Jump to navigation

Menu

Joshua Hawkins

  • About

      • Josh's message
      • Josh's ministry
      • Josh's story
  • Resources

    • Resource Types

      • Audio sermons
      • Articles
      • Teaching notes
      • Videos
      • Opening Up the Gospels videos
      • Recommended
    • Browse resources

      • By Author
      • By Scripture
      • By Series
      • By Topic
      • By Date

      Highlighted resources

      • Essential resources
      • Recently added
      • Most popular
    • Latest resource

      • Enduring Witness Documentary(Recommended Resource)

        From Abraham to the Hebrew prophets, hope in the faithful fulfillment of God’s promises shapes the unfolding story of the Bible. The consistency of Israel’s God and of His purposes endure throughout...

        Read more
  • Blog

  • Music

      • Discography
      • How I use my laptop on stage
  • Partner

    • Partner with Josh

      • Prayer
      • Donate
      • Frequently asked questions
      • Needs
      • Join Josh's partnership team

      Stay Connected

      • Ways to connect
      • Newsletter archive
  • Contact

Also, look for resources by Scripture, topic, or series.

You are here

  1. Home ›
  2. Resources ›
  3. Recommended

Recommended Resources

Here you will find books and other media that Josh recommends or has read.

General

Enduring Witness Documentary

From Abraham to the Hebrew prophets, hope in the faithful fulfillment of God’s promises shapes the unfolding story of the Bible. The consistency of Israel’s God and of His purposes endure throughout the biblical narrative and culminate in a great restoration for His covenant people. The good news proclaimed by John the Baptist, Jesus, and later His apostles has endured as God’s witness of that coming redemption and has offered to all nations the invitation to share in the future blessing and life.

How does the good news of this restoration encompass all the peoples of the earth?

How do the message and life of Jesus and of His earliest Jewish followers confirm the future promises contained in the Hebrew Bible?
How do we approach understanding this story and enacting our place within it?

Addressing these critical questions of faith, Enduring Witness seeks to explore the consistent story of the Bible and
the good news of Israel’s God coming to faithfully accomplish all of His promises.

Josh was interviewed for this documentary, and it's available to stream for FREE through this link or the button below.

Buy this resource

Covenant and Controversy documentaries

Covenant and Controversy is a five-part documentary series by Frontier Alliance International and explores the history and theology of the enduring controversy over the Jewish people, the Land of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem.

These documentaries are available to stream for FREE through Vimeo. Click this link or the button below.

Buy this resource

Foolishness to the Greeks by Lesslie Newbigin

How can biblical authority be a reality for those shaped by the modern world? This book treats the First World as a mission field, offering a unique perspective on the relationship between the gospel and current society by presenting an outsider's view of contemporary Western culture.

Buy this resource

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by E. Randolph Richards

What was clear to the original readers of Scripture is not always clear to us. Because of the cultural distance between the biblical world and our contemporary setting, we often bring modern Western biases to the text. Authors Brandon O'Brien and Randy Richards shed light on the ways that Western readers often misunderstand the cultural dynamics of the Bible. They identify nine key areas where modern Westerners have significantly different assumptions about what might be going on in a text.

Buy this resource

Topical

Poised for Harvest, Braced for Backlash by Timothy Miller

What are the true implications of the Holy Spirit backing up the gospel with power? What if you only had a short amount of time to train new disciples due to an outbreak of persecution? What would you need to deposit in a first round of disciples in order to catalyze a rapidly-expanding, New Testament-caliber movement whose adherents stay faithful to Jesus through trials and opposition? Drawing on his experiences in the Muslim world and other ministry contexts, Tim Miller examines these questions and more in Poised for Harvest, Braced for Backlash.

This book is a clear, succinct work that outlines a biblical theology of missions in light of the day of the Lord.

Buy this resource

The Radical Cross by A.W. Tozer

The Radical Cross is a powerful compilation of A. W. Tozer's inspired impressions on the cross of Christ. Arranged thematically, this thought-provoking book discusses The Radical Cross and its promises, its price, its purpose, its pain, its provisions and its paradox. It is a book that will challenge you to make the cross your own and to live the passion of Christ.

I'd highly recommend this book as a discipleship tool.

Buy this resource

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim

One of the best known and most important references on the life of Christ ever written, Alfred Edersheim's The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah is a storehouse of information on the background of the New Testament. This classic work successfully portrays the streets, the marketplaces, the religious conflicts, the people, and the places of Jesus' earthly ministry.

