April 25, 2025
Integrity and Influence
Can people count on you to tell the truth - both in public and behind closed doors?
In today’s episode, host Gaby Alessi invites us to explore the powerful connection between integrity and influence, diving into the story of Ananias and Sapphira from the early church in Acts. Together, we’ll discover why being people of our word matters so deeply to God, how our choices impact those around us, and what it means to hold ourselves—and our community—to a higher standard of honesty and righteousness.
Join us as we pray for God’s guidance to be people of integrity in every area of our lives, asking Him to help us walk in truth and lead others by our example.
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WEBVTT
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:21.480
You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1255. Today's Devo is called Integrity and Influence. Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time.
00:00:21.600 --> 00:02:30.235
That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Well, happy Friday, everybody. This has been a great week as we look at just the lives of the disciples and what happened after Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven. It's been an amazing week and I thank you guys for following along. And if you missed any episodes, I encourage you to go back and listen to them because they will all make sense in the end. This has been your host, Gabby. I really enjoyed this week and I'm excited for next week. Also want to plug really quickly our meet and greet that we are going to have. It's going to be a little coffee meetup on May 1st here in Miami. Don't miss out on it. If you have questions, go to our Instagram page and you will find all of the info there. But all four of us sisters will be there and we'd love to connect with you. All right, let's jump into day five. Now. I'm ending things on a deep high because I want to continue in the story of Acts and there's a story of about Ananias and Sapphira. Has anybody heard about this story? This is one of those that you look back and you're like, whoa, this is an intense story. And if we don't have the right context of the story, we can really see it as, wow, God is really intense. And God is this and God is that. But ultimately, and I want to set the tone of the story, what I believe is happening here is that we talked about it earlier. This is the early developments of the church, right? This is the early developments of believers. And this story is the picture of how God views integrity and how he views influence of people. That God is very strong on integrity. And God wants to make sure that we do what he asks of us and that we don't hold anything back. Basically, the story of Ananias and Sapphira is that there's a day where Peter is sitting there and and people are bringing these offerings to him. And in Iris and Sapphira are this husband and wife. And Ananias, the husband goes in first and he has this offering, and he withholds some of the offering.
00:02:30.427 --> 00:02:33.800
Well, when Peter says, is this everything that you have?
00:02:34.259 --> 00:02:37.692
He lies the husband and says, yes, this is everything.
00:02:37.795 --> 00:02:59.765
When we all know later on in the story, it was not everything. And so Ananias gives the little bit that he had. And. And in that moment, the Lord took Ananias. Well, it's this whole big intense moment where people are like, what is happening? Well, then his wife's outside the tent. So then the wife comes in, they ask her the same question.
00:02:59.837 --> 00:03:11.729
If you have not read this story, please go read it for yourself. It is crazy. And I pray the Holy Spirit will give you understanding. But I bring this up because the wife goes in, they ask her the same question, and she responds in the same way her husband did.
00:03:12.030 --> 00:04:15.243
Basically what happens is when they are going to give to the Lord and give to the local church, they hide something. They weren't honest about the things that God had given them. They weren't honest when it came to a moment of being generous, they withheld and they lied. And what they showed was a lack of integrity. And here's what I believe we're sensing from this story. In the church and in the community, we all have to hold the integrity and the standard of integrity in our church, all of us. This is something we can't just leave to our pastor. This is something we can't just leave to our worship director or, or the kids ministry director or the youth pastor. It's on all of us as believers to hold the standard of integrity, to be integrous people. Because when we are integrated, integrous or not, we have to understand we're also influential. So our integrity or our disintegrity. Is that a word? I don't know.
00:04:15.412 --> 00:04:22.524
Our integrity, our. Our in integrity. You can find which word it is that will make a difference on somebody and that will speak
00:04:22.572 --> 00:04:33.029
11, it says this, that once this happened with Ananias and Sapphira, it says, great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
00:04:33.449 --> 00:04:36.709
You see, we have to understand our integrity has influence.
00:04:37.050 --> 00:04:51.350
When we do things right, there's an influence there. And when we don't, there's also an influence there. And so all of us have to lead by example when it comes to how we live our lives. And we have to understand that God cares about integrity.
