Category Archives: Books

Christian Books For The Rookies And Veterans

By request: here is a three-year reading plan of the Best Christian Books categorized for rookies, veterans, and burn-outs. You can stretch it to the rest of your life if you so choose. I promise I’ve only recommended books that I have finished by at least 90% (by reading or audio), which means the list will be limited but at least personally experienced. I’ll also include links of other pastors’ recommended books. You’ll literally have hundreds of suggestions.

This list will change over time. I’ll be sure to edit and re-post!
**Last updated 3-4-12**

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Book Review: The Meaning of Marriage


The Meaning of Marriage
By Timothy Keller

Summary:
We know marriage is in trouble. Pastors and Christian authors are stepping forward to save the day. Tim Keller, author of the renown The Reason For God, Counterfeit Gods, and Generous Justice, writes an ambitious and straightforward work on biblical marriage. With a gospel-driven, Christ-centered approach, Dr. Keller’s crisp, clear voice is easily accessible and insightful. Along with Dr. Keller’s wife Kathy, they have written a practical, powerful work on the great gift of marriage.

Strengths:
This could have been a cakewalk for Dr. Keller. He could have roundly quoted C.S. Lewis and some well known poems, conjure sound commentary on Ephesians 5, and say some profound things about the duties of a husband and wife. It really would have been that easy for him. Many readers are familiar enough with Dr. Keller to instantly recognize his writing voice and his penchant for classic quoting. It could also have been a call to Christian idealism, a list of you ought to and you should do tacked onto the gospel.

While Dr. Keller does some of these things, I felt his gritty real life experience bleed through the pages. Dr. Keller’s passion is alive in this work; not since Counterfeit Gods have I seen him this personally invested into his subject. This isn’t only from his own thirty-six year marriage but from having been in the trenches with hurting singles, broken marriages, and dying families. He has seen how secular culture and the Hollywood mentality has overwhelmed the thinking of our gullible world. The first chapter alone is a visceral tour of the corruption of marriage and families, with hard statistics and full-on truths. He never waters it down. “I’m tired of listening to sentimental talks on marriage,” he begins. So are we.

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Quote: Confident


Christians, many of us are living lives of disregard and consequently having little impact. Despite our big buildings and our big budgets and our big publishing empires and our big voting blocs and our big events and our big numbers, we are living in such a way to be disregarded. We are making lots of noise … inside our inconsequential bubble.

We cannot afford to go quietly. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Because we are being remade in the image of God’s Son, we may be as confident as Christ is supreme.

–Jared Wilson

Book Review: Why Jesus?


Why Jesus?
By Ravi Zacharias

For the giveaway of this book, click here.

Summary:
“I have no doubt that many might well be offended by the challenges I have made to other beliefs in this book. I must expect that and will make every effort to defend my approach. Some might even consider the tone of this book too strong or harsh. That is not my intent. But it is hard not to get passionate when you read the bizarre twists of truth offered by proponents of the New Spirituality. I have been fairly blunt because I want readers to be brutally honest with themselves.” (230)

Dr. Ravi Zacharias indeed writes a searing, incisive work on the New Age movement that has invaded every facet of Western American thinking. Taking to task two well known proponents, Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, there are no minced words as Dr. Ravi utterly upturns many of the preposterous assertions given by nebulous, exploitative, “Oneness” religion endorsed by the two celebrities. We also find that such strange religion has been endorsed by us, an unwitting generation fooled by foolish claims.

Strengths:
I was almost taken aback by the force of Dr. Ravi’s barbs against the New Spirituality. Had I not known that Dr. Ravi is one of the world’s most compassionate evangelists today, I may have mistaken some of his writing as aggression. But I sense his urgency: he is fighting for the truth, as many of us today live in a blind fog of capitulation to relativism. Dr. Ravi’s no-nonsense clarity by itself will knock most readers out of their reverie, quickly exposing how many strange lies we have believed.

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New And Upcoming Books To Look For In 2012

A list of Christian books I’m looking most forward to in 2012.
For all book reviews, click here.

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The Transforming Power of the Gospel
By Jerry Bridges
Author of Trusting God, The Gospel For Real Life, and The Pursuit of Holiness
Released January 13th, 2012

One of the most straightforward Christian authors today, Jerry Bridges enters the Reformed landscape of Gospel Centrality, though he had been doing this before it was cool. I can’t wait to read his gentle, powerful voice talk about the power of the Spirit in sanctification.

