Thank you again for inviting me back. And I can't believe it's almost been, I think about eight months since last time I came to the men's meeting. And time has flown. But I have to admit something, that I've preached this message before. And when I saw Andrew last week, I really struggled with what I was going to preach with for you men this evening. It wasn't until Sunday night that something happened, and I'll explain further in a little while, why I've chosen this message again to preach. And I've tweaked it slightly, so it's a little bit different from Bethany. But the title of this message is, Are We the Real Deal? And you know, The word Christian is thrown out there, isn't it? It's very generic. I don't know if you've ever signed sort of a hospital appointment card and it asks you sometimes what religion you are. And I'm almost positive that I would say about 90% of people who live in this area would say Christian, probably because their parents put it or that's the way they were brought up. And Do you know there's many people who live in the vicinity in Pontypridd or in Porth or in Annesia or in Clanchers and wherever, that would call themselves Christians, but they don't really know the real meaning of that word. And do you know there's even people today who are christened or baptized, give to church and charities who call themselves Christians, but they don't really know Jesus Christ as their saviour. There are even people today who carry Bibles and attend churches, who call themselves Christians, but are not saved. And this is how I know I had the right message. I had an illustration on an old pound coin, and I haven't seen one of these since they were taken out of circulation. And I was on a job yesterday in an empty house, and I lifted the carpet and I saw this pound coin. And so I thought, Lord, you must be speaking to me about this. But did you know that one in three old pound coins was a fake? It was a counterfeit. They were so easy to copy, and yet they looked the same to the human eye. Sometimes they felt the same. They weighed the same. They were the same size. They were made from the same material. They were the same color. They worked in the vending machines and the parking machines. And even people used them to purchase over the counter with. And I'm sure that most of us here today spent a counterfeit one pound coin. I can also remember years ago when I was in school, I went to a shop just up the road. I wasn't a very good boy in school, and we wasn't supposed to go to the shop. But I remember giving the lady a five pound note, and she sort of looked at it and handed it back, and she said, I can't use that. And to me, it looked right. But as you looked closer, you could see that the queen, she was smiling as you held it up to the sun. And it just didn't look right. But what I'm trying to say is that there are many people in churches today, and even there could be someone amongst ourselves, that looks the part of a Christian, but something's not right inside. It's just not right. And I've been told that the training that is given to banks to determine what is real and what is counterfeit is not by recognizing the counterfeit, but it's by knowing the real so well that anything else falls short. And that's what I want us to do tonight as men. I want us to individually determine if we are who we say we are, if we are a true Christian or not. Like I said, it's not for me to judge you tonight. It's not my job, but it's for us to judge our own lives. You know, the Bible says, doesn't it, examine ourselves. And we must examine our own lives. And we can learn from God's word and what it says about a Christian and what a Christian really is. Do you know the word Christian can only be found in the Bible three times? The term believer is used 80 times. The word saint is found 60 times. The word disciple is found 30 times. but the word Christian is only used three times in the King James. However, these three times that we see this word Christian in the Bible tells us a lot about what a real Christian is. If we just look at the history behind the word Christian, the church didn't come up with the word Christian. They didn't call a meeting one day and say, what should we call ourselves? And then somebody said, you know, should we call ourselves Christians? In fact, the unbelievers came up with the word Christian and the term Christian. In 116 AD, there was a Roman historian who wrote about the persecution under the leadership of Nero of the common people called Christians. Some 2,000 years ago, it was not a good thing if someone called you a Christian. But what was a name of shame is now a name of honor. It's quite similar to when people call us the God Squad or a Bible basher. In those days, they just called people Christians and thought it was an insulting name. So I just want us to look throughout the word tonight and just look at these three times that we can find the word Christian used. And hopefully we will find out if we are who we say we are. And we will do so by asking ourselves three simple questions tonight to persuade ourselves either to become a Christian this night or to test ourselves and to see if we really are a Christian, a follower of Christ. And the first question I have tonight is to see if we are a Christian, is have you been saved by Christ? And we can find this in Acts 11, verse 25, and 26. So that's Acts chapter 11, 25 and 26. I just wonder if somebody could read that, please. Happy drawing. So this is the first time that the word Christian is mentioned in the Bible. It's quite interesting actually that the term Christian was first used in Antioch because Antioch was the third most important city in the Roman Empire. And if you read back through Acts, you'll find that Paul often went back to Antioch to get refreshed, and he would go back if he was feeling tired. And so he would go back to Antioch, and Antioch was a very religious city, but in a very pagan way. If you would go to Antioch 2,000 years