Christ Formed in You

[...] Five Characteristics of Spiritual Growth The mystery of the Christian life, then, is the mystery of how God’s Spirit works in [...]

[...] . Spiritual disciplines, “those personal and corporate disciplines that promote spiritual growth,”[iii] are the means God has given us for training to live as Jesus lived. These [...]

[...] and satisfy our souls, or teaching us to embrace the various means of grace—such as spiritual disciplines, suffering, and community—by which God matures us in the faith. This book attempts [...]

[...] our souls, then our thoughts, habits, schedules, and routines should orbit around him. The spiritual disciplines enable us to center our lives on Jesus, becoming like him in his self-giving love. The [...]

[...] first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such [...]

[...] this book is to explain how. More than that, I hope to bring together various aspects of the Christian life in a way that is somewhat unusual in Christian books. As I mentioned in the Introduction, [...]

[...] Five Characteristics of Spiritual Growth The mystery of the Christian life, then, is the mystery of how God’s Spirit works in us and through us. His role is to [...]

[...] and having never practiced a moment in your life. That’s the hard way.[ii] Living the Christian life is about training, not trying. But we often forget this. We try to be patient with our [...]

[...] present from that future. In Christ’s resurrection . . . the age-to-come has begun, the new creation has actually dawned, eschatology has been inaugurated.[ii] As C. S. Lewis observes, The New [...]

[...] Today, we live in the interval between the inauguration of the new creation and its consummation and completion when Jesus comes again. In this gap between what has [...]

[...] curse of our sin (Gal. 3:13), and then raising him from the dead, God has inaugurated the new creation (1 Cor. 15:20-28). Our God is a Suffering God Any discussion of human suffering rightly begins [...]

[...] , illustrate the important truth we will focus on in this final chapter. Transformation is a community project. [...]

[...] Transformation is a Community Project Having sketched a biblical portrait of the church, let’s now ask: How does God use [...]

[...] can help you, and you can help them. After all, spiritual transformation is inescapably a community project, a shared task. We need each other. God planned it that way. [vi] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life [...]

[...] growth into Christ in everything.”[iii] This balance of truth-plus-love is crucial. As Tim Chester writes, “Love without truth is like doing heart surgery with a wet fish. But truth [...]

[...] consider four of the most common phenomena in modern Western society that work against biblical community. These are individualism, compartmentalization, busyness, and misleading expectations. 1. [...]

[...] ” (1 Cor. 15:45) and the “Lord of the Spirit” [ii](2 Cor. 3:18). As Sinclair Ferguson writes, From womb to tomb to throne, the Spirit was the constant companion of the Son. [...]

[...] your soul through disciplines. Spiritual disciplines, “those personal and corporate disciplines that promote spiritual growth,”[iii] are the means God has given us for [...]