for them throughout the week people are depending on your prayers and so we encourage you to do that the book of Acts tonight if you would please that's where we're going to be Acts chapter number 11 We've been going through these back to the basics Bible study and different things like that. We've been discussing and going through here on Wednesday nights and just want to try to be a help and a blessing to you through it. My prayer is through these these lessons on Wednesday night is that you'll draw closer to the Lord and you'll be a stronger Christian because of them. And that you'll be able to know why we believe what we believe, not just because somebody said so, but because the Bible says. And that's the sole authority of everything. You go out in the world, the people don't care what your pastor said. They don't know me. And you can say, well, my pastor said this, and that really doesn't mean anything to them. But if you say God said this in his word, that has authority. And so it's very important for you to know what the Bible says. And so Acts chapter number 11. We're gonna read one verse to you tonight and then I'm gonna talk to you on the subject of Christian character Christian character in the Bible and some things that Christians should be According to the Bible and we'll talk about that here tonight Acts chapter number 11 and verse number 26 It says, When he found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that the whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people, and the disciples were called Christians. first in Antioch. They were called Christians first in Antioch. In this passage we read that the disciples were called Christians. A Christian can be defined as this, a believer in or a follower of or an imitator of Christ. Okay, let me say that again. A Christian is one that is a believer in, a follower of, or an imitator of Christ. That means that we are to act like Christ. We're supposed to be an imitation of Him. That is what a Christian is, according to the Bible. The Lord Jesus is our example in all things. Look at 1 Peter 2. If you would please, we're gonna use our Bibles tonight. I want you to write these verses down if you're in the habit of taking notes. 1 Peter, chapter number two. Starting in verse number 19, the Bible says this, for this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endured grief, suffering wrongfully, For what glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto ye are called, because Christ also suffered for us, Leaving us an example that you should follow His steps what he's saying is Christ suffer. We're gonna suffer now There's some things we're gonna suffer. But why are we gonna do it? It said because Christ is our example in all things in Suffering in our everyday life and everything that we're going to experience verse 21 He says for even here unto you are called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example That you should follow his steps So he is our example that we should follow his steps. It tells us that Christ left us an example, that what he did on this earth was for a purpose. Not only did he come to seek and save that which is lost, but also to teach us that once we are saved, how to be an imitator of Christ. What we're supposed to do, how to be an imitator of God. He gave us that. This same truth that you read about here is repeated again in 1 John. Look at 1 John chapter number two. First John chapter number two. Not word for word, but look what it said. The same principle is here in First John chapter number two and verse six. Look what it says. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as He walked." So we're to walk even as He walked. That's saying the principle is we're supposed to do what Christ does. So on the other hand, we're not supposed to do what Christ wouldn't do, right? So if we're supposed to do what Christ does, then we're not supposed to do what He wouldn't do. There's a lot of things we could go off on a trail in that direction on what Christ wouldn't do Especially if he were in today's churches some things that would have to change because Christ wouldn't do them So neither should we so in the message tonight? We're going to point out some types of life Examples that we should have in our life that all born-again Christians should strive to lead the Christian life Some things about it that the Bible says and that as we go through this about what Christian character is all about I want you to see firstly, look at Philippians chapter number two. Philippians chapter number two. I believe this is the key to start off with in Philippians chapter number two. Remember, Christ is our example and we're going to start in verse number three. It says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. Remember, who's our example? Christ. Look what it says he does. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death the cross. In Philippians chapter number 2 Christ is being our example and as a Christian we are commanded to let each esteem other better than themselves. We're to follow Christ's example and it says in verse 8 that he humbled himself. So the first characteristic that we should have in Christian character is a Christian should be humble. The Bible said God resisted the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble. Pride is an awful sin. I believe that pride, I know the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil, but if you take out what the love of money is, it's nothing more than pride. Pride is what is the root of all of that, which drives us to that desire to want more because it's all about us and what we can gain and what we desire. That's why popularity is so important, that peer pressure on kids. You know what it is all about? It's about pride. They don't want somebody to think less of them and all this, but the Bible says that we ought not to think highly of ourselves, but every man also on the things of others. We're not supposed to try to lift ourselves up. God doesn't tell us to exalt ourselves. He tells us to stay humble, and He will exalt us. Because why? Because if we're following Him, Christ is going to be exalted and highly lifted up. And the Bible talks about it. If you continue on, it says there that, wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. Now, we know the name of Jesus, that Jesus was God in the flesh. He is sovereign. There's none above Him. He was God in the flesh. So when we say, well, he was lifted up because he was God, I believe this, that according to this passage of scripture, what he's telling the church at Philippi here is he's saying this, that because Christ humbled himself, God exalted him. God exalted him. Now, we can look at him and say, well, preacher, I believe that he was exalted because he was God. The principle he was trying to teach was to the church to be like Christ. He was trying to teach the principle of this, that if you're humble before God, God will lift you up. You know, our prayers, we come every Wednesday night and we have this prayer time that we get down and we pray and we ask God to do things. I wonder how many of us, this is the only time of the week we really pray. other than breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I'll tell you why most of the time it is, is because we're full of pride. And God said the biggest problem with our nation today is this, that God's people won't humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked way so that He can hear from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land. It takes humility. We have to be humble. God tells us to do that. Pride, again, is that awful sin that pretty much inevitably leads to fall if you don't deal with it quickly. When you feel pride rising up inside of you, you ought to nip it real quickly. Do the Barney fight. Nip it. Nip it quickly. Why? Because if we allow pride to swell up, we end up falling. We end up losing our testimony. We end up getting into things that we ought not to get into. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter number 16. Take your Bibles there, would you please? Proverbs chapter number 16. And verse number 18, look what it says. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before what? Before a fall. So what comes before a fall? Pride. Somebody who falls into sin, Brother Doug, is somebody who will allow pride to swell up inside of them. It's someone that allowed pride to get into us. Now, listen, ladies, I know ladies deal with pride, but more so, I believe a lot more men deal with more pride than a lot of ladies do. Now, I'm not saying it doesn't affect ladies, because it does, but there's just something about a man's pride, okay? The man's pride is the one that says, I can do that same thing you can do. You know, a guy punches through a two by four and we think, I can do that. So we try and we break our wrist, you know, because pride coming before a fall or a break, okay? Pride coming before stuff like that. I remember growing up, hey, living in West Virginia, we had that famous saying, you do something really stupid and somebody says, I can do that too, you know? And I can do it better than they did, you know? And so we used to jump our bikes. We would ride down the hill and go down this big hill and then we'd try to jump the creek. and see if we could jump over the creek on the ramp. And we got pretty good at it after the first several times that we wrecked into the creek. But I remember going down one time and my chain came off, brother Doug, as I was going down the hill. So I just let the momentum take me. I jumped and I got all the way across. My back tire hit and I made it. So I had a friend at my house. He said, his name's Jeffrey. He's like, I can do that same thing. He had never done it with me before. He gets on a bike, takes off down the hill. Halfway down, he realizes, I don't want to do this. And he goes to jump, but when he tried to jump, he didn't pull back on the handlebars. He hit the brakes, like coming up on that ramp and he flipped straight over. right into the creek, boom, there he goes. But you know where it all started? I can do the same thing he can do. I didn't tell him I've been practicing the whole thing, you know, all this kind of stuff. He just wanted to do something that we did. And we had a good time doing stuff like that. We used to have this big rope swing at our cabin. My parents, my dad and uncle and all them, found a big tugboat rope. And my dad climbs up this tree and ties this whole thing off. And we played king of the rope over the valley. What we would do is we would climb up on a ladder, my cousin Jason would climb up there, and he would jump off and sit on the knot of that rope, and he'd start swinging out real high, and then the next person would run and grab a hold of the rope, and then we'd keep going back and forth. You'd have like eight people hanging on this rope, swinging back and forth. Well, once we all got on it, Brother Doug, we tried to see who could keep their