Mark 8: 34-36 (NIV)
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “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 and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
The Easter season focuses on the death and resurrection of Christ because of that very promise. Those words reflect the hope of everlasting life to Christians everywhere; not just during Easter, but every day of the year.
The cross is a symbol of Jesus’s sacrifice for all sinners who would believe in him.
“The Cross” is also a 30-minute DVD by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, now available online. The presentation features the testimonies of musicians Lacey Sturm and rapper Lecrae Moore.
““I thought the cross was a relic; it was a medallion on a necklace at best,” said Moore in the DVD. He was abused as a child and grew up surrounded by guns, drugs and gangs. My mother was really concerned about me, and she just grabbed a Bible and said, ‘I don’t know what to do but you just really need to read this Bible.’ ”
At that point in his life Moore said that he was getting high on a daily basis and didn’t want anything to do with his mother’s Bible. He ripped the pages out and threw them on the floor.
“I spent my whole life just burdened for something, hungering for something, thirsting after, chasing after this thing that I couldn’t put my finger on ultimately,” Moore said.
That all changed when a friend invited him to a Christian conference. He was intrigued by all the guys he saw there, gang members and guys with bullet wounds.
“The pastor talked about Jesus in an intense way that I had never thought of before,” said Moore. “He talked about Jesus being beaten and being whipped for a crime he didn’t commit, the skin being ripped off his back. And in the midst of his pain having to carry this cross … and being pinned to the cross. It was so vivid and visual to me, I could see this happening to Jesus.”
That conference was the start of a turning point for Moore.
“This Easter we’ve got a tremendous opportunity to invest in the souls of men and women. And that is an opportunity to show ‘The Cross’ with Billy Graham,” said Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. “This is the film that was released last year on my father’s 95th birthday. We saw thousands of people give their lives to Christ this past November.”
More than 4 million people watched “The Cross” on multiple network channels last fall; thousands more shared the message through the Internet or on DVD. Readers can download a copy of this message by visiting www.myhopewithbillygraham.org.
To share with others, a free DVD can be ordered online or by calling 1-877-247-2426.
“The Cross” is the flagship video of Billy Graham’s My Hope America series. The video features a new message of hope from Graham. The video segues between the musicians’ testimonies, Graham revival footage, and the actual creation of a symbolic rough-hewn cross.
Sturm, upset by her cousin’s violent death at the hands of his stepfather, was contemplating suicide when her grandmother made her attend a church service that sparked the beginning of a huge attitude adjustment.
“I want to tell people about the meaning of the cross. Not the cross that hangs on a wall or around someone’s neck. But the real cross of Christ,” says Billy Graham in the video. “It’s scarred and bloodstained. His was a rugged cross.”
To date, more than 110,000 people have indicated they made a commitment to Jesus Christ during the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s “My Hope America” campaign in 2013. With that positive impact, plans were made at BGEA to continue the My Hope campaign in 2014.
“The cross is offensive because it confronts people. Even so, it’s a confrontation that all of us must face,” says Billy Graham. “There is no other way of salvation except through the cross of Christ.”
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