If you did not learn anything else about walking in the Spirit except the importance of daily time in the Word and weekly church fellowship, anything else that you would ever need to know would eventually be answered through these two channels. The Word and fellowship are Jesus' main two ways of giving us opportunity to feed on Him and show our desire of having relationship with Him and His main two ways of talking back to us.

Another reason why church fellowship is important is because a lot of times God will give us the answer to our needs through conversation with a brother or sister. The Apostle Paul states in Ephesians, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:10). Each of us was created to glorify Jesus. Jesus glorifies Himself through us by manifesting through our lives a certain facet of who He is. Since no one of us manifests all that Jesus is, if we want to gain a fuller understanding of who Jesus is in our relationship with Him, then it is important that we are with His people as often as we can who represent Him.

I remember several years ago sitting in a college Sunday school class listening to a lecture on the attributes of God for the third or fourth time. This lecturer, like all the former lecturers on this subject, talked about how if we came to a clear understanding of the attributes of God, we would come to know who God is and this would release our faith in Him to a greater extent and revolutionize our lives. Because I was hearing this lecture for the third or fourth time, I knew it helped my understanding of who God is, but it did little for my experiential reality of who God is.

As I was sitting there, I asked Jesus, How can I really come to know who you are? Jesus answered me in my spirit and said,

By your allowing Me to work through your life in ministering to others and by opening yourself up to all of the gifts of the Spirit in the body. As you allow Me to work through you, you will see a certain facet of who I am through you. The purpose of my spiritual gifts is to manifest Myself to the church, and to the world. Since no one person manifests all the gifts all the time, in order to come to know Me fully, that is as fully as you can on this earth, you will need to be in my body corporately where many of the gifts operate together. In these two ways you will come to know me in the fullest way possible while on earth.⁸⁷

Another purpose for church fellowship is to develop mature love. The writer of Hebrews states,

"Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washing, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we shall do, if God permits." (Heb 6:1-3).

Outside of the basics of Christianity, what are we to press on toward? Paul the Apostle gives us the answer in 1 Corinthians 13:13, "But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." Mature love is the ultimate goal of the Christian walk. One of the ways that Jesus brings this about in our lives is through commitment to one body for better or worse, in sickness and in health, until the Lord tells us otherwise. Without commitment to one specific body, if things get uncomfortable, one can always get up and go some place else. But when one makes a commitment to a body until Jesus tells him or her otherwise, that commitment means that that person must work out his problems. As we work out our problems with others in the body of Christ through worship and praise, instead of just running from them, mature love in our lives is developed and accomplished. There is no other way mature love can be accomplished in our lives except through commitment. If we are to learn mature love in the body of Christ, then we must be willing to commit ourselves to one specific body for as long as Jesus chooses to keep us there.

The first step to find the church that is right for you is to approach Jesus through worship and praise and ask Him to lead you to the church He wants you in according to His purpose and plan for your life at present; then, by faith, trust Him to do it.

Now, I believe there are certain qualities in a church that are important to consider that will help you determine that, what you believe is Jesus' leading in your life in this way, truly is Jesus' leading.

First, is the Bible the basis for all their teaching and doctrine and do they teach that the Bible is without error in everything it teaches on science, history, religion and the cosmos? Do they believe in the inerrancy of Scripture? The prophet Isaiah said, "To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because they have no dawn." (Is 8:20). Jesus stated in Matthew 5:17-19 that not only is every word of God written by men inspired and controlled by the Holy Spirit in the original languages, but also every letter (See also 2 Tim 3:16-17, 1 Chron 28:19, Rev 22:18-19). Jesus said, "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished." (Matt 5:)

Second, do they teach that Jesus is both fully God and fully man, that He was born of the Virgin Mary who was conceived of by the Holy Spirit, that He lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, that he was buried and rose again bodily from the dead, and finally that He will return bodily to the earth in the same manner in which He left? (Matt 1:18-25, 1 Peter 2:21-24, 1 Cor 15:3-23, Acts 1:9-11).

Third, does their teaching of the Word point you to Jesus as your source of salvation and sanctification? Is Jesus the focus of their teaching? Jesus said, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." (Jn 14:6). Revelation 19:10 states, "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Fourth, do they have an evangelism and discipleship training program for laymen? Paul writes in Ephesians 4:11- 12,

"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as Pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ." (Eph 4:11-12).

Ministers are not primarily called to do the work of ministry, but to train laymen to do the work of ministry. If a church does not have some kind of ongoing training program in evangelism and discipleship it is dead spiritually and nothing more than a social club. The Church exists to bring men and woman to Jesus.

Fifth, do they preach complete salvation through Jesus, meaning: of mind, body, spirit, heart, emotions, conscience, and soul for today? Do they preach that Jesus' power to heal, His work of salvation, is available to all these areas today through believing prayer? The writer of Hebrews states, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, yes and forever." (Heb 13:8). If you want to grow in Jesus and find deliverance in Jesus, you need to surround yourself with people who have faith to believe Jesus for this today.

Sixth, do they preach the second coming of Jesus Christ? The Apostle Peter wrote,

"Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’" (2 Pet 3:3-4).

Seventh, do they teach that all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are just as relevant today as they were in the first century church, including tongues and prophecy? Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20, "Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances."

I believe that if Jesus leads you to a church with at least these seven qualities, if they have any other important blind spots, you will not have to worry, because this kind of openness to God will provide for those blind spots to be taken care of in Jesus' time.