[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello everyone and welcome to the Power of Being Relentless Ethics podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Michael Hanks and today we're going to be talking about the ethical decision making framework.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're diving into something that touches every part of life.
[SPEAKER_01]: how to make tough ethical decisions, especially when the pressures high, the stakes are real, and the easy choice is not the right one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because let's be honest, most people do not struggle to do it right, when right is easy.
[SPEAKER_01]: The real test comes when doing right, cost you something.
[SPEAKER_01]: May cost you comfort, money, approval, position, relationship, or an opportunity.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in those moments, your values are no longer ideas.
[SPEAKER_01]: Today, we're going to talk about practical framework for ethical decision-making, not just theory, not a vague inspiration, real steps you can use when you're under pressure.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's get into it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ed thinks it's not just about rules, OK?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about alignment.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the alignment of what you believe, what you say, and what you do.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the truth is, pressure reveals alignment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pressure shows us whether we are anchored or drifting.
[SPEAKER_01]: It exposes whether our values are deep roots or just good branding.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can say you believe in honesty.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can say you value justice, and you can say integrity matters.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what happens when honesty threatens your image?
[SPEAKER_01]: What happens when justice slows profit?
[SPEAKER_01]: What happens when integrity makes you stand alone?
[SPEAKER_01]: In the book of Micah, we get one of the clearest calls to ethical living at all scripture.
[SPEAKER_01]: Micah six eight says, he has told you, oh, man, what is good?
[SPEAKER_01]: And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
[SPEAKER_01]: That verse is simple, but it is not shallow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those three phrases give us the bones of an ethical life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just this ask, what is right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Kindness asked who was affected, humility asked, am I submitted to truth or just defending myself?
[SPEAKER_01]: Ethics matters because every decision shapes your character and character shapes your future.
[SPEAKER_01]: You do not become a person of integrity in one giant moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: You become that person in a thousand smaller choices.
[SPEAKER_01]: Quiet choices, uncing choices, costly choices.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is why relentlessness matters here.
[SPEAKER_01]: To be relentless in ethics does not mean being harsh, rigid, or self-righteous.
[SPEAKER_01]: It means refusing to abandon what is right when life gets complicated.
[SPEAKER_01]: It means staying faithful when compromise is easier.
[SPEAKER_01]: It means saying my values are not seasonal.
[SPEAKER_01]: They do not disappear when pressure enters the room.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Luke 1610, Jesus says, one who is faithful and very little is also faithful and much.
[SPEAKER_01]: And one who is dishonest and very little is also dishonest and much, that matters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ethical collapse rarely begins with a giant scandal.
[SPEAKER_01]: It often begins with a small excuse.
[SPEAKER_01]: a small shortcut, a small silence, a small lie that someone tells themselves before they tell it to others.
[SPEAKER_01]: So today we're not just talking about avoiding disaster.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are talking about building a framework for faithfulness.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's name the reality.
[SPEAKER_01]: If doing the right thing, always quick reward, most people which use it more often, but at the cold decisions become hard because they are often wrapped in tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's a few of those tensions.
[SPEAKER_01]: Truth versus loyalty, justice versus convenience, condition versus acceptance.
[SPEAKER_01]: Long-term integrity versus short-term gain.
[SPEAKER_01]: Obedient cigar versus fear of people.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the hard part is not that you do not know what's right.
[SPEAKER_01]: The hard part is that you know exactly what's right and you also may know the cost.
[SPEAKER_01]: The book of Proverbs speaks directly to this tension.
[SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs 2925 says the fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes us edit ourselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes us delay obedience.
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes us protect reputation over righteousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: But ethical clarity often requires a moral courage.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's also the issue of self-deception.
[SPEAKER_01]: Human beings are very skilled at making wrong choices and reasonable.
[SPEAKER_01]: We say things like, I had no choice.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody does it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just this one time.
[SPEAKER_01]: The outcome will justify the method.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am protecting people.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is how the system works.
[SPEAKER_01]: But scripture calls us back to honesty in James 317 we read, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits and partial and sincere.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the beautiful test for a decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's pure, sincere and partial.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's full of mercy and good fruit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not just cannot defend it, but does it reflect the wisdom that comes from above?
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's something else.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tough ethical decisions are often made in moments of fatigue, fear, urgency, or confusion.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pressure narrow's vision.
[SPEAKER_01]: It can make the immediate problem they'll bigger than the deeper principle.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is why you need a framework before the crisis.
[SPEAKER_01]: You do not want to invent your ethics in the middle of temptation.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to train your heart before the test comes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to have your core values, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to know what you believe, what you're not willing to bend down, so when temptation comes, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you try to do it in the middle of temptation, it doesn't work that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just going to be confusion, all right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to get practical now, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's a framework you can use when facing a top ethical decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll go through it step by step, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: So, it's built on seven movements.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one is pause.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two, clarify the facts, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Three, name values at stake.
[SPEAKER_01]: Four, search the decision in light of scripture and conscience.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number five, seek wise counsel, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many of these that are so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, let's get let's show back to number two for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Clarifying the facts.
[SPEAKER_01]: So many people that I'm talking to will flip on a major news network and they're all one-sided.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there'll be so many out of shape for something they had that's probably not even true to begin with.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it messes their whole day up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at the facts.
[SPEAKER_01]: They tell you a little bit of the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to know the facts, you've got the look for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to dig and find out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Same thing with politics, are you a Republican or Democrat?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm neither.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't care to pick aside because you know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: To me, all they care about is loyalty to their party and it blinds them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Goes back to that truth over loyalty, truth over loyalty what I was saying.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we need to do, truth over.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's so loyal to their party, they'll lie.
[SPEAKER_01]: And to me, you have no integrity,
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I go out and vote.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't vote for one party.
[SPEAKER_01]: I vote for the person.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to know that person's heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, now that's a perfect, I get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's also going into all of this and coming out multimillion, multimillionaire.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your raising taxes in the American people are, we're not seeing the benefit of it, but you are coming out millionaires.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, I didn't want to get political there, but clarify the facts, look into it, see what they're doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sequoise Council, like I said, this is the last one on this number five, I think.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need, you know, the Bible says to wear out the doorstep of Waskin.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I will, people that are smarter than me, I love spending time with them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I don't know everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I'm continually doing new things.
[SPEAKER_01]: This triathlon thing I did is really, really.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trust me, I'm seeking out Wilds Council on it, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm voting people that are experts in running.
[SPEAKER_01]: I won't people that are experts in swimming.
[SPEAKER_01]: I won't people that are experts cyclists.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll vote people that are smarter than me in that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll seek them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll go out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll talk to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll find out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number six, choose the right action with courage.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: The problem we have in America right now is matter two tenid in two week to stand up and make a bold decision they need to make.
[SPEAKER_01]: And especially in the Christian faith, we have so many Christian men that are not standing up for Christianity and letting it just get walked over to the side and not being respected because you're not standing up for your faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: if Jesus Christ can go to the cross and die and hang on across naked and be beat beyond a bloody pulp and die the most miserable death.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't stand up and defend your faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't stand up and say no, we're not gonna tolerate that here, because this is what we believe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Me and you're not gonna stand up and say, this is my house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in my house we serve the Lord and this is we're not going to put up with the, we're not going to put up with anything that violates our Christian standards.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to put up with the mockery of Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: You won't do that because you're weak.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what, maybe you say, oh, well, my wife won't listen to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what, maybe if you are a strong man, she would.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now let's do me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not talking about strong and and and.
[SPEAKER_01]: verbally of using women or physically of using women.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm talking about.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's toxic masculinity right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what you call toxic masculinity.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you're cousin women, when you're baiting women, that's toxic masculinity.
[SPEAKER_01]: Strong masculinity is when you lead by example.
