Rev. David Hearn, President of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada (C&MA), addressed our graduating class of 2019 earlier this month. Here are some highlights from his address!
The steps of a leader have a direct impact on those who follow! Today is your graduation day – a day in which we applaud you for your hard work, your diligence and your passion to not only complete your studies but to be agents of transformation in a dark world.
Jesus’ primary mission is summed up in this one line: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). That was Jesus’ assignment, and it is our assignment as well.
If you are to be leaders who will change the course of human history, it will take more than just good theology, it will require more than just well-learned skills and it will involve more than just a deep passion to share Jesus with the world! It will take a heart of integrity! It was said of King David, that “He shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them” (Psalm 78:72). The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart!
The word for wisdom in the Old Testament is hakmah. It was a common word used to describe great skill. A skilled craftsman – hakmah! A skilled musician – hakmah! The writer of Proverbs captures this idea and applies it to godly living – he calls us to be skilled in godly living – to live hakmah lives! We need men and women who are filled with Jesus and living godly lives.
Solomon exhorts us: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” The heart must be guarded because it is the wellspring (source of direction) of life! It sets the stage for our choices, attitudes and behaviours of life! Above all else!
A heart of integrity is a SURRENDERED heart
Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your Spiritual act of worship.” A heart of integrity is a heart radically surrendered to God!
A heart of integrity is a SENSITIVE heart
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). Keep your heart soft and responsive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
A heart of integrity is a COURAGEOUS heart
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).
You are more dangerous than you think you are! Jesus did not die to keep us safe…he died to make us dangerous! BOLDNESS is a by-product of knowing our identity in Christ – it is about intimacy with Jesus.
God knows who you are, the Devil knows who you are, but do you know who you are! The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in you! If we only believed what God believes about us, it would revolutionize our lives!
In Him, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. In Him, you were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In Him, you have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. In Him, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Right now, all authorities, power, and dominions are under our feet!
A heart of integrity is a SPIRIT-FILLED heart
The key to a heart of integrity is a spirit-filled heart! Jesus stood and in a loud voice declared, “’If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit” (John 7:37-38).
We know the downward pull of the law of sin and death but in Christ there is a new law at work within us – the law of the Spirit. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is at work in us to bring us to wholeness, dynamic spiritual health and kingdom advancing victory!
A heart of integrity is not found in trying harder but in trusting more! “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” HAKMAH!