Not A Fan. - The Cross

Fan:
\ˈfan\
noun
an enthusiastic admirer

“Jesus never asked us to sit on the sidelines and cheer for His cause…”
~ Craig Groeschel ~

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Luke 9:23

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…”
John 10:18

What have we sacrificed in return???

“When Christ calls a man, He bids him-Come and Die…”
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer ~

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:18

Why would God use a symbol of torture, of death, of weakness to save the world?

Does the cross represent WEAKNESS or does it represent STRENGTH …?

“Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles… for the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
1 Corinthians 1:22

Who else but God…
• …could take a cross that represented defeat-And turn it into a symbol of victory?
• …could take a cross that represented guilt-And turn it into a symbol for grace?
• …could take a cross that represented condemnation-And turn it into a symbol of freedom ?
• …could take a cross that represented pain and suffering-And turn it into a symbol of healing and hope?
• …could take a cross that represented death-And turn it into a symbol of life?

When you are at your weakest - you are exactly where you need to be for God to be the strongest!

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
1 Corinthians 1:27

“I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in…” (and Paul gives us this list of “not so comfortable” things) weakness, insults, hardships, persecution and difficulties) and he concludes–“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Strength comes when we realize our weakness.

Will you, like Christ did before us, trust God enough to let your weakness be His strength, will you trust Him to make all things new for you???

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-15

There’s no comfortable way to carry a cross…

“For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for Him…”
Philippians 1:29

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4

Christ says, “Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out.”
~ C. S. Lewis ~

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”
Matthew 16:25