1^st Thessalonians 2:13

“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

It is biblically certain that it is the will of God for every one of HIS children to grow spiritually! And, spiritual growth is inexorably tied to Biblical intake! Many Scriptures give a clear presentation of this truth…

Joshua 1:8 ⁸ “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Hosea 4:6 ⁶ “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

Ephesians 4:10-16 ¹⁰ “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹²  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶  from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Hebrews 5:12-14 ¹² “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

1^st Peter 2:2-3 ² “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

I am certain that if we took a poll this morning all of us would agree that we want next year to end with us knowing more about God and living closer to HIS will for our life. No question; that is exactly what we want.

But, the question is “how?”

The answer is to saturate ourselves in the Word of God! Our text verse reminds us that, “the word of God… is at work in you believers.” The Word of God is “living and active…” (Hebrews 4:12) and it is always at work in the lives of God’s people.

The primary means by which God sanctifies HIS people is through the working of the Word in our life!

Therefore: I want to suggest a simple way for each of us to increase our Biblical knowledge in the coming year by reading through the entire New Testament.

That increased Biblical knowledge will then be used by the Holy Spirit of God to continually and increasingly transform us into the very likeness of Jesus Christ!

I call it “The 20.14 Spiritual Growth Plan.” (That ought to be easy enough that even I will remember it!)

The “20” is to remind us to read 20 Chapters of the New Testament each month. Taking weekends off; if we read one Chapter per day each day for four weeks each month, we will read 20 Chapters per month.

The New Testament has 260 Chapters. At a rate of 20 Chapters per month, we will read the entire New Testament in only 13 months.

20 Chapters per month for 13 months…

The “14” refers to 14 minutes each day to read the Chapter; focus on one or two verses in that Chapter that grab our attention; and, then take a few minutes for prayer!

20 Chapters per month… 14 minutes per day… that is it: “The 20.14 Spiritual Growth Plan!”

Obviously, this is not a great deal of time; but, the main thing is to begin systematically reading the Bible, thinking through specific verses, and taking time to pray.

As the Lord allows, this coming Sunday I will take one Chapter of the New Testament (John 17) then focus on one single verse in that Chapter (v.18) and bring a simple application from that verse.

It is the great joy of my life to serve Jesus by serving you! I pray that I will be serving you faithfully by preaching this sermon next Sunday. I hope you will be able to be present to share in the worship and hear this Biblical challenge!

I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side!