Study the Scripture daily, progressively, systematically, doctrinally using the categorical, historical, grammatical and exegetical approaches.

Spiritual growth is a divine requirement for every believer.

The spiritual life of every believer began at infancy without any information about God, without ability to communicate or serve God. At the moment of spiritual birth, the new believer is “newly born in Spirit” without capacity to please and live for God. The spiritual babes regardless of physical age, academic or social achievements, position in the society is not capable of learning the Word of God by himself.

The believers in spiritual childhood must show a steady momentum of spiritual growth, because we are mandated to keep advancing unto the measure of the fullness (spiritual maturity) of Christ (Eph. 413).  The believer must keep his advance toward the high upward call of spiritual maturity (Phil. 3:13-14), overcoming every obstacles and barrier (Heb. 12:1-2) through the power and grace of God. No believer is exempted from this command to grow spiritually.

The Word of God is the divine provision for spiritual growth.

The majority of believers today are engaged in painstaking and oppressive religious activities that keep them from further study of the Word of God. Majority of pastors are enslaved by tremendous church activities, programs and projects.

These sincere and dedicated “servants of God” are missing the opportunity of the lifetime to grow, unaware of their spiritual decline, becoming stunted, stagnant and unproductive. They are engulfed by spiritual illusion of doing great things for God without spirituality. Church programs and activities have replaced the essential of spiritual growth. They basically disobeyed the Scripture command for spiritual growth (Deut. 31:12, Prov. 8:33).

There are two basic categories of Bible doctrine; the basic doctrine which the Scripture called “milk” (1 Peter 2:2) and the advance, which the Scripture called “meat” (Heb. 5:14). The basic doctrines are essential diet for believers to move from spiritual childhood to spiritual adulthood. The advance doctrines are essential diet of the believers in spiritual adulthood to continue their momentum toward spiritual maturity and beyond super grace.

Spiritual maturity is just the beginning of the normal Christian life, where the believer can enjoy the divine resources which the humanity of Christ enjoyed during His Hypostatic Union. Spiritual maturity is described by maximum Bible doctrine residing and functioning in the soul (kardia) of the believer. It is the result of continuous metabolization of Bible doctrine in season or out of season, in gradual but progressive and systematic mode (Isaiah 28:10). Spiritual maturity is the divine objective for every believer of the Church Age.

God respect the human freewill or volition to grow, resist or reject God’s provision for spiritual growth. The positive volition believer who continues to advance toward spiritual maturity are called ‘wise or righteous”, while the negative volition believer who resists God’s grace provision for growth are called “wicked”. The righteous reverentially fear the Lord based on Bible doctrine (Prov. 1:7), he continue to increase his spiritual strength (Col. 1:10, 1 Thess. 4:10), he continues in walk by faith (2 thess. 1:3) and has the capacity to execute the power of God in his life (Eph. 6:10).

The Holy Spirit is the divinely delegated teacher for the believer to grow.

Spiritual growth comes from God through His Bible doctrine which the Holy Spirit uses to energize and renew his mental attitude, producing growth and development in the soul of the believer (1 Cor. 3:6-7). The Holy Spirit is the official Teacher of every Church Age believer and He is irreplaceable. He alone has the capacity to teach the things of God and the power to make man understand spiritual things (John 14:26).

The Holy Spirit can not operate on His teaching function if the believer is in carnality. Rebound is requisite before any spiritual activity to assure the believer’s acceptance, reception, and perception of Bible doctrine. In the state of carnality, the believer is absolutely incapable of learning Bible understanding and learning Bible doctrine. There is no spiritual growth apart from Bible doctrine progressive and systematic intake under spirituality. The equation for spiritual growth is:

Positive volition + Spirituality + Bible Doctrine = Spiritual Growth

The pastor is the divinely assigned communicator of Bible doctrine.

The pastor/teacher has the responsibility of rightly dividing the Word of truth using isogogical (historical), categorical (comparing scripture with scripture), exegetical (using the original languages of the Bible, namely; Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) in interpreting the Scripture. This pastoral responsibility put restriction for the novices (believers in spiritual childhood – 1 Tim. 5:22), to any role of spiritual leadership.

The spiritual, physically, and emotionally mature pastor is responsible to teach the Christians the distinctions between the essentials and the non-essentials of life. The essential is the Bible doctrine residing in the soul while the non-essentials mean everything else in life. Not all the pastor, regardless of their sensational background or specialized training has the capacity to teach Bible doctrine since majority of seminaries failed to train their students in Bible doctrine.

The local church is the divine venue for teaching and training the believers in Bible doctrine

(Eph. 4:11-15). Many devoted student of the Bible went to the seminary with the expectation of truly learning the Word of God only to be frustrated. They have developed their pastoral skills, enhance their so-called spiritual gifts in Christian music, education counseling, or social mission but still ignorant of Bible doctrine.  Anyway, the local church is commissioned to teach and train Christians in Bible doctrine not the seminary.

The local is the official classroom designated by God to learn Bible doctrine under the spiritual mature pastor who has laid aside the non-essential church activities and programs that attracts crowd of doctrinally disoriented Christians. Sad to say, majority of these devoted pastors are engaged in “church ministries” not commissioned by God. In the absence of Bible doctrine-centered church, the positive volition believer has the logistical provision of audio and printed publications of Bible doctrine provided free of charge by the grace of God.

 Spiritual growth is not complicated but quite simply, in the same way the totality of God’s plan for man is simple. God’s plan is perfect and complexities in the realm of humanity always distort perfection. Satan has complicated our lifestyle to deprive us of the most precious benefits of spiritual maturity. You have to identify the essentials from non-essentials of life to avoid spiritual shipwreck.

 There is only one Bible doctrine but church doctrines abound everywhere. These religious teachings are not the Word of God but simply heaps of dung. It has no spiritual benefits for your souls and it ca not produce genuine spirituality. Only God can produce genuine spiritual growth and momentum in the life of the believer through the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Church doctrine can only excite, indulges, or psychologically inspires the believers but there will be no real changes in their life; there is no renewal of the mind.

©2005-2009  J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries