+

Contact Us

We welcome your feedback. However, please understand that we simply do not have the personnel or resources to be able to answer personal, theological or spiritual questions you may have. We truly wish we had such resources, but we don't. We farm full time and in what spare time we have, we are continually doing research and writing on new topics as God directs.

If you have questions about your specific situation, we encourage you to go to God and get your answers from Him rather than asking us. We are no longer living in Old Testament times when people needed a priest or prophet to go to God for answers to their questions. Too many people today are looking to pastors, Bible scholars and teachers to give them direction. God will answer you if you ask Him and wait for Him to give you an answer. After you have prayed, open your Bible and start paging at random through the Bible, asking God to show you what He has to teach you. If there is a verse or passage that stands out to you, write it down, and continue to look. God may lead you into a specific area of Bible study. Then look back over the passages of Scripture that God has showed you. Sometimes God gives the answer right away. Other times He makes us wait for weeks or months, showing small things along the way.

You will not stand before us on Judgment Day. What we tell you, or what someone else tells you, may be the wrong thing. If you rely on the opinions of other people for decisions in your life, you are living on shaky ground. Jesus is the Judge you will stand before on Judgment Day. He is very willing to give you the answers and direction that you need.

Name:

E-mail Address:

How did you find us?

  Please specify if "Other":

Subject:

Message:


Please enter the sum of 15 + 26 (This is to help prevent spam)








Subjects

+  Bible Studies
+  Bible Study Resources
+  Bible Translations
+  Children
+  Church Design
+  Eternal Security
+  Family
+  Headcovering
+  Music
+  Peace
+  Predestination
+  Salvation
+  Singleness
+  Sunday School
+  Totally Rethinking Church

Home


Email This PageEmail This Page
Print This PagePrint This Page



The Missing Key to Spiritual Maturity

In the fall of 2007, Willow Creek church released the results of their three million dollar research into the effectiveness of their church program and 30 other churches. They were shocked to find that they were not bringing people to spiritual maturity. What they thought would produce spiritual maturity was not. They believed that the more people participated in church programs the greater spiritual maturity it would produce. They found that the amount of involvement in church programs had no correlation with the depth of someone’s spiritual maturity. What makes this mistake so significant is that Willow Creek is a church that has 12,000 churches in their Willow Creek Association, and has taught thousands of pastors how to “do church” to produce church growth. To some degree, Willow Creek Church has influenced how most churches today “do church”. “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Matthew 15:14)


What is the answer to helping people come to maturity in Christ? Take another look at the Great Commission. The answer is there. We have been focusing on the first part of the commission – evangelism – and have overlooked the second half thinking we know what it is saying. But look again at what Jesus says in giving us the Great Commission: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19) The missing key to spiritual maturity is teaching others Christ’s commands in the New Testament and teaching them to follow the commands. An excellent subject for Bible study is to take each of Christ’s commands and study them. There is a list of Christ’s commands on this website.



Discipleship, Spiritual Maturity, and Christ’s Commands

Jesus defines a disciple as one who follows His commands. A person who is spiritually mature is one who knows Christ’s teachings in the New Testament and who follows them with all his or her heart, soul, mind and strength. The following passages of Scripture over and over stress the importance of doing what Jesus says to do:


Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.


Matthew 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.



You Also Might Be Interested in...

God's Commands in the New Testament
Free resources to help your house church be successful.

What Music Should Children Listen To?
Children need to be given good, solid music if we want them to grow spiritually through music.

God Does Not Dwell in a Temple Made With Hands
A number of passages of Scripture that drive this point home. A church building is not needed for us to meet God, nor is it needed for the center of church life.

Totally Rethinking Church Part 1: Stepping 'Out of the Box'
Millions of Christians in the last several years are totally rethinking what ’church’ is and are looking for a deeper relationship with Christ. Much of what defines what the conventional church is, how people are fed spiritually, and how money is spent by the church does not have a specific basis in Scripture.

The NIV Report
The most significant subject facing the Church: The Bible and what has been removed, added and changed in modern translations in the name of scholarship. When two different translations say different things, which one is truth?

Singleness - a Peek at God's Perspective
It is interesting to look at marriage and singleness from God’s perspective. It gives us a bigger and clearer picture.

What is the Best Bible Translation?
There are a whole range of English Bible translations to choose from, and more keep coming out. Which Bible translation is the best one to study, meditate on, and use for our guide in faith and practice?

To read this article on the Internet, visit http://www.freehousechurchresources.com/contact.php
Copyright © 2003-2011 by Free House Church Resources. All Rights Reserved.
You are free to copy, redistribute, and reprint this article free of charge. If you post an article on your website, we would appreciate a link back to this website.