Lesson #21
Growing Spiritually In Christ
Just as we eat 3 meals a day to sustain our physical bodies, we must also feast on God’s word daily to sustain our souls. If we don’t we will become weak and will be in danger of losing our souls. God says in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge." If we fail to study and teach God’s word, both we and our children, will be destroyed for a lack of knowledge. People will be lost because they did not care enough to read and study God’s instruction book on how to go to Heaven.
Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:10 that people will be lost "because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved." Satan wants to distract us with the cares and deceits of this world. He does not want us to read and study our Bibles every day. He knows that we become weak and vulnerable when we fail to study. Our strongest defense is a shield of faith. How do we obtain that shield of faith to protect us? Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." The more we study the word of God the stronger our faith will be. If we want to protect ourselves against Satan we must have a strong faith.
In years past, we in the churches of Christ were known as "walking Bibles", because brethren then studied their Bibles. It's sad to say, this is no longer true because we have failed to study God’s word, as we should. What happens when we fail to study God’s word and become spiritually starved? 2 Peter 3:16 says, those who are "untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the scriptures." We cannot know and understand God’s word unless we study it, because of this, Jesus says in Matthew 15:14, "They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a ditch."
To keep from wandering around in spiritual darkness, let’s study God’s word so that "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalms 119:105). Let’s not endanger our souls by lacking to study God’s word. Let’s take time to study it daily. To be strong we must regularly feed ourselves on God’s spiritual word in the Bible. And "desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2). This will help us to have a strong faith to protect ourselves. We are to "be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). We are to put the word of God into practice.
Teaching others is a very important responsibility in grounding our children, young people, and adults in the faith to help them to go to Heaven. The eternal destinies of many souls are involved. We are only one generation away from apostasy. If we don’t teach our children the truth of God’s word while they are under our guidance, they will apostatize and be lost. This is very serious.
God wants His word to be taught diligently. We read in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Teaching God’s word is one of the most important things we can do for our children. In 2 Timothy 3:15 Paul told Timothy, "From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation." Timothy was taught as a child, but what happens when God’s word is not studied and taught?
Why do people fall away? Hebrews 3:12 says, "Beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." How do we build our faith so we will not have "an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God"? James 1:21 says, "Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." Only by knowing God’s word can our children and our souls be saved so we can go to Heaven. Besides our study at home, let’s take full advantage of our Bible study classes at church.
Questions Lesson
#21
Growing Spiritually In Christ
(Click on the button of the answer
of your choice)
1) (Hosea 4:6) Why are people spiritually destroyed?
They can't help it.
Lack of knowledge of God's word.
People cannot be spiritually destroyed.
2) (2 Thessalonians 2:10) People must have a love for the truth in God's word if they are going to be saved.
3) (Romans 10:17) How do we get faith in God?
By the creed books of men.
By what we think.
By the word of God.
4) (Romans 10:17) The more we study the Bible, the weaker our faith will be.
5) (2 Peter 3:16) What do people, who haven't been taught the scriptures and are unstable, do to the scriptures?
They understand the scriptures.
They twist them to their own eternal destruction.
They can still go to Heaven.
6) (Matthew 15:14) If the spiritually blind lead the spiritually blind, they both will fall into the ditch of eternal destruction.
7) (James 1:21) What will save our souls?
What we think.
The creeds of men.
The implanted word of God.
8) (1 Peter 2:22) We will grow spiritually when we desire and partake of the word of God.
9) (Hebrews 3:12) What will cause us to depart from God and be lost?
We can't help it if we depart.
An evil heart of unbelief.
We can't depart from God.
10) (James 1:22) We deceive ourselves if we are not doers of the word of God, but hearers only.