People don't live godly lives because some guy got up and gave a pep talk about the fact that they ought to live godly lives.

People don't live godly lives because somebody got up and told them there are lots of negative consequences and you might not be successful if you don't behave this way.

People are motivated to live godly lives primarily from their view of God.

Welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. The worship style, the children's program, the pastors' communication skills.

Certainly, those are important aspects of a church, but should they be the only criteria you use to determine whether a church is right for you?

Bottom line, what should your priorities be when you choose a local church?

John MacArthur helps you order those priorities today on Grace To You as he begins a study titled, What to Look for in a church?

Well, John, a couple of questions to help launch this series. First, what motivated you to teach these lessons originally? And second, why is this such a relevant subject for Christians today who already attend a local church?

Well, I think you know as well as I do, Phil, that this is one of the incessant questions that we get from listeners.

It is the most asked question we get. How do I find a good, sound, biblical church that honors Christ and has expositional preaching and all of the patterns are basically tied to Scripture?

That's the big search for God's people all across our country and around the world. So there's no mystery as to why I did this series.

I want to answer the question in a general sense. As you know, the series is what to look for in a church and that's foundational.

You know, if you were living in Asia Minor at the time of the New Testament, you'd have one church. There was the church at Ephesus and the church at Laodicea and so forth.

But now you have all these options and it becomes almost paralyzing to try to figure out which church you should go to.

There are people who are drawn to style, there are people who are drawn to music, but there are far more important things than the style of the church and even the style of the music.

And we need to know that because we are going to be held responsible, I think before the Lord, for making the right choice in a church where we can be ministered to and where we can minister.

So this series is simply called what to look for in a church and allows me to answer a question sort of once and for all that I have answered so many hundreds of times through the years.

Now, I originally preached these messages during chapel services at the master's university and obviously that's important at a university where you have young people.

They're asking of course all the questions about what should a church be and it's easy for them particularly to be attracted to some shallow superficial stylized church that looks more like a junior high camp than a real church.

So I wanted to help them. So it's a series every young person needs to hear, but not just them, whatever stage you are in life however long you've been in your church.

It's good to be reminded of what God expects the local church to look like and the study answers questions like what is the purpose of the local church? How is it supposed to function? What should it believe?

You can find the series affirming of the church you're in now or you may find that this exposes the weakness of the church you're in now and you can find a place where you can really honor the Lord.

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