But how can they call on Him they have not believed in?  And how can they hear without a preacher?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written:  How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things! But all did not obey the gospel.  For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message?  So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.     Romans 10:14-17 HCSB

Let me start off by saying that I consider DIY to be a dirty three letter word.  Well, actually, it’s not a word it’s an acronym but you get what I mean.  It stands for do it yourself.  Now my sister is very talented and honestly, I don’t know of anything that she can’t do.  I have not seen her do mechanic work, but her husband can do that and is multi-talented as well.  I always thank her for the two nephews she provided me with because they are really handy as well. Between the two of them there is nothing they can’t do.

Now if you do like to do things yourself and not call on someone to repair what needs mending, there is YouTube.  This is a handy little resource because anything you may need to do, there is a good chance that someone has videoed themselves doing it and explaining it and they will show you how to do it as well.

When it comes to our relationship with Christ, it can start out as DIY, but I wouldn’t recommend you keeping it that way.  Oh, I know, some of you right now are reading this and say I love God and that’s all I need.  You are saying that you don’t need a preacher, a church, or fellow Christians to make your relationship with Christ complete.  I won’t sit here and say that you can’t get to heaven without these things or you can’t have a relationship with your Lord and Savior without these things, but I would like to ask you one question. Why would you?  Why would you try to do it all alone when there are trained professionals ready and willing to help you in this process. And, it is a process. I can assure you that I learn more and more about God’s word every day and I’ve been around for a while now.

Our scripture passage takes us through the stages of developing a close relationship with our Lord and Savior.  First and foremost we have to believe in Him before we can call on Him.  A friend told me an interesting story the other day.  She said that she had a co-worker that declared himself an atheist.  He did not want to hear anything about Jesus or the gospel message. He had to ride with her one day and a car pulled out in front of them. As she skidded to a stop, he cried out, “Oh God.” Now why would you call on someone that you don’t believe in, especially in times of trouble? But the truth of the matter is that for most of us, myself included, we draw closer to God in times of trouble.  It just helps if you believe in Him when you are calling out to Him, just sayin’.

But how can anyone believe in something that they have never heard of.  Advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry in our country.  There are television ads, print ads, internet ads, billboards, and many other ways of getting the word out about a product or service.  If you have this wonderful invention, you probably won’t sell many of them if no one knows they exist. This is why church is good for us, not that we don’t believe that God exists, but because a good, bible teaching church can clear up things that we may find hard to understand.  While the bible is very direct in some things, you may have to study it to get a good understanding of some scripture.  We go to school to be instructed in things like chemistry and physics, but we take something so important to us as the Bible and try to wing it on our own.  I know, I did it myself for many years, silly me.

Just as you go to school to learn certain subjects or be trained in certain trades, you need the guidance of a good, bible teaching preacher. How can we learn these things without a preacher?  I have been blessed over the last 12 years of my life to have two awesome preachers.  When God called the first one home to be with Him, He sent us one of his dear friends to shepherd us.  I regularly listen to his sermons and think, “Wow! I don’t remember reading that verse, or I didn’t understand what that meant.”  God’s word is too important to our lives to try to do it on our own.  We need the help of a trained professional.

Lastly, we get our faith from what we hear.  Hearing God’s word explained in detail and studying God’s word and learning how to apply it to your life is something that we all need to do.  In order to do this, we need the help of a trained professional.  We need to be mentored by mature Christians.

If your sink is clogged or your washing machine isn’t spinning, feel free to check it out on YouTube and try to do it yourself.  But your salvation and your eternal life are just too important to mess around with.  Trust it to God, ask God to lead you to the right church where you can be nurtured and grow into a mature Christian.

Don’t go it all alone.  There are many almost empty churches out there that would love to help guide you along on this journey. Go to one today and grow in the Lord.

Have a great day!