Luke 15:20 English Standard Version (ESV) And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
When I came to New Covenant Church I found myself at one point crying for the first time in my life declaring “I am the prodigal son.”
I was welcomed in and accepted as if they knew me. At the time I did not know it but they had been praying for me because my boss, their elder, had placed me on their prayer chain.
The core of that church had gone to college together. They met together in a gathering called “The Well” at the University of Texas. Out of “The Well” came a group of teachers who were very gifted. Those teachers and a Doctor of Divinity would cycle through services over the years and provide some of the best teaching I have ever heard.
This was what I missed by just reading my bible at home alone.
Proverbs 4:4-5 English Standard Version (ESV)
4 he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
I began getting it. I was not meant to be alone in my reading of God’s Word. I had not learned how to study God’s Word while I was alone. I could not teach myself how to study God’s Word. I needed to understand what being a disciple meant.
1 Thessalonians 5:12 English Standard Version (ESV)
12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
Reading God’s Word alone does not offer correction in wrong thinking. We need to have our theology tested for soundness. We need to subject ourselves to others that are worthy of respect.