Lisa's Heart

The Building Blocks
of Character

(Character produces fruit)

Describe in your own words your concept of character.

Becoming a Christian does not give you character any more than living in a garage makes you a car. Character is a tool to keep you from falling into the traps of the enemy and the power behind that tool is your faith in and relationship with Jesus.

“Character is what you are in the dark.” –D.L. Moody

“My worth to God in public is what I am in private.” – Oswald Chambers

“Character is like a tree and reputation is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing.” – Abraham Lincoln

The Building Blocks

Ps. 15
“Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and dos not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.”

Look at that last verse again. “He who does these things will never be shaken.” Never be shaken. Wouldn’t it be great to know that no one and no thing can shake us up? God says it can happen.

Let’s look at it another way.

2 Peter 1:3-10 (Read the entire thing from your Bible).

• Verse 3: He has already given us everything we need for life and godliness
• Verse 4: He has given us very great and precious promises so that we can be like Him and have His divine nature, thus escaping corruption
• Verse 5: Therefore because of this – for this reason – add …
• Verse 8: You will be effective and productive – fruitful
• Verse 10: Be sure of calling – you will never fall

If we do what Peter said we will always bear fruit and never stumble. IF…ALWAYS…NEVER… Those are huge words that carry huge weight!

We will always bear fruit. Fruit = manifestation of the life force. The sap that flows through my branches produces the fruit - the thing that causes me to be in a position to do the works of Jesus. Example: Compassion is a fruit that caused healing to take place. Jesus was “filled with compassion and healed the sick.”

• The fruit causes the results.
• The sap causes the fruit.
• Stay connected to the vine (John 15:5) so the sap can flow.

You can’t provide fruit without a supply of sap – continuously – take care of the life force flowing through you

Auto-pilot just doesn’t work.

The more of me in tune with God the better the fruit will be. Peter said that if I do these things I’ll always bear fruit and I’ll never stumble. The life of God produces the fruit – I’m just a phloem tube carrying the sap of God’s anointing to the world.

Don’t minimize the ability of God to work through you. We too often take the promises of God too lightly. Trees don’t eat their own fruit, fruit is for other people.

Some common fruit:
(Galatians 5:22-23) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such there is no law. Nothing can cause these fruit to not work in our lives IF we allow the Holy Spirit to live through us.

Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! … So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. (2 Peter 1:3-10 The Message)