"The Church's One Foundation" Series

Mere factual knowledge, of course, was powerless to save those Hebrews, or anyone else, unless it was believed and lived.

You can go around all day long believing in Jesus and His word, but you need to live it.

The more you believe, the more you live it.

Your faith in Christ is a determinate to your lifestyle.

You see, if I say I believe I have faith, and then I continue to conform to this world,

my faith is not sincere or genuine.

Paul admonished believers to “adorn the doctrine” they had been taught by how they lived their lives.

He said “show yourself to be an example of good deeds….sound in speech…showing all good faith that you may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect” (Titus 2:7, 8,10)

What adorns that message, or makes it believable, is a holy life that clearly demonstrates God can save from sin.

The messenger (Shell Point) must manifest the power of the message they are proclaiming.

Jesus preached righteousness.

Shell point must preach the same message and strive to live it as perfectly as we can.

Two major factors contribute to the church’s powerlessness today.

First, many are ignorant of biblical truth.

They just don’t continue to enable God’s spirit in them.

They may come to church but never open the Bible up during the week.

They may not even know where the Sermon on the Mount, or salvation Scriptures are located in the Bible.

So how can you expect to live a Godly witnessing life without foundation in your soul.

Second, those who may know biblical truth all too often fail to live by it.

So proclaiming an erroneous message is tragic.

And so is proclaiming the truth but giving scant evidence that one’s life has been transformed by it.

Such people cannot expect others to be moved by their proclamation.

The work of Jesus Christ is both finished and unfinished.

His great work of redemption is finished, and nothing may be added to it.

His work of ministry and proclamation, however, is not finished.

That work He only started.

It is up to us as a church to continue His work.

It is only the Beginning of Jesus' Work

That is the point of the book of Acts and that is why we exist as a church.

The book of Acts is not just the Acts of the Apostles; it is the acts of the risen, living, enthroned Jesus.

He said in Matthew 16, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Repeat with Shell point in “church”

What's Needed to Be Living Instruments of Jesus?

What does Jesus give to people so that they become his fellow workers and fellow speakers in building Shell Point in the world until he comes?

Or: What does Shell Point need in order to be the instruments of the living Jesus today?

What did Jesus give to the apostles so that they could be his instruments as he moved through the Roman world spreading his reign?

And how much of this might apply to us?

There are three things mentioned in verses 2 and 3

1. Command through the Holy Spirit

Verse 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.