ago, you wouldn't find many churches, but you would find a bunch of statues of Caesar. And the god that was primarily worshipped, and when I say god, I mean liturgy god, was Caesar. And Caesar built temples to honor all of the little gods of Rome. But as you went into the temples, you would always find that the greatest and most elaborate statue was of Caesar. So it was very pagan in its ways. It was an unbelieving city that had no clue about Christianity. And in this city, this city began to notice a certain group of people who would talk differently, who would live differently. They didn't go to the same places others went. They had a different character about them and a compassion that they hadn't seen before. And the people of Antioch began to call these group of people Christians. The word Christian means little Christ. Evidently these pagans began to watch these group of people and they saw how they walked and how they talked and how they acted so differently from everyone else and they called them Christians. So how do we become a Christian? I'm not sure if all of us and say that we saved tonight. So it's important that we know how to be a follower of Christ and a Christian. In John three, verse three, it says, Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's the question I have for you tonight, is are you born again? Are you born again? going to see God when you die. You might have heard someone say that they are born again, and that is the only type of Christian there is, a born-again Christian. If you have never been born again, then you are not a Christian. Ephesians 2, verse 8, 9 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is a gift of God, not of works as anyone should boast. The Bible says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And we've all sinned, and we are all in need of Christ and his salvation. We all fall short and no one is perfect. So the first question I have for you is, are you saved? The second question I have is, do you stand for Christ? And you'll find this in Acts 26, verse 28. There's just a few pages over. Acts 26, verse 28. I wonder if somebody could read that, please. So this is the second time that we find the word Christian mentioned in the Bible. And this term is mentioned by a king. We're not sure where he found this term, but we look into a little bit of background of this statement here. So the king's name was King Agrippa. He was the great grandson of King Herod, who had all the babies killed at Jesus' birth. And he had been visited by what they would call the mayor of the town, who was Festus. And he told King Agrippa about Paul who was in prison for preaching the gospel. And Paul had defiled the temple and he was known as the leader of the Christians. So King Agrippa called for Paul to come before him and he wanted to see this person that he had heard about. And Paul is then escorted by the guards and he stands before the king. And what's amazing about what Paul does here is that as he stands before the king, he doesn't give a defense, but he ends up giving a witness. And just a quick summary of this chapter, in verses one and two, you'll just see the introduction. And verses 13 through to 18, you'll see where Paul gives his testimony. Verse 20, he talks about his ministry work. And then the key verse of this scripture, verse 28, where King Agrippa says, almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian. And this is a mark of a Christian, isn't it? When you are given the opportunity, you must give a word for Jesus. You must stand for your faith. And I don't mean that we all have to go door to door and we all have to, um, you know, preach on the streets. It's not all about that. But when we get our opportunity to stand for Christ, we must do that. We must be a witness. The question I have is, do we take a stand for the Lord when we come up against people who attack our faith? It may be in work. It may be in school. It may even be in the streets. It may be by our own family members. You know, we can take a stand for Christ, but in our actions, in our character, in our conversation with others. You know, there's people out there who are watching us, and we need to always look for the opportunities to take the stand for Jesus Christ. That's what Paul did here. I can imagine that he was weary and torn. He was probably rugged looking from being in prison. His body was probably scarred from the beatings he'd received throughout his journeys. But still, Paul took the time out to witness and stand for Christ. I can imagine when King Agrippa said to Paul, you have the floor, you can say whatever you want. I can just imagine Paul's face lighting up, streaked away, and he just got up and said, with a smile on his face, and just took that stand for Jesus. Just an amazing thing to do before the King, isn't it? And I don't know if you know a man called Ronnie McGracken. Ronnie McGracken has told this story maybe five or six times every time I've seen him. But he tells of a time that he stood before Prince Charles. I don't know if he's told you this story. And Ronnie McGracken was asked if he'd like to receive, I think it was an MB or an OB, one or the other. And Prince Charles, was giving out the awards at the time, and he was told beforehand that to shake Prince Charles' hand, and when Prince Charles sort of pushes away, then you must leave go of his hand. But Ronnie McGracken being Ronnie McGracken shook Prince Charles' hand, and as Prince Charles sort of pushed away, he didn't leave go of his hand. And he said something quite amazing to Prince Charles. He said, I just wanted to know that I'm praying for you. And that's amazing, isn't it? That how he took a stand for Christ. And it just reminded me of this story. You know, when Christ looks at us, no matter whether we're a king of the country or the queen of the country, he looks at us all the same. And Paul could have stood there and told of his innocence and begged for his release. He could have said anything. But