Tony Evans - Kingdom Living: The Essentials of Spiritual Growth

2003, 2022 by
ANTHONY T. EVANS

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Revised and updated from Life Essentials for Knowing God Better, Experiencing God Deeper, Loving God More, 2003 by Anthony T. Evans.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www. lockman.org.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Edited by Kevin Mungons

Interior design: Erik M. Peterson

Cover design: Greg Jackson

Author photo credit: Tayte Rian Gerik

All websites and phone numbers listed herein are accurate at the time of publication but may change in the future or cease to exist. The listing of website references and resources does not imply publisher endorsement of the sites entire contents. Groups and organizations are listed for informational purposes, and listing does not imply publisher endorsement of their activities.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Evans, Tony, 1949- author.

Title: Kingdom living : the essentials of spiritual growth / Tony Evans.

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, 2022. | Revised and updated from Life Essentials for Knowing God Better, Experiencing God Deeper, Loving God More, 2003. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: In this book, Tony Evans helps us to understand Gods plan for our growth, addressing topics like conversion, the Holy Spirit, power, and Scripture. You'll discover how knowing God better is a passion more than a process, and loving God more is about responding to his love for us--Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022028123 (print) | LCCN 2022028124 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802423689 (paperback) | ISBN 9780802499752 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Spiritual formation. | BISAC: RELIGION / Christian Living / General | RELIGION / Christian Ministry / Discipleship

Classification: LCC BV4501.3 .E93 2022 (print) | LCC BV4501.3 (ebook) | DDC 248.4--dc23/eng/20220706

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028123

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028124

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This book is dedicated to the vigilant staffs of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship and The Urban Alternative, who work diligently to ensure that the ministry God called me to is executed effectively and efficiently for His glory.

Friend,

Thank you for choosing to read this Moody Publishers title. It is our hope and prayer that this book will help you to know Jesus Christ more personally and love Him more deeply.

The proceeds from your purchase help pay the tuition of students attending Moody Bible Institute. These students come from around the globe and graduate better equipped to impact our world for Christ.

Other Moody Ministries that may be of interest to you include Moody Radio and Moody Distance Learning. To learn more visit www.moodyradio.org and www.moody.edu/distance-learning.

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Thanks again, and may God bless you.

The Moody Publishers Team

I WANT TO SAY a word of thanks to my friends and editors, Philip Rawley and Heather Hair, for their excellent help in the preparation of this original manuscript two decades ago and then the most recent update, as well as to Greg Thornton, Cheryl Molin, Kevin Mungons, and the rest of the team at Moody Publishers for their encouragement and quality work on this project.

ONE DAY I WAS WALKING through my yard with a workman who was going to cut down and remove some dead trees. I showed him one tree that I wanted him to cut down because it appeared dead to me.

Oh, sir, he said quickly. You dont need to cut this tree down. Its still alive. Then he proceeded to show me some small green buds on the tree that I had not noticed. What looked like death to me was really stunted growth. Because this tree had not been properly nurtured and developed, it appeared to have no life at all.

Countless Christians today are like that underdeveloped tree on my property. At first glance they may appear to have no spiritual life at all, but upon closer observation their problem is seen to be severely inhibited development. Too many Christians are not experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised because of their lack of spiritual growth.

This book is about kingdom living. If you have truly trusted the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Sin-bearer, and you are looking to Him alone for forgiveness and the gift of eternal life, then you have life abiding in you. What is needed now is more growth, not more life.

The problem, however, is that many Christians either dont know how spiritual growth occurs, or they refuse to allow it to occur. My goal in this book is to motivate and educate you in the essential elements of kingdom living, so you can grow into a mature spiritual adult, one who consistently aligns his or her life under God and His kingdom agenda.

You will see the word grace appear throughout this book. This is because your spiritual development is directly tied to your understanding of and response to Gods grace. The grace that saved you is the grace that will transform you as you grow.

Spiritual growth is guaranteed to every true believer. No child of God has to remain stagnant and spiritually underdeveloped. In the pages to follow, you will discover how to cooperate with Gods grace in order to experience maximum spiritual growth.

It is my hope that this book will incite and excite you to pursue the full experience of your new life in Christ and discover the joy of being transformed into the image of Gods Son. Then you will know the blessed experience of Christ being formed in you (Gal. 4:19). As a result, you will impact the world around you for the glory of God and the good of others as you serve as a testimony of what it means to model kingdom living to everyone around you.

AS DIFFICULT AS IT MAY BE to write this opening paragraph, it is equally as full of joy. I only say it is difficult because it reveals how long Ive been on earth, over seven decades now! But it is equally as joyful because, as the Bible says, Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward (Ps. 127:3). That being said, my late wife Lois and I can count ourselves as highly rewarded. With four kids, we have also been blessed with thirteen grandkids and now four great-grandkids!