Update: Congratulations to Mike Cummins! You won the free copy of Uneclipsing the Son! I guarantee you that you will enjoy it, and trust you will more enjoy the Savior because of it. Please check the email address you used to enter the drawing for details on how to collect your prize. For everyone else, I wish you all could have won a free copy of this book. But the good news is that you can still benefit from the theologically-solid and pastorally tender wisdom in this 150-pager from Rick Holland by purchasing a copy (or two!) from Kress Biblical Resources.
So the other day, Kress Biblical Resources—a fantastic, faithful Christian publishing company—announced that they were giving away five free copies of Rick Holland’s new book, Uneclipsing the Son, for those who would email them and enter the drawing. Now, I had already read Rick’s book and had given away 12 copies, but I figured this would be a perfect opportunity for me to give away five more. So I emailed to enter.
I didn’t win. But thanks to the fine folks at Kress what I did get was the opportunity to do the first book giveaway here at The Cripplegate! They graciously offered to give away a copy of Uneclipsing the Son to one of our wonderful readers (US or international!), and I jumped at the chance. Like I said, I’ve already given away 12 of these, and I hope to give away even more. Rick has done a great service to the Church in writing on this most foundational issue, and you would be doing yourself a favor to get it, read it, give a few copies away, and convince your small group leader to plan on going through it for your next series. If you don’t win today’s giveaway, consider picking up a copy of the book from Kress. If you’d like to know more about Uneclipsing the Son, see below for a brief synopsis.
How to Win
Each person can submit up to four entries in our drawing. Remember, the more times you enter the greater your chances are of winning! Using the PunchTab form below:
- Like this post on Facebook.
- Leave a comment on this post, answering the question: “What one topic would you like to see the guys at The Cripplegate write about?”
- Like The Cripplegate’s Facebook page.
- Tweet this post.
The entries will close tonight at 11:00 PM Pacific Time. At that point, I’ll randomly pick a name from all of the entries and will announce our winner via an update of the original post. (Note: You must use the PunchTab form or there will be no way for me to track your entries. If you’re worrying about giving it access to your Facebook account, I was too. Don’t be. It’s an incredibly safe, non-invasive tool.)
Can’t See the Form?: If you are reading this via Facebook or RSS, please visit the blog to enter. If you are at the blog, trying hitting the “refresh” button in your browser.
A Brief Synopsis
Hebrews 12:1–2 defines the Christian life as the running of a race. And just as a runner in the Olympic games must ignore all distractions and set his gaze on the finish line, so the marathon of the Christian life is to be run with the Christian’s eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith. 2 Corinthians 3:18 teaches us that the means of our sanctification—that is, the way in which we are transformed more and more into the image of Jesus Christ—is the beholding of the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ (cf. 2Cor 4:6). In John 14:21, Jesus promises that He will disclose Himself to the one who has His commandments and keeps them. And in Ephesians 1:18, Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know the fullness of the glories of our identity in Christ. And so it is proper to conclude that a foundational component of faithfully living the Christian life is seeing Jesus as He has revealed Himself in Scripture, and, treasuring what we see, living in a way that communicates the gloriousness of that vision to the world.
Our dear brother, Rick Holland—who up until last month served as the Executive Pastor and College Pastor at Grace Community Church, and who is now serving as the Senior Pastor of Mission Road Bible Church in Prairie Village, Kansas—has written Uneclipsing the Son to do just that: to help identify and eliminate those things in your life which pull a veil over the eyes of your heart and obscure, or eclipse, that magnificent vision of your Savior. As Rick writes at the end of chapter 1, “It is possible to see something and not grasp its worth” (12). In fact, all sin has at its root the failure to properly see and esteem the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Frankly, it is the ignorance of this dynamic in the believer’s life that keeps many Christians in the spiritual doldrums: the Bible becomes nothing more than words on a page, prayer becomes shallow and is a burden, church becomes merely another appointment on the calendar, and our familiar sins keep getting the better of us. This book has as its aim, then, to aid those of us who love to sing and pray to God that He alone would “be our vision” and “first in our heart” to do our part in ridding from our spiritual sight those things which eclipse the glory of the Son.
The reason that I think this book is so important is because it meets believers right where we all live: in the middle of our sanctification. It helpfully asks and faithfully answers the following questions:
- “What’s so great about the Gospel?” (Chapter 2)
- “What does it mean to have eternal life now?” (Chapter 3)
- “Why does God’s transcendence and immanence pose a problem for humanity, and how does Jesus solve it?” (Chapter 4)
- “How do I live with, live for, and experience a relationship with an invisible Savior?” (Chapter 5)
- “How do I see Christ while He’s not personally present?” (Chapter 6)
- “What idols have I erected in my heart that obscure my vision of Jesus?” (Chapter 7)
- “What role does the local church play in helping me uneclipse the Son?” (Chapter 8 )
- “What role does the Lord’s Table play in helping me uneclipse the Son?” (Chapter 9)
- “What are the consequences of an uneclipsed sight of Jesus?” (Chapter 10)
- “How do I go about uneclipsing the Son in my life?” (Chapter 11)
At the end of his message on 1 Peter 5 at the 2011 Shepherds’ Conference, Rick instructed the pastors in attendance that their task is “to walk hand in hand with our Savior, walk hand in hand with our people, bring them together, and then get out of the way and watch the joy.” Through Uneclipsing the Son Rick has faithfully discharged that task in my life. He has shepherded me along to a greater, fuller sight of the glory of God revealed in the face of Christ.
This book isn’t a magic zap that will cause all your struggles with sin to vanish. It’s not a “get-sanctified-quick” pill. But it is a thoughtful, pastorally helpful treatment of how we are to go about living the Christian life. The one who will benefit from its wisdom most greatly is the one who reads it slowly, prayerfully, and repeatedly. I intend to do that again. I hope you will too.