Restoring the Integrity of His Name: Jesus: Attitudes & Habits of a Godly Perspective

By Darryl Smith

The Christian community and believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have been given the responsibility of defending and upholding the integrity of the greatest name given among men. The world, even the church institution, seems to have ignored, overlooked, minimized, or simply taken for granted that God transformed Himself to be the most influential and significant entity to walk the earth in the person of Jesus Christ.
Restoring the Integrity of His Name is a book that addresses the maladies of the church, and encourages the church back to a renewed reverence of God, restoration of Christian values and conduct, worship, family, leadership, and lifestyle integrity as those who are called of God. This book is an excellent resource for church or ministry formation and Christian education and development.
Darryl Smith's hope and prayer is that through God's anointing and grace, this book will inspire others to join efforts of restoring right paths to walk in by restoring the integrity of Jesus' name.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543995343

Darryl Smith

64 year African American married from San Francisco living in the Bay Area Family moved from Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Georgia in the late 40’s to San Francisco like many African Americans during that time. Simply telling the story of the African American version for our youth...

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Restoring the Integrity of His Name: JESUS

© 2019 Darryl Smith

All rights reserved

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-54399-533-6

eBook ISBN: 978-1-54399-534-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means--electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise--without prior permission in writing from the copyright holder except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in the United States of America.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter One: Who is Jesus Christ?

Chapter Two: What’s in a Name?

Chapter Three: The Church of Jesus Christ

Chapter Four: What is integrity?

Chapter Five: Measuring Integrity

Chapter Six: Integrity in Crisis

Chapter Seven: Friendship and Brotherly Integrity

Chapter Eight: Ministry Integrity

Nepotism

Gain and Riches

Gift Integrity

Leadership Integrity

Standards Integrity

Chapter Nine: Obedience Integrity

Chapter Ten: Unity Integrity

Chapter Eleven: Restoring the Family

The Man

The Woman

Dating Integrity

The Final Word

Preface

Some of the material in this book may be controversial to some Christians based on their religious and denominational teachings and beliefs, but the contents of this book represent those things God has inspired me through the Holy Spirit to write.

The passion and purpose of this writing is spun out of the leading of the Holy Spirit to the Christian community and believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who have been given the responsibility of defending and upholding the integrity of the greatest name given among men. The world, even the church institution, seems to have ignored, overlooked, minimized, or simply taken for granted that God transformed Himself to be the most influential and significant entity to walk the earth in the person of Jesus Christ.

In this current era, it is not unusual or uncommon to watch popular television programs that are considered acceptable for family viewing of all ages and hear one of the actors say something derogatory with Jesus’ name mentioned in it. Neither is it an unusual occurrence to be in a public place such as a shopping mall, a bus stop, a college campus, a sporting event, or some place where people socially gather, and hear someone use a phrase with the name Jesus in a manner that brings great disrespect to God and to those who honor and reverence that name. I suppose this can be expected of those who don’t know the Son of God. It pains and saddens many Christians to hear anyone use the name of Jesus in a joking, jesting, or foolish manner.

I was inspired to write this book when I began pastoring a small rural denominational church in 2006. As I was getting acclimated to what God had called me to do, and as I diligently sought His face through prayer to better acquaint myself with His will, I heard God say to me, Restore the integrity of My name. At first it seemed like the wrong theme for a church ministry because it is often assumed that believers already give God the highest name regard, but as time progressed, I realized why God had given me this ministry theme. I began to see from God’s perspective how the name of Jesus had become entrapped in nonsensical and false representation, even among confessing believers, and how the life and message of Christ is being expressed through religious jargons, dogmas, rhetoric, and activities that vaguely emphasizes His true holiness. It is not only the verbal dishonoring of His name by the unsaved that is troubling, it is also how Christians conduct church business, live their personal lives, perform professional services, and engage in other behaviors and activities as Christians where applications of integrity are essential, but often lacking. In some professions, it is not uncommon to see work trucks, vans, and other business signage advertising and promoting a business as Christian owned and operated, but when doing business with poor quality and dishonest business practices, the nameplate as Christian owned and operated becomes disreputable as a business of integrity. There have been multiple public incidents where the name of Jesus has been mischaracterized through the behavior of some who confess Him as Lord, particularly love. For example, when a Christian condemns the unbelieving, the wrong message is communicated because the believer has forgotten that they too had to be forgiven for sins. The woman who was brought to Jesus as the result of being caught in adultery by her accusers was told by Jesus that he did not condemn her, but she should sin no more (John 8:3-11).

