This Sunday, April 5th at 10 AM

This coming Sunday, Easter, April 5th @10 AM,

Over the past few weeks, we have examined the cross from various perspectives. What the world sees as a brutal display from a supposedly loving father is actually God showing us how savage and violent our species truly is. Although everything happening is part of the plan, it is still the sons of men who brutalize and crucify the greatest man ever, who represented the best of our kind. Then we realized that the goal was never just to forgive and punish sin. This is because, even though the cross of Christ can forgive every sin and every person, it does not by itself forgive anyone of anything. As we've seen throughout the Bible, God is always punishing and correcting to change human behavior, much like we do with our own children. That is why Jesus said, "Repent and believe the gospel"—because believing in Jesus without repenting is pointless. Repentance is that mental shift toward everything related to who we are and our standing before God. But this also raises another question: why bother? When you think about it, why does God tolerate us, let alone try to redeem us? That will be the subject of this week's sermon!