What You Need to Know About Spiritual Growth in 12 Lessons: The What You Need To Know Study Guide Series

180 Pages·1997·0.93 MB·English

by  Anders

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
SPIRITUAL
GROWTH
IN 12 LESSONS
MAX ANDERS
© 1997 by Max Anders

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of
this book except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible, ©
1979, 1980, 1982, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Scripture quotations identified by NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963,
1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, by the Lockman Foundation, and used by permission.

Scripture quotations identified by NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, © 1973, 1978,
1984, by International Bible Society, and used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations identified by PHILLIPS are from The New Testament in Modern Speech: Revised
Edition, © 1972 by Macmillan, and used by permission.

Scripture quotations from The Holy Bible, New Century Version copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word
Publishing, Dallas, Texas, and used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Anders, Max E., 1947–
Spiritual growth/by Max Anders.
p. cm.—(What you need to know about) Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-8407-1936-2
1. Spiritual life—Christianity. 2. Spiritual formation.
I. Title. II. Series.
BV4501.2.A4555 1997
248—dc21
97-8578
CIP

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8—02 01 00 99 98 97
Contents

Introduction to the What You Need to Know Series
How to Teach This Book
Part One: Understanding Spiritual Growth
Chapter 1 When Does Spiritual Growth Begin?
Chapter 2 How Does God Help Me Grow Spiritually?
Chapter 3 What Must I Do to Grow Spiritually?
Chapter 4 How Does the Bible Help Me Grow Spiritually?
Chapter 5 How Do Other Believers Help Me Grow Spiritually?
Chapter 6 How Do Time and Trials Help Me Grow Spiritually?
Part Two: Pursuing Spiritual Growth
Chapter 7 How Does Faith Affect My Spiritual Growth?
Chapter 8 How Does Entrenched Sin Hinder Spiritual Growth?
Chapter 9 How Does Ministering to Others Help Me Grow Spiritually?
Chapter 10 How Do Inward Spiritual Disciplines Help Me Grow Spiritually?
Chapter 11 How Do Outward Spiritual Disciplines Help Me Grow Spiritually?
Chapter 12 How Do Corporate Spiritual Disciplines Help Me Grow
Spiritually?
Bibliography
Master Review
About the Author
Part One:
Understanding Spiritual Growth
Introduction to the
What You Need to Know Series

You hold in your hands a tool with enormous potential—the ability to help
ground you, and a whole new generation of other Christians, in the basics of the
Christian faith.
I believe the times call for just this tool. We face a serious crisis in the church
today . . . namely, a generation of Christians who know the truth but who do not
live it. An even greater challenge is coming straight at us, however: a coming
generation of Christians who may not even know the truth!
Many Christian leaders agree that today’s evangelical church urgently needs a
tool flexible enough to be used by a wide variety of churches to ground current
and future generations of Christians in the basics of Scripture and historic
Christianity.
This guide, and the whole series from which it comes—the What You Need to
Know series, can be used by individuals or groups for just that reason.
Here are five other reasons why we believe you will enjoy using this guide:
1. It is easy to read.
You don’t want to wade through complicated technical jargon to try to
stumble on the important truths you are looking for. This series puts biblical
truth right out in the open. It is written in a warm and friendly style with even a
smattering of humor here and there. See if you don’t think it is different from
anything you have ever read before.
2. It is easy to teach.
You don’t have time to spend ten hours preparing for Sunday school, small
group, or discipleship lessons. On the other hand, you don’t want watered down
material that insults your group’s intellect. There is real meat in these pages, but
it is presented in a way that is easy to teach. It follows a question-and-answer
format that can be used to cover the material, along with discussion questions at
the end of each chapter that make it easy to get group interaction going.
3. It is thoroughly biblical.
You believe the Bible, and don’t want to use anything that isn’t thoroughly
biblical. This series has been written and reviewed by a team of people who are
well-educated, personally committed Christians who have a high view of
Scripture, and great care has been taken to reflect what the Bible teaches. If the
Bible is unambiguous on a subject, such as the resurrection of Christ, then that
subject is presented unambiguously.
4. It respectfully presents differing evangelical positions.
You don’t want anyone forcing conclusions on you that you don’t agree with.
There are many subjects in the Bible on which there is more than one
responsible position. When that is the case, this series presents those positions
with respect, accuracy and fairness. In fact, to make sure, a team of evaluators
from various evangelical perspectives has reviewed each of the volumes in this
series.
5. It lets you follow up with your own convictions and
distinctives on a given issue.
You may have convictions on an issue that you want to communicate to the
people to whom you are ministering. These books give you that flexibility. After
presenting the various responsible positions that may be held on a given subject,
you will find it easy then to identify and expand upon your view or the view of
your church.
We send this study guide to you with the prayer that God may use it to help
strengthen His church for her work in these days.
How To Teach This Book

The books in this series are written so that they can be used as a thirteen-week
curriculum, ideal for Sunday school classes or other small-group meetings. You
will notice that there are only twelve chapters—to allow for a session when you
may want to do something else. Every quarter seems to call for at least one
different type of session, because of holidays, summer vacation, or other special
events. If you use all twelve chapters, and still have a session left in the quarter,
have a fellowship meeting with refreshments, and use the time to get to know
others better. Or use the session to invite newcomers in hopes they will continue
with the course.
All ten books in the series together form a “Basic Knowledge Curriculum” for
Christians. Certainly Christians would eventually want to know more than is in
these books, but they should not know less. Therefore, the series is excellent for
seekers, for new Christians, and for Christians who may not have a solid
foundation of biblical education. It is also a good series for those whose biblical
education has been spotty.
Of course, the books can also be used in small groups and discipleship groups.
If you are studying the book by yourself, you can simply read the chapters and
go through the material at the end. If you are using the books to teach others, you
might find the following guidelines helpful:
Teaching Outline
1. Begin the session with prayer.
2. Consider having a quiz at the beginning of each meeting over the self-test
from the chapter to be studied for that day. The quiz can be optional, or the
group may want everyone to commit to it, depending on the setting in which the
material is taught. In a small discipleship group or one-on-one, it might be
required. In a larger Sunday school class, it might need to be optional.
3. At the beginning of the session, summarize the material. You may want to
have class members be prepared to summarize the material. You might want to
bring in information that was not covered in the book. There might be some in
the class who have not read the material, and this will help catch them up with
those who did. Even for those who did read it, a summary will refresh their
minds and get everyone into a common mind-set. It may also generate questions
and discussion.
4. Discuss the material at the end of the chapters as time permits. Use
whatever you think best fits the group.
5. Have a special time for questions and answers, or encourage questions
during the course of discussion. If you are asked a question you can’t answer (it
happens to all of us), just say you don’t know, but that you will find out. Then,
the following week, you can open the question and answer time, or perhaps the
discussion time, with the answer to the question from last week.
6. Close with prayer.
You may have other things you would like to incorporate, and flexibility is the
key to success. These suggestions are given only to guide, not to dictate.
Prayerfully, choose a plan suited to your circumstances.