Reviewed May 4th, 2012

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Why Jesus?
By Ravi Zacharias
Author of Has Christianity Failed You?, Jesus Among Other Gods, and The Grand Weaver
Releases January 25th, 2012

The great apologist Dr. Ravi writes on the competing field of spirituality that has surged through the likes of Oprah, Deepak Choprah, and even Dan Brown, taking them all on as no comparison to Jesus. With careful reason and vivid illustrations, Dr. Ravi is sure to bring his best here.

Reviewed January 26th 2012

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Worship: The Ultimate Priority
By John MacArthur
Author of Slave, The Gospel According To Jesus, Preaching, Counseling, and The MacArthur Study Bible
Releases February 1st, 2012

One of the “Big Johns,” (including John Piper, John Calvin, John the Baptist, and Apostle John), Dr. MacArthur re-releases an old work written nineteen years ago with two new chapters. This is sure to be as hard-hitting as his countless other works.

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Book Review: Unseen Realities


Unseen Reality
By R.C. Sproul

Summary:
R.C. Sproul, one of the greatest theologians alive, offers a short handbook on the spiritual realms of the supernatural. Though definitely not an exhaustive work, Dr. Sproul lays down a sharp biblical groundwork that is a great starting point for further study.

Strengths:
Most noticeable in Dr. Sproul’s writing is his humility. He always lets us know when he’s speculating and shows other historically held viewpoints. He is careful to articulate his reasoning and back it up with Scripture. He also says a few times, “I don’t know.” For such a scholarly man, it’s refreshing to leave some mysteries as they are.

The book is divided into four sections: Heaven, Hell, angels, and demons, each with a survey of biblical and historical research. Dr. Sproul also shares some personal stories to ground the theology. Since these particular doctrines are so neglected in the church, it’s great to read them with such clarity and conviction.

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Book Review: You Lost Me

You Lost Me
By David Kinnaman

Summary:
David Kinnaman has written an incredibly honest, important work that conveys the monumental changes in a post-Christian culture where the new generation is telling the church, “You lost me.” He has compiled all the common reasons why youth and young professionals are exiting the church doors. From interviews, research, and personal experience, Kinnaman makes clear the landmark at the crossroads of our faith, where we can embrace the rapid shifts of our world and hold the timeless truth of the Gospel instead of choosing one at the expense of the other.

Strengths:
This is an extremely organized book with informative charts, articulate reasoning, and not a single word wasted. Six common complaints have been made by the three groups of church drop-puts — prodigals, nomads, and exiles — which are Overprotective, Shallow, Antiscience, Repressive, Exclusive, and Doubtless. Kinnaman is careful to present these claims in a nuanced, balanced, well-researched manner without compromising. He treads a fine line here between understanding the overwhelming grip of our interactive society while re-asserting the tenets of orthodox Christian faith; it’s great credit to him that he does this without spiritual vertigo. He is pliable where he needs to be but firm where the Word does not budge.

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Shameless Plug Giveaway! Mark Driscoll’s Real Marriage

Edit: The giveaway has ended! Winners will be announced at 1:00 pm.

This is the first Shameless Plug Giveaway of The Way Everlasting Blog!

I will pick two winners to receive a free copy of Real Marriage by Mark Driscoll!

Here’s how:
On your blog, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, or other homepage site, just comment here or share this post. if you link it, you can confirm it by emailing to
pastorjspark@gmail.com

Two random Shameless Plugs will be declared winners on Thursday, January 12th.
**Edit: I’m pushing for one more day, so winners will be announced on Friday, January 13th!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support! Happy reading!

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New Year’s Resolution: Bible Reading Plans

Ready to finish the Bible or read it again this year?

Here’s a great blog post for Bible reading plans by Justin Taylor of the Gospel Coalition.

I also have the One Year Plan and the B90X 90 Day Plan on file. I did the 90 Day Plan in 104 days.
Please leave a comment if you’d like me to email it to you!

I’m currently reading the One Year Bible NLT (New Living Translation) at a rate of about two entries per day. It’ll be my third time through the Bible, and then I plan to read The Books of the Bible by Biblica, which has no chapter or verse numbers.

It’s never too late to start!

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Quote: Chisel


“Does God want us to suffer? What if the answer to that question is ‘yes’? You see, I don’t think that God particularly wants us to be happy. I think He wants us to love and be loved. He wants us to grow up. You see, we are like children who think that our toys bring us all the happiness there is, and that our nursery is the whole wide world. But something has to drive us out into the world of others, and that thing is suffering. Put simply, pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. We are like blocks of stone from which the Sculptor carves a form. The blows of His chisel which hurt us so much are what make us perfect.”

