Focal Point: Pt 1 - Jesus Reigns
This message confronts us with a piercing question: Are we Christians in name only, or are we followers of Christ by action? Drawing from Psalm 34:8—'taste and see that the Lord is good'—we're challenged to move beyond secondhand faith and experience God's goodness for ourselves. The heart of this teaching centers on the crucifixion, not as a sanitized religious symbol, but as the brutal, excruciating reality of what Jesus endured. We walk through the scourging, the crown of thorns, the nine-inch spikes, and six hours of suffocating agony—all so we could be freed from sin, healed from disease, and redeemed from condemnation. This isn't just theological information; it's the foundation for why Jesus deserves complete lordship over our lives. When we truly grasp that Jesus was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, it transforms how we live daily. The message calls us to stop blaming God for wickedness in the world and recognize that suffering is a consequence of sin, not a creation of God. Most powerfully, we're reminded that what Satan meant as execution, God turned into coronation—the cross became the very instrument of our salvation. This understanding should revolutionize our worship, our witness, and our willingness to surrender every area of life to the One who gave everything for us.
let us pray for you: