Build the Character of God

Last week, brethren, I gave a sermon about the mind of a king. Basically, I went to form important areas of developing the mind of a king related to education and knowledge. I was able to discern the right knowledge of God's help. Then I talked about the ability to understand and to link that knowledge of various facts to be able to put them together. It was understanding and therefore that vision of what all those facts really mean. It was to understand them. The first one is knowledge, to be able to discern, to distinguish, to separate good from bad information. Then the second one is understanding, putting all those facts and connecting the dots, to put it another way. Then the third area is that as a mind of a king, a king must have the capability of having godly wisdom. We even refer to the time when Solomon, after the death of his father, he prayed for wisdom. God was very pleased with that because a king must make wise decisions. You and I are going to be kings. To be in the first resurrection, we're going to be trained now with those principles. Then the fourth one was the ability to have godly character. In other words, the ability to to stick to it and fulfill and do those right decisions regardless of whatever trials or difficulties you and I have. So today, brethren, I want to expand this important topic, but specifically the topic of how to develop a godly, holy, righteous character. Because that is a big topic and I believe it warranted unique time to actually spend time to talk about it. So it is important for us to very briefly summarize what is character. Character basically involves the capability and the willingness to discern what is right. That's knowledge. The will to choose the right way. The strength to resist all actions and impulses against those decisions. So we make a decision based on all the facts with understanding. So we discern and we have we make the right decision and then have the strength and the will to resist actions, impulses against that decision and the strength and the courage to do what is right regardless of opposition, weaknesses or temptation. That's what character is. It's the strength of will to then execute that right decision regardless of whatever opposition or frailties or weaknesses that we have. In a sense, it ties very well to seminent as well because the seminent is the capability of seeing, as we heard of seeing the vision, having the faith to do that and therefore that helps us to actually execute and to do and remain faithful to the end. In the end, isn't that what we are told to do? He that will be in the kingdom is the one that perseveres till the end. In other words, that has the character to persevere to the end and that is the mind of a king and that is the mind that God wants in you and I. So character, in other words, is that moral and spiritual force within us which leads us to spiritual integrity.

Character is expressed and strengthened when that conduct springs from free choice. That's why, in the process of God wanting to create sons of His and daughters, He has to give us a free choice to excise that character because that is the power of the villain. Character, you and I require to have free choice and that freely, our own volition, we make the right choice regardless of whatever difficulties, oppositions, weaknesses, whoever is pushing back at you or whatever it is, you do what is right in a godly way, in a loving way and you just keep on keeping on. That is character.

Obviously, God has that character because God does what's right. You'll always do what's right and He is developing that in His begotten children, you and I. Now, the point is, if, and if is probably the shortest English word, it was probably the deepest and most profound meaning. If you and I do not develop that kind of character now, we will not be in the first resurrection. That's how important it is for us, for you and I, to develop godly, holy, righteous candidate. Oh, but salvation is freely... Yes, it is. Christ's gift to us, or God's gift to us through Christ, is the suffering and the death, is through the blood of Christ, that we're given freely, eternal life. Yes, we are. But you have to do our part. Once you and I are freed, we have to now, if the onus is upon us to do our part, and you and I realize that we cannot do it by ourselves, we need God's always for the helper to do it. So, to develop character, first, we need free moral agency. In other words, we need the capability to make our own choices and understanding that at times we will make the wrong choices. So, we need to have the capability to have tests and trials.

Or put it another way. You and I need to have the opportunity to build character. Tests and trials is nothing else than our opportunity to build character. It's like a student at college or at school has tests. The teacher wants you to pass those tests. He doesn't want you to fail, but he will have tests so that you can see where you really need to brush up a little bit more.

Those tests are for your own good.

That's important. And so, if we, therefore, have the free moral agency, therefore, we have the capability to make our own choices, which means that sometimes you and I will make the wrong choices. You know that in your children, sometimes I make the wrong choices. And you've got to let them learn of the unfree volition.

But then, that means you've got to have the capability to forgive and erase and allow a clean slate. And God has given us that through Christ's death and his blood. So that you and I can be forgiven, and in good heart and intent, try again. Yes, really forgiven, but in good heart and intent, try again. So God has given us, in other words, the fertile ground to the villain character.

Now, it does mean that some of us, in fact, all of us, you know, like, make our own choices. We all do. But then we can repent and change. But the result of those wrong choices is nothing else but suffering, pain. That is enough good for us. And when we do wrong choices, the suffering might be not only suffering to us, but might be suffering to others. And so part of this growing process is not only learn to go through suffering, but learn to forgive suffering that was not caused by ourselves. We suffer for others.

For this reason, you were called, brethren, to suffer like Christ suffered. These are scriptures, do we know? Like Paul said, I fall full. I fall up the sufferings of Christ in my body. We, as God's people, we fall. We complete the sufferings of the body of Christ. Why? Because there's pre-moral agency. And because of that, some people make their own choices. And there's going to be suffering because of that. But we know this is the training realm, because beyond that, if we have that vision, that we can jump like the impala and go forward, there's going to be a time when that environment will not be there. And we all will have godly, holy, righteous character. And therefore, there'll be no more suffering, no more pain, because of no more sin. So, getting back to what God has given us. God has given us an opportunity to develop godly, holy, righteous character. And every time, therefore, we face choices.

In other words, every time we face a growing opportunity, we either bold character or we destroy character.

Every time we give in to temptation, to a test, to whatever, every time we give in, we tear down character. That means, now it's even harder to overcome, because now we have to face those troubles, those tests again, because we failed. It's like, if you fail grade six, you've got to redo that test again and again and get it to the past. But, okay, now you're going to have grade seven tests and then grade eight. But, once we fail, we've got to go redo it, redo the test. We're going to re-face that trouble, that difficulty, that test, the temptation, head on. But when we face them head on and overcome, our character is growing a little bit more. So, how do we develop godly, holy, righteous character? Now, there are many, many points I could give you, but I just want to give you three, because in the end, you're learning another amendment three. Ask your morons if I give you ten, you're going to forget them. So, it's just down to three. And I'm not saying those are the only three, I'm just saying they are three important ones that I felt appropriate to leave with you. And the first one, the first one, is to remain close to god and put god first in your and my life. Simple. Remain close to god. So, how do you and I stay close to god? Oh, you know the basics. Prayer, bubble study, occasional fasting, meditation. Ask god for the holy spirit. I've mentioned before, in a model prayer, in a model prayer, say, give us daily bread. And that daily bread, besides being physical bread, is a manner from heaven which is the holy spirit which is Christ in us. And we need to ask for the help of that strength daily.

But there are a few other important points about staying close and being close to god. And turn with me to James chapter 4.

James chapter 4 is talking about wars. And by the way, these are wars amongst brethren, because this is a letter written to brethren in the church. So, it's not written to the states fighting with China or Russia or whatever it is. It's wars amongst brethren, brothers and sisters in Christ. So why? Well, there's fasting, I think there's lusting and desiring and things for yourself. And the reason of that, it says, is in verse 5, it's because the spirit who dwells in us, you know, the spirit of man in man that dwells in us, has a tendency to be carnal. The spirit of man in us yields jealousy. It's not talking about god's only spirit, it's talking about the spirit that dwells in us. That's our human spirit, the spirit of man in us. But then it says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. See, if you and I want to be close to God, I want to put God first. We have to be humble. Humility. You're going to submit to God. Ruses the devil. And then a little later, in verse 10, it says, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. When you and I are humble before God, when you and I are humble before God, God will lift us up. Do you know the Beatitudes? The very first Beatitudes. Is humility. Do you know where Satan went wrong? You're proud. You got a big head. And that's why we can't sight them, because you wanted to take over. As I am 14 is equal to the age, you can read that, origin of Satan. So humility is like the ignition key to actually get it started. Think about it. And whenever you take that key out, the engine will stop. So whatever else you build on top of it, humility is that ignition key. And brethren, there are problems. It says, why is there wars and fights among you? I could put it in a different word. Why is there so many churches? You know, why?

That ignition key is not there. You know, lack of humility.

Regrettably, it's amongst those that should know better. Brethren, we have to humble ourselves before God and be humble all the time. And part of that humility comes the end of this beatitude, which is born, which is repent, which is then is being meek and teachable and malleable, which is part of being gentle and teachable and meek. It's it's basic, basic, to being close to God. Turn with me to Proverbs. We're going to look at three scriptures in Proverbs here to give a little bit more meaning to this. Proverbs 11 verse 2. Proverbs 11 verse 2. When pride comes, then comes shame. But with the humble, he's wisdom. See, we get those all building up of knowledge, understanding, wisdom. So humility is part of being wise, being wise. Look at Proverbs 16 verse 18. Proverbs 16 verse 18.

16 verse 18. Pride goes before destruction. And you know what's going to happen to Satan? Because he was proud. And a hortic spirit before a fall. So brethren, let us make sure that if we want to remain close to God and put God first in our lives, you and I have to be humble. It's not my way. It's not the way I feel. It's not the way I want. It's what God wants. It's the will of the Father. It's the same thing that Christ said. Father, if it be possible, let us not pass away, but not my will, your will. That's humanity. That's humanity. Now just go back to the beginning of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1, right at the beginning there, Solomon is like giving an SPN to the book. And it basically says, the fear of the Eternal is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. You know what? When you have a proper humility, you recognize that you need to respect God in that humility, and that respect and fear of the Eternal will then trigger that right knowledge. And that right knowledge will then have the right understanding, the right wisdom, and these pillars of a king that start from submission and respect for God and put it on first. That is so important. As a pillar, let's call it. As a building block for the character of God, God's holy righteous character. For the mind of God, because the mind of God is the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ, He said that the fathers will be done. Absolute submission. And that's what we have to do. The second point that I want to emphasize as far as developing the character of God is the point that Christ emphasized when he was talking to the Pharisees. And he told them, you're a bunch of people groups. Do you know where I'm going to turn to? Well, let's start turning there if you know. But it's Matthew 23.

There, Christ told them, you're a bunch of people groups. And to me, the central point of his message, when he talks to the Pharisees, is actually in verse 23. 23, 23. Easy to remember. 23, 23. Okay, there's a memory scripture. Matthew 23, 23. Whoa! To you, scribes and Pharisees. You bunch of hypocrites! And man, I mean, if you are talking to somebody in his cell group, you are a hypocrite.

I think you need a lot of guts to do that. I think you need a lot of guts to do that. Hypocrite. For you pay tithes of the smallest little thing. That's what he said. You tithe of men then, andness then. Come in. And you have neglected the weighty matters of the Lord.

Justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to have done. It was... You supposed to, yes, do these things. You should have done these. And don't leave the others undone. You know, it was these dogs supposed to tithe, and all that. Yes, you do the other things. But don't neglect the big things. The big things. Justice, judgment, or justice, mercy, and faith. I know some Bibles have judgment, others have justice. But I like to look at it from the point of view of, it's something that you need to be doing. And something that you need to be doing is practicing justice, practicing right things, is practicing mercy, and is practicing walk in the faith. It's the way I kind of look at it. Judgment, usually I look at it as a final decision. So it's not a tendency to think of it a final decision. Although judgment can also mean that you're doing and doing things in a right way in judgment. But I like to concentrate from a point of justice, mercy, and faith. True character, true godly character, is based on obedience to God's spiritual principles of right and wrong, right? He said it's based on discerning what's right and wrong. When we learn God's principles of right and wrong from God's law, so is set of sound moral standards and the right character to do that.

But in those moral standards, the important thing is practicing living them with justice, mercy, and faith. That is so profound. That is so profound that each one of those is a sermon by itself. But let's just look at these three very briefly. Let's look first in Psalm 119 verse 172. Gold of faithful Saul. You all probably know that of the heart. Psalm 119 verse 172. My time shall speak of your word, for all your commandments are righteousness. All God's laws are good, are just. All God's commandments and the practice of those commandments is the execution of justice. So, yes, all the commandments are justice. But Christ is now saying that walking in justice, in a way of putting to practice in a right way of being of justice, is saying, hey, don't look at the commandments in an intellectual way and criticizing other people. But look at the commandments in a way of saying, what is right and just to do in a just way for people that exhibits the right love and concern? That's what it is. And sometimes you have situations that you've got to say, do I do this or do I do that? And sometimes you don't know. And that's where sometimes you just have to wait and meditate, pray, and ask God for your help to make the right decision. We're going back to Proverbs. Look at Proverbs 11 verse 14. Proverbs 11 verse 14.

Where there is no castle, the people fall. But in a multitude of counselors, there is safety. You see, so sometimes you may think you have the right answer, but you've got to sit back in a multitude of counselors and talk it and talk it and talk it. And yeah, sometimes it takes a bit of time. But you know what? That requires humility. Because your decision might not be the right one, but by sitting and listening to other people, you say, for the good, it's not my idea, but it's God's point. And by discussing and having counsel, which involves humility, and listening to others involves teachability and gentleness and meekness, we can then walk in justice. So justice involves, obviously, God's laws, but involves also at times to listen to counsel and to ask for advice. And another problem, guys, Proverbs 24 verse 23. Look at me in Proverbs 24 verse 23.

These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

In other words, you must not show favoritism. You've got to be impartial. And it's not easy. So when we practice injustice or judgment or making decisions and walking that way of justice, we have to obviously go to God's commandments and get advice and make sure there's no partiality. And all these things together are part of what Christ called it, the way to the matters of the Lord. So when we're talking about developing character, there's a capability of saying, well, I don't have all the answers because you're humble. And capability of searching and asking God for their help, search the Scriptures, maybe get advice, the right type of advice, and be humble and change, and change to make the right decision. And to go forwards. And as we go forwards, then we get on to the next stage, which is mercy. Because it says judgment, mercy, and faith. The next stage is mercy. We talked about the Beatitudes. So let's look at the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, please. The Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5.

And I've given sermons about the Beatitudes and each one of these, so... But yeah, in Matthew chapter 5, and we're talking about starting in verse 3, being humble, being who is for it, and repent more in verse 4, and 5 being weak, which is gentle and teachable. And then verse 6 says, hunger in first for righteousness. So we're really looking forwards for that justice, for hunger in first for righteousness. And the next thing is...

Be merciful for your long time, mercy. And basically, when we look at it, we have made wrong decisions. And we need to be forgiven. And likewise, other people have made wrong decisions. And they need to be forgiven. And so if we want to walk in this way of justice, we are walking it, realizing, well, maybe I've done wrong, maybe the other person's done wrong. I need forgiveness. They need forgiveness. We need to show mercy. And that's part of the developing character. After all, is God's mind one of mercy? If He was mercy for us, I think we all will be tickens long ago. But thank God He's merciful for us. And so we're going to act with fairness and with mercy. That's why it says, yeah, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. If you look just a little bit further, in chapter 6 of Matthew, verse 12, after the model prayer, in verse, around, in the model prayer itself, it says, and forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. In other words, have the capability of showing mercy. Now, some of us, for some of us, it's very hard to show mercy. For some of us, whenever a person does something wrong again, and we will do something wrong again, that root of bitterness comes back and says, ha! It's you again! It's so easy for us to fall into that trap. I do. We all do. The brethren part of this developing the character of God is to focus on His weightier matters of the law, and really one of them is to have mercy. Stop bringing up the old stuff. And you might not even mention it, but you allow it, maybe, in your mind, and that creates a vibe. You might not even mention it, but allowing that vibe to be there and affect the relationships. So brethren, we've got to have mercy.

Continue, Yah, in chapter 6, in verse 14 and 15, says, For if you forgive man, the trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive man, the trespasses neither will your Father forgive our trespasses. Wow! What basically saying is, you don't have an option. You really don't have an option. But I don't have an option. In other words, what is saying? We've got to have a big heart. Isn't it? A big heart. And that's why the next beat to truth is, blessed are those of a pure heart. I think it's so beautiful how everything just kind of fits together. It's so beautiful. We're going to have a big heart. What? To have patience and be merciful with other people. The better the game. Thank God. Thank God that He is merciful towards us. And that He is patient towards us. Because if He wasn't patient, we'd have been zapped long ago.

