ZONDERVAN

Wisdom On…Growing in Christ
Copyright 2008 by Mark Matlock

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ePub Edition August 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-86756-2

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Matlock, Mark.

Wisdom on growing in Christ / by Mark Matlock.
p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-310-27932-7 (pbk.)

1. Christian teenagers—Religious life. 2. Spiritual formation. 3. Spirituality. 4. Spiritual life—Christianity. I. Title.

BV4531.3.M396 2008

248.8'3—dc22                                                                                   2008027442

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Interior design by David Conn

DEDICATION

To my wife Jade. This is the sixth book in the Wisdom On series, and if anyone has felt the weight of this book it has been her. You are the perfect help to me, as I hope I am to you. I enjoy each day we have to make God known together.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT PAGE

CHAPTER 1: HOW DO I GROW— AND WHY SHOULD I?

CHAPTER 2: IN THE WORLD, NOT OF THE WORLD

CHAPTER 3: UNBURDENED

CHAPTER 4: GROWING IN WISDOM

CHAPTER 5: “ OUR FATHER…”

CHAPTER 6: WHY DO I NEED CHURCH? I’VE ALREADY GOT A BIBLE

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’d like to thank the many people who helped with this volume in the Wisdom On series: Randy Southern, for excellent editing and feedback; Holly Sharp, for the cool covers; Roni Meek and Jay Howver at Youth Specialties; and Brad Taylor, who had to correct my spelling and punctuation. I’d also like to acknowledge my interns, Aaron Giesler, Matt Johnson, Jill Miller, and April Stier, for their conversations with ...