Relationship with the Church
In America, and all of the Western Nations, there are thousands of people like my friend whom we call, Junior. He lives in Florida. He’s a businessman. And one day, not long ago, he surrendered to Jesus Christ.
We put him up to tell his story and he began with, “I used to have a relationship with the church but no relationship with Jesus Christ.” You know, that’s the story of millions of people in the West.
So many people have a relationship with the church – 80% of Americans say they belong to a church… New Zealand, Australia, England, Germany, Latin America – many nations, they will all say, “Yes, I believe in the church,” but they have no experience of Jesus Christ.
The Scripture tells us very clearly that when a person opens their heart to Jesus Christ they begin a real relationship, a personal relationship, with Him. It’s not “religion.” This is the mistake so many people make. We’re not talking about religion, we’re talking about a personal relationship with the living God.
The Bible says that “to know God is to know eternal life” and, therefore, when you introduce your friend to believe in Jesus Christ, to give their heart to Him, to obey Him and follow Him, you are helping your friend to change from a relationship with the church to a relationship with Jesus Christ, and that is what eternal life is all about.