00:04:51.850 --> 00:05:35.430
God cares that what we say behind closed doors is what we say in front of people. It matters to God what we do in the dark and what we do in the light. These are things that God looks at. And I pray that all of us, it would be said of all of us that we are integrous people, that we are loyal people, that we are righteous people, especially in the house of God. So, Lord, I just thank you for this week. I thank you for this Friday, Lord. I understand that maybe on a Friday we're not thinking so much about intention, integrity. We're kind of shutting off our brain. We're ready for the weekend and we're slapping our laptop till Monday. But Father, I pray that you would stir up and we'd ask ourselves, are we in integris? You know, how are we when it comes to giving?
00:05:35.509 --> 00:05:46.569
How are we when it comes to telling the truth and being open and vulnerable? Lord, are we the same person behind closed doors that we are outside of those doors?
00:05:47.079 --> 00:06:08.560
And Lord, it's on all of us to bring that integrity to the house, to walk in that integrity with the house of the Lord God, it's on all of us. And so I pray that you would stir that up today, you would lead us to that, Lord, and that you would help us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So there you have it, your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today.
00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:23.870
We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotion. Devotional, share it with a friend, Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:21.480
You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1255. Today's Devo is called Integrity and Influence. Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time.
00:00:21.600 --> 00:02:30.235
That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Well, happy Friday, everybody. This has been a great week as we look at just the lives of the disciples and what happened after Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven. It's been an amazing week and I thank you guys for following along. And if you missed any episodes, I encourage you to go back and listen to them because they will all make sense in the end. This has been your host, Gabby. I really enjoyed this week and I'm excited for next week. Also want to plug really quickly our meet and greet that we are going to have. It's going to be a little coffee meetup on May 1st here in Miami. Don't miss out on it. If you have questions, go to our Instagram page and you will find all of the info there. But all four of us sisters will be there and we'd love to connect with you. All right, let's jump into day five. Now. I'm ending things on a deep high because I want to continue in the story of Acts and there's a story of about Ananias and Sapphira. Has anybody heard about this story? This is one of those that you look back and you're like, whoa, this is an intense story. And if we don't have the right context of the story, we can really see it as, wow, God is really intense. And God is this and God is that. But ultimately, and I want to set the tone of the story, what I believe is happening here is that we talked about it earlier. This is the early developments of the church, right? This is the early developments of believers. And this story is the picture of how God views integrity and how he views influence of people. That God is very strong on integrity. And God wants to make sure that we do what he asks of us and that we don't hold anything back. Basically, the story of Ananias and Sapphira is that there's a day where Peter is sitting there and and people are bringing these offerings to him. And in Iris and Sapphira are this husband and wife. And Ananias, the husband goes in first and he has this offering, and he withholds some of the offering.
00:02:30.427 --> 00:02:33.800
Well, when Peter says, is this everything that you have?
00:02:34.259 --> 00:02:37.692
He lies the husband and says, yes, this is everything.
00:02:37.795 --> 00:02:59.765
When we all know later on in the story, it was not everything. And so Ananias gives the little bit that he had. And. And in that moment, the Lord took Ananias. Well, it's this whole big intense moment where people are like, what is happening? Well, then his wife's outside the tent. So then the wife comes in, they ask her the same question.
00:02:59.837 --> 00:03:11.729
If you have not read this story, please go read it for yourself. It is crazy. And I pray the Holy Spirit will give you understanding. But I bring this up because the wife goes in, they ask her the same question, and she responds in the same way her husband did.
00:03:12.030 --> 00:04:15.243
Basically what happens is when they are going to give to the Lord and give to the local church, they hide something. They weren't honest about the things that God had given them. They weren't honest when it came to a moment of being generous, they withheld and they lied. And what they showed was a lack of integrity. And here's what I believe we're sensing from this story. In the church and in the community, we all have to hold the integrity and the standard of integrity in our church, all of us. This is something we can't just leave to our pastor. This is something we can't just leave to our worship director or, or the kids ministry director or the youth pastor. It's on all of us as believers to hold the standard of integrity, to be integrous people. Because when we are integrated, integrous or not, we have to understand we're also influential. So our integrity or our disintegrity. Is that a word? I don't know.
00:04:15.412 --> 00:04:22.524
Our integrity, our. Our in integrity. You can find which word it is that will make a difference on somebody and that will speak
00:04:22.572 --> 00:04:33.029
00:04:33.449 --> 00:04:36.709
00:04:37.050 --> 00:04:51.350
00:04:51.850 --> 00:05:35.430
00:05:35.509 --> 00:05:46.569
00:05:47.079 --> 00:06:08.560
00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:23.870