[SPEAKER_01]: And your wife will follow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you, you know, just like this, you know, when I'm back in my office working, you know what my wife's cooking suffer for me, but you know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Cause I'm doing my job as a man,
[SPEAKER_01]: and providing for my family, working.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is she doing her job?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what, but if I was sitting in the recliner with my feet watching soap operas, no, I don't deserve her to make me suffer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I'm old school, man, a man should have to earn his right to come home every night.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just the way I see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen a lot, when I was at the temp agency, one thing that would just get me is saying the women go to work and when the men would set home and play video games.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, those aren't me and those are boys.
[SPEAKER_01]: What type of man would ever even consider setting it home playing video games?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, his wife went to a factory and worked as girlfriend, went to a factory and worked.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I know I got a little off subject there, but choose the right action with courage.
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes a right action, not a lot of people who are doing, but what kind of man are you going to be?
[SPEAKER_01]: And this end just towards men, women, you know what, you have to be strong and courageous too.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you see things that are going wrong and you know, you have to step outside and stand up for righteousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: This hit about me and being superior than women and women are just a rug for me and a walk on.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what I'm getting at here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So don't don't don't misunderstand what I'm saying here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not and I don't just mean that women deserve to be in the kitchen, but that's just what I was getting out there is that we were doing our part.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm focused on running my businesses.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm focused on doing my work.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm working in my office.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm getting things done, I'm providing I'm open up streams of income from my family to live off of to, you know, and that's my wife cooking because I'm busy working and doing that in the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And like I said, if I was sitting in the recliner not doing anything, you know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Then that's no, I don't deserve her to cook, be a meal.
[SPEAKER_01]: So number seven, reflect and remain accountable.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the problem right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody wants to be held accountable.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody wants to be held accountable anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you take accountable for anything, I don't care if it's not your fault or not, who cares?
[SPEAKER_01]: Take accountability for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, what's do you own it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Then you can make decisions to fix it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you're just going to point it, it'll never get fixed.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why there's so many problems where I'm from here in Tennessee where I live is a lot of these plants that I've been into.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all finger pointing and that's one that I think it's fixed because nobody has the courage to say hey I made a mistake now I want to dig into these a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go back to Paul's.
[SPEAKER_01]: When pressure rises, our ends think is often to react.
[SPEAKER_01]: We rush, we defend, we justify, we choose speed over wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: But a rushed conscience is a vulnerable conscience.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at Sarash 18, 19 through 20.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before you speak learn, and before you fall, you'll take care of your health, before judgment examine yourself and at the time of scrutiny, you will find forgiveness, that call to examine yourself matters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul's gives you space to breathe, pray, and separate panic from principle.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not everything you come up will need you a immediate answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's some things that you need to just pause and pray about.
[SPEAKER_01]: that don't get me wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are decisions that you do have to make quick decisions and be quick, but some things if it can wait, pray about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two, clarify the facts.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, a lot of, a lot of bad ethical decisions are made because people act on assumptions, partial information and distorted narratives.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ask yourself, what do I actually know?
[SPEAKER_01]: What do I not know?
[SPEAKER_01]: What's been verified?
[SPEAKER_01]: What's rumor, emotion, or interpretation?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who will be affected by the decision?
[SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs 1813, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is practical wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not decide before you understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't judge before you listen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't act before you examine.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where you ask what kind of decision is this?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this about truth, justice, loyalty, human dignity, stewardship, compassion, purity, accountability, protection of the vulnerable.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at Scripture.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, think about these things.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's Philippians 4, I ask yourself this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this true?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it honorable?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it just pure?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it worthy of respect before God?
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at step 4, search for decision and live scripture and conscience.
[SPEAKER_01]: This step moves us from analysis to discernment.
[SPEAKER_01]: For believers, ethics is not just about social norms of personal preference.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about whether our choices align with a heart and will of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Romans 12, too, do not be conformed by this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: That by testing you may discern was will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
[SPEAKER_01]: Notice the word discern.
[SPEAKER_01]: ask does this decision on her God?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does it reflect love that a love of the neighbor?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does it protect vulnerability?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does it require deception?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does it feed pride, greed, fear, or bitterness?