Edersheim arranges Jesus' life in chronological order. I've slowly progressed through this entire book, and it has opened up the gospels and the life of Christ to me in a way that causes me to love Him even more.

This book is not for bedtime reading, but I would highly recommend it for anyone.

Buy this resource

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper

This book is by far one of the most important small books a Christian could ever read, and it has completely changed my life and my perspective on the person of Jesus. John Piper's simple yet very deep language expounds on biblical truths about Jesus. Piper's premise, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" echoes throughout this book as He unveils "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). The chapters are very short (4-6 pages on average), which makes it an easy read. But the truth of Christ that we were made to behold and savor should not be eaten like fast food. Piper encourages you to savor every detail about the life, person, and glory of Christ, "in whom are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2).

I would highly recommend this book for the casual reader above everything else on this page!

Buy this resource

Heaven by Randy Alcorn

Is "Heaven" a remote, detached, harp-on-cloud, ethereal place? Most unsaved believe it is, and sadly, many Christians do as well. In this book, Randy Alcorn begins by breaking down many of the wrong ideas we have about life after death and then walks through the biblical view of the bodily resurrection and life on earth. Randy takes a good portion of the book to answer both expected and quirky questions about "heaven": will Christians drink coffee in heaven? Will there be homeownership, and what about sex? Will our pets be in heaven?

This book may be one of the most radical books you will ever read, because it will completely change how you perceive "heaven". It's not too "heady" and is a very easy read. I'd highly recommend it!

Buy this resource

Apostolic Foundations by Art Katz

The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). In his penetrating manner, Art seeks to capture the flavor and essential meaning of this most holy foundation. Few have adequately understood that unless the Church is built on this foundation, it is simply not the Church in any authentic way. I first heard Art speak back in 2005 and was completely clueless as to what he was saying though I felt a weightiness on my spirit. I began to read this book and the Lord convicted me of so many things regarding the state of the church, the condition of my own heart, and why we must contend for the restoration of the church as seen in the book of Acts.

Buy this resource

Entirety - Love Gives All by Dana Candler

God created us with an innate desire to be wholehearted—to love in a way that He Himself loves, entirely and without reservation. This book focuses on the nature of love to give all, both as it burns in God's heart and as it arises from ours. We can actually love God with full abandonment in the present and not just in the future. Our longing to be wholehearted can actually be answered as we give God everything today.

Buy this resource

Exposition, theology, commentary

The Separation of Church and Faith: Copernicus and the Jews by Daniel Gruber

In the time of Nicholas Copernicus, the heavens and all that was in them revolved around the earth. This was not a belief that needed to be argued, it was simply an observable fact. People could see it with their own eyes. Scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers affirmed it. Religious doctrine did too. There was, however, one small problem. The planets, though insignificant in size, moved in continual defiance of the enshrined system. By challenging the system and finding the true center, Copernicus began a revolution that transformed life on earth. This book is about a similar conceptual error in the religious and political systems enshrined today. It proposes a different center, challenging the prevailing systems, but accurately explaining and predicting the data.

Buy this resource

Paul Within Judaism by Mark Nanos

Modern assumptions about the apostle Paul is that he abandoned aspects of Jewish living after his discovery of Jesus as the Messiah. This has led to much anti-Semitism and a rift between Judaism and "Christianity", something that Paul never intended. This collection of essays from well-respected contributors explore the implications of reading Paul’s instructions in his letters as aimed at Christ-following non-Jews, teaching them how to live in ways consistent with Judaism while remaining non-Jews.

Buy this resource

The Gospel of Christ Crucified by John Harrigan

Back in 2010 I had the opportunity to hear some recordings of a class taught by the author of this book. As I listened and searched out the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit strengthened my faith in Jesus, stirred greater eagerness for His return, revealed my deep sinfulness and exalted the mercy of the Cross.

I don't say this lightly, but if you only read one book this year, let The Gospel of Christ Crucified be the one you read.

This book gives a clear, systematic, holistic presentation of the Gospel similar to a biblical theology, but arranged thematically to communicate the timeline of redemptive history. Beginning in Genesis and concluding in Revelation, it outlines the worldview of Jewish apocalypticism and holistically integrates a theology of the cross and martyrdom.

Buy this resource

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham

Over the past several hundred years, the testimony of the four Gospels have been criticized, scrutinized, and undermined by liberal scholarship. In this book, Richard Bauckham argues that the Gospels are not anonymous oral traditions passed down and recorded in writing, but rather testimonies of eyewitnesses who had actually been with Jesus.

