Healthy Christian Growth

Biblical guidelines for growing to Christian maturity. It explains the pattern of God's work in the lives of his people and concludes with a brief spiritual check-up. Relevant to all stages of spiritual development, it provides a guide book that will be specially helpful to new Christians.

Imagine what our world might look like if Christians became known for remarkable love, as well as life-giving truth. The stakes are high and the need is great for Christians to represent Jesus to a watching world. And today, we have more influence than ever before--for better and for worse. We are among the first generations to have access to a global megaphone through social media. But it's not enough to speak truth louder to a noisy culture. To counter the reputation Christians have earned, our love must be just as loud. Ask evangelist Matt Brown, and he will tell you Christians today are facing a crisis of influence. In our rush to speak truth to today's tensions, cultural issues, and trending controversies, it becomes all too easy to focus on proving our points rather than extending God's grace. Conversely, when we seek only to love yet never proclaim a better way, we short-circuit God's plan. Truth Plus Love invites you to rediscover the biblical framework for engaging culture as ambassadors of Christ. Through biblical insight, cultural analysis, and practical principles, Matt Brown outlines how to champion truth without compromise, how to love unconditionally, and ultimately, how to step into this great adventure of representing God to the world. It's hard, it's messy, and it's the unfinished project of a lifetime, yet here we find our great adventure: representing God to a watching world.

Biblically and practically instructs church members in ways they can labor for the health of their church. What Is a Healthy Church Member? takes its cue from Mark Dever's book What Is a Healthy Church?, which offered one definition of what a healthy church looks like biblically and historically. In this new work, pastor Thabiti Anyabwile attempts to answer the natural next question: "What does a healthy church member look like in the light of Scripture?" God intends for us to play an active and vital part in the body of Christ, the local church. He wants us to experience the local church as a home more profoundly wonderful and meaningful than any other place on earth. He intends for his churches to be healthy places and for the members of those churches to be healthy as well. This book explains how membership in the local church can produce spiritual growth in its members and how each member can contribute to the growth and health of the whole.

Part One: The Assured Life * Preface * General Introduction: Why We All Need the ABCs * Introduction to the Truth of Assurance * Lesson 1: Assurance Regarding the Gospel * Lesson 2: Assurance of Salvation * Lesson 3: Assurance of Eternal Security * Lesson 4: Assurance of God?s Daily Provision * Lesson 5: Assurance of God?s Provision for Sin * Lesson 6: Assurance of God?s Guidance * Lesson 7: Assurance of Eternal RewardsPart Two: The Transformed Life * Preface * Lesson 1: Truths That Transform * Lesson 2: The Faith-Rest Life * Lesson 3: The Christ-Centered Life * Lesson 4: The Spirit-Filled Life (Part 1) * Lesson 5: The Spirit-Filled Life (Part 2) * Lesson 6: The Word-Filled Life * Lesson 7: The Prayer-Filled Life (Part 1) * Lesson 8: The Prayer-Filled Life (Part 2) * Lesson 9: The Devotional LifePart Three: The Multiplied Life * Preface * Lesson 1: The Stewardship of Time * Lesson 2: The Stewardship of Talents * Lesson 3: The Stewardship of God?s Truth * Lesson 4: The Stewardship of God?s Truth Through Evangelism (Part 1) * Lesson 5: The Stewardship of God?s Truth Through Evangelism (Part 2) * Lesson 6: The Stewardship of God?s Truth Through Evangelism (Part 3) * Lesson 7: The Stewardship of God?s Truth Through Evangelism (Part 4) * Lesson 8: The Stewardship of God?s Truth Through Discipleship * Lesson 9: The Stewardship of TreasuresAppendices * Appendix 1: Thoughts on Ezekiel 2:8; 3:1-3, 14 * Appendix 2: Exposition of Isaiah 55:1-3 * Appendix 3: Preparing to Truly Hear God?s Word * Appendix 4: The Believer and Daily Cleansing (John 13:1-17) * Appendix 5: An Overview of the Forgiveness of Believers * Appendix 6: Key Verses on the ?Daily? Emphasis of Scripture * Appendix 7: Seven Subtle Snares of Worldliness * Appendix 8: Soul Nourishment First by George Muller * Appendix 9: The Middle Voice of 1 Corinthians 13:8

The 1950s saw a change of direction for numbers within evangelicalism in England. It was a return to a more doctrinal Christianity, prompted in part by a rediscovery of the Reformers and Puritans and by the contemporary witness of such men as D.M. Lloyd-Jones and J.I. Packer. Amid this change, a little magazine, first published in Oxford in 1955, worked as a catalyst and became by 1958 as publishing house reaching some forty nations. Blemishes and weaknesses the magazine certainly had, but the call for God-centred Christianity, and for a gospel certain that all is of grace, was widely received.

Life Is Never Mainly About Love and Marriage. So Learn to Live and Date for More. Many of you grew up assuming that marriage would meet all of your needs and unlock God's purposes for you. But God has far more planned for you than your future marriage. Not Yet Married is not about waiting quietly in the corner of the world for God to bring you "the one," but about inspiring you to live and date for more now. If you follow Jesus, the search for a spouse is no longer a pursuit of the perfect person, but a pursuit of more of God. He will likely write a love story for you different than the one you would write for yourself, but that's because he loves you and knows how to write a better story. This book was written to help you find real hope, happiness, and purpose in your not-yet-married life.

"Sheep swapping", "shuffling of the saints"- Whatever you call it, many churches are growing only because Christians transfer from one church to another. What's more, many churches aren't growing at all. The problem, according to authors, Dann Spader and Gary Mayes, is that too many church calendars are filled with outdated, mediocre programs that have become more of a burden than a blessing. That, coupled with the fact that these programs minister almost exclusively to Christians, leaves little for the non-Christian "seeker" to get excited about. Growing a Healthy Church is not a list of trendy new programs for your church agenda. It is a journey of rediscovery. Spader and Mayes look closely at the four stages of spiritual growth in relation to outreach. Using the innovative "M-level" system, these gifted men show how a church can minister to all individuals regardless of their levels of maturity in potential service. This helps eliminate the mistakes of forcing new Christians into service that may overwhelm them or may leave the mature Christian unchallenged. Proven successful through SonLife and churches who have used this system, this resource will help you focus on the simplicity of Christ's ministry, enabling you to build an effective discipling strategy for your church.

Sometimes we feel as if our faith isn't thriving, and maybe even that it's wilting. But we need not lose hope, for God provides us with everything we need to mature in the Christian life. In this book, Dr. R.C. Sproul identifies five crucial disciplines that the Lord uses to stretch and strengthen us in our spiritual growth. As we make diligent use of these tools, commonly called spiritual disciplines, we can develop greater fortitude and fuller joy as we strive to live lives that glorify our Redeemer.