1. Have a good Bible.

Every Christian needs a good Bible that they can easily read and enjoy. A translation such as the English Standard Version (ESV), the ESV Study Bible is very well done, or the New International Version (NIV) is preferable as your primary reading Bible, although there are many other translations that are also quite good (e.g., New King James Version, New American Standard Version).

2. Have some good Christian books.

If you want to build a reference library, the first book you should buy is A Commentary and Reference Survey by John Glynn by John Glynn. That book will tell you which other books are the best resources available for in-depth Christian study and anyone who is serious about studying should have a copy of this book.

3. Have some good (free) online study resources.

There are many great websites that can help you do Bible word studies and such for free. Good examples include the following, with the first one built and run by Mars Hill elder, Zack Hubert:

ReGreek specializes in word studies from the Bible 's original languages.
Crosswalk has many translations and Bible study tools.
Bible Gateway has many translations and Bible study tools.
CCEL has most of the major works from Christian history for free and a “Study Bible” feature that pulls up historical church commentary on specified verses.
E Sword has numerous Bible study tools.

4. Have some good Bible software.

If you can afford it, Bible study software provides some amazing resources and companies like Logos Bible Software are worth considering.

5. Have some good websites.

There are many great resources available for free on the web with articles, books, blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, and MP3s. The following are some recommendations:

Desiring God is the website featuring a large repository of sermons and articles from my friend, Dr. John Piper.
Covenant Seminary has a “Free Downloads” link on their front page that will enable you to listen to hundreds of hours of their class lectures on many areas of Christian study. I am grateful to my friends at Covenant who have given the church such a gracious gift.
Mars Hill Church is where hundreds of hours of my teaching is available for free and has been the number one podcast on iTunes for religion and spirituality.
carm has good articles on cults, world religions, and apologetical issues.
equip.org has good articles, book reviews, and more, on cults, world religions, and apologetical issues.
www.christianitytoday.com/historyhas some great articles on Christian history and biography.
www.monergism.com has an almost overwhelming number of free articles on nearly every theological issue from a Reformed perspective.

6. Have some good community.

Most of the Bible was written to communities of people and is therefore best studied in community with other Christians. For this reason, getting plugged into a Community Group and/or taking midweek classes in addition to regularly attending a Sunday church service is essential.
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In this video Tim Keller is explaining the main ideas of his book, "The Reason for God" at the Google campus in Mountain View, California. Tim is someone who can calmly and knowledgeably share the Gospel with even the smartest most skeptical people.

I was inspired to share this with you because of a conversation I had with two very intelligent non-Christian men about God. They ask me about my Bible when I was sitting in a Starbucks, and it set off an hour long conversation about why Jesus is the world's only hope. Thankfully from listening and reading the teaching of wise Christian men, like Keller and Francis Schaeffer, I was able to answer most of their questions about God. Listen to this talk and read his book—it will be worth it.

Work on your weakness
Once you discover whether you are more naturally a contemplative or an activist you must then work on your area of weakness. In my years as a pastor I have found that most of us lean heavily toward the contemplative or the active disciplines at the expense of the other. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for people to read about Jesus in their Bible and only see His contemplative or activist scenes at the expense of seeing the healthy tension that Jesus lived in. As a result, when a contemplative thinks of Jesus they are prone to imagine Him sitting alone in the wilderness and silently reading Scripture and praying. Conversely, when an activist thinks of Jesus they are prone to imagine Him performing miracles, preaching, and casting out demons, never sitting down or taking a day off. The truth is that Jesus practiced every contemplative discipline and every active discipline (with the exception of lovemaking). To follow in His example means we must follow in His entire example.

Immature Christians
One of the worst things I have witnessed is immature Christians who judge another Christian as immature because they do not have the same natural strength in a particular spiritual discipline. This takes many forms, such as the spiritually disciplined evangelist who looks down on people who don’t share their faith every moment of every day with everyone they encounter. Another example is the spiritually disciplined student who looks down on people who do not read enormous books written by dead guys for hours at a time and geek out learning the difference between things like transubstantiation and consubstantiation.
If the distinction between contemplatives and activists is not understood in marriage, the result can be very painful; conflict ensues when spouses try to impose how they do their spiritual disciplines upon one another. Perhaps the worst case I am personally aware of was a well-intentioned young husband who had his wife sit on their couch while he gave her theology lectures complete with a white board and then expected to quiz her. He was shocked to realize that she did not find this romantic. She would have preferred that he put the white board away and got a job to feed their family; they could not eat all his theology books and they were getting hungry.

You must begin with humility
In short, when it comes to the spiritual disciplines we must each begin with humility. Every Christian is spiritually disciplined in some areas of their life and spiritually undisciplined in others. Therefore, each Christian we meet is a potential teacher of sorts, able to help us grow as disciples more like Jesus. We must be willing to inquire of their strengths and learn from them.
As a final word of preface, two items are important to note before we study spiritual disciplines here together in the coming months. One, the spiritual disciplines are not something we have to do to make God love us. Rather, because God already does love us, the spiritual disciplines are something that we get to do as we love Him back and enjoy growing in our loving relationship with Him. Two, the spiritual disciplines are not intended to enslave us. Rather, they are intended to lead us into growing freedom in the same way that a trained athlete or musician is free to enjoy the task more than a novice.

How come no one has been as forward thinking as Francis Schaeffer in the last couple decades... This guy's amazing. Below is a video from "How Should We Then Live?"

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In July 2008, Mark Driscoll traveled to England and preached several sermons. Topics range from outlining the missional movement to a swift kick to the groin of young men.

Sermons

Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in Luke and Acts
On the Missional Church
On Missional Movements (Acts 1)
Driscoll at Jubilee Church, London, on Loving the City (Jeremiah 29)
Preaching in Brighton
Gospel of Grace vs. Religion of Works
Preaching Jesus
Driscoll Unleashed in the UK!
The Missional Church | London 2008
Movements are Messy: Getting and Staying on Mission
Spirit Led Missions: Following the Luke-Acts Paradigm
Be Radical & Plant Radical Churches! | Church Planter
Be Radical & Plant Radical Churches! | Church Leadership
Be Radical & Plant Radical Churches! | Final Thoughts and Q&A