Can't you ask an expert? Or ask the individual churches and communities? Of course you can. But almost all of them claim to be the right church, even though they generally hold very different doctrines. So this is not the way to get there. The best way is to imitate the inhabitants of Berea (Greece). The Bible describes their attitude as noble:

„These were of a nobler disposition than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether it was so.“ (Acts 17:11, Pattloch translation)
That is good advice! At that time, the people of Berea listened willingly to Paul's preaching. But they searched the Bible themselves every day to see whether this was the case. That's why I recommend doing the same when it comes to the question of the right church or congregation of Jesus. I think a brief study of the Bible is a very good way to go.

But first, let's look at the three questions that pastor asked. These questions are important prerequisites for a successful study of this question.

Jesus said: „I am the way and the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.“ (John 14:6) „Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you ...“ (Matthew 28:20)

Peter said: „Jesus did no sin; he died for our sins.“ (1 Peter 2:22-24)

„Christ has left you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.“ (1 Peter 2:21)

We should and want to follow him in all things. That is why John says: „He that saith he abideth in him [Christ] shall walk even as he walked.“ (1 John 2:6)

I believe that Jesus taught and revealed divine truth and that his whole life was an example for us. Every true Christian believes that. That is the first prerequisite for our endeavour. Do you believe that too?

Does the church of Jesus today - after almost 2,000 years - still have to agree with Jesus? Is there no further development? What answer does Jesus himself give?
Jesus said: „Scripture cannot be broken.“ (John 10:35)

At this point, Jesus is talking about the Old Testament. Of course, this applies to the entire Bible, including the New Testament. According to Jesus, the Scriptures cannot be „broken“. If you break something, you have several parts. Jesus expresses here that it is not up to us to accept one part and reject other parts. In full agreement with Jesus, John says: „Whoever goes on and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son.“ (2 John 9) This is a clear rejection of any further development of biblical teachings. What God has revealed to us through the Son (Hebrews 1:1) cannot, must not and need not be improved by human beings.

The apostle Paul says: „But even if we or an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you that is different from what we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have just said, I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel different from what you received, let him be accursed.“ (Galatians 1:8, 9)

Even the apostles and the angels do not have the right to change the gospel of Jesus Christ. So no one else is allowed to either. We therefore realise that the church of Jesus today must be in agreement with Jesus Christ and his word.

Do you believe that too?

Why is this willingness important now, before the study begins? Jesus says:

„If someone wants to do his will, he will recognise whether this teaching is from God.“ (John 7:17)

Jesus tells us here: Whoever wants to do the will of God will also recognise it. Whoever has the sincere desire to recognise and do the will of God will be helped by God to recognise the truth and thus also to recognise the church of Jesus. A divine promise reads: „God allows the sincere to succeed.“ (Proverbs 2:7) - God has promised the assistance of the Holy Spirit to those who obey him (Acts 5:32). He has promised to guide us into all truth (John 14:26 and John 16:13). This certainly includes the truth about his church. A wonderful book on the life of Jesus says: „To all those who surrender to God with a sincere desire to know his will and act accordingly, the truth will prove to be a power of God unto salvation.“ (The Life of Jesus, p. 449) Are you ready to join the church of Jesus when you find it?

The way is simple. Study the Gospel of Matthew. It has about 40 pages. It doesn't contain all of Jesus' teachings, but most of them. You may want to underline the verses about his teachings, his example and what is said about him. I have done this study as follows:

I took a notebook with margins on both sides and divided it up:

I have written the relevant chapter and verse in the left-hand margin.

On the left in the main column, I transferred the sentence or partial sentence as it appears in the Bible, which contained a teaching or exemplary behaviour of Jesus. On the right in the main column, I wrote what teaching this sentence contains. On the right in the margin column, I made further columns for the churches I wanted to examine (e.g. B. one column each for Catholic Church, Protestant Church, Adventist Church, Baptist Church).

I put a plus sign next to every church that I found that represents the corresponding doctrine.

The church that has all the plus signs at the end agrees with the teachings of Jesus. This is Jesus' church that I want to join.

In Bible lessons, I have often placed a chapter from Matthew or a passage from it before the following general Bible discussion.

