The Captivating Cross

Sermon by Pastor Jim:

1 Cor.2:1-5
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,  
4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 
5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 

The message of the cross is the resource of God's power.
To convert those who receive it!
To condemn those who reject it!

1 Cor.1:17-31
18 For the word of the cross is folly 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 the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." 
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of 
God. 
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 
28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 
29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 
31 so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 

The preaching of the cross is the response of God's people!
Let's own the preaching event as a community of faith!


Pray for it in advance.
Plan for it in your schedule.
Prepare for it in your heart.
Participate in it every week.
Process it when it's over.
Practice it in your life.

Let's approach the preaching event as an act of worship!

Nehemiah 8:1-8
1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 
2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 
3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 
4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 
5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. 
6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen,"lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. 
7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites,helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 
8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 

Ps. 56:4, 10
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? 
10 In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,

Ps.119:48
48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. 

Ps.130:5-7
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. 
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 

Ps.138:2
2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

God has chosen a foolish message of atonement--the cross!
God has chosen a foolish method to advance it--preaching!
God has chosen foolish men and women to announce it--us!
WHY? So when He releases His power to transform lives, we can draw only one conclusion:
"ONLY GOD COULD HAVE DONE THAT!!!"

Bring your bible so you can interact with God's voice.
Record your insights so you can reflect on God's voice.
Express your emotions when prompted by God's voice.
Still your spirit when overwhelmed by God's voice.

Let's receive the message from God not about just about God.

Gen.1:26-27
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Gen.3:22
22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--"

 Ps.17:15
15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. 

Romans 8:29-30
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

2 Cor.3:17-18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Galatians 4:19
19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 

Phil.3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. 

Col.3:9-10
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

2 Peter 1:2-4

2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 
4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 


1 John 3:2
2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 

Rev.21:1
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 

Rev.22:2,4
2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 

Expect the sermon to recreate you, not merely rehabilitate you.
Expect the sermon to make you Godly, not just give you guidance.
Expect the sermon to provide transformation , no just information.

Let's resolve to magnify the message of the gospel ALONE.

1 Cor.2:2
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Luke 9:23-24
23 And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 
24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 

2 Cor.4:10
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Phil.3:8-11
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-- 
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 

Listen for the crucified LORD in every sermon.
Look for the crucified LIFE in every sermon.

Crucified is a continual state!

Lord, we do loose sight of crucified being a continual state, and how we are to die to ourselves everyday and live to You. This message is filled with hope, open hearts to receive it. There are some who want to hear this message and some who want to stop it. By Your power it will flow as living water. Amen