“If ever you should doubt the love of God, take a long, deep look at the cross of the Lord Jesus, for in the cross you find the expression of God’s love.” —Billy Graham
In 1953, Billy Graham was holding a Crusade in Dallas, Texas.
“One night my preaching did not seem to have spiritual depth or power, although a number of people did come forward at the Invitation,” he wrote in his autobiography Just As I Am. Afterwards, he took a walk with his friend John Bolten, a German-born industrialist who recommitted his life to Christ at a 1950 Crusade in Boston.
Billy Graham recounted the conversation with his friend that night:
“Billy,” he said, “you didn’t speak about the Cross. How can anyone be converted without having at least one single view of the Cross where the Lord died for us? … There is no other place in the Bible where there is greater power than when we talk or preach about the Cross.”
For more than six decades after that, Billy Graham kept the cross at the center of his message to millions around the world. He was convinced it was the one truth that could change people’s hearts and lives.
Now, his writings about the cross have been compiled in a new book called What Happened at the Cross: The Price of Victory.
>>Get your copy of What Happened at the Cross by Billy Graham
Franklin Graham shares in the foreword the impact his father’s message had on his own life and ministry.
“My father peered into the faces of aching souls, bidding them to the foot of the cross. This, he said, is the greatest battleground—making the decision to accept or reject Jesus as Savior,” Franklin Graham writes.
Though Billy Graham went home to be with the Lord four years ago, his message is timeless. Throughout the book’s pages, he explains the significance of the gruesome yet history-altering cross and why it makes all the difference for every person on earth. The cross is, in fact, at the core of the Gospel.
The night of his conversation with friend John Bolten back in 1953, Billy Graham couldn’t sleep. By the next morning, he wrote in Just As I Am, “I made a commitment never to preach again without being sure that the Gospel was as complete and clear as possible, centering on Christ’s sacrificial death for our sins on the Cross and His resurrection from the dead for our salvation.”
No matter who was in the audience, what kind of venue surrounded him or where he was on the map, Billy Graham maintained that singular focus.
Franklin Graham says his father “had a way of connecting with hearts beyond the stark lights and probing cameras.
“No matter how intense the spotlight, he zeroed in on God’s message. Like a laser beam, he pointed others to the cross.”
Who in your life needs to know of God’s immeasurable love? Tell them What Happened at the Cross.