– C.S. Lewis

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Book Review: Beautiful Outlaw


Beautiful Outlaw
By John Eldredge

Summary:
Beautiful Outlaw is a frustrating, if at times well-written and unique journey, into the life of the most famous person in the history of the world. Such a daunting task is not lost on John Eldredge, who bypasses the doctrine and gets right at the heart of Jesus, not always successfully.

Eldredge, the manly man’s author of Wild At Heart and Captivating, has written another manly, chest-thumping work. With an intriguing title and a great premise, Eldredge presents vignettes of Jesus in his earthly ministry. Eldredge is neither a theologian nor scholar, and this shows in his Hollywood-like style of dialogue and details. It all goes wrong pretty quickly.

Weaknesses:
We often project our own personality onto Jesus himself, as argued by Scot McKnight and counter-argued by N.T. Wright. This happens frequently in Beautiful Outlaw, as Eldredge’s well known personal theology takes center stage. Though he continually wants Jesus to “be himself,” we suspect this is hardly the case throughout the book. To at once claim Jesus as his own person and then label him “playful, cunning, disruptive,” and other post-feminine terms is not only contradictory but inadvertently undermines Eldredge’s point. I get what he’s trying to do, but he fails quite hard.

Eldredge also beats up the “religious,” never defining them but gut-punching them at every opportunity. It’s very vogue these days to use the Pharisee as a religious boogeyman, the equivalent of saying Nazi, and then to exclaim how not to be like them. The first few times I agreed, but the next one-hundred or so verbal smackdowns was eye-rolling. Eldredge states that categorizing people with partisan dismissal is a religious tactic, but then he himself casually dismisses the religious group and never once shows grace their way. Traditional, church-raised, Southern-value-abiding, well-intentioned, religious folk need Jesus too. It’s an immature Christian who pits two sides against each other and claims one as superior. Eldredge’s spiteful bitterness is cringe-inducing.

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The Best Christian Books of 2011

Here are my favorite books of 2011. These are not necessarily the best written, but the most personally impactful.

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Erasing Hell
By Francis Chan

In response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins, Francis Chan writes a sobering and solemn appeal on the reality of hell. While largely criticized for its length and simplicity, I found it a near-perfect plea for those who do not consider our spiritual futures. My review here.

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Book Review: Jesus + Nothing = Everything
By Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced “chu-vi-jin” like religion)

An engaging if at times over-wordy work on what it really means to be known by Jesus. Tullian is a great writer, cutting away years of idolatry and guilt-driven religion in just a few sentences. My review here.

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Redemption
By Mike Wilkerson

One of the best works to arrive for breaking addictions and pains of the past, Mike Wilkerson of Mars Hill Church uses Exodus as a stirring challenge to overcome our shackles. Despite some structural problems, the book is a swift punch to the gut while a gentle embrace of new life. My review here.

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Book Review: Dug Down Deep


Dug Down Deep
By Joshua Harris

Summary:
Having largely known Joshua Harris from his books on dating (and having not read them, largely due to the maddening pop culture surrounding his ideas), I dug into Dug Down Deep with some trepidation. I was surprised to find that Pastor Josh sheds off much of this “Christian-Dating-Guru” image and conveys a warm personality here with great theological depth in everyday language. I ended up buying several copies for friends who were struggling or new to Jesus.

Strengths:
As both an autobiography and a statement of Christian doctrines, somehow Dug Down Deep succeeds at both. Joshua Harris’ treatise on the Christian faith is a highly readable work that will stir both the young believer and the church veteran. We do not often stop to think on what we actually believe, and as Harris writes, what we think of God determines everything else: feelings, choices, character, our fate.

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Book Review: Gospel Wakefulness

Summary:
Jared Wilson writes a stirring work with such a flawed premise that he continually detracts from his own passion and eloquence. Because of his elitist, New Age “Gospel Wakefulness” that he drills over and over, at times he appears insincere in marketing a new breed of religion that ascribes transcendental experience as orthodoxy. While he spends many pages protecting his own idea with reasonable disclaimers, this isn’t enough to ward off the uneasiness that this is his idea, an extrabiblical concept for a secret club of those who “get it.”

Weaknesses:
There’s no doubt that Wilson is a great writer, but because of his blogging background, much of his work is strung together randomly as if he copied-and-pasted some old blog posts with tenuous transitions. Nothing flows evenly. He also uses distracting superlatives that are not grounded in the reality of everyday Christians. There is a ton of analogical language that sounds pretty but has no function in the gritty hurt of real life. I kept thinking Hallmark.

