way so bizarre pictures didn’t come into my mind. But when he got done, I realized, Oh my gosh.

And he came clean. And he said, “You know, I tried hard and if trying hard could beat it, I would have beat it. And if just reading the Bible,” and he said, “you have to confess it and you have to get real and you have to be authentic.”

You know, there are three or four men’s groups right now: overcoming sexual addictions. Because one man had the courage to come clean and be a source of life.

We had a meeting of all the pastors in the area. They wanted to open it up to all the churches for sexual addiction. And then Andy, blew my mind, all these pastors. He said, “By the way, men, I’m aware that at least twenty-five percent of you, if statistics are true, twenty-five percent of Evangelical pastors struggle deeply with some sexual addiction. Here is a list of phone numbers. Mine, some other people. Here is a list of numbers out of town, if you don’t want people to know, where you can go get help and go get clean.”

You know what you call that? Fruit. You know why? He didn’t have it all together. But day-by-day he is walking in integrity.

Let me tell you the good news. Flip to the back page. As we conclude, there are some questions that I hope you that you will use for your own journey. But I want to tell you the good news.

One, it wasn’t easy. Two, it didn’t happen overnight. Three, I didn’t take a magic pill. But I am about ten, twelve, fifteen years on the other side of being a workaholic. And I don’t introduce myself, “Hi, I’m Chip Ingram, and I’m a workaholic.” I don’t come from that background so I never learned to do that until I was at Celebrate Recovery and it was pretty cool because they were so honest.

But I looked below the waterline. And I found out God loves me totally apart from what I do. And I want all of you to like me desperately, but you know what? You don’t need to. I want my wife to think I’m wonderful every moment and my kids to be just so impressed with what I do every moment. I don’t jump up and answer the phone anymore.

In fact, it’s amazing, I get seven, seven and a half hours, that’s all I need. I don’t burn the candle at both ends. I work out with my wife a couple, three times a week. I play golf, nine holes, at least once a week. I have time to sit and read good books, I have great friends, and God is using my life a lot more than when I was the grandiose, arrogant martyr thinking that everybody needed me when, really, what it was, I needed them.

Now, do I get overcommitted still? Yeah. Do I get seasons where I think, Who is the idiot that’s doing this again? And I look below the waterline and I say, Lord, I’m not believing what is true.

You know what I would like you to do? I would like you to bow your head and say, Lord, I want to be honest with You. And I asked you when we started to think of how do you want to change for the better? I would like you to now pray the prayer of David: Lord, search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there be anything below the waterline, a core issue, that You want to address. And then just tell Him, Lord, I’m afraid. But I know that I will meet a loving God who wants to help me. And we will learn how to change for the better from the inside out.
If you want relationships that matter you’ve got to come clean, you’ve got to get real, you’ve got to unzip your heart, and you’ve got to ask the way David did in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me and then lead me in the everlasting way.” God, I don’t want to play a game.

But you don’t have, are you ready? In this fallen world, you don’t have the power to get an accurate view of who you are. You can only be aided by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and the community of God’s believers in the atmosphere of love to help you see clearly where you are. And when you do that, you’ll never regret that day.

There is a fellow I had the privilege of doing a memorial service for. In fact, his wife and some of their friends are here. And he is a picture of this. At times, he was a picture of it very negatively, and at times, a picture very positively. He was in charge of the electrical work on the new buildings as they were being built and his name was Dan.

And he and I just happened to hit it off. We hit it off for the same reason that you hit it off with people. Dan shot it straight. There was no pretense. If he didn’t like you, he’d say, “You know, I don’t really like you.” If he didn’t like this, he told you he didn’t like this.

And we had this sort of bantering back and forth and I just, he was a delightful guy. He told great stories. And little by little we became friends and a couple of his bosses were believers that go to this church and they began to build a relationship.

And Dan made the comment to one of his bosses, “You know, I’ve done a lot of bad things and I probably deserve a lot of bad things later. And if that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is. You know what? Integrity. Dignity. That’s what matters.”

