PIBC - 4 The Christian's Character

We have finally come to the last day of camp! What a wonderful time we have had!

You all have done a good job being on time, listening during the morning devotions and preaching services, volunteering to pray and read the camp verses 3 times a day.

I thank you for behaving well!

Yesterday we talked about be ready to be a witness. We looked at that verse in I Peter that speaks about the Christian being ready to give an answer to any man that asketh of you concerning your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In that, my desire was to get you to think about how exactly you would begin a conversation witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I also wanted you to see an example of how to begin a conversation…

In the midst of that, I was talking to Ethan about the Lord Jesus Christ and Salvation through Him.

It came to attention of Pastor Earl that I failed to mention the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, so before we get to the lesson today I would like for you to open your Bible to I Corinthians 15:1-4 “1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:…”

I want you to notice that as Paul spoke about who the Lord is and what He has done, He by inspiration of the Holy Spirit defined the gospel as The Lord Jesus Christ’s death, burial and in verse 4 the resurrection.

The Bible tells us in I Corinthians 15:17 “17 ... if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”

In other words, we could say it this way, the fact of Christ’s death for our sins on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection are all necessary for someone to know to believe and receive the Lord as Savior and thus the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I do not want you to think that you have to be mechanical in talking to someone about the Lord, but we do need to be specific and accurate in the things that we say, realizing this that my responsibility is to tell, but it is God and God alone who saves.

Turn your Bible’s now to Proverbs 22.

Proverbs 22:1 “1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, And loving favour rather than silver and gold.”

Let’s pray.

We’ve spoken beginning on day one about Following Christ and Fishing for Men.

On day, we made a commitment to tell other about the Lord. We specifically wrote down at least one name of a person we were going to (1) pray for (2) intentionally speak to about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ

Yesterday, as I said earlier we thought about how it is we would begin a conversation with someone about the Lord.

In that I challenged to memorize at least one verse to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation in Him and Him alone.

Today, I want to challenge you to guard your testimony and influence.

I believe our evangelist Brother Berry preached a message concerning this and spoke out of Proverbs 20:11 “11 Even a child is known by his doings, Whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.”

And the truth of the matter is this, even an adult is known by his doings...

Ecclesiastes 7:1 “1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.”

You and I in our desire to be a witness for the Lord must guard our testimony and influence with others, understanding that we want our hands to agree with our speech.

You say what do you mean by that?

In Genesis 27:18-22 we are told of Jacob who lied to His father, He deceived Him… and Isaac pointed out this one fact, that Jacobs hand and his voice did not agree.

“18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? 19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. 20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. 21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. 22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

You have a clear example here of one that was found to be a liar who’s voice said one thing, but his hands did not agree.

When we do not have a Christlike testimony, we fail to use words that are pleasing to God, we fail to act the way we should act, we may tell folks about the Lord with our mouths, but people may look at us and say our actions do not agree.

You have probably experienced this before unfortunately looking at an adult… they've said one thing and done another… And you thought to yourself.. they are telling me one thing and doing something else.

So what I simply trying to tell you is this, If you go home and live like a lost person, you constantly act wrong, you constantly say things that are not pleasing to the Lord, you constantly do not do what is right.. you will hinder your testimony.

I want you to remember this statement, you are pointing people to the Lord or you are leading people away from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me give you some practical things:

Be obedient to your parents and adults that are in authority… as unto the Lord.

Don’t participate in what the wrong crowd is doing. There are always going to be plenty of folks around that are doing the wrong thing…

Don’t take part with people that are speaking wrong things… There are many that take the Lord’s name in vain… A Christian, who is wanting to maintain a good name for the Lord Jesus Christ make every effort not to take the Lord’s name in vain or be around others who do.