Where is the True Church?
Question: Where is the true church today?
This is probably one of the most common questions people throw at Christians. The argument is that, with so many churches today claiming to be the Church of Jesus Christ, either they are all true or none at all. Unfortunately, majority of today’s people stand on either of the two.
Answer
My short answer is this: the true church can be found the Bible, in the Book of Acts to be exact. That was the church established by the Lord Jesus Christ with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon 120 persons who were waiting and praying in Jerusalem ten days after He ascended up to heaven. When the apostles spread out, they went from city to city preaching the gospel and established congregations where people came to receive the faith. Those were the true churches of Christ.
Now for the longer answer. To claim that one belongs to the true church today is not quite easy because we will have to prove a lot of things. I believe the following guidelines can help those who are searching:
1./ The true church today should be standing on and preaching the doctrine of the apostles.
There is – and there can only be – one Gospel. It was personally handed down by the Lord Jesus to His apostles, and you cannot find it anywhere else except in the Bible itself. The falling away, which started in the latter days of the apostles, has come a long way and produced innumerable versions of the Gospel, that we needed a restoration message that will call us back to the Word of God.
2./ The true church today should have experienced a calling out from organized religions and religious systems, to a Bible-centered faith and living.
If we are to be a church, then we have to experience the very meaning of the word. Ekklesia, the Greek word from which the word church or iglesia was taken, means a called out assembly of people. A church then is a people who were called out from wrong beliefs and un-biblical systems of faith to the true Word of God. Jesus called His disciples out of religious then present. So were the saints who responded to the Message. Today God is calling His people out so they can come in to Christ by accepting His pure and unadulterated Word.
3./ The true church today should be living a holy and godly life under the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Holiness and godliness are virtues imparted by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word. The words of Jesus has the power to make a clean and holy life out of sinners. Where true Gospel is preached and believed, holy lives manifest and abound.
4./ The true church today should be joyfully waiting and preparing for the promised return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Since the days of the apostles, the saints have been mocked and laughed at for this very reason. There are even more scoffers today, and they make fun of the Christian faith especially with regards to this doctrine. But the true saints are not moved. They hold on to the promise because every passing year draws them ever closer to the coming of Christ.
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