How do you find the right church?

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How do we find the right church? A while back, a church campus that I used to be a part of closed down, leading me to a decision of what church do I go to. Now, someone recommended a church to me that was actually 9 hours away, which sounds ridiculous, right? But, I went onto their website, saw the list of values they believe straight out of the Bible, and I thought, "This could be a place I could grow if I was actually there." I saw that they had their sermons posted online. I watched a few, and I felt both challenged and encouraged to get better. But, church online isn't a real thing, right? Well, let me pause for a second. Have you ever heard the term COVID Christian? I hadn't until a few years ago. Apparently, when the world shut down and people couldn't get together in person anymore, there was a flood of people that came back to God watching church online and giving their lives to Christ, and they called themselves COVID Christians. Now, just because church was online, did it make their salvation any less real? Now, go back in time to me watching a couple of the sermons. I was visiting a lot of local churches, but really felt like God was using that church 9 hours away to grow me in my faith. So, after visiting, we did decide to move 9 hours, but that was only after a year and a half of experiencing that church online. Now, I know that's not for everybody, and some people would rather say, "I don't need to go anywhere. I could just read my Bible. I don't even need to watch online." I felt that way for a season until I came across this principle in scripture, learning about how much Jesus valued the church. "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." Now, I don't know about you, but I've never walked into a church that was perfect, that felt completely holy and blameless. But, because of Jesus, his church could become that. Because although we are imperfect people, and so are the people in the church, Jesus died for broken people so that we could become better and have a relationship with God. But, how do we know if it's the right church or if we can trust the people in the church? First, more than anything, we need to trust God. If he values his church so much that he died for, we can give it a chance. Second, you can try watching their messages online, and while you do, pray about it. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. For a season, maybe you need to watch online to experience it until you can get there in person. But the important thing is to just start. Third, God cares more about this than we do. And he wants to be a part of the process. Check out the values on the website and see if they align with scripture. Ask God, "Is this where you want me to go?" And you may not get a clear answer. Sometimes you'll have to just go there, but God's not going to waste the faith of you trying. But also remember this, even if you don't like it, he died for his church so that we could have a relationship with him. God wants to use it to help us grow because he loves us. He loves you. He's a good God. Praying for you today, friends, as you find your church. God bless.