The misbehavior in handling ministry finances for which church leaders have been indicted and imprisoned, and their personal misconduct, should be addressed as serious breaches of integrity of the name of Jesus Christ. The accounts of sexual misconduct and abuse by members of clergy have created a cloud of shame and loss of respect, and diminishes what the church is to represent to the world.

In our modern culture, it appears that the true meaning of worship of God has been replaced with theatrical and entertainment pleasures where people with their gifts and talents are celebrated more than the person of Jesus Christ. Throughout this writing, I will be discussing various applications of restoring the integrity of His name.

During the early part of 2015, while fasting and consecrating myself to the Lord, I was again reminded to write concerning integrity in the church, but with a greater emphasis of exposing the writing to a broader Christian audience. God instructed me to use Isaiah 58:12 as the supporting theme in delivering this message:

And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

I am humbled to have been chosen by God to announce, publish, broadcast, and participate with a larger network of believers set apart to this mandate of lifting the message of restoring the integrity of His name. It must be clear that the title of this book does not in any way indicate that the name of Jesus itself has lost virtue, integrity, or power. The church and believers in general have diminished Christ in many applications of personal life and public ministry, and this is a trumpet-sounding message to return to the manner of living that God intended for the church.

Many religious institutions and churches have bishops, pastors, and overseers who are the voices of conscience to those who believe in Christ and support their ministries. Therefore, these voices should be universally consistent with the voice of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. There are some church leaders who have lifted themselves to become the object of attention and adoration, and in the worst case, the object of worship. This has become an accepted behavior in so many Christian churches.

Chapter One

Who is Jesus Christ?

The exact year and date of Jesus’ birth is unknown, but according to Scripture, He was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, whose reign spanned from 37 to 4 BCE (Before the Common or Current Era). Before his birth, an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph, who was engaged to marry the virgin Mary, and revealed to him that the child she was carrying was of the Holy Ghost, told him not to fear taking Mary as his wife, and stated that the child would be named Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah prophesized of the birth of Jesus. In Isaiah 9:6 it is recorded:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Afterwards, Joseph took Mary to be his wife as the angel had instructed him. Soon after Jesus’ birth, and following a warning by an angel about Herod’s desire to kill Jesus, Joseph and Mary took their child and went into Egypt. After Herod’s death, an angel appeared to Joseph again and said, Go into the land of Israel, but since Herod’s son reigned in Judaea, this caused some safety concerns for Joseph and his family. Subsequently, God gave Joseph another warning in a dream, so Joseph moved to Nazareth in Galilee, where Jesus grew up as a child. (Matthew 1:20-21; Matthew 2:13-23; Isaiah 7:14).

It is important to highlight the purpose of Jesus coming into the world: to redeem or save people from the penalty of sin. John 3:17 says, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. Not much is known about Jesus’ childhood, but that which may be known of His life and works are recorded throughout the New Testament writings, specifically in the gospel writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. As the result of the early Jews rejecting his coming as King of the Jews or as the Messiah, the message of redemption and the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ was preached to the Gentiles, who would be saved by Him through faith, as written throughout the writings of the apostle Paul.

Though Jesus came in the flesh as the Son of God, He is the image of His Father. When the disciple Philip requested that Jesus show all the disciples the Father and said that would prove His deity, Jesus responded by saying, . . . Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (John 14:9). There is only one true God, ubiquitous and eternal, the creator of the heavens and the earth, who is above all things. Jesus bore the image of God the Father on earth. Paul, in his first letter to Timothy, said it this way, For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5). It is clearly obvious that the name of Jesus is not just an ordinary household name to be used in every imaginable context, but it is to be revered and honored as holy.

During the life of Jesus on earth, He did many mighty and miraculous signs and wonders, none of which had ever been seen by humankind. John 21:25 states, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every