Don’t give up

I have been pretty disappointed in the church selection in close proximity to my new home. I had in fact reached a point whereby I did not want to even attend church, preferring to watch a service on television. My wife and I have been discussing this subject a lot lately. It feels like a big hole is in our lives. On the one hand we absolutely love where we live, but without the right church to attend there can be no peace. One should enjoy attending church and not have to grit your teeth and grin and bear it at every service.



We have been praying to God to assist us in finding the right church to attend, but were very nearly convinced that short of driving an hour and a half one way to attend church, we were not going to find one. We thought we had looked at them all, but we saw an ad for an Easter service in the paper from a new church about fifteen miles down the road. We attended and it was great. It is the first time I have really enjoyed going to a church service since I left Jacksonville. The music was great, the people were friendly and the preacher preached straight from the Bible. Most importantly he conducted an alter call whereby anyone in need could come forward and accept Jesus at the end of the service.



Hopefully this is it, my new church home. The church bulletin indicated that the church was an assembly of imperfect people worshipping a perfect God. I like that. I want to rejoin a Sunday school class and my wife wants to join a choir. We want to look forward to going to church every Sunday again. I offer this example as encouragement to those of you who have not found the church that is right for you. Stay after it and keep looking. As with many things, it may take some time and some patience, but it will be well worth it in the end. Unlike where I live with a very limited population and infrastructure, most folks live in an area with a huge selection of churches in which to find one’s place. I encourage you to pray about it and keep looking. Do not settle in at a church where you cannot find peace. Keep in mind though that a church is an assembly of “imperfect people”. Don’t go in looking for everything to be 100% perfect. The church is run by “people” just like you and me. They are not perfect and neither will the church be perfect. God is perfect, but he is delegating the management of His church to imperfect people who occasionally make mistakes and yes even hypocrites may attend and/or have a position of authority. (The “sick”
need God too).



Look for a church that conducts a worship service the way you like it, but realizing that they may get some things wrong some of the time. If you want to jump around, shout, and clap your hands, find a church where they worship in that fashion. If you prefer to sit in solemn tranquility in the midst of great pomp, ritual and dignified ceremony, such a church will be easy to find. Most importantly, find a church whereby the pastor preaches the sermon right out of the Bible with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. Find a pastor that does not twist the meaning of God’s word bringing their own imperfect logic into the mix.
Jesus should be the main attraction. Don’t give up! God will lead you to the right church if you are sincere in your quest to find one that is absolutely right for you…



Romans 8:28

And we know that all things

work together for good to those who

love God, to those who are the

called according to His purpose.



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For a great Bible research tool, visit http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible

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