Overview
As a person grows spiritually, various crises are bound to confront him. Just as there are particular problems with each stage of our physical growth, so it is with our spiritual growth. In this series of messages we consider the three major crises that every serving one must confront and deal with if he is to serve the Lord effectively.
Article 1: The Way to Handle Crises
If we want to be healthy, we need to be controlled and exercised. We need to be controlled by three things: Christ, the church, and the proper awareness of our soul-life. In addition, as serving ones we must have two spiritual exercises: We must exercise to live a normal life that the saints can approve of, and we must exercise to be in the Word, in the spiritual riches, and in the Lord’s presence.
Article 2: The First Major Crisis: A Deformed Daily Life
In this message we come to what could be considered the most crucial crisis confronting any servant of the Lord. It concerns how your daily life is formed. Your daily life determines your entire operation.
Article 3: Guarding Against the Desires of the Soul-life
As you guard against a deformed daily life by understanding your soul-life, you need to beware of five things in particular: What fits you; what makes you comfortable; what satisfies you; the desire to be special; and the desire for accomplishment.
Article 4: Further Guarding Against a Deformed Daily Life
To be protected from developing a deformed daily life you must first know your soul-life. Second, don’t compromise. Third, be pure. Fourth, be disciplined. Fifth, let the truth guide you in your daily life.
Article 5: Preventing a Deformed Daily Life and Being Rescued from Improper Things in Your Daily Life
Two major concerns confronting every serving one are how to prevent the improper things from coming into one’s daily life, and how to be rescued after such deformity has already occurred. To deal with the former we need to be sober; to deal with the latter, we must be watchful.
Article 6: The Second Major Crisis: Doing Spiritual Things Apart from Christ
The first major crisis we confront as we serve the Lord full-time is the matter of handling our daily life. Now we come to the second major crisis facing those who serve the Lord full-time, which is the temptation to do spiritual things without Christ.
Article 7: How to Grow in a Healthy Manner in our Serving Life
To grow in a healthy manner in our serving life we must avoid becoming involved with spiritual things apart from Christ; pursue spiritual knowledge instead of truth; and avoid engaging in spiritual activities without any organic operation.
Article 8: How to Avoid Arriving at a Stature Rather than At Spiritual Maturity
The healthy growth in life should cause us to arrive at spiritual maturity. Our spiritual growth should begin, continue, and consummate in a manner that is healthy. Unfortunately, however, many brothers arrive at a kind of stature in the church life who seem to lack spiritual maturity.
Article 9: The Third Major Crisis: Manifestation
The third crisis is the possibility that our manifestation might surpass the reality of our growth in life.
Article 10: Being Manifested by a Healthy Spiritual Operation
A healthy spiritual operation is according to our desire to be manifested, backed up with spiritual understanding, spiritual equipping, and subjective experiences of Christ.
Article 11: The Ten Improper Means of Manifestation
In the church life we might be manifested, yet not in a way that is healthy. The improper means of manifestation for a serving one include manifestation based on status of a manner of life, position or place, seniority, leadership ability, manifestation based on speaking ability or eloquence; knowledge of the Bible and spiritual books; spiritual exercise; human decency; social status; and ability to use others.