We would have little conversations but it was, look, he had some bad experiences with the Church, he said, “I’m not going to go there.” Then the buildings got done and a few months later he found out he had cancer. Pancreatic cancer.

And they began to talk with his wife as he shared with me and he said, “You know what? I need to talk to someone, I’d like to talk to you.”

I’m telling you, in all my years as a pastor, I don’t know if I have ever had a more honest conversation with any human being on the earth. There was no jovial stuff, he had dropped thirty or forty pounds already, and he just laid out his life, told me why he felt the way he did about the Church and about God and where he was at and where he had been, what he had done, and he just laid it all out.

And he basically said, “Hey, is there any hope for a guy like me?” And I sat down and I shared the gospel with him. And when I got done sharing the gospel, see, he did something that most people aren’t willing to do. He was dead honest with God and himself.

And after I shared the gospel and God’s desire to forgive him of his sins and give him a new life and it was a gift and he couldn’t earn it, he couldn’t perform it, and, yes, there are some consequences of living your whole life apart from God. “He had a lot better life for you than you lived!” And he said, “Okay, I got that.”

I drew the little picture as you do of the bridge and there is a cliff over here and I drew a picture of the cross and I said, “You need to trust God to come across this bridge and trust Jesus’ work on the cross and resurrection to have relationship with Him.” And I gave him the pen and I said, “Where are you at on this little picture?” He said, “I’m over here.” I said, “What is keeping you from trusting Christ, letting Him forgive your sins, and having a new life?”

And you know what? He said something that most people never do. He said, “I’ve got two sins I really like; I don’t want to give them up.” You know what most people say? “Oh, I need a little more research, I need a little more time, what about the archeological…” You know?

I like this guy. “I’ve got two sins, I really like them, I don’t want to quit.” And so, I felt led, I said, “Can I draw one more picture?” He said, “Sure.” So I opened the sheet of paper and I put a line down it and I put a line over here and on the left side I put, “This is what will happen in your life if you place your trust in Christ.” I talked about heaven and his wife is a believer, being with her, and peace and forgiveness. And I had a big list, all the things, forever and ever and ever.

And then I wrote, “This is what will occur in your life if you refuse and reject God’s free gift of grace. You get to do these two sins that you like for three more months and then you die.” He looked at me and he said, “Kind of dumb, isn’t it?” I said, “Those were your words, man.”

Now, don’t miss this. I said, “Dan, do you see what is at stake?” He said, “I think I really do.” And, by the way, they weren’t some terrible, terrible sins. Actually, I didn’t think God was too uptight about either of them. But the issue was not the sins, the issue was pride and control, and he knew it.

And so I said, “Dan, what are you going to do?” And he said, “For right now, I’m going to keep those two sins. If I have any more questions, I’ll give you a call.” And I said, “By the way, I just wanted to make sure, you’ve got three months to live?” “Yeah.” I said, “Now, if you wanted to move from this side to this side, tell me how you would do it.” He had the gospel down.  I said, “When you pray to receive Christ, here’s my cell phone number. Would you tell me? I’d just like to know.” He said, “Yeah.”

And he just looked me right in the eye and I was reminded of the words of Jesus in Revelation. “I would that you were either hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of My mouth.” See, I think you’re a lot closer to God when you are absolutely authentic and on fire or when you know, You know what? I’m not in. I don’t want to be in. This is where I’m at.

See, Dan knew where he was at. The day after Christmas he prayed to receive Christ. And he didn’t pray to receive Christ because he wanted a last minute ticket out of this or that. He prayed to receive Christ because he was a person of integrity and he pondered it and he prayed and he realized the issue was pride. And he asked God for forgiveness. And we got to spend some time with his friends and his family.

Do you hear what I’m saying? Integrity is the prerequisite to lasting change. It’s so important because without integrity there are no meaningful relationships.

Second, peace is impossible without integrity. Colossians 3:15 says, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which you were called into one body, and be thankful.” This little phrase, rule in your hearts, it literally means: act as an arbitrator. Kind of like an umpire. Let the Spirit of God call balls and strikes about your behavior.

