Book Review – The Glory of Christ, R.C Sproul

If you’re a regular reader of Another King, like me, you’ll probably be quite confused or maybe amused that over our time of existence, we seem to be growing in numbers of authors whilst our number of ‘posts per month’ drop. I’ve decided to try and up my contribution to this particular Blog as i’m trying out a few tactics of using my Summer wisely, you’ll have to wait for a future post to find out more about that though….

The simplest means I could think of to try and pick up the slack of Another King was to review a book by R.C Sproul called ‘The Glory of Christ’. Firstly, some token information about the author: Dr. R.C. Sproul was born in 1939 in Pittsburgh and is the founder of Ligonier Ministries which is centred around educating and teaching, to top that all he has written over 50 books during his life.

The reason I wanted to review this book to you is that it is such a simple, but majestic read. Sproul takes you through Christ’s earthly life and ministry and shows how His glory can be seen in each and everyone of these moments. The chapters are all based around the specific area or focus of where the glory is to be found, for example, we have ‘Glory in the Fields’, ‘Glory in the Wilderness’, ‘Glory in the Upper Room’, ‘Glory on the Cross’, ‘Glory in the Return’; to name just a few. These chapters are short and so this book makes a wonderful compliment to your own time of personal devotions, the beauty of this is that Sproul takes just a few pages to highlight where the glory of Christ can be seen, even in a simple or everyday incident or location.The chapters also contain a great biblical-base and you’ll often find that Sproul is writing his own explanations and thoughts clearly alongside a given passage.

R.C Sproul

I’ve found that this book enabled me to have a growing realisation of the glory of Christ in my own life. As I read of how the glory of Him shone through in each of his actions, I found I began to have a growing knowledge of where He is working and how He is in control in every aspect. As Sproul says, ‘It is Christ, in his glory, who is the object of our worship and adoration’, I feel that this book will help you to realise, acknowledge and work this out day by day.

ESV Bible App and Son of Hamas Book

Two things I’ve stumbled across that might interest some of you.

ESV

Crossway’s new free ESV Bible App has many cool features which all work without an internet connection. It looks beautifully designed and is making me slightly envious of those who own a Iphone or Itouch. Download from Itunes.

Son of Hamas

Last year we mentioned the story of Mosab Hasson Yousef, the son of a leader from the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas who has become a Christian. Now he has written a book about his experiences and Challies concludes his review by saying  “This one is well worth reading. Buy a copy and marvel at God’s grace. Marvel at how God will go to great lengths to draw his people to himself.”

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

How are your Knees?

Now before you instantly close the page as you will probably think this is a post about osteoperosis or weak knees as the title would suggest, don’t! Its nothing to do with that!!

In an attempt to convince myself that I was using my Easter break wisely and revising I have put myself in my room, notes surrounding me on my desk and essay half typed…..and yet before long I was looking through the books on my shelf, and I came across one that really is a complete gem.

As I recall I think it was a purchase from the Boys Discovery Camp bookstall, entitled “The Man who couldn’t be Stopped”, and even though it’s been a while since I read it, I can still remember the things I learned from this magnificent story and I simply wanted to share a few of those things with you.

The book follows the life story of John Welch, who just couldn’t be stopped, as a boy he was stubborn, independent and had a mind of his own, he ran away from his Father and fell in with a gang of theieves and robbers, it seemed as if he had chosen his life and no one could stop him. “He had to get away from all the things that held him back and fenced him in and bound him down.”

But then young John met God, he left his sinful life behind and became a preacher with God as his strength, no one could stand in his way it seemed, known as one of Scotland’s most adventurous preachers, the son-in-law of John Knox caused a great stir among every one he encountered, even the Kings of France and England.

The book contains great truths about his life, how he saved many from a dreaded plague and as strange as it may sound, really did dodge a cannonball! He spent much of his time proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Head of the Church to any who would listen. However I wanted to share with you one of the most challenging things I took from the end of this book,

“So John and his family settled in London. And it was a time in their lives when there did not seem to be one gleam of light.

Even John’s health forsook him. Some doctors thought he had leprosy, other doctors thought he had been poisoned. Whatever it was, it left him so weak he could hardly move about, much less carry on at the pace he’d been used to all his life.

As if that were’t enough, some thing very peculiar had been happening t his knees. Those long nights of prayer had taken their toll; his knees had become calcified; they were as hard as the horns of cows. It rendered him almost incapable of walking. And if he had been able to get around, it would have done him no good, for he had been forbidden to preach.”

So people who are reading this, how are your knees? I am also trying to strengthen my prayer life as it is such an important function of successful Christian living, by no means am I making an idol out of Welch here, but we must admire his spirit and verve for prayer, he used it to talk to his God about any thing that concerned him, he prayed for people he knew, people he didn’t, the church, the country, relatives, praised God in adoration, spent much time in confession, and much much more.

Consider getting down on your knees a few times today perhaps, and thank God for the privellege of prayer and his eternal provision for His people.

John Welch, a Man who couldn’t be Stopped.