Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Growth in a New Life in Christ
    Growth in a New Life in Christ
    Growth in a New Life in Christ
    Ebook140 pages2 hours

    Growth in a New Life in Christ

    By Bob Bennett

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In this book, Growth In A New Life In Christ, that you are about to read, we will look at two specific stories from the Bible that are excellent examples to use in examining your own Christian walk with Jesus. One is a parable; the other is a book from the Old Testament. The parable is The Vine And The Branches. The story is from the book of Esther. We will do a thorough study of both. I pray that, after you have completed your readings, you see more clearly the importance of the following:

    Jesus in you.

    Jesus growing His love in you.

    Jesus attempting to live the Christian life through you.

    I invite you to participate in each of the studies. Place yourself right there in the center of everything where Jesus always is. The Vine And The Branches and the story of Esther are also spiritual stories. They provide significant lessons for you to learn to the extent that you participate. I encourage you to participate fully because Jesus is waiting to grow you deeper in love with Him. Yes, your growth is very necessary and is done within you. Only Jesus can do the growing in you. So relax, rest in His love, and let the Holy Spirit grow you deeper in love with Jesus.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateJun 5, 2007
    ISBN9781467818254
    Growth in a New Life in Christ
    Author

    Bob Bennett

    Bob Bennett has a Certificate in British Archaeology and an MA in Classical Studies from the Open University. Mike Roberts has a degree in South East Asian Studies from Hull University. Both social workers by profession, they met and discovered their mutual enthusiasm for the ancient world over ten years ago and have been researching the Successors of Alexander the Great ever since, creating a website dedicated to the subject.

    Read more from Bob Bennett

    Related to Growth in a New Life in Christ

    Related ebooks

    Religion & Spirituality For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      How Should We Respond To Celebrities Coming To Christ?

      Dec 30, 2019

      If you’ve been following the news lately, you will have noticed a significant wave of celebrities who are turning to Christ. In what is referred to as a massive spiritual movement, the sinful city of Hollywood is turning more and more stars away from

      5 min read

    • Article

      Joy: God’s Gift to Every Born-Again Believer

      Aug 26, 2022

      Our Western society throws many challenges at us, but these are nothing like what the persecuted Church experiences, or even ordinary citizens in closed and communist nations. There are so many brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling with l

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Aug 7, 2020

      Greetings in the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In your July issue of JOY! you asked what we are grateful for. I’m grateful for the fact that Jesus Christ saved me and my family. My third born son suffered severe burns on his body, and my last b

      6 min read

    • Article

      Rooted In God’s Love

      Feb 10, 2023

      Rooted In God’s Love
      5 min read

    • Article

      Love Born

      Sep 4, 2020

      Love Born
      3 min read

    • Article

      Allan & Janine Bagg

      Jun 24, 2022

      Allan & Janine Bagg
      9 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jun 24, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      ‘Socially Acceptable’ Sins

      Apr 22, 2022

      In the church today, there are many sins that are seen as ‘socially acceptable’. Are we changing the Bible to fit our culture, or are we changing our culture to fit the Bible? While the sin of worry, for example, may not seem as severe as murder, it

      6 min read

    • Article

      ‘Our King Is Still On His Throne’

      Sep 4, 2020

      Over the last two pages you have read the powerful testimony of Berni Dymet, the CEO of Christianityworks. But what really makes this man of God tick? We hopped on a long-distance Zoom call to interview this passionate man of God, all the way over in

      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Nov 25, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      8 min read

    • Article

      Living With Purpose

      Sep 7, 2021

      Living With Purpose
      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Dec 30, 2019

      Letters To The Editor
      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Apr 5, 2024

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      10 min read

    • Article

      Building Our Houses Upon The Rock

      May 19, 2023

      Jesus speaks about the importance of building our lives on a solid foundation, like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. In today’s world, where every aspect of life seems to be filled with stress and frustration, it is easy to feel overwhelm

      1 min read

    • Article

      Women Of Grace

      Sep 16, 2019

      Throughout scripture it is evident that God does not map out a detailed route to your destiny. He usually gives you the first step, and your obedience to the first instruction will unlock the door to the next step. In the scripture above, God told Ab

      3 min read

    • Article

      The River Of Life

      Mar 8, 2024

      I love standing on a bridge, staring into the fast-moving waters of a river, on their way to the sea from their source in distant hills. The length of a river is like the span of a human life. Some lives are long, but others, sadly, can be much short

      5 min read

    • Article

      Irresistible Grace

      Feb 10, 2023

      In his book Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis describes an insight about divine mercy that particularly resonates with my own experience. I suspect it may also resonate with yours. Stories of how people come to Christ are as unique as the individuals that

