Having trouble sitting down with your spouse and looking at a Bible passage together? Do you sit down together to do this but end up floundering? Take heart! Here are five study resources to help you get started.

1. John MacArthur Bible Study Guides
Pastor MacArthur has produced Bible study booklets that guide you through a book of the Bible. The booklets are self-contained so you read the passage listed, answer several questions , and examine the application and cross-reference passages he provides. A great start to Bible study as a couple.

Average price: $8

2. John MacArthur Passage & Theme Study Guides
Do I sound like a broken record? Another MacArthur resource? Yes. Because this one is free.  For a variety of passages and themes, Pastor MacArthur provides a study sheet of questions and helpful commentary for you to talk through together. This is similar to the above-mentioned resources except covers shorter passages.

Average price: download for free

3. Daily Devotional from R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries
Christy and I occasionally print out the day’s daily devotional from R.C. Sproul. This devotional includes a few verses to look up, commentary, one question, and a suggestion for prayer. They’re totally free, and one devotional is provided for every day of the year. Click here, then scroll down to the right where it says “Daily Devotionals.”

Price: download for free

4. Kay Arthur Bible Study Guides
I’ve also used these Bible study guides that tackle a book of the Bible or theme and break it up into a daily study for several weeks to a month. Each day’s study includes a passage to read and examine and questions to dig deeper. These include a little more busy work (instructions on marking up the passage) but these extra steps teach good principles of Bible study if you take the time. For some this will float your boat more than the MacArthur studies described above.

Average price: $9

5. For the Love of God Vol 1 and Vol 2 by Don Carson $10-15 (used)
Carson gives rich theological insight as he guides his readers through reading the Bible in a year. This is less interactive in that no discussion questions are included. Readers are given four chapters a day to read. These are beneficial guides for couples that would like to experience the wide expanse of the Bible in the space of a year.

Price: $14.00

Getting Started
View these tools as training wheels to get you started in listening to God and talking to Him together. But don’t rely on “Our Daily Bread” or devotional booklets forever. Strive to learn good Bible study habits with these resources with a goal of eventually opening up the Word itself and talking through a passage jointly without devotional guides. That’s where the greatest reward will come. I offer these ideas as a good bridge. As counselor David Powlison has said about he and his wife’s spiritual relationship, “The best way we counsel each other is by reading the Bible together & taking about it.”

Have additional recommendations? Post them in the comments below.

Psalm 119:92-93 – “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.” (NIV)

Summary of the Book

Have you wondered why you’ve tried to overcome a sin in your life yet keep falling back into it? How People Change is an effective tool to help you take steps to experience lasting spiritual change. Authors Tim Lane and Paul Tripp help us see just how badly the rebellion of sin has corrupted our everyday lives. Then they show how the cross of Christ provides all the power needed to leave behind our sin and walk in newness of life.

Overview of the Book

Chapters 1 to 6 explain why we struggle to overcome sin in our lives even though old things are supposed to have “passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We need to embrace God’s agenda of change for us and grasp how to apportion the power of the gospel to change us.

Chapter 1 – The Gospel Gap

Chapter 2 – Counterfeit Hopes

Chapter 3 – Here’s Where God Is Taking You

Chapter 4 – Married To Christ

Chapter 5 – Change Is A Community Project

Chapter 6 – The Big Picture

Chapters 7 to 14 walk through the biblical process of change (Jeremiah 17:5-10) and apply it to a wide variety of sinful struggles every one of us faces. The authors guide the reader through a memorable four-part description of change (Heat, Thorns, Cross, Fruit) that diagnoses our sin struggles, applies the cross, and enables us to resemble Jesus more and more.

Chapter 7 – Heat 1: God in the Real World

Chapter 8 – Heat 2: You in the Real World

Chapter 9 – Thorns 1: What Entangles You?

Chapter 10 – Thorns 2: Why Do You Get Entangled?

Chapter 11 – Cross 1: New Identity and New Potential

Chapter 12 – Cross 2: The Cross and Daily Living

Chapter 13 – Fruit 1: Real Heart Change

Chapter 14 – Fruit 2: New and Surprising Fruit

Chapters 15 to 16 show how God’s agenda for change took place in the life of a couple and a church. Through their example, we see that God is powerfully renovating his people and we can experience lasting change just like them.

