Sermon Central
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The Way Of The Cross Pt I Series
Contributed by Samuel Stephens on Mar 8, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: The gift of the cross, and the way to the cross so that we might recieve the gift!
The Way of the Cross
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
The cross is given to us by Our heavenly father as the greatest gift we will ever come to know.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!
God Loved us so much that He made such great sacrifices for us to give us such an awesome gift. This gift is His Son Jesus Christ crucified on Calvary’s Cross. The gift is free, there is no charge for it! People have lost their souls trying to buy it, sell it, and yes even make a profit from it! God has made it freely available to all, rich, poor, black, red, yellow, brown, and white alike! The employed, unemployed, the underemployed, God has made it free to all!
The Gift!
Most of us realize that God gave us the gift when Jesus died on the cross. Some of the Saints of old, made it plain for us and stated that we received the gift when became aware of the cross. How many remember those great hymns of old we used to sing like “Glory to His name”?
Down at the cross where my Savior died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His Name!
Refrain
Glory to His Name, glory to His Name:
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His Name!
I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within;
There at the cross where He took me in;
Glory to His Name!
Refrain
Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in;
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean;
Glory to His Name!
Refrain
Come to this fountain so rich and sweet,
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior’s feet;
Plunge in today, and be made complete;
Glory to His Name!
I want to draw your attention to a little known fact. That you have the cross as part of your make up and design. It is as if the creator has already, signed you with the cross, and we just need to be filled with the Holy Ghost so we can be delivered! Stevie Wonder would has just said “signed, sealed, and delivered, baby I am yours!”
Most of us are unaware, that God has his stamp on us! We belong to him! When someone makes a product or manufactures something they usually put a trade mark or stamp on it so that others will know who made it. The stamp or mark is also useful in case for some reason the product needs to be returned to the manufacture for any reason, it might become broken, it might malfunction, some of the parts might wear out, some unknown defect might show up down the road, and the product will need to be recalled so the manufacture can make repairs.
Most of us are not aware, but God has put his stamp on us! There is a protein in the body called laminin.
Laminin is a glycoprotein component of connective tissue basement membrane that promotes cell adhesion in the body.
In other words Laminin is like the glue that holds the body together! If all the Laminin were to be removed from your body, you would dissipate, the cells that make up your body would no longer be connected, and would just float off into nowhere! Poof! We would be gone … just like that!
Laminin is refer to as the basement protein, the sheets of protein that form the substrate of all internal organs. It is also referred to as the basement membrane. It is the cell adhesion molecule.
Laminin is formed into three separate chains, A1, B1 and B2. This gives it 6 separate ends that are useful in hold things together. Louie Giglio does a wonderful series on it on utube.
Now I must warn you that any sane reasonable person who comes into this knowledge will be responsible for what you do with it. Right now you might have a little more mercy, you can say I am still waiting on a revelation, but once you receive it! You are responsible for what you know!
Laminin when you look at the structure of laminin, you will find it is in the shape of a cross. The A1 strand is the center, and the B1 and B2 strand form a shape of the cross. Wow, when we think that the stuff that holds us together is in the shape of the cross of our lord! How cool is that? To think that the glue that God uses to hold us together is in the shape of a cross!
