Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I pray that you and your families are enjoying a peaceful Christmas season!

Please find attached the Bible Study Outline for Sunday, December 22 2024, on the topic “Take Up Your Cross”.  The main texts are Luke 9:21-26 and Philippians 2:12.  This is the next in our Quarter Series on Living a Life of Sacrifice and Service.  The key learning points are as follows:

1.      The Cross is at the center of the Christian faith.  Denying ourselves and taking up the cross daily is the only credible evidence that we are followers of Christ.  Luke 9:23
2.      We cannot enter into the life Christ has for us unless we embrace the cross.  We must lose our life to save it.  If we try to hold on to it, we can only lose even if we become rich beyond our wildest dreams.  Luke 9:24-25
3.      Salvation is a gift of God without cost to us. Once redeemed, we must work out our OWN salvation by taking up our cross daily and letting the life of God flow through us.  Phil 2:12-13 

Yours in His service

Click here for online version

Brethren,

It is another Easter Season. And how fitting that our Bible Study this Sunday is looking at The Cross, The Resurrection and The Mission.

Key Learning Points:
1. The Cross is the ultimate symbol of love and of the fulfilment of God’s promise of salvation. The Romans and their Jewish co-conspirators wanted the cross to be the ultimate symbol of cruelty and shame. But God meant it to be the best imagery of His justice, mercy, love, and a constant reminder that by ourselves, no man can earn or merit salvation.
2. Without the resurrection, the life and death of Jesus would have been nothing more than the tragic and unjust death of an exceptionally good man. But with it Jesus was powerfully declared to be the Son of God who has power over life and death.
3. That Jesus died and rose from death, defeating sin, death, and hell, is the Good News of the Gospel. and preaching the good news to everyone is the one mission Christ gave His followers. So, we are not just called to salvation, but sent to people. It was this message that lay at the heart of the apostolic preaching.

See attached outline for your reference.

Happy Easter