We must cultivate our own integrity,
Integrity means being genuine in everything we do.

Learn to Manage Your Integrity

Establish an Image of Integrity

Integrity is paramount. When you are looking for a job and writing your resume, you need to write about what you have done. When I was looking for a job and writing my resume, I would always ask my immediate superiors, that is, my bosses, to write me letters of recommendation. They were also willing to write me letters of recommendation because I demonstrated integrity in their presence.

If your letter of recommendation is written by your immediate superior, it means that he knows you very well, and of course, this letter of recommendation is very impactful. But if your letter of recommendation is written by someone unrelated to you, then this letter of recommendation is actually worthless.

The opening of a letter of recommendation must state your identity and your relationship with the person you are recommending. If you have no relationship with the person you are recommending, you will not know his performance. For example, as a pastor, when I write letters of recommendation for our brothers and sisters, I would write: I have known XXX for five years, and in these five years, as his pastor, I have such-and-such opinions of him; he has expertise in such-and-such areas; and he has done such-and-such things among us. You have to write like that, you cannot just say anything. That is to say, it is very important for a person to manage their own integrity and image.

But many people do not have the concept of management. If you do not have the concept of management, even if the person next to you becomes another Jack Ma, it will not have any impact on you. Why? Because he knows you are not a person of integrity. So today, each of us must manage ourselves, especially young people. If you do not manage your integrity, you are a person without credit.

If you buy a house, the bank will examine your credit; if you are looking for a job, the recruiting company will examine your credit; if you are looking for a partner, the partner will also examine your credit. A person without integrity is worthless. That is to say, everything you have is based on one concept—integrity. For example, the Internet: I pay money, but I do not know if he will give me the goods; he gives me the goods, but he does not know if I will give him money. What is demonstrated in between is integrity.

How is this integrity built up? For example, in the beginning, with the rise of the IT industry, I started with the most primitive Internet in 1992. Unfortunately, I did not have the vision of Jack Ma, and I also feel quite regretful because I have never encountered a good mentor in my life. If I had a good mentor to guide me, I should have done better. But it is also good to have come this far today.

I am a person of integrity. If someone doubts my integrity, I will do my utmost to build a communicative relationship with them. For example, in Hangzhou, I met XY's parents. In the very beginning, I said that I hoped to have a deeper interaction with you. Because I do not want you to blindly believe me, and I also do not want to blindly believe you. But let us be friends, know each other more, and it will solve many problems.

Do Not Believe Blindly

I am someone who proactively builds personal integrity, and personal integrity is definitely not something based on empty words. Because my immediate superior knows me best, the letter of recommendation he wrote for me when I was looking for a job could better prove that I am a person of integrity. That is to say, I do not encourage everyone to blindly believe anyone. For example, if you blindly believe someone and lend him money, if he does not repay it, you will be helpless. So do not believe blindly.

How Integrity is Established

There is neither blind belief nor blind disbelief. So how does integrity come about? Integrity is a mechanism. Doing business is not because you believe the other party, but because he has a mechanism, so you will have confidence in the other party. For example, the establishment of integrity on the Internet comes from negative reviews.

If you see a merchant on Taobao who has many negative reviews, you probably would not dare to buy his goods. Therefore, the shopkeepers on Taobao value their state of integrity very much, because this state of integrity is transparent.

In fact, if you are in a brick-and-mortar store, you cannot really ensure that this brick-and-mortar store has good integrity, because there is no mechanism. At most, you can say that you will not come to this store again, but you are helpless against this store. Why can the Internet establish this kind of thing? Because the Internet has a mechanism of integrity. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we must understand how to establish a mechanism of integrity.

Learn to Measure Risk

I met a person who said, Pastor, you do not trust me, I am very hurt. I said, why should I trust you? Because I never blindly believe anyone. If I do not trust you, it is because you do not have a mechanism for me to trust you.

I never blindly believe anyone, I always consider the risks and measure the risks. How do I measure this risk? I will measure whether I can afford the risk. For example, if you ask me for one hundred dollars, that is fine; I can afford the risk of one hundred dollars, and I do not need to examine your integrity.

If you are a person without integrity, I will not lend you one hundred dollars either. I would probably only give you ten dollars to buy yourself a box lunch, and tell you not to look for me again. So today, brothers and sisters, you must know that a basic principle of your conduct is that you must establish your integrity.

When deciding whether to do something, if there is no mechanism of integrity, then measure the risk: if I can afford it, then I will do it; if I cannot afford it, then I will not do it. If this risk exists, why should I do it if I cannot afford it? So today, brothers and sisters, we must know that we must learn not to believe blindly, but to measure risk.