Look at James chapter 2. James chapter 2.

He lives in James chapter 2.

Verse 13. The need for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. So that's exactly what we read in Matthew 6. If you don't show mercy, if you don't forgive, it won't be forgiven to you. But on the other side, the good news is mercy triumphs over judgment.

God forgives us. Why?

The also is in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 5. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 5. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. As sound counts slackness. It was, well, ah, well, God is so... Yes. What God is, He's patient. He's giving us time. He's patient. But He says, but God is long suffering. It was His patience towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God is giving us, let's call it strength, giving us time, giving us strength. His hope is that we repent. His hope is that our hearts see His loving kindness and therefore that we repent. And that's what you and I need to have as part of the way to your matters of the Lord. We need to have that capability to show mercy, to be patient, to give people space and time and let them allow them the opportunity to God's Spirit to work with them for them to change. And then, because we are striving to go in the way of justice by being humble, by being malleable, by listening to advice, by following God's laws, by putting God first, by having ability, because we have that big heartness to show patience and mercy to other people. Now, we can have, as we heard in the sermon, a division, the faith, to go forward and do that lead in faith. And that's why that's part of the way to matters of the law of justice, mercy and faith. Look at Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4 is a very encouraged inscription. Philippians chapter 4. And after it's talking to us about think on the positive things, whatever is true, whatever is good, that's in verse 8. Then he goes on and he says, in Philippians chapter 4, he says, I know how to be a beast. I know how to abound. I know how to have trials. I know how to live through those trials and keep going, not give up, keep going. Everywhere and in all things, I've learned both to be full and to be hungry. We just got to persevere. We've got to keep going. That's part of character. We just have to keep going, keep keeping on. Both to abound and to suffer need. Verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Whatever the situation, easy or difficult, you and I can do the right thing with the help of God's Holy Spirit in Christ's strengthening us through the power of God's Holy Spirit. And that is faith. That is that leap of faith that God will help you and help us.

And therefore, you and I have to have the faith to lead. To lead. You and I can lead by being a leading exalpon and a light to the world that is leading. To lead by being an exalpon.

A light. A light. Then one day God will use as a king to serve mankind. But you and I need to lead that way. And that means you and I need to lead by making hard and unpleasant decisions. But you and I need a force of personality, the faith to brush aside all doubts, all fears, all difficulties, all pressures, all opposition, and do what you and I know we have to do.

And that's faith. Walk in faith. Not by sight, as we heard in the sermon. And that is part of the weighty matters of the law. Can you see that? Justice, mercy, and faith. They work together, as really that's what the law is all about. It's a lot of media for you to meditate. I mean, there's a lot of media for you to think about and consider how this is a weightier matter of the law. And, brethren, that is so important for us to have the mind of God. In fact, God has that character, that resolve, to do what is right regardless in justice, showing mercy and having a faith to go forwards and do it. Because He has the faith in you and I, that you and I will repent and change and therefore, some of us, He has the faith, will be ready to be part of the bride.

Wow! So, to have the carrot of God, things that you and I need to have, the first one I mentioned was, put God first. The second one was to consider the weightier matter of the law. And the third one that I want to mention today, brethren, is that you and I need godly love. We need godly love towards God, it towards man. We need a sincere, outgoing concern, compassion, and love towards God and others. And that's not natural. That is not natural. I don't naturally have that type of love. I don't. Maybe you do, but I don't. I've got to work on that. And outside, and many of us have to work on it as well. We really need to put on godly love. We need to develop that genuine love and concern that without each, without that love, we will never be able to command the respect and loyalty of those under us. Because in all tomorrow, you and I as kings and priests will have the respect and loyalty of those under us, not because of anything we special, but because of God's holy spirit working through us, that we have developed the character of God, and through that character we've developed the love of God, the real outgoing concern for other people. Love, in difficult times, is what binds us together. Love is that group.

Let's just turn briefly to the last chapter. You know where that is? So let's go there. 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

Though I speak with the tons of men, so whether I can talk to you now, yeah, in Portuguese or in Spanish or in Italian, will help you nothing, because you will understand. So, you know, it will make me sound like I know a lot, but it will help you nothing. And what if I spoke to you in tons of angels? See, they got a language, surely they got a language. And I doubt if it's Portuguese. Wow, I'd say that deliberately, because if I said English, some of you may think, oh well, it could be English, so I doubt it's English. So if I spoke to any whatever language, and it's not babble, by the way, it's actually a language that makes sense, all right? So, but if I have no genuine outgoing concern for people, what good is it? Then I'll become like making a lot of noise, can't get anything, and you don't understand what it is. Verse 2. And now I have to give you prophecy, and I can understand, I can teach prophecy, understand. Prophecy is like a professor, like the word, like a prof, a professor. Prophecy is teach. Yes, prophecy can also mean understanding the future or having a vision of the future, but prophecy is, if I had the capability of being a good teacher, and I can see prophecy, and also I can understand all knowledge before I can teach it well, I can understand all that. And now I have all faith. Yes, I can jump every wall. I have all the faith that I can move mountains.

And even if I've got tons of money, and I can help a lot of poor people and give, and if I give my body to be burned, well, but I don't have outgoing concern and love, because love, with prophets, means nothing.

So now let's look at what genuine love is. Love suffers long. Love is long-suffering. That means when somebody does something wrong to me, I don't retaliate. I don't say, bang! Keep that tongue in check. Look at James. Keep your finger there in corrections, because we're going to come back to it. But look at James chapter 1 verse 19. James chapter 1 verse 19.

James chapter 1 verse 19.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. That's part of being patient and long-suffering. Keep your finger in James, because we're going to go back to Corinthians, but we're going to come back to James. So just let's go back to Corinthians. Look at the next one. It says, love does not envy.

So let's go now to James chapter 3. James chapter 3 verse 14 and to 17. But if you have better envy and self-seeking in your hearts, oh, he's got a nice skull. Ah, I'm envious of that. Or he can get worse than that. Call it a kite box, it costs a worse thing. But you know, he can get a lot of things. Power, position, envy. Do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but it's earthly, sensual demonic, for where envy and self-seeking exist. The fruit is confusion and every evil thing. It's division, confusion, because of envy. But the wisdom that is from above is pure, peaceful, gentle, willing to kneel, full of mercy, and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. So if we go back to Corinthians, there is just, we're trying to determine what is love, because one of the things that we need to have to have the character of God is genuine love. So we need to stop along. We must not be envious. Look at another one here. Love does not parade itself. What do you mean by that? Does not show off. Do you remember the story of Erret? Let's look at it. Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12. Keep your finger on Corinth, we'll come back to it. Acts chapter 12. Look at verse 20. Now, here it had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but they came to him with one accord and having made blasters the king's personal aid to their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king's country. And so, on a set day, Erret and the royal emperor, St. Louis, found engaging and oration to them. Oh, he spoke very powerful, very effectively, great speaking. And the people kept shouting, the voice of a god and not of a man. And they said, oh, Herod, you're such a great guy, you're god, and whatever, you know. So he was parading himself in front of other people and boasting and giving these speeches and saying, how great I am! And the people said, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're great! Look at the result of then immediately an angel of the Eternal, striking, because he did not give glory to God. He became so sick, so sick that his flesh stopped rotting, and while he was still alive, warms 18 alive till he died.

So when he says, love does not parade, does not show off. Well, this obviously is an extreme example of that. But that love is... Look at it. Do we try and do things or or say things or or try and do things to to show off?

Let me be careful. Let me look at what is the motivation in our heart.

He says, love is not patan. You know, it's not proud. We talked about that already. Love does not behave rudely. In other words, we are not rooting the way we talk and the way we do. It does not seek its own. It's not selfish. Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoicing in truth. Bears all things, believes all things, suffers all things, endures all things. It's just that's genuine outgoing love. You and I could actually study one by one of these words and get into other scriptures and and get a deeper meaning of each one of those.

