Bible reading, Bible study, Bible memorization, and Bible sermons are the best ways to deepen your knowledge of Scripture. However, the next step is to read books which will explain and apply Biblical principles in powerful, winsome, and enduring ways. My prayer is that you will make it your ambition to read “just a bit more” in 2023. For some that may mean reading one book this year, for others one book a month or week! Regardless, the benefit of reading can hardly be overstated. You would do well to turn off Netflix, wait to download the next video game, even silence your music for a little while, and indulge in a few good Christian books.
To that end, I have a few suggestions! Below are a list of books that I have compiled over the years – broken up, vaguely, into various categories to help direct your attention to areas of interest. This is certainly not a comprehensive list, but these are some of the best books I have read in these different areas and I pray that they will be of benefit and blessing to you. I you have questions or other suggestions, please feel free to email me at the church and I will respond as I can!
Chris’ Book List
If I could pick ten books for you to read in your lifetime they would be:
- Holiness – J.C. Ryle
- Mortification of Sin – John Owen
- Knowing God – J.I. Packer
- The Holiness of God – R.C. Sproul
- The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment – Jeremiah Burroughs
- George Whitefield – Arnold Dallimore (2 Volume Set)
- Trusting God – Jerry Bridges
- The Joy of Fearing God – Jerry Bridges
- Spiritual Disciplines – Don Whitney
- Don’t Waste Your Life – John Piper
General Book List
B. Christian Living
- Holiness – J.C. Ryle
- Knowing God – J.I. Packer
- Trusting God – Jerry Bridges
- The Joy of Fearing God – Jerry Bridges
- The Pursuit of Holiness – Jerry Bridges
- The Hole in our Holiness – Kevin DeYoung
- Respectable Sins – Jerry Bridges
- Spiritual Disciplines – Donald Whitney
- Habits of Grace – David Mathis
- Killing Sin Habits – Stuart Scott
- The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
- Desiring God – John Piper
- Don’t Waste Your Life – John Piper
- Pleasing People – Lou Priolo
- Spiritual Leadership – Oswald Sanders
- The Enemy Within – Kris Lungaard
- Idols of the Heart – Elyse Fitzpatrick
- When People are Big and God is Small – Ed Welch
- The Gospel Primer – Milton Vincent
- The Treasure Principle (Money/Finances) – Randy Alcorn
- Humility – True Greatness – C.J. Maheny
- Prayer
a) Alone with God – MacArthur
b) A Call to Spiritual Reformation (Prayer) – D.A. Carson
c) A Call to Prayer – J.C. Ryle - Decision Making
a) Decisions, Decisions – Dave Swavely
b) Just Do Something – Kevin DeYoung
c) Is That You God – Gary Gilley - Purity
a) The Purity Principle – Randy Alcorn
b) Finally Free – Heath Lambert
c) From Passion to Purity – Elizabeth Elliott - Marriage
a) Not Yet Married – Marshall Segal
b) I Still Do – Dave Harvey
c) What Did You Expect – Paul Tripp
d) Sex and the Supremacy of Christ – John Piper - Parenting
a) Instructing a Child’s Heart – Paul Tripp
b) Shepherding a Child’s Heart – Ted Tripp
c) Gospel Powered Parenting – William Farley
d) Age of Opportunity (Teens) – Paul Tripp
e) The Heart of Anger – Lou Priolo
f) Growing Up Christian – Karl Graustein - Discipling Your Teens
*Contains repeats from above lists
a) Growing up Christian – Karl Graustein
b) The Enemy Within – Kris Lungaard
c) The Purity Principle – Randy Alcorn
d) The Treasure Principle – Randy Alcorn
e) Thoughts for Young Men – J.C. Ryle
f) The Masuline Mandate – Richard Philips
C. Church Ministry - Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hand – Paul Tripp
- The Peacemaker – Ken Sande
- The Master’s Plan for the Church – MacArthur
- Why We Love the Church – Kevin DeYoung
- Nine Marks of a Healthy Church – Mark Dever
- Let the Nations be Glad (Missions) – John Piper
D. Men’s/Women’s
- The Masculine Mandate – Richard Philips
- Thoughts for Young Men – J.C. Ryle
- The Exemplary Husband – Stuart Scott
- The Complete Husband – Lou Priolo
- A Woman After God’s Own Heart – Elizabeth George
- The Excellent Wife – Martha Peace