Chapter 15 – One Couple’s Story

Chapter 16 – One Church’s Story

Recommendation

How People Change has been helpful for me to turn away from sinful habits and pursue Christ’s character, so much so that our church is working through the companion study guide together at our Wednesday Community Group. Any Christian who is investing in the life of another believer or simply wants to grow will find this an indispensable tool to help you pursue holiness for the Lord’s sake and for your joy.

Note: This book review first appeared at Heritage Bible Church’s blog.

This grand overview of the gospel is such a powerful reminder of all that God is doing to save me for his glory, that I listen it it once a year. If you’re snowed in the next few days in the Washington D.C. area, click here or on a sermon below and take some time to listen to these sermons.

• Christ is the Gospel
• Regeneration: The Initial Hope of Salvation
• Conversion: A Turning to Christ
• Justification: God’s Mighty Declaration of Salvation
• Sanctification: The Growth of the Gospel
• Adoption: The Divine Privilege of the Gospel
• Union With Christ: The Intimacy of the Gospel
• Glorification: The Expected Splendor of the Believer

Here’s the first sermon in the series:

I heartily commend these sermons to you. I pray often that God’s incomparable grace through the gospel will always be the theme and song of Grace Church of Alexandria. I’m thankful to Heritage Bible Church where Dan Brooks is a elder for sponsoring and supporting our church planting efforts here inside the D.C. beltway.

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Greetings from Cambridge UK! One of my roles is to serve students in their Christian lives. With each new group of students, I am privileged to see wonderful developments in each studentʼs thinking, personality and character. I sometimes get to walk with them through the classic choices about career and relationships, and I also follow some of their first steps after school.

Pressure to make choices about career and lifestyle builds up with each day closer to graduation. Even though most UK graduatesʼ first job is only a stopgap, choices about where and what and whom can loom ominously, convincing us that they are the biggest, most important decisions we face.

These questions do not disappear after school. The teachings of Jesus and the apostles make it clear that “Iʼll make sure I find a good church wherever I go” fails to respond fully to the remarkable work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our lives. But what should the church-related part of a Christianʼs lifestyle actually look like? Is there some “career path” equivalent or “lifelong learning” programme for the aims we can have in our Christian life?

The growing Christian lifestyle in community is the core topic of What is a Healthy Church Member, by Thabiti Anyabwile, former assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist in Washington DC, now a pastor in the Grand Cayman Islands. It is also a book given me by my brother Jonathan. Ten years ago, he urged me, “Nathan, you are Christʼs, and should above all aspire and train to serve Him in community through His church.” Of the books he has given me toward that purpose, this is the most practical and comprehensive. At 120 pages, it is also probably the shortest.

Anyabwileʼs listing of characteristics uses scripture to fill in areas derived from practical church life:

• How should we listen to sermons?
• What should characterise our Bible reading? Our purchase of Christian books?
• What role should the gospel play in the practical, daily life of a Christian? (three wonderful chapters on this)
• What kind of committment is necessary for us to be a church pleasing to God?
• What is church discipline, and how can we joyfully take up our responsibility for each otherʼs Christian life?
• What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ within the church community?
• What is a healthy attitude toward Christian leadership? How do we follow leadership as well as work together as a common body?
• How do we as the Church act in service to the invisible God through prayer?

This book is applicable for all kinds of church participants. In one chapter Anyabwile asks, “Are you genuinely converted?” Nothing is more tragic than someone who erroneously believes he or she is a Christian. In the same chapter, he also gives practical advice for experienced Christians, on gospel-focused living which helps others encounter true Christianity.

I love this book for the same reason I like Baxter’s sermon “How to spend the day with God”. It has a concise, well-structured format, which is perfect for reading on the bus or with a friend. Anyabwile doesnʼt pad the book with sermon illustrations; nor does he lose readers within a dense forest of bewildering theological arguments. Each chapter opens with an issue drawn from practical church life. Then, after setting out the argument, the chapters address common questions. Using one or two paragraphs per issue, Anyabwile presents the main areas to consider, explaining top scriptures for each issue. After the brief conclusion, readers are given questions for further reflection, followed by a great bibliography.