We really could do a lot of that. And I say, well, why don't you try and do a Bible study? Take some of these words and look a little bit more about them and other examples. For instance, you know, things no evil. I cannot start from going to Colossians chapter 3, verse 1 through 10 and digging a little deeper about that. It doesn't offer joys iniquity. For instance, 1 Corinthians 5, 1 and 2 and from there start digging further. Suffers all things and covers all things. Start, for instance, on Proverbs 10, verse 12 and then study a little bit further on that, just as an example.

Brethren, Jesus Christ came to earth and He learned perfection. He learned perfection. And you and I need to imitate Him. In other words, He learned that degree of maturity, of putting to practice character in a physical way, that is a spirit being, it's just, it's an additional dimension that He learned. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. Please, with me.

Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Who started reading in verse 11. God, who Christ, He gave some in the church to be apostles. And yes, we do have apostles. We do have the prophets. We do have the evangelists of the past. And now we have pastors and teachers. We have a responsibility of pastoring and teaching you. Why? Verse 12. For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the Akanea, as it's in Greek, of service, of ministry, to prepare the church, the brethren, to serve one another. Why? For the edifying of the body of Christ. It was for the building, for the edifying, to construct, to build the church of God.

That's the body of Christ. So, to win. So we all come into the unity of the fight. Then we all together have this one fight, this one vision, this one way, which is God's, and to the knowledge of the Son of God. In other words, to the full understanding of Christ. Because Christ, if we see Christ, we see the Father.

And He, as a human being, lives the life that to us is an example. So we need to come to that full knowledge of the Son of God. Brethren, that's part of a growth process, isn't it? We are growing. We've got those to grow. That's what it's meant by growing in the grace. That is the kind way, and the gentle way, and the gracious way, and the knowledge, which is Christ living in us through God's Holy Spirit.

We grow in that knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior. So that's what it is. And we read elsewhere, grow in the grace of that knowledge. That's what it's telling you. Till we all come to the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, till we all reach a point of a perfect man. A mature man. A maturity in character. That our character is mature. That we'll do what is right to do, regardless.

Because we love other people. Because we know what we need to do. Because we put God first. We put the white key matters of the law first. And we love other people for the good of others. And that's what we do. And that is the perfect man. And that is a measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. In other words, that is the standard. I don't look myself, and I don't compare myself with other people. We need to compare ourselves with Christ. He is the stature that we need to compare ourselves to.

But he says that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every window of doctrine, by the trickery of man. Oh, these doctrines and these ideas that come, they're so clever. These people are genius! And that's the problem! The trickery of man in the cunning craftiness of this beautiful plotting.

Let's speak the truth in love. Then we grow up. Then we grow. Then we mature, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we grow in all things unto Him who is the head of the church, which is Christ. For from whom? The whole body, the whole church, joined and met together by what every joint supplies.

In other words, each one of you and I, each one supplies something to help one another for us to grow in the church. According to the effect of working in which every part does its share. You and I can't walk from here to there unless our feet take us there, unless our knees take us there, or unless we obviously maybe have a wheelchair, but you know the whole body's going to do its part. So that causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

How do we grow to become a perfect, mature man by growing in God's holy, righteous character, by developing that? And unless there are trials, we'll never grow. Unless there are free choices, we'll never grow. Unless there's forgiveness, there's no character building. So brethren, the three points I've left with you today, I'll leave with you today, let's remain close to God and put God first in our lives, continually drawing upon and activating God's holy spirit in us. Secondly, don't neglect the weighty matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. Never compromise with God's standards, with His law, with His will. In other words, don't commit character assassination. Don't compromise with the law, particularly the weighty matters of the law. And thirdly, have godly love towards God and man. As a concluding scripture, I want you to turn with me to Colossians chapter 3, verse 12 through 15. Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3, verse 12 through 15. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, let's put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, nieces, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. These are all characteristics of this character development that we talked about. If anyone has a complaint against the matter, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond, the gloom of perfection. Put on love and let the peace of God rule in our hearts, to which you, to which also you were called in one body and be thankful. Present above all, put on the bond of perfection.