Books on the Church

(Intro to Church)

History of the Church

Abortion & the Early Church by Gene Veith

Christianity's Dangerous Idea by McGrath

The Church

The New Shape of World Christianity by Mark Noll

Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll

Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck (due out in June 2009)

Religion in America

Christless Christianity by Michael Horton

Don't Stop Believing by Michael Wittmer

Church Movements: Emergent Church

The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World by John Piper

Why We're Not Emergent by Two Guys Who Should Be by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church by D.A. Carson

Books on the Christian Life

(About The Christian Life...)

Christian Living

Humility by C.J. Mahaney

Worldliness edited by CJ Mahaney

Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges

Trusting God by Jerry Bridges

The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

Desiring God by John Piper

When I Don't Desire God by John Piper

Unpacking Forgiveness by Chris Brauns

Uprooting Anger by Robert Jones

Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will by Kevin DeYoung

The Spiritual Disciplines

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Don Whitney

Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

Sex, Dating, Marriage, & Family

This Momentary Marriage by John Piper

Desire and Deceit by Al Mohler

Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs

Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris

Reforming Marriage by Doug Wilson

When Sinner's Say I Do by Dave Harvey

What He Must Be by Voddie Baucham Jr

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ by John Piper

Start Your Family: Inspiration for Having Babies by Steve and Candice Watters

Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr

Get Outta My Face! by Rick Horne

Instructing a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp

Stewardship: Money

Money Map by Howard Dayton

The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn

For the Ladies

Radical Womanhood by Carolyn McCulley

Shopping for Time by Caroline Mahaney

Books on Theology

This post (and a whole slew of others) is meant to provide Christian men, women, students, parents, children, teenagers, punk rockers, jocks, and bookworms with carefully selected Christian books and articles that will hopefully aid in your edification, study, sanctification, and Christian life. They will be updated on a regular basis, and I will soon be adding short reviews under many of the titles that I have read myself. I will also provide links to these posts in the sidebar for easy access. Please feel free to comment on any one of these books as well as suggest others that I might have looked over in the process of compiling this list.

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(About theology...)

Systematic Theology

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem

Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem

Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin

Knowing God by J.I. Packer

Great Doctrines of the Bible by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Theology in the Context of World Christianity by Timothy Tennet

Godology by Christian George

The Doctrine of God by John Frame

The One True God by Paul Washer

The Mission of God by Christopher Wright

Books You'll Actually Read Series by Driscoll

God's Big Picture by Vaughn Roberts

The Trinity

Communion with the Triune God by John Owen

Father, Son, & Holy Spirit by Bruce Ware

The Holy Spirit

Baptism and Fullness by John Stott

Showing the Spirit by D.A. Carson

The Gift of Prophecy by Wayne Grudem

Sanctification

The Mortification of Sin by John Owen

The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges

How People Change by Paul Tripp & Tim Lane

Future Grace by John Piper

Take Charge of Your Life by Richard Ganz

Growing in Christ by JI Packer

Apologetics

The Reason for God by Tim Keller

The God Who Is There by Francis Schaeffer

Escape from Reason by Francis Schaeffer

He Is There & He Is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer

Basic Christianity by John Stott

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Do You Know Him?

Kudos to Justin Taylor for posting this video on his blog. It is a prayer delivered by Dr. S. M. Lockridge in 1976 and is titled, "That's My King." Happy Easter!

A Puritan Prayer on Good Friday

Below is a prayer from the book Valley of Vision. Valley of Vision is a compilation of Puritan prayers. This is one of my favorites and extremely relevant in light of Good Friday. Please read with joy.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell's worst that I might attain heaven's best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness that I might have eternal light.

My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might for ever live.

The Serpent and the Son of Man

Today is Good Friday. Too often I have let this holiday come and go as if it had little significance on my life. And yet, this is the most significant day in all of history. Because today is the day Christ died upon the cross as my substitute. The passage below has had a significant impact on me today, and I would like to share it with you.

"[Jesus said], And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." - John 3:14-15

What is Jesus talking about here? How can he compare himself to a those slithery, wily creatures? Without knowing the Old Testament context, this statement makes little sense. So, let's see what Jesus is referencing here.

"From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.' Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.' So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live."

So the people of God are on the Exodus, traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land, the Land which God promised to deliver them into. Therefore, when the people begin to grumble and question why God has brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, it is as if they are slapping God across the face. Did he not provide manna to eat and water to drink daily? Did he not promise to deliver His people from their enemies? So in his rightful and holy wrath, God sends serpents, and many people perish.

However, this is not the end. God tells Moses to make a serpent, set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten who looks at the serpent shall live. The poison has already entered their flesh. Death is impending and eminent. Yet, all the people of Israel have to do is look at the snake that was set on a pole, and they will live!

So how does this story of Moses and Exodus apply to Jesus' statement in the book of John? And even better yet, how does it apply to us?

We are the people of Israel. We have defamed the name of God with our rebellion and sin. We have questioned the promises of God and turned from him. Therefore, God has given us up to the poisonous serpents, the lusts of our hearts and the sin that so easily entangles. And we have been bitten by that wily creature. The poison of sin lurks in our bodies, slowly decaying our flesh and killing us quickly. We are captive to it and are destined for death, lest something is done to defeat the poison lurking within.

Praise God something has been done. The serpent was lifted up on a pole so that he who looked upon it might live, and Christ was lifted up on a cross so that whoever looks upon him might live forever! He who was lifted up has taken the poison upon himself so that our impending death might be no more (2 Cor 5:21). The Son of Man has reversed the flow of poison through our veins, so that now, all we have to do is look. Look at the God-man hanging on the cross who became my sin and died my death so that I might live. Look at his body that was broken for you. Look at the blood that flows from the thorn of crowns upon his head down to the nails driven through his feet. Look.

Today is Good Friday. Take the time to look upon Christ who was lifted up.

What Is Sustaining Grace?

I received a free sermon CD from Desiring God Ministries a few months ago, and on it was John Piper's sermon, Sustained by Sovereign Grace - Forever! I've listened to it three times so far. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Here's my favorite line that repeats again and again throughout the sermon. It is a poem he created to help answer the question, "What is sustaining grace?"

"Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor give flight to all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain."

Let me know what you think.

O Lord - How Long?

To steal the infamous line of D.A. Carson's excellent book on suffering, How Long, O Lord?, "All you have to do is live long enough, and you will suffer." How true that is. In this life, you will suffer. Therefore, the question is not if we will suffer, but when will we suffer. When your day or week or year or life of suffering comes, I pray you would take counsel from the sufferings of King David.

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord - how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with weeping.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

- Psalm 6

God hears your cries for help. He hears your pleas for mercy. Now hear this: He accepts your prayer. And because he accepted your prayer, your enemy of sin, Satan, cancer, Alzheimers, abuse, and death shall be ashamed and greatly troubled and shall turn back and be put to shame because Christ has overcome the world. Through His life, death, and resurrection, God's holy wrath is satisfied, and we will be taken to a place where "He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore" (Rev 21:4).

So, when your day of suffering comes - if it is not already here - and you find yourself asking, "O Lord, how long?" I imagine Jesus might reply, "Surely, I am coming soon" (Rev 22:20).

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!