[SPEAKER_01]: Could I present this choice honestly before God and prayer?
[SPEAKER_01]: Boy, that'll change you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think and want it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at wisdom six, 17 through 18.
[SPEAKER_01]: The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction and giving heed to her laws is a sure it's of a moral.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, and in first Enoch, five, five, four, we found a sobering warning about instability of wrongdoing and the certainty of moral consequence.
[SPEAKER_01]: The message is clear.
[SPEAKER_01]: Send may seem to prosper for a moment, but it does not stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: That matters because of the great temptation under pressure is to believe that compromise works, that corruption works, dishonesty works, silence works, moral surrender works.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what works in the short term may destroy in a long term,
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember, I got to see this pretty early in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: I worked at a core lot when I got out of high school I was still in college.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as I was working there, I got to see a lot of salesmen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I worked there for a few years and you would see some of the salesmen they would come in, they would have all kinds of, they would be making deals.
[SPEAKER_01]: On the other hand, you would see salesmen that were not, you know, they were really honest with customers and they were upfront with them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were just, they didn't try to push things and be slides slick and all that.
[SPEAKER_01]: They built business slow, but they had stable business and their sales grew because people got to talk in a battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: They would go out in the community and when they were talking to them, man, that guy can trust me.
[SPEAKER_01]: He told me the stuff, I didn't want to hear and he told me the good, the bad, and the ugly.
[SPEAKER_01]: like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're business grows.
[SPEAKER_01]: The other guys that were coming in and not being honest and being slick and trying to pull fast wins in last long.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they made money.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, yeah, sure they made money, but it didn't last five.
[SPEAKER_01]: Seek wise counsel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pressure isolates people, shame isolates people, pride isolates people, but isolation makes ethical failure more likely.
[SPEAKER_01]: Proverbs 11, 14, where there is no guidance of people falls, but in abundance of counselors, there's safety.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's true, there is safety in wise counsel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not every opinion counts as wise counsel, those choose people who are mature, honest, grounded, and not impressed by appearances.
[SPEAKER_01]: See those who care more about truth in your comfort.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ask someone who asks someone who will not flatter you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who can challenge your blinds by, who knows how to hold grace and truth together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why is Council help several ways, exposes rationalization?
[SPEAKER_01]: It bronze perspective, it slows impulse action.
[SPEAKER_01]: It confirms conviction when the path is costly.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Asking for Council is not outsourcing responsibility.
[SPEAKER_01]: The decision is still yours, but Council helps you see it more clearly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Six, choose the right action with courage.
[SPEAKER_01]: Choose the right action with courage.
[SPEAKER_01]: A framework means nothing if it never reaches obedience.
[SPEAKER_01]: Once you've paused, clarified the facts, name the value search the issue in scripture and salt-wise counsel, there comes a moment that.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the action, often requires courage because ethics usually cause something and do to run a me 31, 6.
[SPEAKER_01]: Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be in dread of them for does the Lord your God who goes with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: moral courage is not the absence of fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is the decision to obey despite fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: This may mean telling the truth when a law would protect you, reporting misconduct, refusing a corrupt opportunity in meeting a mistake, making a restitution protecting someone vulnerable, resigning rather than violating consciousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where many people stall.
[SPEAKER_01]: They can identify the right thing, but they do not do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Scripture is clear that hearing the truth is not enough
[SPEAKER_01]: but be doers of the world and not hearers only, deceiving themselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: There it is again, self-deception.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can admire ethics and still avoid it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can teach ethics and still betray it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can quote scripture and still disobey it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Relentless this means you act on what is right, even when compromise is cheaper.
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me say this carefully.
[SPEAKER_01]: Carriage must be joined to humility.
[SPEAKER_01]: ethical action is not self-righteous theator.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a dramatic performance, it's faithful obedience.
[SPEAKER_01]: The goal is not to look noble, the goal is to be faithful.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number seven, reflect or remain accountable.