For example, in the supermarkets of our era, the salespeople stood in front of the counters, and if you wanted to see something, it was all through his hands, and he would get it for you. How was the concept of supermarkets established later? Someone measured this risk, measured these gains and losses and the overall benefits, and decided to put the goods on the shelves for people to take at will. He would definitely lose sales, and things would definitely be stolen by others; this is certain. But they had also done surveys at the same time; all those who opened supermarkets had done it: the probability of losing goods was two percent, and in places with poor security, it was about five percent. They knew this situation, but they took the risk.

That is to say, he measured this risk. What to do after measuring it? Because I will lose two percent, so I will increase the price by two percent, so there is no loss and still profit.

The rise of open-shelf supermarkets is a new mechanism; this mechanism is based on this risk assessment and also on the assessment of integrity. Today, in many countries in our world, most countries have been measured and found that people's integrity is actually okay. But if you are in a very backward, very backward country, do not do open shelves; you cannot do it. Because the integrity mechanism of that country is very poor, and the integrity of the entire people is very poor.

In the operation of our society, risk management is an indispensable thing in our management of the state of integrity. For example, a girl who wants to get married must consider the level of risk. Actually, this risk is relatively high today.

Some people say that the risk of marrying or taking a wife is eighty percent; that is, eight out of ten couples will not be able to continue. Either they are in deep water, or they are neither cold nor hot, which is almost the same as not marrying or not taking a wife; it may even be worse than not marrying or not taking a wife. So, calculating it, this risk is eighty percent, not two percent.

So, recently I considered that I am doing this marriage registration officer, and probably this time with HF will be the last time. I will not do this anymore because I have done an evaluation and the risk is too high. But I still have this certificate. If there is really a need to make an exception, I will still do it. If I want to make an exception, I must have higher risk management.

Integrity and Mechanisms are Interdependent

So, when you live your life, you must know that integrity is a mechanism, and integrity does not exist without a mechanism. Everyone must never think that you can believe blindly. You must examine the mechanism behind it before deciding whether to trust him.

S once told a story. In the early days, the British would send prisoners to Australia. As soon as the prisoners got on the ship, the government would pay the shipowner. The shipowners did not treat these prisoners as human beings at all; many people got sick and died on the ship, some jumped into the sea, and some starved to death. Actually, it was not that the shipowner was not trustworthy, but that the entire measure, the entire mechanism, had a problem.

When there is a problem with the mechanism, you are in trouble. Today, if you do not have Alipay, you cannot use online transactions because integrity does not exist. Without a mechanism, integrity is really difficult to exist.

The bank exists as a third party, and the money will be collected by it first. Including if you buy lottery tickets in Singapore, there will be a lawyer to help you collect the money first; only after your procedures are completed and all procedures are accepted will the money be released.

It is very dangerous without a third party because it is very important as a mechanism. As a result, a human rights crisis broke out in Britain. Many people protested that the prisoners did not deserve to die either. You are sending people to Australia for exile, but these people cannot be abused to death in the ocean. Later, someone in the government came up with a solution, saying that the shipowners would be paid after counting heads when they disembarked. This count solved the problem.

The same person, the mechanism of integrity was built. Therefore, there was no more abuse of prisoners, and people could smoothly reach the place in Australia where they were to be exiled. There would be a loss if one person was missing when disembarking, so prisoners could therefore not be allowed to die. So this handling must be appropriate, that is, there must be a mechanism to manage it.

So today, why do I tell everyone about integrity? It is because this society has a mechanism, and this mechanism determines whether you can explain to your new employer that you are a person of integrity when you are looking for a job. This is why I am very opposed to messing around at work, resigning as soon as you are unhappy, and lacking integrity.

Why? Because either you have a problem with emotional management, or you have a problem with your entire work situation. Anyway, there is a problem with your integrity, and you are not good at managing things. So today, brothers and sisters, no matter which company you work for, you must handle your integrity well. Because they are witnesses of your entire journey, you must be cautious.

You must live out your best side for people to see, and you cannot do whatever you want according to your heart's desires. Some people just quit their jobs casually, resign without notice, and then stay idle at home. Is it appropriate to do this? This is obviously not appropriate.

But if you change your approach: Boss, I have a very good opportunity. Look at the treatment he is giving me; it is really difficult to refuse, so I accepted it. So, Boss, you really have to forgive me. I cannot continue to work with you. But I have really enjoyed working here in the past few years.

How good it is to do this. Do not mess around as you please, because people are really going to ask for a letter of recommendation in your resume, and you will have nothing to give. You have a very strained relationship with your boss, and you usually hate him and he hates you. Then what is the point of your work? So this measure must be appropriate.