Clear, concise instructions from Scripture can be rigid and uncompassionate. This book however is saturated with Anyabwileʼs love for the church and experience with God. The following discussion of church discipline illustrates the loving nature of this book:

“DONʼT FORGET TO REJOICE!
It may be easy to think of church discipline only in terms of the grief and sorrow that accompany sin and the loss of a brother or sister. And such grief has its place (Matt. 5:4, 1 Cor. 5:2). But the entire process of discipline, from the formative work of the Word to the corrective work of the church in sometimes
removing an unrepentant member, should be undertaken with hope and the goal of repentance that leads to rejoicing and comfort (2 Cor. 2:6). We are endeavoring to win our brothers and sisters to the truth (James 5:19-20), and when that happens, we are to rejoice along with the courts of heaven.
[.....] Itʼs our delight to see the tracings of Godʼs handiwork displayed in the growth, repentance, and restoration of those who receive the grace of discipline” (p. 81).

If you do read this book, I urge you to read it over time, repeatedly, with someone in your Christian community. Its object is not an idea, but a way of life– and depravity is not easily overcome. Discuss it, with accountability, with your prayer buddy or your partner. I think that discussing it with someone in a different stage of life would be especially valuable. Grace Church of Alexandria gives a copy to every new member (”join now and get a free book”). This book is especially valuable for those expecting a big life change, and for people thinking about church planting.

Any good employee needs knowledge, skills, and experience in multiple areas. The same is true in our walk with God. While Thabiti Anyabwileʼs What is a Healthy Church Member isnʼt a detailed examination of doctrine, social action, or the theology of pet ownership, it provides a wonderful handbook to the big picture of Christian community life and growth.

J. Nathan Matias
Cambridge UK
20 Jan 2010

PS: 9 Marks is a ministry based in Washington DC and founded by Mark Dever (a former assistant pastor of Eden Baptist). Through their website 9marks.org, books, and church resources, they are working to promote these aims:

“We believe the local church is the focal point of God’s plan for displaying his glory to the nations. Our vision is simple: Churches that reflect the character of God.”

Give To Compassion International’s Haiti Disaster Relief

You can give now to Compassion International to provide emergency food and water to families and children affected by the earthquake. Simply text “disaster” to 90999 to give $10 to Compassion or give online here.

Give to Mission For Haiti

Friends from our sponsoring church lead Mission to Haiti, a Gospel ministry in Haiti. Pray that God will keep his people in Haiti safe and that the Spirit will minister Christ’s mercy through the believers of Mission To Haiti. Give now to support their effort.

Pray For the Fairfax Urban Search & Rescue Team

Seventy-two rescue personnel from Northern Virginia and 6 rescue canines are en route to Haiti. Keep in prayer the efforts of the Fairfax Urban Search & Rescue Team, one of the first U.S. teams on the ground after the earthquake. More from their web site here. Pray that God will grant them effectiveness and strength as they rescue people from the rubble.

UPDATE – 1.14.10 – Sarah Bennett, who helps run Mission For Haiti, was in the city of Jacmel, Haiti, and has not been heard from since the earthquake. She is a faithful sister in Christ from Heritage Bible Church that sponsors our church plant. We are continuing to pray for her safety and ministry to earthquake victims.

UPDATE – 1.14.10 – We’ve heard that Sarah Bennett is alive and well. Praise the Lord!

Why I Picked Up This Book

Lately God has led me through a lot of change and into increasing responsibility as a husband, discipler, and urban church planter. I’ve been asking myself, “How can I grow in maturity and wise living so I can honor God and influence others to Christ?”

Tim Challies’ book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment has led me to the answer. Challies has lit a fire in my heart to pour over Holy Scripture more, dependently seek God’s face in prayer, and think carefully about how to lead my family and our church. In his book, I’ve found an easy-to-understand guide to discerning what is best and what is unwise. This is a great read for every teen, college student, parent, and believer who feels pressure to make life-altering decisions and who wants to know how to live wisely in our sin-cursed and increasingly complex world.

What’s Inside?

Tim Challies methodically talks his readers through the need for discernment, its source, and the process of becoming a discerning believer. Chapters 1 and 2 issue a call for every believer to ground themselves deeper in God’s truth so we can navigate the times we are in. Challies alerts us that our culture, the Adversary, and even our own hearts are subtly working to push us off-track from honoring God. I was gripped by realizing how my desire to be right or viewed as competent has been an obstacle to receiving wise input in my life.

Chapters 3 to 5 demonstrate that discernment is based in a thorough and growing study of the Bible. The Spirit takes the truth we’ve learned and helps us apply it to the situations we face. The words of God are the yardstick by which we can measure every influence in life to discern between what is really true and what just has the appearance of truth. Also, our quest for discernment will succeed because God desires us to be discerning, grants us the Spirit’s presence to aid our discernment, and has spoken words of wisdom generously through the written Word.

This book is worth the cost just for Chapter 6 which tackles the pressing matter of how to find God’s will. Contemporary Christians desperately seek to know God’s personal will for their lives as though it were a holy grail. Challies removes the mystery shrouding God’s will by showing that God’s will is rooted in careful study of the Word, counsel from your elders and experienced Christians, and prayerful dependence on our Sovereign Lord.

Chapters 7 to 8 remind us that our pride easily twists God’s good gifts (like the gift of spiritual discernment) so that we disrupt Christian unity if we let “wisdom” get to our heads. Chapters 9 and 10 are intensely practical step-by-step guides that reveal where wisdom is found and how to discern between right and wrong, caution and boldness, and wise and unwise.

Why I Recommend It

You’ll quickly come to realize that Tim Challies is a regular everyday Christian like you who wants to honor God and is on a journey of maturing and growing like you. Since he’s sharing about his quest to grow in discernment, he writes in a practical, “how-to” way to which we all can relate. Challies is a faithful guide, for he points us away from subjective feelings-based ways of decision-making and instead points to knowing and enjoying God as the source of wisdom for skillfully living life. In his care to methodically his ideas to his readers, at times his writing can plod along and re-explain too much. Yet I found my heart deeply stirred throughout the book, realizing how much I need greater wisdom for living. I finished the book in awe of how accessible God makes wisdom available through Spirit-empowered study of the Word and growing relationships in my local church and with the Lord.

You can pick up a copy of The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment here or at the GraceBooks table on Sundays at Grace Church of Alexandria.

SGI National Conference is three days of biblical instruction, praise and worship of God’s greatness, networking with young people involved in missions efforts, and prayer for the nations. This year’s theme is “God’s Armor: Put It On.”

When: January 4-6, 2010

Where: Inter-City Baptist Church

Who: College students and young adults

How Much: Cost is $40 if you register by December 1, 2009. $50 if you register between December 1 and December 31, 2009. $60 if you register after January 2, 2010.

Register Now: Click here or Call 313.928.5222×506 (SGI Director Tim Aynes)

Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave proved to be very useful when I saw a drug dealer come to Christ and desire to stay out of the substance abuse that had captivated him. David Powlison’s Seeing With New Eyes helped me identify patterns of sin in my life and relate the cross to them so I could find the power to change.

I re-read Paul Tripp’s Instruments In the Redeemer’s Hands once a year as a refresher on how to let other Christians in my life for my growth, and how to encourage and disciple others. Right now I’m reading through How People Change (Tim Lane & Paul Tripp) and finding awesome hope and enablement for change in my life in the central truth of the atonement–that I am “in Christ,” I am united with Christ. War of Words by Paul Tripp is a deeply convicting read that helps Christians examine our speech patterns and daily conversations to make sure they’re serving our ruler Christ and not our own agendas.

And to think, all these titles and more are available from the publisher CCEF as a set for 52% off this week! Or click on each book title to explore that book and order it individually, if you don’t want them as a set.

Reading The Bruised Reed and the Smoking Flax by the early Puritan writer Richard Sibbes should be a priority for Christians. Have you wondered how to help the guy in your church who seems to continually beat himself up about his sin, and not see the Savior? Have you struggled with persistent sin in your own life and found little remedy? Our Men’s Community Group is reading and meditating through this book a little at a time, and it has been wonderfully convicting and helpful over the past few months.

The question this little book tries to answer is: How does Christ treat his own, the body of Christ, when we sin or feel weak? Through answering this question Sibbes also answers the application question: How are Christians to help struggling and weak Christians? How do we differentiate between the obstinate, non-repentant sinner and the Christian who sins and is bitterly remorseful over his sin but sees little way out of sin’s entrapment?

The “Good Doctor Sibbes” was an Anglican Puritan pastor and chaplain at Cambridge University for a time and a pastor in London as well. He had a keen insight into the common experience of everyday Christian life, and held up Christ at every opportunity to help his flock. This book, published in 1631, is a meditation on two parallel passages of scripture: Isaiah 42:1-4 and Matthew 12:18-21. Most specifically, he concentrates on the metaphor in Isa 42:3.

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench”

To Sibbes, this “bruised reed” was a Christian who admitted his own failing readily, and the smoking wick (or flax) was a Christian who did right, but at every turn smoke (or sin and corruption) was mingled with spiritual life (or fire). He spends the book marshaling scriptures together to show that the pattern of the Bible is that God treats his people a certain way, and we should live in light of the way God treats us, and therefore treat others as God has dealt with us.

The author also does a wonderful job of using rich metaphor to explain the scriptural principles and to give practical advice. Just as Jesus used the objects and activities around him to illustrate eternal principles, so Sibbes uses dozens of vivid illustrations from everyday life.

The best parts of this book are the pithy gems of wisdom hidden in just about every paragraph. For example:

“It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labor to give no offence, and the other to labor to take none. The best men are severe to themselves, tender over others.”

What a wonderful idea–on the one hand we should not be unnecessarily offensive, and on other when a Christian brother offends you, question why you do take offense!

Sibbes is also simple. The best writers in the world are not those who use flowery language to explain some supposed new truth. The best writers in the world write like this:

“Truth fears nothing so much as concealment, and desires nothing so much as clearly to be laid open to the view of all. When it is most unadorned, it is most lovely and powerful.”

My intention in the future is to share more of what we’re learning from The Bruised Reed. You can read it online here or buy it very inexpensively here.

The book of Proverbs can be hard to relate to our modern, technology-filled lives, but Selvaggio gives an effective blueprint for living out the Old Testament’s wisdom literature in the 21st century. His writing is engaging and practical, drawing vivid illustrations from his life and from experiences we all have had. As I read, my heart was filled with hope that I too can grow in honoring God by how I live, for Selvaggio constantly shows how Proverbs points ahead to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the motivation and power for change.

What You’ll Find In This Book
Part One, the first two chapters, make Proverbs accessible by giving tips for reading this ancient writing that is part of the Bible. Part Two challenges the hectic, fast-paced lives we lived by giving God’s perspective on work, laziness, and rest. Recognizing why God provides wealth and how to use our money for redemptive living is the focus of Part Three.

“Like Sam To Frodo” in Part Four offers helpful advice on building and growing friendships for God’s kingdom. The last sections, Parts Five and Six give practical examples from Proverbs on how to have a rewarding marriage, how to avoid sexual temptations that can overtake us, and how parents can rely on God’s empowering grace to disciple their children.

Why Read This Book?
I’ve found that Selvaggio’s book intersects with my everyday life. I’ve seen how the Cross should shape my words, my marriage, my work, my view of money. Particularly, I’ve discovered how God expects me to take time to rest genuinely from my busy lifestyle. My wife Christy can attest to the value of this book by how it’s helped me adjust and slow the pace at which we live.

At first, I was gently surprised that, at times, the book wanders away so much from the book of Proverbs and into other books of the Bible. But this is a strength because it applies Proverbs to our daily lives by drawing on the rest of the Bible to reinforce and illustrate what Proverbs is urging. Selvaggio’s writing is easy to digest and relate to our lives, especially because he gives purpose statements for every chapter and every section. I encourage you to pick up a copy.