instead of trying to save his own skin, he used every moment he had to stand for Jesus. And you, King Agrippa, saw something that he'd never seen before. He heard something that he'd never heard before. And he said to Paul, almost you persuaded me to become a Christian. It must have been so frustrating for Paul to stand there and hear those words. But no, and it happens to us, doesn't it? There's so many times that we can take a stand for Christ And somebody might say to you, oh, I'll come to church this Sunday, but they don't turn up. But it's about just keep going, keep on strong in the faith and standing strong for Jesus. It's important that we do our part. And when we stand strong in the faith and become a witness for him, others will see something different in us. So, Christians are people who are saved, and Christians are people who take a stand for what they believe in. And then thirdly, and finally, Christians will suffer. And the question I have for you tonight is, will you suffer for Christ? And you'll find this in 1 Peter 4, verse 16. 1 Peter 4, verse 16. I wonder if somebody could read that, please. Anyone, I'll do it if you don't want to. So, the third and final time that we see the term Christian used, I can positively say that this is not the most popular way to persuade someone to become a Christian, by telling them that they will suffer as a Christian, But the truth of the matter is that if you've been saved by Christ and you take a stand for Christ, you will suffer for Christ. Remember when I told you what the word Christian meant? Be a little Christ. When you begin to act like a little Christ and you begin to talk like a little Christ, you won't have to look for trouble. Trouble will come looking for you. Especially in the day that we live. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4, verses 12 to 14. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. He says you, don't think it's something strange that Satan will send his fiery darts at you. It's gonna happen when you stand for Christ, you will suffer for him. And the more we are like Jesus, the more we are different from the world, and the more we will suffer in this world. I remember, it wasn't long ago that a young man came to our church in Annasir, and he spoke a message on, not if, but when, and he talked about trials. And it is a matter of fact that as a Christian, if we are true followers of Jesus Christ, it's not if we'll have trials, but when we have trials. And being a Christian isn't easy. In fact, I think it's harder because we still have all the battles that come as being a human being, don't we? We suffer health issues, we suffer mental issues, and stress, we have family issues, we have financial issues, we have work-related issues, we have marriage issues, and the list goes on and on. And then, to top it all off as Christians, we have spiritual issues, which the world don't really understand. We have church issues, we have congregation issues, and then we have Satan's arrows, spiritual darkness, spiritual powers, and so on. But as Christians, we have an advantage. We have Christ to help us and to guide us and to lead us throughout our walk. Matthew 10 verse 22 says, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. John 15, 18, 20 says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, a servant is no greater than his master. If they persecute me, they will also persecute you. If they kept thy word, they will keep yours also. And Philippians 1 verse 29 says, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. And I can honestly say that it's not really something that we come across in Wales. We don't really, really suffer for our faith. But there's many countries out there, many people and Christians out there that really do suffer. But we do come under attack for our faith. And the Bible tells us that we will. And so the question I have for you is, will you suffer for Christ? So I'll just go back to my pound coin. I'm not sure if this is a fake or not. If it is, it's a good one. But this pound coin looks real. It might be a fake, it might not be. And some of us here tonight, I don't know your hearts, but some of us might call ourselves Christians. We might act like one. But as soon as we leave this place, we may be as sinful as the next person, I don't know. There may be things in our lives that hinder us in our walk with God. And I just thought it might be interesting tonight if we could just examine our lives and just ask ourselves, is there something in our lives that could be hindering us in our walk? Am I who I say I am? Am I really a Christian? Am I a true follower of God? First of all, am I saved? Will I suffer for my faith? You know, these are big questions and only we ourselves can answer these. When I did this message in the church not long ago, I had a packet of ready salted crisps, and I asked Jack to come up and try one. And as we opened the packet, he tried one, and there was a prone cocktail flavor inside. And those ready salted crisps, they looked the part on the outside, but inside was totally wrong. And so that's just the message I had tonight is, you know, Are we who we say we are as Christians? We may look the part. We may turn up every Sunday. We may even give up 10% of our tithes. But only God knows and we ourselves know if we are who we say we are. And I believe there's a big reason why God knows the heart, you know? God knows the heart, doesn't he? And this message really spoke to me because at the time, I really thought that, well, I felt as if I was sort of one person going to church, and then in my daily walk, I was sort of another thing. And this is why this message spoke to me. And it was interesting that I found this pound coin yesterday, so I thought it must be the right message. I may have not spoken to everyone tonight, but I believe this is the right message. Maybe, you know, I've spoken to someone here tonight. So I thank you. Well, that was a great message and a hard-hitting message.