Christ Magnified Glorifying Jesus by Your Life Hollandsworth Book Review

Christ Magnified:
Glorifying Jesus by Your Life
James S. Hollandsworth, author

Christ Magnified: Glorifying Jesus by Your Life
James S. Hollandsworth, author

Holly Publishing, 2016
ISBN 978-0-996359-627

129 pages

6 x 9 inches, 23 cm.

List price $11.99

Holly Publishing

Holly Publishing is the trade publishing name for James Hollandsworth and KingdomPreparation.com

This blog post by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

Book Review: Review: Christ magnified: Glorifying Jesus by Your Life

About James Hollandsworth

Until being called as pastor to Tri-City Baptist Church in Forest City, North Carolina, Hollandsworth was employed by corporations in the field of finance.  His educational background includes a Master of Arts degree in biblical studies.

The Purpose

(p.3)   The purpose of this book is to demonstrate from the Scriptures how we, as children of God, can magnify Christ and reflect Him by our Lives.

Key Point (from the book cover)

Man exists for one primary purpose, to glorify God. We glorify Him by magnifying His Son, Jesus Christ, reflecting His image to the world around us.  Concentrating on how to glorify Jesus is like studying a multi-faceted diamond.  There are no many different ways of looking at it and beholding its beauty.  Each of the chapters in this book discusses a particular angle on glorifying Him in our lives.

The Book’s Theological Starting Point: Once saved, always saved.

Doctrine of Eternal Security: Eternal security is the teaching that a Christian cannot lose his salvation because he is "eternally secure" in the work of Christ. Soure: CARM

Overview/Summary

Hollandsworth writes to encourage Christians to live a life that glorifies Jesus Christ from the soteriological position of once saved, always saved.  From this point of view he encourages those who live according to biblical teaching to continue, and more specifically his purpose is to lead those who are saved but still live in sin to change their ways. 

To this end he defines two forms of righteousness:Forensic righteousness occurs at the time of salvation, i.e. justification.
Moral righteousness, or sanctification, is what happens experientially through living righteously every day.  Hollandsworth calls this a Jesus Mindset.

The Subset of Christians: Co-Regents or Firstborn Sons of God

From the belief in a one point in time, guaranteed salvation, the author tells Christians that there are eternal consequences for not living a Godly life--a lesser quality of life in Heaven. 

From the whole group who have received a once for all time salvation, Hollandsworth states that there is a subset who have chosen to remain in communion (i.e. conformed to Christ) with Jesus Christ. This subset he calls the co-regents or firstborn sons of God.  

The co-regents will rule on earth with Christ during the millennial period, will have a higher or better position in Heaven, and will have a more beautiful heavenly body.  The heavenly body displays the “measure of glory” as a special reward for living rightly.  Those with a greater measure will have a whiter robe and more glow while the resurrected saints who didn’t live according to the Spirit will live in Heaven in a resurrected shameful body.

Conclusion

In Christ Glorified, author James Hollandsworth sets out to show how Christians in their daily lives can live in a manner that glorifies God.  The book covers daily living as taught in the Holy Bible, the consequences of not living according to Scripture, and rewards that come from doing so along with the future of those who have received guaranteed salvation but do not conform to a Godly life.  The book focuses toward those who call themselves Christian.  A large part of the book centers on differences between what I would call nominal Christians and those who immerse themselves in Spirit-filled living. Describing a reward system of merit and demerit waiting for all Christians.