Everyone is searching for the perfect church.
There is no such thing as the perfect church.
By its very nature, it is imperfect.
If we could only get a little, elite group together of going-on saints, all overcomers, all devoted to the Lord, all hearing the Lord, all warring the warfare, wouldn’t it be wonderful?
But then, if in one of our prayer meetings, this perfect little church gets on its knees and says, “Lord, save. We do not just want this church to be ourselves. We want you to save men and women.”
And God saves three thousand.
Our perfect little fellowship is now imperfect because into our fellowship have come drug addicts, alcoholics, divorcees, people who are gay, and I do not know what else.
They are saved and we say thank God for that.
They are born again, cleansed, yes, they are, but those of us who have had anything to do with human beings in the church of God know very well that a drug addict is not delivered just overnight.
Perhaps he is delivered from the drugs, but the thing that led him to it takes time for the Holy Spirit to really work out.
It is the same with alcoholism, and the thing that led to divorce, the thing that led to all the other incompatibilities, collisions, and unhappiness.
-Lance Lambert: “The Prize”