Beginners-Bible Study/Doctrine

I will spend the next couple of posts recommending certain resources for 4 different areas of the Christian life: bible study/reading, doctrine, christian living, and equipping. I am also further breaking them down into 3 groups of beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Yes, I could have used John's language of children, young men, and fathers, but then we might all be tempted to be proud of whichever group we're in. I am sure there could be more categories but we will focus on these for the sake of simplicity. If you have any suggestions of books that I might leave out or some that belong in different categories like intermediate vs. beginners, I am open to suggestions. Here's my 2 cents of resource recommendation for beginners in Bible Study and Doctrine:

Bible Study

• Reading Through Bible in 1 Year
• MacArthur Scripture Memory System—Helpful system that gives you a broad array of important Scriptures to feast upon throughout the year.
• Six Steps to Reading Your Bible by Matthias Media

Bible Doctrine—Beginner•

• Fundamental of the Faith by John MacArthur—excellent workbook with 13 lessons that cover the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. It also works well for unbelievers as long as you keep going back to the gospel. Essential for any new believer. It is now published by Moody and contains an MP3 CD with 13 sermons that cover each topic.
• Bitesize Theology by Peter Jeffrey—excellent little book that introduces different important theological terms such as election, justification, etc. Each chapter has suggested Scriptures to study. It is simple and yet profound.
• Basic Christianity by John Stott—excellent book for an unbeliever or a new believer. Covers some common objections that unbelievers might have concerning Christianity.
• Right With God by John Blanchard—excellent book for an unbeliever or a new believer. It’s abridged form is found in the famous pamphlet Ultimate Questions. A helpful and simple explanation of the gospel.
• Chosen by God by Sproul—excellent introduction to the doctrines of grace. Sproul is a master at taking rich and hard to understand theological truths in a very clear manner. DVD is also available.
• Holiness of God by Sproul—life changing book that will drive you to bow in wonder and awe at the Tri-Holy God. DVD is also available.
• Knowing God by J. I. Packer—excellent work for a person to feast upon the character of God. You will understand why it is considered a classic if you read it. It might be pushing it to place this in the beginner's categories, but my dad gave it to me when I was about 14. I think most beginners could handle it.
• Hard to Believe by John MacArthur—excellent book for a new believer or unbeliever to explain the high cost of following Christ. I consider it a popular version of The Gospel According to Jesus.

That's all for now.