This guide is designed to assist you in growing spiritually and moving towards spiritual maturity. The first five lessons aim to help you fully understand the message of salvation and how we are to respond to it properly. In one sense, it serves as a review of teaching you may have already received, but these first five lessons are foundational and must be fully understood in order to grow spiritually. The first lesson examines the issue of purpose and why God has put us here. In lesson two, we consider probably the most critical theological issues in the Bible. Finally, in lessons three through five, we examine the necessary response for a person to become a true, authentic Christian. Then, in lesson six through forty, this guide contains foundational teachings that must be understood and put into practice in order to grow spiritually and to know Christ at a deep level. I suggest reading one lesson per day. After completing each lesson, I suggest you go through it three more times, one each day. This will truly allow you to grasp the foundations of our faith. —Richard E. Simmons III