Josh, a podcast listener from Evansville, Indiana writes in,

Pastor John, I have a question about the local church.

I've seen a lot of people, my age, college age go to different churches,

what's known as church hopping.

I continue to tell them about covenanting with one particular local church

and why it's beneficial for the growth.

They continue to say that we are all part of the body of Christ.

And we as believers are free to go wherever we want.

What would you tell my friends?

Well, I would ask them a question.

First of all, I would ask, how do you know those two things that you said,

we all belong to the body of Christ and we are free to go wherever we want to.

I'd say, how do you know that?

And if they say because the Bible teaches that, then I would ask,

so you're saying you want to submit your will to what the Bible teaches about church

membership, is that right?

Are you saying that you will do what the Bible says about church membership?

And if they say no, because maybe they're feeling trapped, like,

whoa, where's this going?

If they say no, then we got a bigger issue to deal with, right?

We've got to talk about the folly of presuming to create your own reality out of your own

head when God is the one who creates reality and tells us what it is.

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