So, establish integrity, and then establish this mechanism. You must know that this society has a mechanism to measure your level of integrity. This is definitely the case, so you must be cautious. This society will definitely measure your state of integrity.

This is why many companies, including very good companies, are like this, and they pay attention to measuring your state of integrity. Including me, actually, I later made a decision about hiring full-time employees: you must be a district pastor to be full-time. If you are not a district pastor, how can you be full-time? I do not need cleaning here; you must have integrity.

Everything needs a mechanism, and there must be an appropriate mechanism and corresponding measures. Because integrity is the basic principle of the operation of this society. You must also become a person of integrity. To become a talent, you cannot indulge your petty emotions.

I still have high requirements for the full-time staff of the church. I will definitely not hire a low-grade employee, and our church will not have low-grade employees, because our church does not have low-grade things to do. Our church will not have the position of secretary, because not only do I need to tell him how to do this, but also because I have to pastor him because of his petty emotions. I will definitely not do this.

Why do the bosses of our full-time employees try to keep them when they resign from their previous jobs? Because they all have a very good resume, and we must all start to develop such a habit. The mechanism is very important. The mechanism is needed for the employer to assess your integrity.

With this mechanism, there will be no blind assessment. When I meet people who do not trust me, I will reach out and let them understand me, understand that side of me that has integrity. So this mechanism is very important because you also need to examine the integrity of others. Our church will train everyone to become a very shrewd person.

I will give an example of my work experience. Once, someone from a unit called me and said, Have you encountered a situation where you are arguing with suppliers? I said I have not. This is because he did not explain clearly to the other party when he gave out the project, and as a result, there was a two million Singapore dollar content that was not explained clearly when signing the contract. So there will be many problems when implementing it, and every specific detail change will affect the profit of the project. Then it is impossible to have integrity!

Later, this is what I did: I will give you one million for what I can explain clearly, and for what I cannot explain clearly, we will give you as much money as we do. I just changed a model, and there is no need for complicated discussions at all because the more he does, the more he earns. As a result, I can complete this project with $1.4 million, but the other party is still arguing with the supplier with $2 million. Therefore, appropriate mechanisms and measures are very important.

Integrity is very important in the workplace. When you submit a set of data to your leader, you must prove why this data is correct. Therefore, the establishment of an integrity mechanism is very important. The mechanism is the best way to test whether a person has integrity. As for me, I will wrong you once. If you pass, then you have been tested, and I will use you greatly. I will definitely test you first when I want to promote someone.

A person's integrity needs to be proven to say that I am a person of integrity; this is the establishment of credit. What is written on the resume is actually your integrity. So I give everyone a suggestion: if someone tells you that I am a Christian, you should trust me, then you must never believe him; there are many liars among Christians. Christians cannot be a guarantee of integrity; many Christians have demons on them. There was a Christian who borrowed 500,000 and ran away, and it could not be recovered. So do not blindly believe in people. Blind trust or distrust is foolishness. Understanding through examination is needed for establishing a mechanism.

Shaping your own integrity is a crucial component of a person's character. With this integrity mechanism, you can examine whether a person has integrity. Integrity means telling the truth. Cultivating your own interpersonal relationships must be genuine. “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” (Isaiah 1:3) In the operation of interpersonal relationships, integrity is the key to establishment and relationships between people are made of integrity.

Must be Genuine in Everything

If a person has built a mechanism of integrity from a young age, how can others trust you if you cheat and deceive from childhood? Interpersonal relationships are the most important cornerstone of a person's integrity. Therefore, one must be very careful in handling interpersonal relationships. Some people do not understand what builds interpersonal relationships. What builds interpersonal relationships in the church? It is your service, definitely not your mouth. Service must be genuine, that is integrity, and integrity means being genuine in everything. If you are genuine in your work, you are a person of integrity.

Therefore, everyone must understand: when I am working, I must do it well whether the boss is present or not. I absolutely do not fake it. How can it be acceptable to be dishonest when the boss is not around? Do not deceive people with falsehoods. If you are a person of integrity, you will have opportunities for promotion when others need your help.

Be genuine in your work, studies, and interactions with people; be genuine in building the church; be genuine in building the company. You cannot play games. In the process of interaction between people, everything depends on what you do. If what you do is nonsense, how can you gain trust? Therefore, we must cultivate our integrity. Integrity means being genuine in everything.

Today, I will not hide the fact that even those who have left the church know that I am genuine. In one's life, do not engage in falsehoods, vanity, or emptiness. Being genuine in everything is extremely powerful!

