Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me

Have you ever had to suffer for Christ? The Word of God clearly tells us that Jesus came to give us peace, joy, and assurance, but it also tells us that we are to take up our cross and follow Him. This can be a confusing thought. In this week’s sermon – the second message on the theme, A Mature Witness – we will talk about persecution and suffering in our day.

Scripture: Matthew 16:21-26

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What 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?


Renewing Reflections

It is our prayer that Renewing Reflections will be a blessing in your life this coming week. This quote is taken from the sermon How Great Is Your Commitment? Delivered on Christian Crusaders January 24, 2010:

How great is your commitment? We all would like to admit that much growth is needed in our commitment to him, but as we examine our lives, we can say with Paul that God is at work in our lives. We have not arrived where we want to be, but we press on. Neither are we satisfied with our commitment to our Savior, but neither are we discouraged for we feel his presence.


Seventy-Six Years of Broadcasting Biblical Truth

In 2005, the Board of Directors of Christian Crusaders asked Rev. Steven Kramer to serve as Associate Speaker. In this capacity, Rev. Kramer will preach eleven times this year, and eventually will succeed Rev. Larsen upon his retirement. Rev. Kramer is currently serving as the senior pastor of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Afton, Minnesota.

A staff of three employees, the Executive Director, Administrative Assistant, and Financial/Office Assistant, take care of the daily functions and responsibilities of the ministry. Volunteers help with mailings and other tasks.

Totally supported by donations from its beginning, Christian Crusaders relies on the gifts of listeners – through GEM Club (Gift Every Month) members, Broadcast Sponsors, memorial gifts and bequests from estates – to keep the program on the air. Because of these many contributions, this ministry is now in its seventy-sixth year and is the seventh longest-running Christian radio program in the United States.


Dietrick Bonhoeffer Quotes

• To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.

• We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.

• A Christian is someone who shares the sufferings of God in the world.

• Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

• It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use. What matters is the faith which lays hold on God, knowing that He knows our needs before we even ask Him. That is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty.