Church is the right place to be if you are here for the right reasons.  People should come to church for one of three reasons.  And if you are here for one of these three reasons, then church is the right place for you.  Church is:

The right place to get right – 1 Cor 14:24-25 – of the folks attending our Wednesday night service, at least half, if not more, were saved in church.  If you attend a church where the gospel is preached, it’s the right place for sinners to get saved.  Our neighbor came to church with us a dozen times.  One day I went to visit him and he was troubled (he had just been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer).  He was troubled because he didn’t know where he was going when he died.  After preaching the gospel to him, he trusted Jesus Christ as his Saviour.  And he had no more doubts or concerns about his eternal destination.  All those times of hearing the gospel preached in church prepared him for the day he finally trusted Jesus.

The right place to stay right – 1 Pet 4:14-19 – when I was much younger, I attended church regularly.  However, I only had the desire to look right.  I did not have the desire to be right.  So, though I thought I was looking good, I was still wicked.  It does you absolutely no good to go to church just so you can look good or feel good about yourself.  That won’t help you.  You might as well not come to church.  Just go be as wicked as you really are.  That’s what the prodigal son did.  And, fortunately, in the far country, he finally came to himself.  He went home and got right and, as far as we can tell, stayed right.  We need church to help us stay right with God.  Good, straight, hard preaching will help you stay right with God.  

The right place to do right – Eph 2:8-10 – after you and I were saved, the Lord had work for us to do.  He has plans for us.  We are his workmanship created unto good works.  The way the Lord does his work is through the local church.  He sets the members in the body as it hath pleased him and intends to use us to benefit others and complete his work.  Tonight, we have people working in Bible clubs who came here to get right with God.  They have grown and stayed right with God.  And now they are helping the next generation of Christians by doing right for God.  

Conclusion: Eph 4:13-16 summarizes what we have seen tonight.  In Eph 4:14 we get right.  In Eph 4:15, we stay right.  In Eph 4:16 we do right.  Let’s be about these things when we come to church.