Resource Center Books - Old

RESOURCE CENTER BOOKS

Prayer

Christians are taught in their churches and schools that prayer is the most powerful way to experience God. But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act.

With his trademark insights and energy, Keller offers biblical guidance as well as specific prayers for certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. He discusses ways to make prayers more personal and powerful, and how to establish a practice of prayer that works for each reader.

Prayer

A Simple Way to Pray

When asked by his barber and good friend, Peter Beskendorf, for some practical guidance on how to prepare oneself for prayer, Luther responded by writing this brief treatise, first published in the spring of 1535. After 500 years, his instruction continues to offer words of spiritual nurture for us today.

A Simple Way to Pray

Habits of Grace

Hear his voice. Have his ear. Belong to his body.

Three seemingly unremarkable principles shape and strengthen the Christian life: listening to God’s voice, speaking to him in prayer, and joining together with his people as the church. Though often viewed as normal and routine, the everyday “habits of grace” we cultivate give us access to these God-designed channels through which his love and power flow―including the greatest joy of all: knowing and enjoying Jesus.

Habits of Grace

How the Nations Rage | Jonathan Leeman

How can the church move forward in unity amid such political strife and cultural contention?

As Christians, we’ve felt pushed to the outskirts of national public life, yet even within our congregations we are divided about how to respond. Some want to strengthen the evangelical voting bloc. Others focus on social justice causes, and still others would abandon the public square altogether. What do we do when brothers and sisters in Christ sit next to each other in the pews but feel divided and angry? Is there a way forward?

In How the Nations Rage, political theology scholar and pastor Jonathan Leeman challenges Christians from across the spectrum to hit the restart button by

  • shifting our focus from redeeming the nation to living as a nation already redeemed 
  • rejecting the false allure of building heaven on earth while living faithfully as citizens of a heavenly kingdom
  • letting Jesus’ teaching shape our public engagement as we love our neighbors and seek justice

When we identify with Christ more than a political party or social grouping, we can return to the church’s unchanging political task: to become the salt and light Jesus calls us to be and offer the hope of his kingdom to the nations.

How the Nations Rage | Jonathan Leeman

The Art of Neighboring | Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon

Once upon a time, people knew their neighbors. They talked to them, had cook-outs with them, and went to church with them. In our time of unprecedented mobility and increasing isolationism, it's hard to make lasting connections with those who live right outside our front door. We have hundreds of "friends" through online social networking, but we often don't even know the full name of the person who lives right next door.

This unique and inspiring book asks the question: What is the most loving thing I can do for the people who live on my street or in my apartment building? Through compelling true stories of lives impacted, the authors show readers how to create genuine friendships with the people who live in closest proximity to them.

The Art of Neighboring | Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon

1 Corinthians Scripture Journal

Take extended notes alongside passages of Scripture, with lined blank pages interspersed throughout complete books of the Bible.

ESV Scripture Journals pair the entirety of individual books of the Bible with lightly lined blank pages opposite each page of Bible text, allowing readers to take extended notes or record insights and prayers directly beside corresponding passages of Scripture.

These thin, portable notebooks are great for personal Bible reading and reflection, small-group study, or taking notes through a sermon series.

1 Corinthians Scripture Journal

Desiring God | John Piper

Experience the Lifelong Pleasures of Knowing God!

Satisfaction…Happiness…Joy. According to John Piper, the pursuit of pleasure in God is not only permissible, it’s essential.

Desiring God is a paradigm-shattering work that dramatically alters common perspectives on relating to God. Piper reveals that there really is no need to choose between duty and delight in the Christian life. In fact, for the follower of Jesus, delight is the duty as Christ is most magnified in His people when they are most satisfied in Him. 

Constantly drawing on Scripture to build his case, Piper shows why pursuing maximum joy is essential to glorifying God. He discusses the implications of this for conversion, worship, love, Scripture, prayer, money, marriage, missions, and suffering.

Piper beckons us to approach God with the hedonist’s abandon. Finally, we are freed to enjoy Jesus—not only as our Lord and Savior, but also as our all-surpassing, soul-satisfying Treasure.

Desiring God may turn your Christian world upside down. And that will be a good thing, for the glory of God, and for your deepest joy.

Desiring God | John Piper

The Walk: Steps for New and Renewed Followers of Jesus | Stephen Smallman

The Walk is a book written to those who have expressed a desire to follow Christ as his disciple. It assumes

no prior understanding of what that means, nor does it assume that the person has actually come to

the point of professing faith. It uses as a starting point someone who is simply wondering, "What next?"

Stephen also addresses those who have grown up Christian and may be wondering how to step out in their own faith.

The Walk is designed to be used as much as read. It will be helpful to someone who wants to read on his

own, but also includes readings and projects that will make it useful as a workbook for that individual, in a mentor relationship, or for use in groups.

The Walk: Steps for New and Renewed Followers of Jesus | Stephen Smallman

The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy | Timothy Keller

What are the marks of a supernaturally changed heart?

This is one of the questions the Apostle Paul addresses as he writes to the church in Corinth. He's not after some superficial outward tinkering, but instead a deep rooted, life altering change that takes place on the inside. In an age where pleasing people, puffing up your ego and building your résumé are seen as the methods to 'make it', the Apostle Paul calls us to find true rest in blessed self forgetfulness.

In this short and punchy book, best selling author Timothy Keller, shows that gospel humility means we can stop connecting every experience, every conversation with ourselves and can thus be free from self condemnation. A truly gospel humble person is not a self-hating person or a self-loving person, but a self-forgetful person. This freedom can be yours...

The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy | Timothy Keller

What Is the Gospel? | Greg Gilbert

What is the gospel? It seems like a simple question, yet it has been known to incite some heated responses, even in the church. How are we to formulate a clear, biblical understanding of the gospel? Tradition, reason, and experience all leave us ultimately disappointed. If we want answers, we must turn to the Word of God.

Greg Gilbert does so in What Is the Gospel? Beginning with Paul's systematic presentation of the gospel in Romans and moving through the sermons in Acts, Gilbert argues that the central structure of the gospel consists of four main subjects: God, man, Christ, and a response. The book carefully examines each and then explores the effects the gospel can have in individuals, churches, and the world. Both Christian and non-Christian readers will gain a clearer understanding of the gospel in this valuable resource.

What Is the Gospel? | Greg Gilbert

A Biblical Answer for Racial Unity

This book is a compilation of nine biblical expositions and one biographical survey. Though it is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment of the Bible’s teaching on racial unity, it does offer biblical insight into the core elements of the Scripture’s answer for racial reconciliation and unity within the church—and in our world.

A Biblical Answer for Racial Unity