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Lift Jesus Up
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
1 Corinthians 1:17
17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Human Wisdom = No Power
Matthew 16:24-26
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
The cross is the place where your love and obedience to the Lord becomes painful. The pain usually comes from people who are outside the covenant. When the cross is fully realized it will actually bring physical death to an individual.
Two reasons to suffer
1 Peter 2:20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
Your Cross; May Effect Others
Matthew 27:32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.
You may have to carry someone else’s cross.
The Cross; Misunderstood
Matthew 27:40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
The world, inspired by the agenda of Satan, will call to you to stop suffering or sacrificing for the Lord. Listen to your flesh and take the path of least resistance.
Matthew 27:42 "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
One specific demonic strategy will be to ridicule the person going through suffering even quoting the verses that have to do with God’s blessings. Perhaps saying, “Well if they had been obedient and done what was right, none of this would’ve happened.”
Acts 2:23 This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Our cross will not catch God by surprise.
Remember what happened to Joseph and his proclamation to his brothers when the fruition of his vision came to pass.
Genesis 45:4-8
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.
The Cross, a Place of Unity
Ephesians 2:13-16
13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
Colossians 2:14,15
14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
In conclusion the cross gives us victory over the regulations of the law and victory over Satan and demonic principalities.
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Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501
(870) 793-9124
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