The Power of the Cross

Passage number six is 1 Cor. 1:18:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

The first book DPI published was: Thirty Days at the Foot of the Cross. Now some 200 plus books later, it is still one of our most popular. In the introduction, eighteen years ago, I focused on this passage and then wrote the following words that describe my convictions:

Twenty centuries ago the God of the universe made a surprise attack on the forces of darkness.  He did what hardly anyone was expecting.  He came as a baby and died on a cross.  We are badly mistaken if we think that was easy for first century people to believe, but hard for people today.  It was hard to believe then. It was hard for those closest to Jesus to believe.  To many people it was downright foolishness. But to those who believed, to those who looked closely and decided there is good reason to believe, it was nothing less than the most powerful revelation ever received from the living God.

Nothing tells us more about life than this death.  No event shows us more the character of God. No speech ever spoke so clearly about the values we all need. What happened when Jesus of Nazareth went to that hill outside the city gates will never in this world be fully understood.  No scholar, preacher, or poet can really take us to its depths. No one can fully fathom the mysteries that are here, but the closer we can get to it all, the better we will be. God wants a mighty movement in our day that will advance against darkness on every continent.  But he will bless no movement that is not centered on the cross Of Jesus Christ.