Jesus tells us that if one desires to be his disciple, they must "deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34). But what does it mean to take up your cross, and how can we do this? The apostle Paul said that he "desired to know nothing...except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2) and elsewhere even claimed to "have been crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20). How can one join Paul and know Jesus in his Crucifixion?
The answer is to take Jesus at his word. From the cross, Jesus spoke seven times. These sayings summarize the gospel and explain how we can know him in his Crucifixion. On the cross, Jesus was literally Dying to Tell You how his death fulfilled God's eternal plan for our redemption.
Unlike other studies of the "last sayings" of Jesus from the cross, Dying to Tell You takes a new approach and views the sayings together as a whole, revealing how together they form the foundation to understanding the gospel of Jesus. Originally motivated to seek a resolution to the dilemma of which saying is the last (both Luke and John appear to report the last saying), Dying to Tell You establishes a new order for the sayings based on a detailed examination and integration of the four Crucifixion narratives contained in the Gospels. While each saying is individually examined, rather than handling them as isolated statements, Dying to Tell You demonstrates how these sayings comprise the final message of Jesus, his sermon on the cross.
Along the way, Dying to Tell You also provides assurance that the Bible can be trusted and is a historically accurate resource; demonstrates that the cross is the centerpiece of redemptive history; and illustrates how Jesus and the Crucifixion serve to fulfill the scriptures and provide for the salvation of mankind.
Dying to Tell You is nothing less than one disciple's spiritual awakening and quest to know "Jesus Christ and him crucified" through the sayings he made from the cross and gospel they proclaim.
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