By Pastor/Evangelist Barbara Lynch {As posted in this weeks bulletin October 15, 2023 through October 21, 2023}

TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

Where have My True Followers gone to? Just as Peter hid in the crowd, some have already begun to recede into the background, afraid they will be recognized and targeted by the dark side. Children, when you join the Army of God, you are on the front line, with no thoughts of retreat. There is not a clause in My Word that tells you that you can retreat when the gross darkness covers the earth.

When you pick up your cross, it is all in or nothing. When My Son Jesus of Nazareth took up His cross, He carried it to the very end. What did Paul say about his cross?
The apostle Paul wrote extensively about the cross of Jesus Christ and its significance in his letters to the early Christian communities. In his letter to Galatians 6:  14 – 16, he wrote, “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” He also wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ.”

In his letter to the Romans 6:  1 – 4 Paul wrote that “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.” He also wrote that “our old self was crucified with him” and that “you have died to the law through the body of Christ.

Paul was not ashamed of the cross.

1 Corinthians 1:  18 – 19 (NKJV) 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.
19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Paul believed that the cross held the key to salvation and ethics. He believed that just as Christ died and rose again, his followers may “crucify the flesh” and die to a life of sin.

Romans 1:  16 (MSG) It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else!

In summary, Paul saw the cross as a symbol of salvation and a way for Christians to die to their old selves and live a new life in Christ.

Today I am requiring you to take up your cross and follow me!

Matthew 16:  24 – 26, Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

Matthew 16:  24 – 26, Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

In Luke 9:  23, Jesus said to all, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”