[SPEAKER_01]: After the decision we ask, what did this reveal about me?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where was I tempted?
[SPEAKER_01]: What strength did me?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where do I need to repair?
[SPEAKER_01]: What safeguards should I put in place for the future?
[SPEAKER_01]: Lamentations 340, we read, let us test and examine our ways and return to the lower.
[SPEAKER_01]: Reflection helps you teachable, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Reflection keeps you teachable, accountability keeps you honest.
[SPEAKER_01]: Reflection keeps you teachable, accountable keeps you honest.
[SPEAKER_01]: You made the right choice, gift thanks, and stay humble, if you fail, repeat it quickly and tell the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: If harm was done, repair what you can, if patterns are emerging, do not ignore them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ethical maturity is not perfection.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's responsiveness to truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: I relentless person is not someone who never struggles.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is someone who keeps returning to what is right, keeps submitting to God, and keeps refusing to feel a life-on-gopper-mise.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, let's talk directly about alignment under pressure.
[SPEAKER_01]: because knowing your values is one thing, living them under stress is another.
[SPEAKER_01]: And pressure comes from all kinds of places.
[SPEAKER_01]: Workplace, family, financial, leadership, burden, fear of conflict, public scrutiny, urgent crisis, loneliness, exhaustion.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pressure can make people split in two.
[SPEAKER_01]: One version of themselves speaks in principle, the other acts in survival mode.
[SPEAKER_01]: So how do you stay alive?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna give you five practical anchors.
[SPEAKER_01]: One, to sadger non-negotiables in advance.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't wait for the crisis to divine your convict, set your non-negotiables before the moment comes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Know this ahead of time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not let it protect my image.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not exploit others for gain.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not cover wrongdoing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not violate conscience for approval.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not abandon the vulnerable to stay comfortable.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Daniel's a powerful example here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Daniel 18, but Daniel resolved that he would not devise self.
[SPEAKER_01]: He resolved first the test came after.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is key.
[SPEAKER_01]: Two, build daily integrity before major test.
[SPEAKER_01]: Big ethical moments are often horn or lost in small daily habits.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you practice honesty and little things, you're stronger in big things.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you practice prayer daily, you're state of your own crisis.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you welcome correction in normal life, you are less defensive when stakes rise.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look 1610.
[SPEAKER_01]: which we mentioned earlier.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus has faithfulness and little things to faithfulness and much.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not disobey us, small obedience is there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Training.
[SPEAKER_01]: And daily integrity may look like telling the truth and when it's awkward, keeping your word with using God's up owning mistakes, quickly handling money honestly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Treating people fairly when no one is watching, expect emotional pressure and name it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's number three.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, fear says protect yourself, prod says do not admit fall.
[SPEAKER_01]: Greed says take the gang, shame says, hide it, bitterness says they deserve it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Exhaustion says just do what's easiest.
[SPEAKER_01]: Naming emotional pressure helps weaken its control.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Psalm 139, 23 through 24, the Psalmist says, search me, oh God, and know my heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tromming and know my faults and see there, be grievous way in me and lay me into the way I've ever lasted.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a nethical prayer.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has God to reveal what is active beneath the surface.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the decision in front of you is not the only issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the deeper issue is fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: Screwting, anger, shaping your judgment.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can not align actions with values if you will not face what is happening in your own heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number four, Redmont, remember who you are before you remember what you risk.
[SPEAKER_01]: when pressure rises, people often focus on what they may lose.
[SPEAKER_01]: Static income, access, acceptance, comfort.
[SPEAKER_01]: But scripture calls us to ground identity deeper than circumstance.
[SPEAKER_01]: Galatians 1, 10, 4, I'm now seeking approval of man or God.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is direct.
[SPEAKER_01]: You cannot serve God well if the approval of people is your master.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, you are changes how you decide.
[SPEAKER_01]: remembering who you are, changes how you decide.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are not merely a performer trying to survive a moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are a person accountable to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are called to truth, holiness, to love your neighbor, to walk humbly and just enact justly, identify steady's ethics, except that obedience may cost you in this number five.