The Bible says there is a peace that a believer has. Not a peace like everything is working out and your circumstances are great and you have enough money and everybody likes you. No, no, no, no. This is a supernatural peace that is beyond understanding for those who are in Christ, it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, that regardless of your circumstances you can have this overwhelming peace.

The hole in your heart gets filled, the sense of God’s sovereignty and goodness and love reigns, even in difficulty. But when we step out of fellowship with God, He removes that peace to say, “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Over here!”

I’ll never forget the most vivid time this happened. I was a believer about five years and I didn’t have a lot of spiritual background so every new experience for me has been like, “Oh! So this is how it works.”

And I was in seminary at the time, first year, and I got a call from this fellow who is in charge of this organization, nationwide. He is going to take a group of really good basketball players into China and it was Communist China and you couldn’t get in.

And I wanted to go so bad. And he had already contacted a fellow I was playing with who was 6’11” and another guy, 6’10” and I thought, I want to go and throw the ball to those guys and I want to see China.

And so, Bud calls and he says, “Hey, how you doing, Chip?” “Good!” And I had been on a couple of teams and he said, “Well, are you in shape?” I said, “Oh, Bud, man, you should see me, Bud. Man, I am in shape! I am at my, I think I’m in my A game.” And he said, “Well, like, how many points are you averaging?” And I said, “Oh, I’m in a league.” And I said, “Oh, twelve or fourteen points. Probably nine or ten assists. And, Bud, I’m really just, man, I’m playing great. And I think I would really fit in on this team.”

And he said, “Well, we’re praying it through and we’re looking for players. It was great to talk to you.” And I took the phone and I hung it up and I still remember in that little apartment, the receiver clicks and then, Whooo. Peace had gone. God is gone. I mean, gone.

And I’m thinking, You know what? They don’t even keep statistics in the league that I’m playing. Now let me get this right. The leader of a Christian organization asked me to play on a team, I’m a seminary student preparing for the gospel ministry, and I just told him a bold-faced lie. It wasn’t a fib, it wasn’t an exaggeration, it was a lie!

And the peace of God went, whoo. Well, you know what happened? Man, I got depressed. And now I have a bigger problem: my pride. Who can I tell this to? Who do you say to, you know what? Some people were looking to me for spiritual leadership, basically, I just told a bold-faced lie. I mean, a biggie.

And after about two days and being really depressed, Theresa saying, “Is there a problem here?” “Well, honey,” and I was grieved and I told her what I did. And about twenty-two percent of the peace came back. I’m rounding. I’m not sure. But it felt better. I confessed it and it was like, Oh, you know, I owned up to it. That was good. And I’m wondering now, Where is the other seventy-eight percent? Oh no. I have to call Bud? I have to admit to this leader of this Christian organization? Yeah.

And so I still remember, I went back in the bedroom, shut the door so my kids wouldn’t hear me. And I said, “Bud, this is Chip.” And I said, “I have something to share.” He said, “Oh, the team is coming together!” I said, “Bud, wait a second. You know those statistics, all that stuff I told you? It was a lie. I made it up. It was like an out of body experience. I was on the phone, I wanted to go so bad, it just came out of my mouth. I just lied!”

And he said, “Chip, thanks.” He said, “You know, this is what you need to do to learn to become a man of God.” And he said, “We have plenty of players for this team, by the way, but you’re not one of them.” And I hung up the receiver and, whoo. The peace of God. Do you know God wants you to experience His peace?

And you know what happens to believers like you and believers like me? Is that we say something that is a little critical, we watch something we know, Mm-mm, and we get busy and there are all kinds of things and there is a little layer of envy and then a little layer of our tongue and the little layer of irritability and then some unrighteous anger.

And little by little what happens is we smother and quench the spirit of God and we don’t have His peace. And we have this uneasy feeling and we don’t like it so you know what I do? I go home and I put on something on sports and I eat. And while I’m watching the game and while I’m eating, I feel a little bit better. Because, see, I don’t want to deal with it. I’m not even sure what it is that’s in the back of my mind, but there’s not peace.