hands on it and try to get everybody else's hands off while we're swinging. I'm glad there's no kids in here, OK? So we were doing this thing back and forth, back and forth. Well, it was me and Jason left. We were on this thing swinging back and forth. Jason takes his knuckle and whack, slams my hand. Ah, and we were at the highest point. Off my hands go. I go flying down, rolling down the hill, hit my head on the log, knocked myself out. All of Jason thought I was dead. He comes running down the hill. Dan, you all right? We never told our parents until we got older. It was a lot of fun. But you know what I'll think? It was pride. We're thinking, who's gonna do this? See, it comes before a fall. We let pride happen, and that's where my problem came. I was normal before that, Miss Lisa. But the fact is, when we allow pride to come in, we get ourselves in trouble. And we need to make sure that we're staying humble. Every person, every Christian must be very careful to avoid pride. We must be very careful to avoid pride. Christ's example is that of humility. He was humble. Now here's the thing. He is God of the universe. Could do anything at any moment because he's God. But he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Why? So that you and I could have life. He humbled himself and lowered himself to die. to take the sin of all humanity upon himself. This perfect, innocent God hung on a tree because of humility. And he even looks up to the Father, Brother Miller, and says, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. That's humility. Somebody who did no wrong. Somebody who was undeserving of what they got. He humbled himself. We should be humbled. Now we need to be careful because not all believers in Christ are Christians. We use that term loosely. But to be a Christian, again, the definition a believer in, a follower of, or an imitator of. Just because somebody believes in Christ, now that was part of the definition, but it said they were first called Christians in Antioch. Why? Because they were imitating Christ's example. They were imitating Christ's example. But not only should they be humble, Threw some other ones in there. I had all of this homiletically with the H's but I threw some more in there and so We have to look at some of these but not only should a Christian be humble, but I want you to look at first John chapter number three First John chapter number three Verse 14 is where we're going to start. It says, We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brethren abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brethren is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath the world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed, and in truth. So not only would a Christian, to have the right kind of Christian character, should you be humble, but you should be loving. Love is an outstanding characteristic of a born-again child of God. Love is something that you should have if you are a Christian, if you are a follower of Christ, if you're one who's imitating The emphasis that John places in this passage through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is about Christ's love for us. Look at 1 John chapter 4. Look at verse number 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of whom? God. And everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we have loved God, but that he had loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sin. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. We are to give a strict heed to this passage of scripture because it tells us that if the love of God is in us, we can't have something resonating in us that is of God and it not come out to others. You understand, if we're living the way God wants us to live, if we're doing what God wants us to do, the love of Christ is going to so fill us up that that love is going to extend out to other people. We're supposed to love others, the Bible says. But there's also something that I want you to see here in 1 John 4. Look at verse number 20. If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? This is a warning that John is saying, listen, if you don't show love towards your brethren in Christ, if you don't show love towards your brethren, and you say you love God, you're a liar. Because you cannot have the love of God in you without loving that one that God loves. That's an attribute of Christ. We are gonna have love in our hearts. Love in our hearts. Look at the next verse. Verse 21, and this is the commandment we have from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also. Did you see that word, the third word in that verse, is what? Commandment. So wait a second, if we don't have love for the brethren, guess what we're doing? We're living in disobedience to God. God commands us to love the brethren. He wants us to love one another. He gives us that strict command. There's a greater understanding of real love in first Corinthians chapter 13. Look at that first Corinthians I'm not going to read all of these, but you'll get the general drift as we read down through it. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecies, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith that I can remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity bondeth not itself, is not puffed up. It goes down all the way through, talks about what love is not. And the fact of the matter is, as we go through all of this, what it's teaching us is this, Brother Miller, that your actions will really show your love. You can try to pretend that you love somebody, but if you have genuine love, there's a statement that says this, you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. If you don't give of yourself and time to others, they know you don't love them. I can tell my wife that I love her, but I need to back that up. When Jesus looked at his disciples and he said, do you love me? They said, yes, Lord, we love you. He said, feed my sheep. Do you love me? Yes, Lord, we love you. Feed my sheep. You know what he was saying? He was saying, don't just say it, do it. Don't just say it do it as we go through here that you can you can do things without love, but you can't love without doing things You can say I love God and sit in a pew all day long never do anything for God and guess what? He says you're a liar You know why because you don't really love him because if you loved him you'd get up and do something for him Because he's that example He's that example It means love charity That last verse, and now abide of faith, hope, and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. Love. That's it. Christian should be loving. The importance of love is so, so vital in our Christian life. We love others because Christ loves us and lives in us, and he ought to be shining through us. So a Christian should be humble, a Christian should be loving. Look at the next one here, Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter number two. Colossians chapter number two. Verse six and seven. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. That means we're supposed to do what he tells us to do, live like he lives. Rooted, built up in him, established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. So a Christian should be humble, they should be loving, but a Christian is also to be thankful. You know, as a Christian, we have much to be thankful for. God has done so much for us. If you are a child of God, a born-again believer, guess what? You ought to rejoice in the fact that you don't have to spend one second in hell. That ought to make you rejoice in your heart. We have a lot to be thankful for. But we ought to have thankfulness in our hearts all the time. We're commanded to abound with thanksgiving. Colossians 2 first Thessalonians 5 18 says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus Concerning you so God's will for your life is that you have thanks thankfulness Inside it said in everything give thanks for this what thankfulness is the will of God in Christ Jesus Concerning you so God's will for your life as a born-again believer to be Christ like to be thankful to be thankful We have a lot to be thankful for as a child of God. God's allowed us, everyone in this room, to live in the greatest nation in all the world. We have the freedom to come to a church or to come to this building and to worship God as we see fit. God's been very good to us. Most of us in this room have more than one copy of scripture. We have cars that we rode in here on. We have clothes on our back, food in our stomach, houses that we live in. God's been very good to us. We have a lot to be thankful for. But even in the valleys, we ought to be thankful. Why? Because through those valleys is a time where God is training us and teaching us to be that vessel that he wants us to be. I have a quote in my Bible says, God drags men through deep water not to drown them, but to cleanse them. See, a lot of times we go through deep water and we think, God, why are you doing this to me? And God's doing it for a cleansing. God's doing it to help us. We ought to be thankful. We ought to be thankful to God for salvation. We ought to be thankful to God for his provision. We ought to be thankful to God for the many blessings that he gives to us, even when we're so undeserving of it and we're living in sin. And we ought to thank God for his forgiveness upon our life. In Psalm 107, he said, oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Psalm 107.1, oh, give thanks unto the Lord. For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. David's saying, listen, give thanks unto the Lord. He's good. He's worthy of our thanks. And we ought to be thankful. So a Christian character that we ought to have is to be humble, to be loving, to be thankful. But look at Matthew 25, if you would please, Matthew chapter number 25. Starting in verse number 14, look, it says, For the kingdom of heaven is as a man who traveled into a far country, called unto his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. For unto the one he gave five talents, to the other two, and to the other one. For every man, according to his several ability and straightway, he took his journey. And then verse 16, it says, Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them another five talents. And likewise, also he that had received two talents, he also gained the other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received the five talents came and brought unto him another five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. See what he called him? good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I'll make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents. Behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things, I'll make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. One of the most important characteristics of a child of God ought to be faithfulness. Faithfulness. He tells these two, well done, good, and faithful, Servant, you know why because they didn't just take the gift that God had given them that gift of salvation and hold it to themselves You know what they did they went out and they were soul winners and they want other people to Christ and when the Lord returned Guess what? They had they had fruit that abounded to their account and you know what he said to him. Well done Good and faithful servant you were faithful over a few things. I'll make you rule over many He said enter down to the joy of the Lord Listen when you're coming into heaven, he's gonna be able to say well done if you're being faithful If you're being faithful. Why should we be faithful? Because He is faithful. He's our example. He is faithful. 1 John 5, 13. He said these things ever, I'm sorry, 1 John 1, 9. He said if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Guess what? He's faithful. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. He is faithful. When we stand before Christ and we will not be judged according to all of those sins that will throw us into hell, but guess what? Those works that we did for Him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Those are the words I want to hear. I want to hear Him say, well done. Many Christians never have received opportunities to expand their service for God, because guess what? They've never been faithful in the little things that he's given them. There's a lot of people, Brother Doug, that want to start automatically in the spotlight. I find it all over the place now. You get these young guys out of Bible college. Guess what? I'm glad they went to Bible college. But guess what Bible college doesn't teach? Ministry. You say, then why do they go? To get more knowledge of Scripture? But guess what? They don't teach you. They don't teach you how to deal with people. They don't teach you what the real heart of the ministry is like. But here's what happens, Brother Doug. These guys go and they get a four-year degree from Bible college and they come out of Bible college and they think they own the world. They think immediately, guess what? I ought to be exalted. I ought to have a 401k, a pension plan, be a pastor of a big mega church, all these other things. And guess what? They've never even worked in a bus route. They just went to Bible college. You know what the problem with that is? If you're not faithful in the little things, how's God gonna exalt you into bigger things? See, you gotta be a good servant before you can be a good leader. You understand? You gotta learn how to serve before God places you in a leadership position. And we have to come to the place where we're just faithful. There's people that I know that are out of the ministry and out of the work of the Lord because guess what? They did not have faithfulness. Faithfulness is a requirement For christian stewardship look at first corinthians if you would please first corinthians chapter number four First corinthians chapter four Look at verse 1 and 2. Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found what? Faithful. So if we're going to be a good steward of the Lord Jesus in our life, guess what he says we ought to be? Faithful. Faithful. Let me ask you this question. Are you faithful? I didn't say, do you just come to church? Are you faithful? Can God trust you with the work that he has to do? Can God bring you further in the work because of the faithfulness that you have? It's a requirement that we be found faithful. If you're a new believer, you should strive to be faithful in our church attendance, giving, soul winning, service, all that stuff. Those of you here that have been in church for a long time, you know that. You're supposed to be faithful. God commands us to be faithful to the church services. We're supposed to be faithful. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as a manner of summons, but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching. We're to be faithful. He tells us he loves a cheerful giver. He wants to be a giver. He tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We ought to be a soul winner. We ought to serve him. All these things we have to be faithful in. We should even be found faithful unto death. You say, whoa. You know what? I'll go knock on the door, Brother Doug, but if it means I got to die? You say, where's the Bible to say that? I'm glad you asked. Revelation chapter 2. Look at Revelation chapter number 2. Verse 10, fear none of these things which thou hast suffered. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Be faithful unto death. You say, what of my faithfulness means that I got to become a martyr for God? You ought to be faithful. You ought to be faithful. If you've never read the book called Fox's Book of Martyrs, I challenge you to read it. There's been many people that have been persecuted and suffered for the cause of Christ. But not only have they suffered, just been beaten, guess what? They've actually lost their lives. Standing up for righteousness and you know what's sad about that brother Doug. There's been people whose bodies have been torn apart by horses People burned at the stake people beat to death stoned to death all those things Paul was stoned outside of Lister got back up went back in because he knew there was something more to than his life It was to be faithful He said I fought a good fight. I finished my course I kept the faith Henceforth there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness. It's sad that we read about people that have done that. We see all the things that they went through. Paul said through scourgings often, through fastings often, all that because he didn't have food, he was stoned, he was beaten, he was put in prison. All these things that they suffered, all the disciples who were martyred for the cause of Christ. But we won't even go out and knock on a door. We can't get people to come back to church on Sunday night and Wednesday night. We can't get people to come to revival meetings, or to go out door knocking, or passing out gospel tracts, because guess what? It cramps our style, or it comes at the same time that we're supposed to be watching our television program, or we have this baseball game that we have to go to, or a basketball game, or a track meet, or God's church comes. It interferes with what my agenda is. You know what God says? He wants you to be faithful. He wants you to be faithful. God never said He would exalt you for going to sports over God. He said He'll exalt you for being humble and staying faithful. That's what God wants us to do. He wants us to be faithful. So we should be humble, we should be loving, we should be thankful, we should be faithful. Here's another one, 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4. Look at verse 12. That ye may walk honestly towards them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. So a Christian ought to be honest. The Bible condemns dishonesty. It says that we ought not to be liars. It said lying lips are an abomination under the Lord. He wants us to be honest. We're to walk above dishonesty, above deceit. Those are attributes of the world. We're to live as Christ reminds us through the writing of the Apostle Paul to the church of Thessalonica where he says to walk Walk honestly. Walk honestly. You know what, we just need to be honest. Just tell the truth. I try to tell our kids all the time that, you know, if you tell somebody a lie, you gotta remember that lie, because if it ever comes back up, you gotta remember what the lie was that you told them. But if you tell them the truth, you never really have to remember it, because you already know what the truth was. Just tell the truth. I tell our kids, too, that if you do something wrong and you're honest, guess what? There's more mercy for honesty than there is for lying. If you lie about something, there's twice the punishment, the thing that you did and the lying that you did. So it's always best just to be honest. In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 4, verse 2, Paul said that he renounced those hidden things of dishonesty. He renounced them, got rid of them. Why? Because you shouldn't be dishonest. You should tell the truth. You should tell the truth. Be honest before God. Honesty is a vital part of the Christian life. This honesty includes these things. We should be honest in our business dealings. Lying is condemned. in the Word of God. Proverbs 12, 2 calls lying lips an abomination. So we ought to tell the truth. We tell somebody, hey, if you'll do this for me, I'll give you $50. Guess what we ought to do if they do that for me? Give them $50. We ought to be honest in those business dealings. Whatever happened to the handshake thing? Whatever happened to it, I'll tell you what, liars. That's what happened to it. Now you have to sign a whole encyclopedia to get a loan. Why? Because of liars. It used to be you'd go in the bank a long time ago, shake somebody's hand, make a deal, buy some land because you shook their hand. But man's word is not his bond anymore because there's a bunch of liars. We should not only be honest in our business dealings, Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 11. Look there if you would please. Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11. Verse number one says this a false balance is abomination unto the Lord, but a just way is his delight Everything that we do ought to have that right balance. We can't say one thing and do another See what it says a false balance is abomination and Lord. You know what? That is that saying? Oh, I love God and not doing for God. I Having that right mindset. So we have to be honest in our business dealings. We should be honest to our employers or employees. Honesty includes doing a day's work for a day's pay. You go to work and they're going to pay you for eight hours worth of work, guess what they ought to get out of you? Eight hours worth of work. It ought not to be you show up to work and think, well, you mean I actually got to work? Why do you think people have such a hard time keeping jobs today? Guess what? They want a handout. You know what they want? They want to just sit at home and let the government send them money. But if you hire somebody to do a job, guess what you expect out of them? You expect the work out of them, right? That's honesty. I tell somebody, hey, I'm going to come cut your grass, guess what I ought to do? I ought to go cut their grass. That's just honesty. So in our business dealings, in the work that we do, the employers, and if you tell somebody, hey, you work for eight hours, I'm going to give you eight hours pay, and they work for eight hours, and you give them six hours pay, guess what? Dishonest. And that's not what Christ would do. We have to be honest. We should never steal from anyone. The Bible says that thou shalt not steal. Taking even the smallest item that doesn't belong to you is stealing. When I was a police officer, they had us do a polygraph test. That was interesting because he told you at first, he said, listen, no matter what I tell you, say no. No matter what question I ask, say no. I'm just showing you how the thing works. You're not in trouble. So what he did is he had me write down a number on a piece of paper, fold it up and stick it under my leg. And then he asked me what the number was. And when I said it was between one and ten, I picked the number four, I think it was. And I had it under my leg. He said, did you pick the number one? I said no. And it said I was telling the truth. Did you pick the number three? I said, no. And it said, I was telling the truth. It said, did you pick the number four? That thing went up like this when I said no. And he was like, oh, you picked four. I said, how do you know that? He said, because it tells me when you're lying. Your body just knows when you're lying. It just puts off things that know that you're lying. Even when you know you're not getting in trouble, your body knows that you're lying. And so he tells us that. He said, now, as we go through this, he said, I'm going to ask if you've ever stolen anything. He said, when I say that, I know in your mind what you're going to think is, have I ever went and robbed money from somebody or taken this? He said, but I'm even talking about if you took somebody's pencil in school and never gave it back or didn't ask, because it'll tell me that you've stolen something before. So I was like, Okay, have you ever stolen anything? Yes, I have. Boom, and it told me I was telling the truth. So I was like, good job. But guess what? We shouldn't steal, even the smallest things. Somebody gives you a pen, give it back. It's not yours. We don't think about these things, and we've all been guilty of it, but we shouldn't steal. The Bible says, thou shalt not steal. You may think it's something small, but it's not. If it doesn't belong to you and you keep it, and you don't give it back to the rightful owner, guess what it is? And that's a sin, and it's wrong, or to be honest. Another thing we're supposed to be, Ephesians 1 and verse 4, that God had chosen us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy. We should be holy. Look at Ephesians 1. Look at Ephesians 1. Verse 4, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So Christians, to be holy. God wants us to be holy. Look at this statement in Philippians 1 and verse 11. I want you to see what the Bible says. Look at Philippians 1. Philippians 1, look at verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. So we're supposed to be filled with the fruits of righteousness for what purpose? The glory of God. So living wholly, guess what that is? Is that we have a fruit of righteousness. Who is righteous? God is righteous. So if we're gonna have His attributes on us and be holy, He commands us, our theme this year, 1 Peter 1, but as He that which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. For it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. He wants us to be holy. Our lives should be that that imitate Christ. He is righteousness and we should live righteously. And so we're to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter number three. I Thessalonians chapter number 3 and verse number 13, to the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. So we're to be unblameable in holiness, the Bible says. If you want to turn there for a second time, 2 Corinthians 7 says we're to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh. Now that we are Christians or we're imitators of Christ, we should strive with the help of God to overcome sin in every form in our life. We ought to be humble. We ought to be thankful. We ought to be faithful. We ought to be honest. We ought to be holy. All those things, we ought to do those things. Why? Because they're an attribute of God. He is the example of those things. We ought to love others. Those are things that we're supposed to do. That is Christian character. It's imitating Christ. They were first called Christians in Antioch, which means we're supposed to be imitators of Christ. But there's one more thing. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number nine. 1 Corinthians chapter number nine. Starting in verse number 24. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore, so run, not as uncertainty, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I preach to others, I myself It should be a castaway. In these verses, Paul was likening the Christian life to a great race. He reminds the Christian that running in a race takes discipline. He said, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. That's what every runner has to do. They have to discipline themselves in running. I hate to run. I'll just be honest. I don't like it when I had to chase people as a police officer. It made me mad I didn't like it because I don't like to run I'm not built for running. Let's just put it that way. Okay. I'm not built for running. I don't like to run but Paul is likening this in this passage of Scripture the Christian life to a race and And he said, so run that you may obtain. He said, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. He said, a regular race, they're running to obtain a corruptible crown, but we're running to obtain an incorruptible crown, one that we'll get to have when we get to heaven's glory. And we're running a race. We ought to be disciplined in that race. It said, he that runneth in a race, run all, not part of how you're able to run, but all that you're able to run. Do everything that you can do for the cause of Christ. Don't hold back. Run with everything you've got. I do remember, though, when I would be running, chasing some of these guys, I know I'm not a runner. I don't like to run. But I had a goal, and that was to stop that guy. So all I had to do, Brother Miller, is purpose myself to run faster than he did. And God blessed, and I was able to catch a lot of them, okay? And the fact of the matter is this, because it took discipline. You had to run. You had to run. He said but one receiveth the prize so run that you may obtain The word temperate means to have discipline When the old nature that flesh rises up against you to do right in that warfare That's going on where the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. Guess what? You got to do keep running for God When you're tired and you don't feel like running anymore You keep running You keep going till you cross the finish line You keep going. These guys that run these marathons, and they're running, and they're running, and they're running, and they're running. They get tired, but guess what they don't do? They don't stop. They keep going. They may slow down a little bit, but guess what they're doing? They're still moving forward. They're still going. They get their win, and guess what they start doing? They pick it back up, and they keep on going again. But you know what? Most of the time, if you ever look at a race and watch how the race is done, first off, they've taken time. They've exercised. They've worked themselves out. They've disciplined themselves. They've been running, running, running, running. Now it's race day. Here they come. They run. When they get weary, guess what they get? water. And guess what the Bible likens water to? The Holy Spirit. Guess what happens when we get run down in the race of Christianity? We get that water of the Word and the Holy Spirit, and guess what it does? It refreshes us and we keep on running for Him. Just keep running. You've got to discipline yourself. We're to be involved in God's army. It's a constant warfare between the flesh and the spirit. When someone gets saved, they receive that new nature as we learned in the salvation lesson at the beginning. They gain a new nature. They didn't lose their old nature and it's a constant battle. So guess what it takes? It takes discipline to keep on going for God. It takes discipline if you're going to be victorious for Christ in this constant warfare. that one that you feed the most is the one that triumphs, the flesh or the spirit. It takes discipline. You know what it takes to get up in the morning and read your Bible? Discipline. You know what it takes to pray every day? Discipline. You know what it takes to live holy? Discipline. Paul said, I die daily. You know what he's saying? I got to discipline myself. I keep my body under subjection, lest that by any means, when I preach to other, I myself should be a castaway. What he's saying is, listen, I don't want to try to exalt myself. I need to exalt Christ. I need to get rid of Paul and put Christ first. That's why he said for me to live as Christ and to die as game. We have to discipline ourselves. We have to discipline ourselves. Why don't people come to church? They don't discipline themselves to do it. Why can't people come to Sunday school? They don't discipline themselves to do it. Why don't people come out soul winning? They don't discipline themselves to do it. It takes discipline. You gotta do it. These guys that get up in the morning and run, more power to them. Guess what it takes? Discipline. They get up and they do it. They run. I feel bad for them. I do, because I hate running. I know what it would make me feel like if I tried to get up every morning and tried to run. I hate running. I try, Lord, give me some other exercise. And He did. I do this every day. Exercise, exercise, I try that stuff. But guess what? Take discipline. If you're going to run, you're going to exercise, you're going to work yourself out, guess what it takes? Discipline. The Christian life is no different. It takes discipline. God, the Holy Spirit, Paul Wright, through his inspiration, liking it so we could understand it. He puts it to a race. And this race that they're running takes discipline. You have to work yourself out. You have to build your strength. You have to build your endurance. You have to keep on going. Paul said, I press toward the mark for the pride of the high colon of God in Christ Jesus. He's pressing on. He's pressing on. He's pressing on, even when it gets tiring. He still keeps going for God. That's what discipline is. That's what we're supposed to have is discipline. We ought to be holy, honest, disciplined, humble, loving, thankful, faithful. All of these are attributes of Christ. That's what's having Christian character. Do we have Christian character? These are all things according to the Bible, what the Bible says that we ought to have. They're commands, and if God commands them, we ought to do them. And we'll sit and we'll nod our head and that's fine, but are we really gonna step up and do it? That's what it takes, is discipline. It takes discipline, just purpose in your heart. I preached Sunday night, Daniel, purpose in his heart, that he would not defile himself. You know what it took? Discipline. Just to do the right thing, even when the right thing's not possible. With heads bowed, eyes closed, and nobody looking around tonight, do you have Christian character? Do you have Christian character? Are you faithful?