Making a Spiritual Growth Plan for 2021

Intro

You will not grow by accident.

To have the blessed life that Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on the Mount, we must follow Him on the path of discipleship.

We must keep growing.

Evaluating Your Spiritual Position

You are entirely unique, and you will never be in this exact same spiritual situation again.

Widespread methods can never address all of your particular needs.

You won't make much spiritual progress by accident, so you need to develop a prayerful plan.

Luke 14:25-33

Luke 14:25–26 ESV

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Your commitment to Jesus must override every other relationship (25-26).

Luke 14:27 ESV

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Following Jesus is more than a one-time decision (27).

Luke 14:28–33 ESV

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Many people fail in their spiritual desires because they never established a plan to see them through (28-33).

Distinctive Discipleship

Colossians 1:27–29 ESV

27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Delight - Christ in you, the hope of glory

I need to delight in Jesus more than...

Disobedience - warning everyone

My disobedience that must be addressed is...

Doctrine - teaching everyone with all wisdom

The pivotal doctrine for me to study is...

Development - present everyone mature

I need development in learning how to...

Discipline - for this I toil

I will focus on the spiritual discipline of...

Dependence - struggling with all his energy

My prayers of dependence will ask God to...