And then when I get in my car, I have to turn on music because I don’t want to be alone because when I’m alone I’m aware of how little peace I have. And if that doesn’t work, I found out, if you go get a workout, those endorphins and you can feel better for an hour, two hours!

And you know what you really need? You really need to get quiet before God and you need to say, God, I’m not sure what’s going on inside, but I don’t have Your peace. And if you will sit quietly and say, Lord, search my heart, He will bring specific pictures of who you have offended. And when the Spirit does it, it’s specific. It’s won’t be vague, it won’t be general, it won’t be condemnation, and He will give you insight into attitudes about lies and you will confess them and you will go, whoo. Peace.

I have a sneaking suspicion, in the body of Christ, that there is a huge percentage of people that are genuinely born again, a part of God’s family, that are not experiencing this peace I’m talking about. And the reason they are not experiencing it is that they are living a life of duplicity.

And a lot of the eating issues and a lot of the viewing issues and a lot of the workaholism issues and a lot of the issues in relationships, because, see, when you feel like this, a couple of things happen. When I feel like this, “Theresa has got a problem! And my kids have got a problem! And our staff needs to get with it!” And there are all kinds of problems but it’s not me.

But when I come before God and I get clean, it’s amazing, boy, my wife and our staff and, boy, they all just seem to get better almost overnight!

Can I ask you something? Do you have God’s peace? By the way, when you don’t have a desire for the Word of God, when you don’t have a desire to be around God’s people, when you don’t have a desire to pray, I would suggest there is a very high probability that there has been little layers of sin that have gone unconfessed because when there is openness before God, He creates spiritual thirst.

And you know what? Going to God, instead of a bad experience, is a good experience, because He is a loving Father. And there is joy in worship before Him.

I’m asking you to go on a journey. And this journey is not going to solve it but it’s a journey to begin to become authentic. That your life and your words will tell the same story. And I’m trying to convince you that if you don’t go there, the price tag is a lot higher than going there! Because if you don’t go there, if you’re not willing to be honest below the waterline, you will not have any meaningful relationships with God, yourself, or others and you will not have peace. And you can’t afford that.

And it’s so far less than what God wants for you. But there is a third reason. The third reason for this journey of integrity is that impact is impossible without integrity. “Like a trampled spring,” Proverbs 25:26 says, “and a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.” And you say, Man, what does that mean?

The proverbs were intended to be little word pictures and often in parallelisms so you could take it like a rock or a diamond and look at it in different ways and get insight and meditate upon it.

The problem with some of them is that they were written in a day to a group of people that when they said it, bang, the lights went on. But I don’t know about you but I haven’t trampled a lot of springs lately and I haven’t done a lot with polluting wells.

Let’s move back ever so quickly into the culture. And there are camels and goats and sheep and it’s in the Middle East and that means, if you have ever been to Israel, there is this wilderness where it’s just dry and barren and terrible but, boom! There is a little spring. You know there is a spring because the grass is green and there are some palm trees.

And so, people sometimes would travel a day or two days and this is the only spring, the only source of life, the only well. Now, people knew that life and water were synonymous. But if you were just passing through with your camels and your sheep and your goats, instead of leading them there and taking great care, that they would drink out of the spring, some people would drive their animals there and they would just come and trample the spring.

And as they trampled the spring they would drink and they would urinate and defecate and guess what happened? They would ruin it! So the next group of people, instead of water being life-giving, it would be poison. And the same would happen with a well.

Do you hear what God is saying to regular people like us in our day? It’s a cliché but it’s true. You are the greatest Christian some people will ever meet. And God has created every human being on this planet with this spiritual thirst, this desire to find out, Why am I here and what is life all about and how do you get connected in relationship and significance and joy? They have this spiritual thirst. And you are a Christ-like little magnet. And He wants to bring people to you.

But what happens if you give way before the wicked? And instead of being a source of life because of your kind of speech, because of how you treat your family, because of the lack of integrity, because of issues that you’re involved in, they come and look for life and they say, “Oh, you’re just like everybody else. Yeah, I see the Bible and I hear the Jesus stuff but it ain’t real. You’re a hypocrite. You’re a phony. I thought there was something to it.”

