Holy Boldness

Jesus did? He came to fulfill the desire of His Father. To do the will of the Father was His meat and His drink and this commitment trumped all others.

The Cross in Message and Mission

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matt 10: 38, 39). The cross was at the core of Jesus’ message and mission. In terms of His mission, Jesus eventually died on the cross through crucifixion, a Roman method of corporal punishment. The first apostles explained the meaning of His death on the cross. Jesus died for the sins of mankind to reconcile man to God. But it was also highly symbolic of Jesus’ message and His invitation to be one of His disciples. Taking up the cross meant that a person had to die to one’s old identity, perspectives, and goals to begin truly learning from Jesus. It involves recognizing that the old man (the self-centered and prideful identity) cannot endure. Those ideas had to die. The new order that Jesus brought established a new reality. A person can only be a witness to that which they have actually experienced. The daily walking out of the life of the cross draws us into the reality of the power of the resurrection. We are called to be more than preachers of a message but witnesses to a reality which we found through Jesus Christ. The cross is the place where a person decides to stop living for themselves and to live in God’s will. It is where one stops believing one thing and believes another. “Accepting Jesus” is more than a simple faith statement; it is receiving Him, identifying with Him, aligning with Him and all that He stands for, and making oneness with Jesus the point of the journey. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. Many mistakenly receive Jesus like a good luck charm or a get out of jail free card. However, this is a misapprehension of who He is. He represents a new beginning, a transformation, and a new creation. The presence of Jesus changes one’s perspective on life. It changes the entire landscape. He came to change everything. Most do not realize how deep the message of the Gospel goes which is why they become offended at His demands. In order to embrace all that Jesus is offering, one must let go of the old and embrace the new. “…he who finds his (own) life will

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