*Characteristic Of A Christian*
The bible is the manual of life. It shows us that the name Christianity originated for the first time in history among Christ believers in Antioch, that is where Christ followers were named Christians, and the reason was because their character, behavior and way of doing things emulated Jesus Christ himself (Acts11:26), hence Christianity means to be Christ-like.
John1:12 says but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name. Here the bible is talking about what is called *new birth* or *regeneration*.
New birth simply comes as a result of an individual that truly accept and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour.
Many says, God only consider the inward man not the outward. That's wrong. Every acts and words emanate from the heart. God considers both inward and outward conduct in terms of holiness. You cannot claim to be born again yet there's no definite change in you and there's no difference between you and sinners whereas, 2Corinthians5:17 clearly stated thus 👉 Therefore if any man be in Christ, *he is a new creature*: old things are passed away; behold, *all things are become new.*
Before Saul of Tarsus met Christ, he was a murderer, but when he became born again, he became a saint. Why?, because things changed! When you become a Christian, things changes. If you were a liar, you become honest, if you were a fornicator/adulterer, you start maintaining sexual purity, if you were living a sinful life, you start living a saintful life - holy life.
The bible says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. In other words, you start to adopt a godly nature through new birth. Your emotions, imaginations, actions and desires are totally different as compared to the time you were still in the world.
*Characteristics of a true Christian*📍
The bible says by their fruit shall you know them, and also not every one that saith Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of God, but the one who does God's will (Matthew7:20-21). So this scripture reveals that not everyone who calls himself a Christian is truly one. Thats why we need to discover the true among the false bunch.
I believe by the end of this teaching, you will know whether you are one or not.
If not, make your ways right before the Lord immediately because the next second may be too late. Stop living in deception/falsehood. Hiding under I'm a committed church worker, l'm a pastor, l'm an evangelist, l'm still very young etc
The journey of being a true christian begins with Character. We know a Christian through the character that he or she displays. Actually, character is the real version of oneself. Now, Character is not the gift, but victory. What takes a man or a woman of God very far in life, is not the great spiritual gifts they possess, but its character.
To justify my explanation, Samson was born with a great gift and powerful anointing to overcome the enemies of Israel. The gift upon his life was very powerful, that he could defeat one thousand Philistines all alone, destroying them with just a jaw of a mule. He could pull the gates of Gazza under the anointing. That anointing could have gone very far, if not because of the lack of character and discipline.
Samson had a weakness, he was weak with women, he could not discipline himself sexually with the opposite sex, as a result, he slept with prostitutes. You know what they did? They delivered him to his enemies and that was the end of his ministry and influence. That's the same problem with young men and women, though they are mightily gifted, but they don't have the character and as the result they don't last.
Experientially, l can boldly say, it's wise for people to first work on their Christian character, before chasing their gifts. What's mostly important is character.
Even in churches, while ministers counts membership, God only counts character.
What makes a church beautiful? Isn't the magnificent or beautifully decorated building, and great advertisements? NO. The beauty of the church is the character of the people in the church.
Now, there's this religious organization l love so much, l've been following from distance since 2015 and l've been contemplating becoming their member. Recently, God miraculously brought me very close to the organisation and some of it members.
To be honest, what l'm seeing in those members(both young and old) isn't encouraging at all. As such, l couldn't join the organization.
They keep inviting me for their programmes, the last time l had to tell the person inviting me - teach your members to display the character of Christ as that is the greatest advertisement/publicity...
Know it that satan does not fear people that attend church regularly. Rather, he starts fearing when people start to look like Christ. How? Through their character!
Hence, God in his house, has vessels of honour and vessels of dishonour (2Timothy2:2.
Christians with good character makes God proud like He did in the case of Job (Job1:8).
*Q;* Before l rest my case, as a christian *How is Your Character in the Public and Secret?* especially 'behind close doors?'.