The interest in this study was always great. A gentleman once said to me: „I realised as early as chapter 4 that I wasn't in the right church.“

May our wonderful God bless you abundantly, especially when you tell others about Jesus. Remember that this is the highest and best thing we can do for a person, „for all who turn to the Lord confess and call on his name will be saved. However, they can only confess him if they first came to faith are. And they can only come to faith, when they have heard the message. But they can only hear the message if they have heard it. has been announced. ... What joy it is when the messengers come and bring the good news.“ (Romans 10:13-15 GNB)

Jesus says: „Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.“ (Matthew 18:20) The early church had no access to the Jewish community centres. They gathered in house churches. The smaller the group, the stronger the personal relationships. The coronavirus pandemic has shown that church buildings can be closed very quickly. I am convinced that house churches have a good chance of survival here.

Many people were touched by Peter's Pentecost sermon. They opened themselves to faith in Jesus. Acts 2:37 to 47 reports on this:

When the people heard this, they were deeply moved by the message. They asked Peter and the other apostles: „‚Brothers, what should we do?‘ ‚Turn back to God,‘ Peter urged them. ‚Let each of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ! Then God will forgive your sins and you will receive the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, your descendants and the people of the whole world whom the Lord our God will call to himself. Peter spoke to them for a long time and urged them: ‘Be saved from the judgement of God that will fall on this corrupt generation. Many listeners accepted Peter's message and were baptised. The number of believers grew by about three thousand that day. All those who had found faith in Jesus were regularly instructed by the apostles and lived in close fellowship. They celebrated communion and prayed together. A deep reverence for God filled all the people in Jerusalem, and he worked many signs and wonders through the apostles. The believers lived as one big family. What they owned belonged to them collectively. If anything was lacking, everyone was happy to sell a piece of land or other property and use the money to help those in need in the community. Day after day, the believers came together with one accord in the temple and celebrated communion in their homes. With great joy and sincerity of heart, they came together for meals. They praised God and were respected and recognised by all the people. The church grew day by day because the Lord saved many people.”

We see here: God wants us to join his church. The path to the church first leads to repentance, to a change of mind (this is the meaning of the biblical term „repentance“). We turn away from our previous path, confess our sins to God (more about forgiveness in St Andrew's letter 16) and decide to follow Jesus and do what he says. In other words, we accept Jesus into our lives as Saviour and Lord.

„He [Jesus Christ] came into his own, but his own people did not receive him. But to all who received him and believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. They did not become such by natural descent, human will or the decision of a man, but by birth from God.“ (John 1:11-13; New Evangelistic Translation NeU)

Believing in his name means trusting him so much that I entrust my life to him. It can be compared to a wedding. We enter into a covenant with Christ, who has shown us his wonderful love. The outward sign that I am entering into a covenant with Jesus is biblical baptism by immersion. It symbolises the burial of my old man and the resurrection as a new man. Romans 6:4 says:

„So through baptism we have died and been buried with Christ. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory and power of his Father, we too have received a new life and are now to act in a way that corresponds to this new life.“ (Hfa)

According to the words of Jesus, the new life comes about through a new birth, „to be born of God“. (John 1:13 and John 3:6 and 8). This new birth happens through the Holy Spirit. We receive it when our baptism is the result of a genuine commitment to Jesus: „This is how you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.“ (Acts 2:38)

We humans are „programmed for daily life“ - a 24-hour period. That is why we maintain our natural life by eating, drinking, exercising, sleeping, etc. every day. The same applies to our life with God (2 Corinthians 4:16). We maintain our extraordinarily valuable friendship with Jesus by entrusting ourselves to him anew every morning and receiving the Holy Spirit with a promise, e.g. Luke 11:13 („how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him”) ask and receive. We look forward to thinking about him every day, reading about him, talking to him, sharing with him everything that concerns us and making decisions together with him. For we are God's „hands and feet“ on this earth, with which he wants to make his love and goodness tangible and palpable to all people. In this way, we become strong and joyful people whom he can lead to a fulfilled life here (John 10:10) and later bring to eternal life - a life without pain and hardship, without tears and sorrow, an existence in paradise, which he will recreate.