Bridges, Jerry. The Gospel for Real Life.

Carson, D. A. The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians.

Mahaney, C. J. The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing.

——. Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing.

Spurgeon, Charles H. Twelve Sermons on the Passion and Death of Christ.

Carson, D. A., ed. Right with God: Justification in the Bible and the World.

Carson, D. A., Peter T. O’Brien, and Mark A. Seifrid, eds. Justification and Variegated Nomism.

Forde, Gerhard O. Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life.

Johnson, Gary L. W., and Guy Waters, eds. By Faith Alone: Answering the Challenges to the Doctrine of Justification.

Piper, John. Counted Righteous in Christ: Should We Abandon the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness?

——. The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright.

Seifrid, Mark. Christ, Our Righteousness: Paul’s Theology of Justification.

Sproul, R. C. Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification.

Stuhlmacher, Peter. Revisiting Paul’s Doctrine of Justification: A Challenge to the New Perspective.

Vickers, Brian. Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness: Paul’s Theology of Imputation.

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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If you have any comments- feel free to go over the the Resurgence Facebook Page and start a new discussion topic.

I am a sermon freak. A few great pastors have had a huge impact on my life, and helped guide my theology and ecclesiology. Over the next few weeks I'm going to share them with you. Starting with Matt Chandler.

Matt Chandler is a pastor at the Village Church in Dallas, Texas. He preaches from the Bible with authority, in a tone that tells his listeners how much he cares about their souls. Matt is incredibly thoughtful and Christ-centered in everything he does.

His Background
Before becoming a pastor, Matt was running a non-profit. One of his big donors asked him to interview for a head pastor position at a dying Baptist church. Matt had zero desire to accept the job—but even when he preached election, elder-lead government, and God's Sovereignty to an old school baptist congregation—they still hired him! God has used Matt in incredible ways. The small church has grown to over 3,000 people in a few short years, planted several churches, and sends out swarms of missionaries.

Conference Teaching
Vision of a Church Planter

Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis. By William J. Webb. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2001. 301 pp. n.p.

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes I wonder if egalitarians hope to triumph in the debate on the role of women by publishing book after book on the subject. Each work propounds a new thesis which explains why the traditional interpretation is flawed. Complementarians could easily give in from sheer exhaustation, thinking that so many books written by such a diversity of different authors could scarcely be wrong. Further, it is difficult to keep writing books promoting the complementarian view. Our view of the biblical text has not changed dramatically in the last twenty five years. Should we continue to write books that essentially promote traditional interpretations? Is the goal of publishing to write what is true or what is new?