Part 2: Growing Deeper 26 studies looking at how to grow deeper in your relationship with Christ By Ian Malins

Transcription

1 Come Follow Me Part 2: Growing Deeper 26 studies looking at how to grow deeper in your relationship with Christ By Ian Malins

2 Contents Introduction...3 IV. Growing in discipleship... 7 The Holy Spirit 11. Alive and growing Dormant or active? The struggle within He s everything you need The Bible 15. The Bible - your spiritual food The Bible - its fourfold purpose Hold God s Word strongly Project 4 Time alone with God Prayer 18. Prayer - your spiritual breath Why pray anyway? The Master s example Are your prayers upside-down? Worship - your highest priority Learning to listen How does God speak? Project 5 Keeping a prayer journal Hearing God s voice - some important guidelines Quiet Time 26. Time alone with God Balanced growth Fellowship 28. Fellowship - to keep you warm Why fellowship? Making fellowship strong Project 6 Deepening fellowship Christian service 31. Christian service - your spiritual work You ve got what it takes! How to discover your spiritual gift Finding your place in the Body Project 7 Serving others Witness 35. Reach out to others Go into your world Project 8 Reaching people for Jesus A Final Word Memory verses Other books etc

3 STUDY 11 Alive and growing READ: Romans 8:5-10; Ephesians 2:1-10 MEMORIZE: Ephesians 2:4-5 Have you ever seen a dead person walking, speaking, working, or playing sport? There are such people around us every day! The Bible makes it clear that sin has cut the invisible cord of life joining us to our Creator (Genesis 3). The result is spiritual death. Without Christ we are alive physically but dead spiritually (Ephesians 2:1-2). The deepest part of our nature is lifeless and unresponsive. There are people all around us today who are like that - living but dead! It is only through the work of the Holy Spirit that those who are dead in sin can be made spiritually alive. The Holy Spirit is the start of it all. He brings us to conviction of sin ( John 16:8). He helps us answer the call of Christ ( John 6:44). He brings us to spiritual birth ( John 3:5). 1. He gives you life You may have been born into a Christian family. You may have gone to a Christian school. You may have attende d church regularly. You may even have been baptised. But Romans 8:9 makes it clear, If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can bring spiritual life. Only the Holy Spirit can change you from within. Only the Holy Spirit can bring you to spiritual birth. There is no other way! You cannot live the Christian life until you have been born into God s family. You cannot become a disciple of Jesus until you have heard and obeyed Christ s call. You cannot grow and develop until you have God s Spirit within you. The Holy Spirit is the start of it all. 2. He patterns your growth With the gift of physical life, a baby also receives the parent s DNA which is the code or pattern for growth.so long as the right conditions for growth are met, the child will develop into all that this pattern for his life will allow (e.g. colour of eyes, skin, height, build, abilities). The same is true of spiritual growth. Spiritual birth is not the finish of the Holy Spirit s work within you. It is just the start. With the gift of spiritual life, you also receive spiritual DNA which is the power or pattern for your spiritual growth. This power is the Holy Spirit who comes to live within you at the moment of spiritual birth. And the pattern He uses is the perfect image and likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18, Ephesians 4:13). As long as He is allowed to work within you the way He wants, He will make you into all that God has planned you should be. Through discipleship the Holy Spirit wants to pattern your growth and bring you to the full measure of maturity in Christ. This is God s great master-plan for all His children (Romans 8:29). The Holy Spirit is the secret of spiritual life and spiritual growth. You cannot come to spiritual birth without Him. Neither can you grow without Him. Are you alive? Are you growing? 9

4 Explore Further 1. All people in the world are either spiritually dead or spiritually alive (Ephesians 2:1-5). The two drawings below show the differences between them. What are these differences? Spiritually dead: Spiritually alive: 2. According to Romans 8:5-11 and 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 what are the marks of the spiritually dead and the spiritually alive? Marks of spiritually dead Marks of spiritually alive 3 How does a person change from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive? ( John 1:12-13, John 3:5-8). How did it happen to you? (choose) It happens automatically to those born into a Christian family; It takes place in all those who go to church and live good lives; It takes place through repentance, believing and receiving Christ; It takes place through baptism and following Christian teaching. 4. The Holy Spirit brings you to spiritual birth but what else is He trying to do in your life? 2 Corinthians 3:18 Galatians 5:22-23 Ephesians 4:13 5. You must co-operate with the Holy Spirit if these changes are to take place in your life. How are you to do this? (See Galatians 5:16-18, 24-25). 10

