Episode Title: Cross—Offense or Power

Episode Summary (short): W. D. Frazee asks the searching question: is the cross to you a stumbling block, or is it the power of God? A study on daily cross-bearing in appetite, service, and sacrifice.

Show Notes / Description:

"Is the cross a stumbling block to you—or is it the power of God and the glory of God?" With that piercing question, Pastor W. D. Frazee opens a 1963 study on the daily cross that Jesus calls every disciple to lift.

Working from Galatians 6:14, Luke 9:23, and 1 Corinthians 1:23–24, Pastor Frazee gives the inspired definition of cross-bearing: to take a course directly against our inclinations—and to do it daily. He then walks through two of the three areas where that principle must be applied:

• Temperance and the control of appetite — tracing from Eden through Noah, Sodom, and Israel in the wilderness, and warning that "Satan's temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful… as we near the close of time." Whenever someone offers a health program that doesn't require denying appetite, Pastor Frazee cautions, "you had better be afraid of it."
• Personal ministry to the poor and sick — a close look at Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25, where God deliberately designed medical-missionary work to cost us inconvenience. Donations cannot substitute for personal ministry; Satan stands ready as the great medical missionary of a sacrifice-free gospel.

Along the way, he lingers on the rich young ruler, on David's refusal to offer what cost him nothing (2 Samuel 24:24), and on one of the most arresting lines in all his preaching: "Jesus didn't give up bad things so He could be saved. He gave up good things so we could be saved."

The message ends with a sobering realization: there will be no cross in Heaven. No inclinations to deny. No suffering soul to minister to. The only opportunity we will ever have to show our love for Jesus by self-denial is here and now.

Key Scriptures

• Galatians 6:14 (opening text)
• Galatians 5:11, 24
• 1 Corinthians 1:23–24
• Luke 9:23
• 1 Corinthians 9:25–27; 15:31
• Isaiah 58:7
• Matthew 25:35–36
• Mark 10:17–22
• 2 Samuel 24:24

Key Themes

• The cross as offense, snare, or the power of God
• Daily cross-bearing defined: a course against our inclinations
• Temperance and the last-day battle with appetite
• Isaiah 58 and the cost of true medical-missionary work
• Satan's sacrifice-free gospel and the counterfeit health program
• "Love for Jesus" as the one sufficient motive for cross-bearing
• No cross in Heaven — the urgency of self-denial now

Companion References

• Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948), 286.
• Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948), 70, 94.
• Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948), 275, 662.
• Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1905), 453.
• Ellen G. White, Counsels on Diet and Foods (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1938), 145, 147, 162, 164.
• Hymn: "In the Cross of Christ I Glory," by John Bowring

Memorable Line

About To My Dear Friends brings the timeless messages of Pastor W. D. Frazee to a new generation of listeners. Visit WDFsermons.org for the full sermon library.

Episode Title: The Two Gardens

Episode Summary (short): W. D. Frazee walks us from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane—from the smallest test God could devise to the infinite cup our Savior drained for every man.

Show Notes / Description:

Two gardens stand at the hinge of salvation history: the Garden of Eden, where everything was lost, and the Garden of Gethsemane, where everything was won back. In this 1960 evening study, Pastor W. D. Frazee invites us to place these two gardens side by side and let the Spirit do His work.

Opening with Genesis 2, Pastor Frazee shows how Eden's single forbidden tree was the smallest test God could devise—because love requires the freedom of choice. He then takes us, four thousand years later, across the brook Cedron to Gethsemane, whose very name—"oil press"—foreshadows the infinite pressure about to crush our Lord.

Anchored in Hebrews 2:9 and rich counsel from the Spirit of Prophecy, the message peers into what really happened among the olive trees: not merely dread of the coming scourge and nails, but the full weight of the second death pressed onto the Son of God. Human nature, we are told, would have died then and there but for an angel sent—not to remove the cup, but to strengthen Him to keep drinking it. Here Pastor Frazee paints one of the most tender pictures in all his preaching: the Father's one hand raising the sword of justice, the other hand placed beneath His Son to hold Him up beneath the blow.

The message closes with a sober and searching invitation: to spend a thoughtful hour each day beneath the shade of the olive trees, where sin gets spoiled for us, where pride looks ugly, and where the love that drained the cup demands "my life, my soul, my all."

Key Scriptures

• Genesis 2:8–10, 15–17 (Eden)
• John 18:1–2 (Entry into Gethsemane)
• Matthew 26:38
• Hebrews 2:9 (main text)

Key Themes

• Eden and Gethsemane as parallel gardens of history
• The smallest test God could devise and the reality of moral freedom
• The meaning of Gethsemane — "oil press"
• What it means to "taste death for every man"
• Why the angel came to strengthen, not to spare
• The Father's suffering alongside the Son
• Daily contemplation of the closing scenes of Christ's life

Companion References

• Ellen G. White, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1956), 1103.
• Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1898), 83, 694, 759.
• Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948), 205.
• Hymn: "My God, my God, and Can It Be," by Frederick W. Faber
• Hymn: "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," by Isaac Watts (stanza quoted)

Memorable Line

About To My Dear Friends brings the timeless messages of Pastor W. D. Frazee to a new generation of listeners. Visit WDFsermons.org for the full sermon library.

Episode Title: Preaching the Cross

Episode Summary (short): W. D. Frazee opens 1 Corinthians 1:17–18 to show why "the preaching of the cross is the power of God"—and how beholding Calvary daily becomes the secret of victory over sin.

Show Notes / Description:

What does Paul mean when he says "the preaching of the cross… is the power of God"? In this 1968 message, Pastor W. D. Frazee turns to 1 Corinthians 1:17–18 and walks us carefully through what the cross is not—not a heathen-style arrangement to appease an angry deity, and not a license to break God's law without consequence—and what the cross truly is: the supreme revelation of how terrible sin is and how deep the Father's love runs.

With his trademark warmth and vivid illustrations (a flick of a light switch on the TVA grid, a friend who "fixes" speeding tickets with the judge, and a hammer poised over a mother's hand), Pastor Frazee invites every listener to come to Calvary and behold two great lessons: how bad Satan really is, and how good God really is. When those truths become real, "the power of sin is broken."

The message closes with Christ at the door of the heart in Revelation 3:20—His scarred hand still knocking—and the old hymn "Who At My Door Is Standing?" inviting a personal response.

Key Scriptures

• 1 Corinthians 1:17–18 (main text)
• 1 Samuel 3:9
• Romans 13:1
• Matthew 28:18–20
• 2 Corinthians 5:19
• Matthew 27 · Mark 15 · Luke 23 · John 19
• Isaiah 53 · Psalm 22
• Revelation 1:1; 3:20

Key Themes

• The cross as the very power of God
• Two misconceptions of the cross — appeasement and license
• How Calvary unveils the true character of Satan
• How Calvary unveils the heart of the Father
• "Jesus died for me as if that death were to be forever"
• The scarred hand still knocking at the door of the heart

Companion References

• Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911), 209.
• Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1898), 83.
• Hymn: "Who At My Door Is Standing?" by Mary B. Slade

Memorable Line

About To My Dear Friends brings the timeless messages of Pastor W. D. Frazee to a new generation of listeners. Visit WDFsermons.org for the full sermon library.