Be the Church

God wants to use you and me to enter the world to be salt + light.

We aren't meant to make much of ourselves but to give glory to our Father in heaven. We have the opportunity to be the Church.

What if we actually lived as if we were saved by Jesus? We should live in a way that is evidence that we're saved. The process is sanctification. He wants to work in us to shape and mold us.

Encouragements

1. Be changed by the grace of God.

• It isn't willpower, discipline, or habits. The motivation can't be us fixing ourselves, but God working in us both to will internally and to act for His good pleasure.
• Check your power source. Are you relying on yourself or the power of the Holy Spirit?

2. Hold firm to this Word of Life

• Hold onto the source.
• Where do you look for the source?
• We will face opposition, but with the Word, we can be sturdy.
• Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil. Evil is attacking us, so we must hold firm to His Word.
• If we hold firm, there will be peace, joy, and satisfaction in our souls.

3. Declare the hope we have in Jesus.

• There is a day coming, so we should have hope.
• We have this hope—not in ourselves or in this world, but in what God is doing.
• Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope we have.
• We are called to go out as messengers, ambassadors, translators, and spokesmen/women, carrying the hope of Jesus to a world that desperately needs it.

Godliness allows us to be transformed into the image of Jesus, and this deserves full acceptance. Godliness has value in the present life and the one to come.

The Church isn't a building; it's people purchased by God for God. He wants us to embrace our calling, becoming a radiant people.