Character

This is a Pastoral Staff Leadership Lesson from my Pastor Joe Skiles Sr. Very powerful information for newly called ministers, and for those that have been serving in the trenches of ministry for decades.

Character: God’s proof of ownership!


When we truly belong to God, our character will reflect His ownership.


Character Development: God’s #1 priority “Character 
Development involves getting the who before the do.”


God is more interested in your character than your accomplishments.


Who you are is always more important than what you do!
We live in a “performance –driven” culture.
We are evaluated in our lives by what we do, do, do. Home, work, school, church.

Fruitfulness is important to God and to others.

What we do should not be minimized, but if we are not careful the do becomes more important than the who, and we end up a hollow shell of performance without any substance of character.


Matthew 7:22-23 NKJV
Who is Jesus referring to here? Those who put the do before the who. Doing for Jesus cannot be more important than knowing Jesus.


Example of the rich young ruler.

Luke 18:18-23 Jesus shot through the accomplishments and hit the character issues. Accomplishment won out over character and the rich young ruler walked away.
No matter how far our culture and our country tilts toward accomplishment, the Kingdom of God will tilt the other way.

“Your ability will only take you as far as your character will keep you.”


God is more interested in your character than your anointing.

We hear so much about the anointing, and indeed the anointing is important in the Christian life.

Here are a few definitions for the anointing.
Power for service
God’s purpose lived out through obedience.
That measure of the Holy Spirit we put into practice.


Isaiah 10:27 “the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.”


Dangers to the anointing.
God’s anointing can cause us to feel good about ourselves. We preach better. We sing better. We serve better. We give better. The anointing is fun. It builds our self-esteem and confidence. (Example of Esther). Just because God graces us with His anointing doesn’t mean we have his intimacy. The anointing doesn’t keep us from sin, it empowers us for service!


God’s anointing can be used for the pursuit of man’s approval. (The purpose of the anointing is not to attract mankind to us, but to attract the King to us.)

Esther did not bathe in the anointing for her friends, but for the King.
Unfortunately, too many in the ministry are not experiencing intimacy with the King because they are having lapses of character.


“The anointing breaks the yoke of bondage, but character keeps us out of bondage.”

Example of Aaron Exodus 32:1-7

Aaron was the associate pastor of approximately three million people. He was the priest of God co-pastoring with Moses.

Notice his sin:
#1 He entertained sinful thoughts.
#2 Acted upon those sinful thoughts.
#3 Built an idol.
#4 Built an altar to the idol.

Exodus 32:21-24
Leviticus 10:1-3 Aaron sins were witnessed in his family.


God’s #1 priority is the development of character. Ministry or anointing is not.

1st Timothy 4:12 “set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”

All of those things have to do with character.
They have to do with getting the “who” before the “do”.

A leader should bring more to his people than a bright smile. A leader should bring proof of Godly character.


Join us next month as we concentrate on amazing young leaders in the bible.