And so they grow up like I grew up so when I was sixteen, I looked at these people, I heard their Jesus words, I saw how they lived, I saw how they gossiped, I saw their immorality, and I said, “I don’t know who their God is but I don’t need them and I don’t need Him.” And I almost missed God. Because instead of being springs of water, instead of giving life, all I saw was poison and death. See, when you don’t live in integrity, there is no impact.

I remember the first couple of years as a Christian, and it is a journey. And so, I had these three guys on my floor and I did a little Bible study and they all prayed to receive Christ. And then two days later, I went back to have the Bible study and I saw them, they saw me, and I waved and they went out the back doors. I said, Well, they must be in a hurry.

And then I saw them again and then they took off and went somewhere else. And I could never get them to have this Bible study. There was no fruit in my life. And I couldn’t understand why. I went to Bible study every Thursday night and I hit every bar in Wheeling on Friday night. What’s the problem here? The problem was I was a polluted well.

See, if there is not spiritual fruit, if God is not using you in the lives of other people, there is at least a likelihood or a significant reason to say, Maybe I had better check below the waterline to find out if there is some duplicity here.

By contrast, do you remember when Andy was here? A year, year and a half ago, something like that? And he shared his testimony. He got up here, he looked a little nervous, his wife was over there. He said, “Hi, I’m Andy, and I’m a sexual addict.” And then he told his story. And he said it in a very delicate way so bizarre pictures didn’t come into my mind. But when he got done, I realized, Oh my gosh.

And he came clean. And he said, “You know, I tried hard and if trying hard could beat it, I would have beat it. And if just reading the Bible,” and he said, “you have to confess it and you have to get real and you have to be authentic.”

You know, there are three or four men’s groups right now: overcoming sexual addictions. Because one man had the courage to come clean and be a source of life.

We had a meeting of all the pastors in the area. They wanted to open it up to all the churches for sexual addiction. And then Andy, blew my mind, all these pastors. He said, “By the way, men, I’m aware that at least twenty-five percent of you, if statistics are true, twenty-five percent of Evangelical pastors struggle deeply with some sexual addiction. Here is a list of phone numbers. Mine, some other people. Here is a list of numbers out of town, if you don’t want people to know, where you can go get help and go get clean.”

You know what you call that? Fruit. You know why? He didn’t have it all together. But day-by-day he is walking in integrity.

Let me tell you the good news. Flip to the back page. As we conclude, there are some questions that I hope you that you will use for your own journey. But I want to tell you the good news.

One, it wasn’t easy. Two, it didn’t happen overnight. Three, I didn’t take a magic pill. But I am about ten, twelve, fifteen years on the other side of being a workaholic. And I don’t introduce myself, “Hi, I’m Chip Ingram, and I’m a workaholic.” I don’t come from that background so I never learned to do that until I was at Celebrate Recovery and it was pretty cool because they were so honest.

But I looked below the waterline. And I found out God loves me totally apart from what I do. And I want all of you to like me desperately, but you know what? You don’t need to. I want my wife to think I’m wonderful every moment and my kids to be just so impressed with what I do every moment. I don’t jump up and answer the phone anymore.

In fact, it’s amazing, I get seven, seven and a half hours, that’s all I need. I don’t burn the candle at both ends. I work out with my wife a couple, three times a week. I play golf, nine holes, at least once a week. I have time to sit and read good books, I have great friends, and God is using my life a lot more than when I was the grandiose, arrogant martyr thinking that everybody needed me when, really, what it was, I needed them.

Now, do I get overcommitted still? Yeah. Do I get seasons where I think, Who is the idiot that’s doing this again? And I look below the waterline and I say, Lord, I’m not believing what is true.

You know what I would like you to do? I would like you to bow your head and say, Lord, I want to be honest with You. And I asked you when we started to think of how do you want to change for the better? I would like you to now pray the prayer of David: Lord, search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there be anything below the waterline, a core issue, that You want to address. And then just tell Him, Lord, I’m afraid. But I know that I will meet a loving God who wants to help me. And we will learn how to change for the better from the inside out.