Bobby Jamieson

Sound doctrine is the life-blood of God's people, providing the foundation for the church's unity and witness. This short, readable book speaks to the importance of good theology for godly living. Part of the 9Marks Building Healthy Churches series.

How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God

Sound Doctrine

A man who’s been transformed by Christ and desires to preach the gospel might say he feels called to be a pastor. This personal conviction, while heartfelt, doesn’t acknowledge important, challenging steps necessary to be a qualified leader. So where should full-time ministry begin? In The Path to Being a Pastor, Bobby Jamieson explains why it’s better to emphasize “aspiration” over “calling” as men pursue the office of elder and encourages readers to make sure they are pastorally gifted before considering the role. He shares from his own eleven-year experience preparing to be a pastor by walking potential leaders through different stages of ministry training, from practical steps—such as cultivating godly ambition and leadership, observing healthy churches, and mastering Scripture—to personal advice on building a strong family and succeeding in seminary. Emphasizing the importance of prayer, godly counsel, and immersion in the local church, Jamieson encourages men to ask Am I qualified? instead of Am I called? when considering a life in ministry.

A Guide for the Aspiring

The Path to Being a Pastor

What's the big deal about baptism? Jesus commands his disciples to be baptized, and it’s a glorious picture of a person’s union with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Still, many Christians feel unclear about the topic, having more questions than answers. This short work provides a biblical explanation of baptism. What is it? Who should be baptized? Why is it required for church membership? And how should churches practice baptism?

Understanding Baptism

Path to Being a Pastor

Many new believers have questions about what it means to live as a Christian in the context of a local church, and pastors are looking for resources to pass along to their congregations to help them think biblically about the Christian life. Church Questions is a series by 9Marks that seeks to provide Christians with sound and accessible biblical teaching by answering common questions about church life. Each booklet offers biblical answers and practical applications with the goal of nurturing healthy church practice and commitment. This booklet unpacks Scripture’s teaching on the importance of baptism in the local church by responding to 7 reasons that baptism is often neglected as well as answering 3 common questions about baptism.

Why Should I Be Baptized?

WINNER OF THE CHRISTIANITY TODAY BOOK AWARD AND THE GOSPEL COALITION BOOK AWARD • How can you be happy? Who can show you the path to happiness? Pastor Bobby Jamieson shatters our illusions of what will make us happy and blazes a surprisingly simple trail to resilient joy. “Bobby Jamieson brings an ancient text to bear on the challenge of living fully. The result is fresh, direct, and enlivening.”—Matthew B. Crawford, New York Times bestselling author of Shop Class as Soul Craft Does it feel like you should be happy, and want to be happy, and try to be happy, but somehow you just can’t be happy? One way to be unhappy is not getting what you most want. Another way is to get all you could possibly want…only to discover that everything is not enough. The writer of Ecclesiastes did it all. He had money, education, possessions, sex, and power—everything the modern world promises will bring joy—and yet he was never satisfied. And from his discontent, we benefit and find a surprisingly simple trail to lasting joy. In this thoughtful exploration of Ecclesiastes, which speaks to all of us who feel restless and unfulfilled, Pastor Bobby Jamieson: • teaches us how placing life on an eternal horizon empowers us to experience joy no matter our circumstances • puts Ecclesiastes into dialogue with profoundly insightful critics of modernity to show that life in the modern West is a conveyor belt toward burnout • helps us dismantle our false hopes one by one, clearing ground for true satisfaction Poetic yet straightforward, philosophical yet accessible, Everything Is Never Enough frees us to stop grasping at broken promises and start receiving life as a gift of God’s grace.

Ecclesiastes' Surprising Path to Resilient Happiness

Everything Is Never Enough

How can you be happy? Who can show you the path to happiness? Pastor Bobby Jamieson shatters our illusions of what will make us happy and blazes a surprisingly simple trail to resilient joy. “Bobby Jamieson brings an ancient text to bear on the challenge of living fully. The result is fresh, direct, and enlivening.”—Matthew B. Crawford, New York Times bestselling author of Shop Class as Soul Craft Does it feel like you should be happy, and want to be happy, and try to be happy, but somehow you just can’t be happy? One way to be unhappy is not getting what you most want. Another way is to get all you could possibly want…only to discover that everything is not enough. The writer of Ecclesiastes did it all. He had money, education, possessions, sex, and power—everything the modern world promises will bring joy—and yet he was never satisfied. And from his discontent, we benefit and find a surprisingly simple trail to lasting joy. In this thoughtful exploration of Ecclesiastes, which speaks to all of us who feel restless and unfulfilled, Pastor Bobby Jamieson: • teaches us how placing life on an eternal horizon empowers us to experience joy no matter our circumstances • puts Ecclesiastes into dialogue with profoundly insightful critics of modernity to show that life in the modern West is a conveyor belt toward burnout • helps us dismantle our false hopes one by one, clearing ground for true satisfaction Poetic yet straightforward, philosophical yet accessible, Everything Is Never Enough frees us to stop grasping at broken promises and start receiving life as a gift of God’s grace.

