Charles Swindoll has said,'There can be no crown without the cross, no ecstasy without agony, no exaltation without humiliation'.Everyday many Christians are suffering,some are beat to death,some are hacked to death,you get the picture.We can go on to describe the harassment they live under,the fear they live under,it is hard for to us who have never known any persecution to fully appreciate what that means.When the other followers of so called gods are challenged with the gospel ,they will not stand by and let it happen. Enemy territory cannot be conquered without casualties, it will not change,till Christ comes back,and the challenge for all Christians is to follow in the footsteps of our crucified Lord. Luther maintained that three things make a good minister, prayer,meditation,and suffering.It is sad to read of a so called prosperity gospel it runs contrary to the teaching of Gods word,in preaching the word of God,we have to make it clear that there is a cost in following Jesus,that challenges an easy believism.Billy Graham said,''The Gospel is easy to believe in one sense,yet the call to follow Jesus is difficult, in fact, Jesus ,''If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Matthew 16 v 24 ) Which brings us back to were we started,,'There can be no crown without a cross,no ecstasy without agony,no exaltation without humiliation'.
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