5 STUDY 15 The Bible - your spiritual food READ: Hebrews 5:11-6:3 MEMORIZE: Matthew 4:4 A bird can go nine days without food, a dog twenty days, a turtle five hundred days, a snake eight hundred days. But a man can only last twelve days before he begins to die of starvation. Food is such an important part of life. We need it for life, growth and daily strength. The same is true spiritually. Your spiritual life depends on food too. Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). Just as with physical food, we need to receive spiritual food regularly - not once a month, or once a week, but every day. Jesus made it clear that to be a disciple you must continue to hear, read, study and obey His words constantly ( John 8:31). You must feed on God s Word every day. Why is regular feeding on God s Word so important? There are three reasons: 1. It makes you grow God s purpose is that you grow up to spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:15). The Bible is God s provision to make this possible. It provides a balanced diet for every part of your Christian life. It has spiritual milk for young Christians - simple truths that even a child can understand (1 Peter 2:2). Then it has spiritual meat for the more mature - deeper truths that challenge even the greatest minds. The sign that you are growing is that you rely less on spiritual milk and eat more spiritual meat. You no longer completely depend on the bottle of milk that others prepare for you, but are learning how to chew on solid food as you search the scriptures daily for yourself (Acts 17:11). 2. It keeps you clean Soap and water can cleanse dirty hands. But what about our minds? All around us today we see, hear, and read things that can put wrong thoughts in our minds. The radio, T.V., films, magazines, books and the talk of others can easily make our thinking unclean. What is the answer to this? Jesus said to His disciples, You are made clean by the word which I have spoken to you ( John 15:3). As you regularly and prayerfully study God s Word, it washes your mind, purifies your desires, changes your attitudes, cleanses your thinking, and keeps you from sin (Psalm 119:9,11). It shows you what you are really like ( James 1:23-25), and points to where you can find cleansing and forgiveness. The Bible keeps your soul clean. 3. It guides your way The Bible is like a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). It is God s message telling us how to live in a dark and dangerous world. It shows us the right path to walk. It guides us along the road of discipleship. Without it we would lose our way and fall into the many traps that are all around us. Are you feeding regularly on God s Word? Or are you a turtle Christian -living for many days without spiritual food? Earnestly desire the spiritual milk and meat of God s Word, that by it you may grow. 17

6 Explore Further 1. What happens to a person who goes without food for many days, or who only eats occasionally, or who does not have a proper diet? In a similar way, what will happen to the Christian who doesn t take care to feed spiritually with a regular, balanced diet? 2. What do the following references tell us the Bible is like? Psalm 119:103 Matthew 4:4 (memorize this verse ). Hebrews 5: Peter 2:2 Have you found the Bible to be like any of the above things? In what ways? 3. What else does God s Word do for you according to the following verses? Psalm 119:9-11 John 15:3 Ephesians 5:26 Psalm 119: What did Jesus say is an important mark of a disciple? ( John 8:31) What does this mean? 5. What is all this saying to you? How regularly are you feeding on the Word of God? Do you feel this is enough? Are you having a balanced diet? Do you feel you are well nourished and growing? Or are you unsatisfied? Make your own evaluation. 18

7 PROJECT 4: Time Alone with God This project is designed to help you develop a Time alone with God each day if you don t already do so. 1. Set aside a period of at least 20 minutes each day to read and meditate on the selected passages from God s Word below, and record what you think God is saying to you personally. Then spend some time in prayer. 2. Follow this plan: Read the passage carefully and prayerfully asking God to reveal to you what He wants to say to you personally; Re-read the passage thinking about each statement or verse; Write down any thoughts, ideas or impressions that come to you that apply to your own life; Pray using the Bible passage as a basis. Thank God for what He has shown you and ask for the Holy Spirit s help in applying this to your life. Pray for any other things upon your heart. PERSONAL DEVOTIONAL DIARY DAY 1: Date: Bible passage: Mark 1:32-39 DAY 2: Date: Bible passage: Matthew 6:5-8 23

8 DAY 3: Date: Bible passage: Matthew 6:9-15 DAY 4: Date: Bible passage: Psalm 27:1-9 DAY 5: Date: Bible passage: Hebrews 4:12-16 DAY 6: Date: Bible passage: 1 John 1:5-10 Now buy a note book that you can use as your Devotional Diary, and continue to read God s Word every day and record what He is saying to you. Use a reading plan (eg. like Scripture Union notes) to guide you. (At your next group meeting share how you got on with this daily reading plan and share something that you believe God was saying to you through one or more of these passages). 24