Kevin DeYoung

Andy Johnson

Michael Lawrence

Rosaria Butterfield

Jonathan Leeman

Albert Mohler

Tom Schreiner

Alex Strauch

Greg Turner

Our culture's assault on gender differences and authority is generationally urgent because it's unique to this Western moment, this time and place. So we must not take either set of problems out of our sights: the generationally urgent challenges to difference and authority andthe universally chronic challenge to equality. All this leads to our present moment: a reckoning for complementarianism.The task for complementarians more than ever is to continue reforming ourselves according to God's Word. We must work to understand authority and difference as well as equality from the Bible. A right understanding and practice of each will be the best defense against abuse and abdication both. That way we will "Keep [our] conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when we speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2:12).

A Moment of Reckoning

Complementarianism | 9Marks Journal

David King

Paul Tautges

Todd Wilson

Scott Swain

Sam Emadi

Samuel Parkinson

Caleb Greggsen

Ryan Robertson

Eugene Low

Tyler Wittman

The Foundation for Faithful Ministry

Discipleship was one of the central themes of Jesus' teaching, yet it is not a major emphasis today for many churches. This short study guide explores the Bible's teaching on discipleship, showing the centrality of discipleship in the Christian life.

Discipleship in the Church

Tulung-Tulong sa Paglago (Growing One Another) (Taglish)

Baptism is a public sign that a Christian has been brought from death to life. This volume in the 9Marks Church Questions series unpacks Scripture's teaching on the necessity of baptism for the life and growth of the local church body.

Why did Jesus give the church a meal to eat together? The Lord's Supper isn't just something churches do together, it's something that binds us together, making many into one. This accessible work biblically explains what the Lord's Supper is, how it relates to a local church's life together, who should celebrate the Lord's Supper, and how we should approach it.

认识主餐 (Understanding the Lord's Supper) (Simplified Chinese)

Jesus commands his disciples to be baptized, and it's a glorious picture of a person's union with Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. This short work provides a biblical explanation of baptism.

Understanding Baptism (Kurdish)

Part of the 9Marks Healthy Church Study Guide series, this study examines key biblical images of the church to help participants discover what the church should look like and how it should operate.

The Church

Built Upon the Rock

After his resurrection, Jesus commanded his disciples to go and "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them" (Matthew 28:19). In this booklet, pastor Bobby Jamieson unpacks Scripture's teaching on the importance of baptism in the local church, responding to seven reasons people often give for not being baptized.

Why Should I Be Baptized? (Kurdish)

The Lord's Supper isn't just something churches do together, it's something that binds us together, making many into one.

Understanding the Lord's Supper (Kurdish)

Expositional preaching gives life and health to the church. It shapes, forms, and reforms the church, and it reveals the character of God. Participants will learn to understand their joyful responsibility in sitting under a pastor’s teaching, and pastors will be encouraged to preach expositionally—from the Bible! The 9Marks Healthy Church Study Guide series is a series of ten 6–7 week studies covering the nine distinctives of a healthy church as originally laid out in Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever. This series explores the biblical foundations of key aspects of the church, helping Christians to live out those realities as members of a local body. Conveniently packaged and accessibly written, the format of this series is guided, inductive discussion of Scripture passages and is ideal for use in Sunday school, church-wide studies, or small group contexts.

Expositional Preaching

Hearing God's Word

Because it can be abused, leadership is a risky business for those in it and those under it. But God has good plans for leadership within the church. This study explores God’s plans for authority by focusing on God’s revelation of himself as shepherd, and how God calls leaders to image him. The rest of the study looks at the special responsibilities and roles within the church, fulfilled by elders, deacons, and church members themselves. A series of ten 6–7 week studies covering the nine distinctives of a healthy church as originally laid out in Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever. This series explores the biblical foundations of key aspects of the church, helping Christians to live out those realities as members of a local body. Conveniently packaged and accessibly written, the format of this series is guided, inductive discussion of Scripture passages and is ideal for use in Sunday school, church-wide studies, or small group contexts.

Church Leadership

Leading One Another

This study answers the question: Why join a church? By seeing the scriptural reasoning for becoming a church member, participants will also learn what it looks like to be a healthy member and how to serve well within their local congregation. A series of ten 6–7 week studies covering the nine distinctives of a healthy church as originally laid out in Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever. This series explores the biblical foundations of key aspects of the church, helping Christians to live out those realities as members of a local body. Conveniently packaged and accessibly written, the format of this series is guided, inductive discussion of Scripture passages and is ideal for use in Sunday school, church-wide studies, or small group contexts.

Bobby Jamieson

Books

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