There was an employee whom I asked to solve a problem and asked if there were any issues. No Problem, he said. Half a year passed, and it was still No Problem, but later I discovered that there were many problems. The difference between a person who is genuine and one who is not is vast. Our offering for the construction of the temple is a mark of being genuine or not. Integrity is very important in a person's life. Doing things without being genuine harms both oneself and others.

The Church Must Establish a System of Integrity

Someone said that Jack Ma deceives everyone. Jack Ma said this very well: I may be deceiving you in a one-hour interaction, but the people who have fought alongside me for eighteen years cannot be deceived by me. Moreover, I am talking about judgments about the future. I strongly believe in my judgment of the future, and I tell my colleagues what I believe. This is the kind of person I am.

I have a classmate who said, There is a type of person who puts ideas into people's minds and then takes the money out of their pockets. One person who does this is the abbot of a temple, and another is a pastor. Although this statement is amusing, it gives me a great reminder. Today, the money of the brothers and sisters will definitely not end up in my pocket. I am not the abbot of a temple. I am just a manager, just like you.

Next, I will strive to establish the entire system of integrity. I do not want to mistreat my employees, and you should not think of mistreating your employees. It is definitely not acceptable to dismiss them with only nine hundred RMB.

The church must establish a system of integrity; the company must establish a system of integrity; people must establish a system of integrity. I encourage everyone not to ask me to trust you. You need to prove that I can trust you. I also do not ask you to trust me. You can investigate me. Why should you trust me? Because it is something I have cultivated. I can prove to you that I am trustworthy.

Some pastors take a day off each week, and you cannot call them on that day. If you call them, they will say, Today is my day off. Later, I realized that this was not right. If their son were dying, they would definitely answer the phone. If a brother or sister in the church is dying, can you not answer the phone? This is absolutely guaranteed: as long as I can answer, I will definitely answer. Unless I accidentally miss it, I will definitely call back. This is my personal integrity.

In the previous period, Sister SQ tested me by calling me anytime, anywhere, and I answered anytime, anywhere. Even if I fell asleep at six o'clock, if you called me at six fifteen, I would still answer. Why? Because that is my personal integrity. If I were ministering to another person at that time, I would hand the phone over to YX, HF, XY, and others to help me, and I would definitely make arrangements.

Therefore, today we brothers and sisters must have a very clear understanding of integrity. The church is a group with the same vision and mission, and you must be genuine. People must understand that you should not cultivate relationships with your mouth, but with your actions. Do not play games. Today, we brothers and sisters are developing a habit of being shrewd.

The State of Your Shepherding Represents Your Future

If you are a district pastor or cell group leader, your shepherding represents your integrity. If you shepherd with the heart of a father and mother, you will find that things can get on track. If you are selfish and only care about yourself, it is impossible for you to shepherd well. For me, if my son calls me on my day off, I will answer. Why can't I answer when a brother or sister in the church calls me? Even if the church grows a lot in the future, as long as you call me, I will definitely answer.

In my job, I once had thirteen thousand students and fifteen hundred employees. My phone number was placed on the website, and anyone could call. But it didn't ring that often, and if it rang, I would definitely solve their problem. You must cultivate a habit of dealing with people; shepherding reflects a person's integrity. If you do it with your heart and give it your life, who wouldn't be moved? The problem is that many people play games, so their shepherding is not successful. They feel that it is the least important thing in their life, the most important thing is their work, and the second most important thing is their parents.

The state of your shepherding represents your personal integrity; the state of your shepherding represents your personal ability; the state of your shepherding represents your entire value system. Therefore, today we must know that shepherding is very important.

Your future is all in shepherding. Your leadership ability and your integrity are all in your shepherding. In the future, we will establish an educational institution, and we will do the work of shepherding. Every student will be shepherded, and their various situations will be resolved. Everyone in the educational institution will be a master. What is our educational institution? Our educational institution is to shepherd with the heart of a father and mother, and that is being genuine. The university we build will definitely be a first-class university.

Without Integrity, There is No Way to Build a Team

The reason why the Communist Party was able to defeat the Japanese and Chiang Kai-shek was because the Communist Party was a Communist Party with integrity, and it did a very good job in the construction of the entire party. It was really amazing to be able to liberate China and overthrow several mountains and semi-feudal and semi-colonial states. How did they do it? By doing ideological and political work, that is, shepherding.

So today, do you really believe in God? Do you really believe that the grace God has given you can all be realized? If you really believe, then start being genuine, and that is integrity. People without integrity have no chance. The last sermon was about tipping points and opportunities. Who are opportunities for?

Without integrity, who will build a team with you? Without a team, what opportunity is there for you to fight alone? Today, who does not rely on a team? I must say that Jack Ma is a person of integrity, and the team he built also created an environment of integrity. Integrity is really important; it is very foolish to be without integrity.