E. Knowing the Gospel
- What is the Gospel – Greg Gilbert
- The Gospel According to Jesus – MacArthur
- The Cross of Christ – Stott
- Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
F. Dealing With Culture
- Not Ashamed of the Gospel – John MacArthur
- The Vanishing Conscience – John MacArthur
- Why We are Not Emergent – Kevin DeYoung
- What is the Mission of the Church – Kevin DeYoung
- The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Homosexuality) – Rosaria Butterfield
- What Does the Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality – Kevin DeYoung
- Christianity and Wokeness – Owen Strachan
- Why Social Justice is Not Biblical Justice – Scott David Allen
G. Theological Topics
- The Holiness of God – R.C. Sproul
- The God Who Loves – MacArthur
- The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness – MacArthur
- What’s So Great About the Doctrines of Grace – Richard Philips
- The Battle for the Beginning – John MacArthur
- The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God – D.A. Carson
- Evangelicalism Divided – Ian Murray
- Delighting in the Trinity – Michael Reeves
- Taking God at His Word – Kevin DeYoung
- The God Who Justifies – James White
- Satisfied by the Spirit – Thomas Edgar
- Sinners in the Hands of a Good God (Calvinism) – David Clotfelter
H. Theological Study
- Systematic Theology – John MacArthur
- Systematic Theology – Wayne Grudem
- Calvin’s Institutes – John Calvin
- The Existence and Attributes of God – Charnock
I. Classic/Puritan
- Pilgrims Progress – Bunyan
- The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment – Jeremiah Burroughs
- Mortification of Sin – John Owen
- The Glory of Christ – John Owen
- The Doctrine of Repentance – Thomas Watson
- A Treatise on Earthly-Mindedness – Jeremiah Burroughs
- The Life if God in the Soul of Man – Henry Scougal
- The Rent Veil – Horatius Bonar
- The Mystery of Providence – John Flavel
- The Godly Man’s Picture – Thomas Watson
- An Alarm to the Unconverted – Joseph Alleine
J. Church History
- Evangelicalism Divided – Ian Murray
- The Unquenchable Flame (Reformation) – Michael Reeves
- Church History in Plain Language – Bruce Shelley
K. Apologetics
- Nothing But the Truth – Brian Edwards
- Apologetics to the Glory of God – John Frame
- Total Truth – Nancy Pearcy
- Finding Truth – Nancy Pearcy
- Tactics – Greg Koukl
L. Bible Study
- Living By the Book – Howard Hendricks
- Knowing Scripture – R.C. Sproul
- How to Get the Most from God’s Word – MacArthur
- How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth – Fee and Stuart
M. Christian Philosophy
- Francis Schaeffer
a) The God Who is There
b) Escape From Reason
c) He is There and He Is Not Silent - C.S. Lewis
a) Mere Christianity
b) The Great Divorce
c) The Problem of Pain
d) The Abolition of Man - David Wells
a) God in the Wasteland
b) Losing Our Virtue
c) Above all Earthly Powers - When Choice Becomes God – F. Lagard Smith
N. Biography
- Athanasius of Alexandria – Peter Barnes
- Augustine of Hippo – Peter Brown
- Martin Luther – Roland Bainton or Eric Metaxas
- John Calvin – Alister McGrath
- William Tyndale – David Daniel
- John Bunyan – Faith Cook
- Jonathan Edwards – George Marsden
- George Whitfield – Arnold Dallimore (2 Volumes)
- John Wesley – Ian Murray
- Spurgeon – Arnold Dallimore or Lewis Drummond
- Susie (Spurgeon’s Wife) – Ray Rhodes
- William Wilberforce – Eric Metaxas
- J.C. Ryle – Ian Murray
- Amy Carmichael – Ian Murray
- William Carey – S. Pearce Carey
- Hudson Taylor – Vance Christie
- George Mueller – A.T. Pierson
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Eric Metaxas
- David Brainerd – Life and Diary of David Brainerd – Jonathan Edwards
- Adoniram Judson – To the Golden Shore – Courtney Anderson
- C.S. Lewis – Surprised by Joy – C.S. Lewis
- C.S. Lewis – A Life Observed – Devin Brown
- Jim Elliott – Through Gates of Splendor – Elizabeth Elliott
- Martin Lloyd-Jones – Ian Murray (2 Volumes)
- Eric Liddell – Pure Gold – David McCasland
- Eric Liddell – For the Glory – Duncan Hamilton
- Agape Leadership – Life of R.C. Chapman – Alexander Strauch
- R.C. Sproul – Stephen J. Nichols