Through the Cross to the Crown

Scripture: Luke 9:51-62

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call.” 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The cross comes before the crown, and tomorrow is a Monday morning.” 

C.S. Lewis

“A religion that costs you nothing is worth nothing. A cheap Christianity without a cross will prove in the end a useless Christianity without a crown.” 

JC Ryle

“Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that unto God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.”

Richard Baxter