Why People Leave the Church (2)

Why People Leave the Church (2)
'We have come to believe and know...You...' John 6:69
We continue to look at why people leave the church. This is tough because as a pastor I experience this on a regular basis in people's lives I minister too. It affects me when people move away from the body and from Christ. Some believe the rules of the Father's house seem too restrictive. Many people want Christ's love but not His lordship, His blessings but not His commandments. It's not that He offers them too little, but that the cost of serving Him seems too high. Maybe you are thinking that if you'd lived in the days of Christ, walked and talked with Him and heard Him preach, you would be a better Christian. Think again! 'His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying"...From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ...'' (vv. 60 & 66-69 NKJV). True discipleship doesn't result from attending a special service at church. No, it's progressive. It's the result of 'coming to believe and know' the Lord as you walk with Him on the mountaintop and in the valley, in the bad times as well as the good. That's why Peter wrote: 'Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe...A stone that causes men to stumble...' (1 Peter 2:7-8 NIV). Paul puts it this way: '...No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost' (1 Corinthians 12:3). The purpose of the Holy Spirit working in your life is to bring you into submission to the will of God. And that involves a relationship-with rules! You are loved...