1. Living in Christ's Presence by Dallas Willard and John Ortberg

This book is a transcript of a video series that I purchased. It is the last conference Dallas Willard ever gave and is on his "final words on heaven and the Kingdom of God." It is precious, and my friends borrow my DVD series so much that I decided to buy the book on my Kindle so I could always have it! I like having the written down version because I wrap my mind around it a bit better. Sometimes he can be difficult to read, but he was not difficult to listen to. Consequently, this transcript of the video series will be easier to grasp.  John Ortberg's talks are also quite good as I have always joked that John Ortberg's books were "Dallas Willard for Dummies" because Dallas sometimes is hard to grasp!  The interviews with Ortberg and Willard are also excellent. 

Dallas Willard was a seasoned saint and had so much to say about Christ-likeness! I ate up both the DVD series and this book.

Here are just a few quotes:

We have been through a period when the dominant theology simply had nothing to do with discipleship. It had to do with proper belief, with God seeing to it that individuals didn’t go to the bad place, but to the good place. But that developed in such a way that the predominant thought is that a person can have the worst character possible and still get into the good place if he believed the right thing. This disconnection became increasingly burdensome to the church itself until we came to the point that, as is widely discussed, there is not a clear difference between Christians and those who aren’t Christians.
Willard, Dallas; Ortberg, John (2013-12-26). Living in Christ's Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God (p. 10). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. 

Spiritual transformation is not about behavior modification. It is about changing the sources of behavior, so the behavior will take care of itself. When the mind is right and the heart is right and the body and the soul and the relationships that we have in our social world are right, the whole person simply steps into the way of Christ and lives there with joy and strength. It is not a struggle. One of the lies about the spiritual life is that it is hard. No, no. It is not hard. It is the easy way.

Willard, Dallas; Ortberg, John (2013-12-26). Living in Christ's Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God (p. 14). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.