We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. - 1 John 4:6
I drive an hour plus each way to the church service I attend on Sunday and any other event that may be featured during the year. That’s better than a two-hour drive to attend church. Many people ask me why I don’t elect to attend a church closer to me. I’m not sure they understand why I do so, even after I’ve tried to explain.
In my lifetime, I have attended so many different churches that I cannot recall the exact number. I’ve sat through the services of every denomination, from Roman Catholic to some of the most ambiguous ‘non-denominational’ churches you could imagine. But every one of them failed to deliver the infallible and inerrant Word of God! They threw a Bible verse or two around when it suited them or they failed to apply proper hermeneutics to their exegesis. Some even dispensed with the entirety of the Holy Bible, claiming its strict adhesion to faithful doctrine divides people rather than bringing them together. And some even liked to make God up as they go along, being very careful to avoid offending anyone with the truth! “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” - 2 Timothy 4:3-4. Make no mistake about it: truth must never be compromised for the sake of peace.
So you can probably imagine how grateful I was when I found a church that was a bastion of truth through Jesus Christ. And all I had to do was drive a couple of hours to fellowship as the Holy Bible recommended. “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them... I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people... For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”- Leviticus 26:3,11-12 and Matthew 18:20.
The key to my satisfaction with my church rests entirely on the fact that I have long admitted that I am a sinner and that Jesus made propitiation for my sins to redeem me from an eternity in hell. And that is what my church professes.
That may be a lot to digest, especially when most people aren’t even willing to admit they are sinners! Most folks say, “well, nobody’s perfect.” But that’s as far as they’re willing to go. The reason they take such a dim view of sin and its consequences can be narrowed down to two rationalizations: it is what they are being taught in their churches, or it is a self-contrived view of their state of depravity. But that is not what the Bible teaches. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:24. The acolytes of false teaching worship neither in the Holy Spirit nor do they worship in the truth!
As true Bible-believing Christians, it is our duty to understand Christ as our Lord and by doing so we understand His word is truth. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” - John 14:6. This is the Christ of the Bible. This is the Christ of truth. This is Jesus Christ, in His own words! It is only when we see Him in this context that we can worship Him and fellowship according to the will of God. This is the church where we can feel at one with our brethren, our pastors, and the true Word of God. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Yes, I continue my weekly two-hour drive to church service each Sunday and will continue to do so as there is no substitute for the inerrant and infallible word of God delivered in both truth and spirit..
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