[SPEAKER_01]: To a lot of actions with values under pressure, you must accept that obedience may cost you,
[SPEAKER_01]: This isn't pessimism, it's realism.
[SPEAKER_01]: First Peter, three, 14.
[SPEAKER_01]: But even if you should suffer for the righteousness sake, you will be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in second macabees, six, Elzard becomes a striking example of refusing compromise.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even under severe pressure, he would not pretend faithfulness while acting falsely.
[SPEAKER_01]: His witness reminds us that image management is not integrity.
[SPEAKER_01]: Real conviction,
[SPEAKER_01]: survives calls.
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me encourage you here.
[SPEAKER_01]: The cost of obedience may be painful, but the cost of compromise is often deeper, compromise may spare you in the moment, while wounding yourself with your witness in your future.
[SPEAKER_01]: Better a hard truth than a comfortable lie, better a clean conscience than a polished image, and better a costly obedience than a profitable betrayal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to leave you with this, power being relentless in ethics is not that you become flawless.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's that you become anchored.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anchored people are not easily bolt.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not easily bent by fear, not easily rule by applause, and they're not easily confused when the cost rises.
[SPEAKER_01]: They know who they are, they know what they value, they know before they live.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when the moment comes, they choose the narrow road of integrity over a wide road of compromise.
[SPEAKER_01]: And ecclesiasties are two, one would read my child when you come to serve the lower, prepare yourself for testing that is honest.
[SPEAKER_01]: Testing will come.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pressure will come.
[SPEAKER_01]: At the extreme will come, but so will grace wisdom in the strength of those who seek the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Psalm 15 one through two, oh Lord, who shall sworn in your tent?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who shall dwell on your holy
[SPEAKER_01]: walks plainly see and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the call.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do what right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Speak the truth in your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Walk with God when no one's applauding.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's relentless living.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: Father, thank you for being holy, just wise and true.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for not leaving us to guess our way through life, but for giving us your word, your spirit, your wisdom, teach us to love what is right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Try in our hearts to recognize
[SPEAKER_01]: help us to pause when pressure rises so that we do not act from fear, pride or impulse.
[SPEAKER_01]: Give us clear minds to see the facts on his torch and name the values at stake in humble spirits that submit to your will.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, when we are tempted to compromise, make us steadfast.
[SPEAKER_01]: We fear people remind us to fear you and reverence of love.
[SPEAKER_01]: When we are confused, guide us, when we are weak, strengthen us, when obedience is calls to help us to remember that faithfulness matters more than comfort.
[SPEAKER_01]: Protect us from self-defense, deception, cowardice, disgustingness, wisdom, silence, disguised as peace, from compromise, disguised as success.
[SPEAKER_01]: Make us people who do justice, love mercy, and welcomely with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Make us truthful and private, courageous and public.
[SPEAKER_01]: Help us align our actions with your values
[SPEAKER_01]: We pray for your leaders, workers, parents, pastures, students, all okay responsibility.
[SPEAKER_01]: Give them discernment and difficult choices.
[SPEAKER_01]: Give them courage to protect the vulnerable, tell the truth and do what honors you and Lord, where we have failed, have mercy on us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lead us to repentance.
[SPEAKER_01]: Teach us to confess quickly, repair what we can and walk forward and grace and truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: May our lives bear witness to your righteousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: May our choices reflect your wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: May we be relentless in faithfulness, patient and trial and rooted in love.
[SPEAKER_01]: We ask all of this in your name.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus Christ, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Guys, thank you so much for joining me today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't forget to add me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's Michael Hanks published out their own Facebook.
[SPEAKER_01]: This message helps you take some time this week to reflect on your own ethical framework.
[SPEAKER_01]: Write down your non-negotiable guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: Know what you will not negotiate on.
[SPEAKER_01]: have some non-negotiables you have to identify the pressure points in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ask God for the courage to live aligned.
[SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, stay grounded, stay faithful, and stay relentless.