SERMON OUTLINE, At the Cross

What's most important to you?  What are your hobbies?  What do you wish you had more time to do?  If you received $5 million grant, what would you spend your time doing?

What is it that Christians hold as precious and dear? 

What's at the very heart of our belief? 

What do we cling to with all of our faith?  (Countless died/song sung).

It's the old rugged cross

It's our greatest comfort and our greatest pain.

It's the symbol for every true Christian.

The cross is the

• Gold medal-Olympic athlete
• Old Glory-American citizen
• Hippocratic oath-medical doctor
• Purple heart-wounded soldier
• PhD-scholar

Take away the cross of our Lord and every Christian becomes nothing but an unregenerate idiot.

Without the cross, the world is hopeless.

Without the cross repentance and faith become nothing more than empty words,

Conviction and salvation are useless terms that wane back into the pages of the dictionary.

Only the cross of Calvary has become

• Love-hateful
• Victory-loser
• Peace-restless
• Hope-defeated
• Joy-miserable

Only at the cross of Calvary have the

• Tired-rest
• Hurting-comfort
• Lonely-friend
• Blind-sight
• Lost-salvation
• Dying-life

The Cross of Calvary is the

• Steeple of the Church
• Top of the mountain
• Star of the sky

The Cross of Calvary is the

• Track-train
• Water-boat
• Road-car

The Cross of Calvary is the

• Moon in the night
• Sun in the day
• Calm in the storm

Title/passage

CIT: By refocusing on the cross, we learn what is most important to God.  (This will help us realign our interests.)

1 Cor 1:18-25

v 18-21 I. The message of the cross is a double-edged sword.

            1. Superiority of God's wisdom

            2. Inferiority of man's wisdom

                        a. Man's wisdom is nothing v19              [No cure for cancer or AIDS]

                        b. Man's wisdom is foolishness (gen. categories) v 20      [Atheists and morals]

                        c. Man's wisdom is inadequate v 21

                                    i. God makes himself known.

                                    ii. God's method through which men are saved is preaching.

                                                -method

                                                                        Foolish ( in whose eyes?)

                                                -message

                                    iii. God is pleased through this method of saving men.

vv 22-24 II. The central focus of the cross is Jesus. Rom 1:16

            1. Offensiveness of Christ v23

Jn 8:46 (no sin); Rom 3:23; 6:23; "How can man see his own faults...?"

            2. Sufficiency of Christ (emp.)  v24

2 Peter 1:3; Col 2:2-3

Jn 14:6

Jesus doesn't have an answer-he is the answer

Jesus isn't best way to God-he is the only way

1 Cor 1:29, 31;

I Cor 2:2; 2 Cor 4:3-5     [Dawkins]

Gal 6:14

v 25 III. The wisdom of the cross is a paradox.

(appears to be contradictory)

• Vr concludes and sums
• Meaning: "Basics" of God (in our eyes) are greater than the wisdom or strength of man.

                        Atom bomb (volcano, earthquake)

• Computers/surgical accomplishments

                        human brain and mind (more complex than computer; capable of love and war)

Tell about the cross (vv 18, 23-24)

• Jn 3:18-20
• Those who think they see-blind
• Those who think they live-dead
• Live-die;
• First-last;
• Gain-lose

Concl

What is your response to Jesus?

Are you consumed with him and his interests?

Who's fool will you be?

At the Cross, MP3

At the Cross, Windows Media Player