      3 min read

    • Article

      Josh & Tara McCauley On A REDEMPTIVE Mission

      Sep 4, 2020

      Whilst his friends were out playing cops and robbers, a young Joshua would sit in the front row of church listening to the sermons of his dad (Rhema Church founder, Pastor Ray McCauley) blissfully unaware that one day he too would be standing behind

      10 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Aug 26, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      8 min read

    • Article

      Check Your Heart

      Sep 23, 2022

      How would you react if I told you that I had a heart condition? You would probably feel sorry for me. But the truth is, I do have a heart condition… and so do you! The older I grow, the more I realise the value of self-examination and reflection. As

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Feb 9, 2024

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      11 min read

    • Article

      Why Do Many People STRUGGLE With A LACK OF FAITH?

      Feb 11, 2022

      The apostle Paul exhorts Christians to “walk by faith and not by sight” – 2 Corinthians 5:7. What we see here is a contrast between truth and perception—what we know and believe to be true and what we perceive to be true. This is where the Christian

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jul 21, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Oct 28, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      Forward March!

      Sep 4, 2020

      Forward March!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Sep 23, 2022

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Growth in a New Life in Christ

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Growth in a New Life in Christ - Bob Bennett

      © 2007 Bob Bennett. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      First published by AuthorHouse 5/30/2007

      ISBN: 978-1-4259-9605-5 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4678-1825-4 (ebk)

      Printed in the United States of America

      Bloomington, Indiana

      Contents

      Foreword:

      Introduction:

      PART ONE GROWTH IN ESTHER

      Chapter 1: Esther And Mordecai

      (God’s Faithfulness To Us)

      Main Lesson From Esther

      Remember Mordecai!

      Remember Amalek!

      Remember Haman!

      The Holy Spirit Grieved

      If I Perish, I Perish

      What A Hanging!

      Resting In Mordecai

      Mordecai For Today

      PART TWO GROWTH IN THE VINE

      Chapter 1: The Vine And The Branches

      Seeing Jesus As Your Vine

      Pruning God’s Way

      Grafting Into A New Life

      Abiding

      CONCLUSION GROWTH ONLY BY GRACE

      Conclusion: Growth Only By Grace

      PRAYER TO ACCEPT JESUS AS LORD AND SAVIOR

      APPENDIX

      Appendix A

      Appendix B

      Appendix C

      Foreword:

      I commend Bob Bennett for this fine and easy-to-understand book on our growling life in Christ. This is an important book that offers the reader an in-depth study on spiritual growth. This is a sequel to his former book, Dead, Buried, And A New Life In Christ. This book deals with the fact that our sins and flesh nature and all the consequences were crucified on the cross and buried in Christ’s tomb and left there when He arose. The object of this book is to see our past buried and done away with by the Lord’s finished work on the cross.

      I am glad Bob Bennett has done well in pointing the efficacious work of Christ for our sins. The book has very reasonably pointed the importance of salvation through Christ and all that He has done and is doing to accelerate our Christian development and faith.

      I noticed the inclusion of Esther as well as The Parable Of The Vine And The Branches as examples of our growing in Christ. I appreciated Bob’s ability to clearly articulate and explain in simple language an excellent study with regard to our Christian growth and maturity. May God bless every reader to understand the wonderful life that God offers through Christ and then grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

      Subash Cherian

      Senior Pastor

      Highland Avenue Church

      Jamaica, NY

      Introduction:

      It has been approximately nine years since I began writing my previous book Dead, Buried, And A New Life In Christ. As I reflect back, it has been as astonishing growth in the love of Jesus. The years go by so quickly, as if they just occurred yesterday. I am so grateful to recognize God’s ultimate love for me. I am also grateful to desire His love so much that it is now my #1 passion with life. For there is nothing more fulfilling to experience in life than the intimate love of Jesus on a daily basis. Therefore, I pray that as I grow in my new life in Christ, that whomever I encounter only see Jesus as God living in me and through me.

      Yes, that has been the consistent theme in my Christian walk the last 10+ years – Jesus intimately in love, living in me and through me. His grace has shone through much darkness in my life.

      I need to be real with you. I am not always on a cloud or on a mountain. (Many of you can relate and understand.) I have learned the reality that one reaches deeper levels of the intimate love of Jesus through trials, purification, and persecution – in the valleys. In Dead, Buried, And A New Life In Christ, I showed how the Lord grew me through severe depression and how I was now focused on living above my circumstances and trials. Jesus is very real, pure, and genuine – and intimately experienced through trials, purification, and persecution.

      Now nine years later, Jesus has taken me into a deeper love for Him – an indescribable love that I can hardly imagine, let alone experience. And, trials and sufferings are necessary to go through for Jesus to raise us to deeper levels of His love. For as much as we live above our circumstances and trials, the more real our flesh (sin nature) is. Our sin nature must continue to be crucified daily. Otherwise, we become complacent and basically stalled in our love walk with Jesus.

      Somehow, as hard to comprehend as it is, we must grow daily in our love for Jesus. In fact, we need to view it with joy, instead of apprehension. The reason is simple – Jesus is calling us into a deeper love. And when He does the calling, who would not want to follow? So when we do follow, what lies ahead? We can be sure that trials, persecution, darkness, and suffering will. These are part of the death walk of Calvary. Jesus will lead us when He calls. He leads us by the way of the cross – the Via Doolorosa (Spanish for the way of suffering.) When we follow close behind Jesus, we will not stray too far and will be able to crucify (die to) daily whatever is not part of Him.

      But, more importantly, we can be very confident that grace, joy, peace, and a deeper, intimate expression of the love of God will follow. This is guaranteed because it is the reality of the resurrection – experiencing daily the love of God. We do not just die daily (the cross) to whatever is not part of Jesus; we also experience daily our new life in Him (the resurrection). What a pleasure to experience the love of Jesus! This is guaranteed – for it is God’s deepest desire. I pray you experience the joy of suffering for Jesus. I Peter 4:12-16 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but REJOICE, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

      As I prayed about what to write in this book, I reread Dead, Buried, And A New Life In Christ. I was amazed how much growth in Christ I still need to make. I love the Lord more passionately every new day and can only credit Him for doing that. At the same time, when I stressed correction regarding sinful behavior, I see how easily I still fall short. At times, it appears I may be on a pedestal telling Christians to wake up and cease living the phony, sinful life as a Christian. But, I assure you, I did not have a self-inflated ego when I was saying it; I love the Lord too dearly to do that. I have been there – done that. Now it is growth in Jesus and His life in me. That is why I clearly believe that it was God speaking through me when I wrote Dead, Buried, And A New Life In Christ. I clearly know this because today my own words convict me to cease living the phony sinfulness as a Christian, to stop grieving God’s heart. Yes, brethren, it cuts rights to my heart. As ashamed as I am today, I am all the more grateful to Jesus for His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. We all must grow in love, in our new life in Christ, everyday. I pray we never become complacent and take Jesus for granted, even ignorantly. Romans 5:20 But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

      For today, I am now beginning to see things come to fruition that the Lord has been showing me the last few years. Specifically, a teaching, writing and speaking ministry of encouragement is being developed. Jesus has shown me very clearly, Bob, I am going to send hurting and depressed Christians across your path. Do not go looking for them. All I want you to do is point them to Me. I will do the rest. The Lord’s ministry He has entrusted to me is www.LifeUnderGrace.com. Yes, the Christian life is a life only under the grace of God. Please stop by my website www.LifeUnderGrace.com for a visit. I pray you do encounter Jesus there.

      Jesus has become my primary passion in life. A personal relationship with Him is the only thing in life that makes sense. I am so passionately in love with Jesus. Jesus is the only reason for life. My main prayer has become, May all who come in contact with me only see Jesus as God living in me and through me. I pray you also see Jesus in my words, and in my website www.LifeUnderGrace.com.

      Yes, growth is always a must. We never arrive at a point of our Christian walk where we know it all. If that were ever the case, we would not need God because we have become our own god. (Sound familiar? Remember Satan’s temptation to Eve in Genesis 3:4-5. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.) Because of indwelling sin (flesh), we must grow deeper in love with Jesus everyday. This is critical to understand, no matter how many spiritual victories or losses we have. There is always a deepness in God waiting for us to discover. And this deepness is always found in Jesus. God purposely sets this up so we would reach for Him, to pursue Him. Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings to search out a matter. Yes, do you passionately seek out a deeper relationship with Jesus above all else? (See Philippians 3:7-11.)

      God frequently keeps Himself hidden from us. One reason I am sure is because of the evilness of indwelling sin (flesh). We really have no idea how deeply evil our flesh is. How often, after being saved 27+ years, do I so easily yield to sin through my flesh? Sure the devil tempted me, but I took the bait because it appealed to the lusts of my flesh. So it is easy to see why God hides Himself, because if He did not, our flesh will often take its wrongful place over Him on the throne of our heart. WOW! Yes, one remarkable quality about God is how He so easily hides

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1