Bauckham forcefully refutes the long-standing idea of "form criticism" and draws on internal evidence in the Gospels themselves to support his argument.

I would highly recommend this book for any reader of the Gospels and those seeking a deeper conviction of the truthfulness of them.

Buy this resource

Putting Jesus in His Place by Robert Bowman

The central theological distinctive of Christianity--that Jesus is God incarnate--has repeatedly come under fire from adherents to other religions and scholars who interpret Jesus as a prophet, angel, or guru. Putting Jesus in His Place is designed to introduce Christians to the wealth of biblical teaching on the deity of Christ. Using evidence from the New Testament, this book helps readers appreciate the significance of Christ's deity in a personal relationship with Him, and gives them the confidence to share the truth about Jesus with others.

Along with this book, I highly recommend Jesus and the God of Israel by Richard Bauckham.

Buy this resource

Jesus and the God of Israel by Richard Bauckham

One of the greatest claims of the New Testament is that Jesus of Nazareth is fully divine. Understanding what the New Testament reveals about Jesus is one of the most important things a Christian should understand. In this book, Richard Bauckham develops a "Christology of divine identity" that brings clarity to Second Temple Judaism's understanding of monotheism and includes Jesus in the unique identity of Israel's God.

I highly recommend this resource for all Christians and any serious student of Christology.

For a less scholarly, easier approach to Christology, I'd first recommend Putting Jesus in His Place by Robert Bowman.

Buy this resource

Bible Study

What is Biblical Theology? by James Hamilton, Jr.

The Bible recounts a single story—one that began at creation, encompasses our lives today, and will continue till Christ’s return and beyond. In this book, Jim Hamilton introduces us to this narrative, helping us understand the worldview of the biblical writers so that we can read the Old and New Testaments as those authors intended.

Buy this resource

Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson

David Pawson’s self-proclaimed life work, this massive book gives an overview of every book of the Bible, with historical background and modern-day examples with very simple, readable language. Reading Pawson’s chapter on a specific book will help you dramatically in understanding the Bible by giving you all of the relevant information on the Scripture. I highly recommend this resource!

Buy this resource

End times

When a Jew Rules the World by Joel Richardson

A day is coming when Jesus, or perhaps better understood as Yeshua of Nazareth, will return to the earth and establish an everlasting kingdom in Jerusalem. In this book, Joel Richardson paints a picture of what Jesus' coming earthly reign will be like. He strongly opposes the notion that gentile Christians have "replaced" the Jews and Israel as the people of promise. Joel also details the history of anti-Semitism within the church from the very beginning in what may be the most thorough repudiation of what has become known as “Replacement Theology,” or, as Richardson calls it, “Supersesessionism.”

Buy this resource

Unto Death by Dalton Thomas

Before Jesus returns, the scriptures make clear that the church will "fill up in [her] flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ" (Colossians 1:24), embodying the sufferings of Jesus as the highest witness to the world of the longsuffering love of God. Because much of the church in the West is unfamiliar with the normalcy of suffering for the Gospel, Dalton's book Unto Death is a critical message for the church in this hour.

Buy this resource

When Jesus Returns by David Pawson

This book is another great resource to get a simple, down-to-earth perspective of Biblical prophecy related to the end-times. David Pawson unpacks scripture in a clear manner that everyone can easily understand.

In these days of concern about the end-times, what is really known about Christ's second coming and how can we prepare for it? Christians everywhere await Christ's return. Will He come to the whole world or just one place? Soon and suddenly or after clear signs? What can He achieve by coming back here and how long will it take? David Pawson brings clarity and insight to these and many other vital issues surrounding the bodily return of Jesus Christ to our world. Based on a new approach to the interpretation of the book of Revelation, he discusses in detail the controversial and misunderstood subject of the "Rapture" and uncovers the true significance of the "Millennium".

Buy this resource

Updates from Joshua Hawkins

Quick links

  • Audio sermons
  • Articles
  • Teaching notes
  • Opening Up the Gospels
  • Blog
  • Live music with a laptop
  • Donate
  • Amazon

From twitter

  • @Josh_Reese1 Ha 😂 2 days 8 hours ago.

Partner with Josh

As a full-time minister of the gospel of Jesus, Josh raises his own financial support. Through your generous giving, you are planting seed in good soil that will bear fruit for the glory of Jesus. Find out more here.

Give now

All content Copyright ©2021 Joshua Hawkins
Site development by Hawkeye Design Group