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The Top Ten Posts of 2011

These are the Top Ten Blog Posts of 2011. Thank you to every reader and supporter, your prayers and encouragement are welcomed and appreciated. Here’s to 2012!

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10) A Christian Is Not Up To Your Damned Standard
An angry post that caused me to lose some followers, tick off some Reformed people, and indirectly caused a blogger to call me an “abortionist” and “witch whore.” I did apologize for my angry tone.

See also: I Love My Doctrine More Than Jesus: Why No One Cares About Your Theology
And: Gospel Idolatry
And: The Trend of the Gutless Gospel: How My Thoughts About The Gospel Have Changed Over Time, Part One

9) Movies That Christians Should See: The Truman Show
The most popular review of “Christians Should See” series, with perhaps my favorite film of all time.

8) Book Review: Erasing Hell
Francis Chan writes a succinct response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins, which I was also interviewed for by the local newspaper.

7) When Pastors Just Want To Quit
When your church is falling apart: no one’s listening, no one’s cares, no one’s convicted. But why it still matters.

6) It Would Be Easier If I Wasn’t A Christian – Part One
A four-part philosophical look into why we should consider being a Christian. Part Two here. Part Three here. Part Four here.

5) Why Is The Old Testament So Crazy? — Part One
A multi-part discussion about the insanity of the Old Testament. A straight reading of the OT is like a bad acid trip, with its supposedly misogynistic, slavery-endorsing, pagan-esque ways. Plus Part Two. More coming in this series.

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Porn Addiction, Part Three: What Porn Does To Your Soul – 2 of 2

An ongoing discussion about victory over sexual addiction.

The introduction here.

Part One, excuses and myths, here.

Part Two, the science, here.

Part Three, the soul, here.

Part Four: I’m Ready To Cut It Off. Here.

Part Five: Quitting Isn’t Enough. Here.

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The Process of Porn

Porn is degrading to both the user and the industry because it caters to the base animal nature of all of us. If you think that’s prude or close-minded, wouldn’t it be more open-minded to call it what it really is? If it’s not prostitution, it’s pretty close.

But I understand the “moral argument” does not always persuade, much less motivate, to quit porn. For the hundreds of sermons I’ve heard vilifying alcohol, drugs, clubs, Internet, indulgent eating, laziness, or video games, none of them ever sustained a change in behavior. Because all of them spoke only to behaviors, not the basics.

If you’re addicted to porn, you’re most likely after something else. As much as the hipster contemporary all-aware self-aware blogger will tell you that masturbation sometimes “just happens,” we know that a variety of factors gets us there. Sex between two people doesn’t just happen — even casual sex requires multiple variables to align before happening.

Something is happening when a guy has sex with himself while watching two random people have sex. There are impulses, drives, forces, desires, biology, psychology, philosophy, and mental schemas at work that motivate a person towards (and away from) self-worship.

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Gospel Idolatry

Do you idolize the gospel?

The crucifixion has become a concept. That’s nothing new, except for all the marketing. With the recent trend of “Gospel Centrality” by the Reformed Calvinist crowd, who proudly wave the flag of finally understanding the Gospel, I’m both excited and concerned. I’m excited for a return back to the roots of the Bible — that the whole thing really is about Jesus — but much less excited about the elitist nightmare of Reformed teaching that creates ivory towers of superiority. “I got it and you don’t,” shouts the gospel-informed upper class. It is an incipient form of anti-Pharisaical religion masquerading as brand name faith. Suddenly there is a second-rate citizen of the church that apparently doesn’t get it anymore, and those who get it, instead of sharing, are angry and snarling.

Several books have been released just in the last year that capture this bandwagon phenomenon, including Jesus + Nothing = Everything, Gospel Wakefulness, King’s Cross, and simply just Gospel. They are quite excellent reads. The Gospel Coalition blog has expounded endlessly on gospel-centeredness, and have done it well. Tim Keller does a great job of seeding the gospel into Old Testament passages. An entire conference was devoted to this neat trick. And apparently, without the gospel, you got it all wrong man.

The idea is this: the work of Jesus gives you all the acceptance, validation, and approval you need so that sanctification is merely resting deeper in the gospel. The work of Jesus detaches you from seeking lesser treasures. The work of Jesus eats away at worldliness and idolatry and morbid introspection. The work of Jesus gives freedom to lose, freedom for joy, freedom from self.

We see the problem. The work of Jesus. Gospel Centrality often leaves out Jesus himself.

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