When Adam and Eve rebelled against God and broke his law, all their descendants were alienated from God too. We all emerge from the womb broken. The question not whether, but how we’re broken—and how we’ll respond. Sin infects all of us. We all need reconciliation with God, and the only way we’ll find it is through his grace and mercy.

That’s exactly what he’s provided for us. God’s Son entered humanity to suffer alongside us while he obeyed in all the ways we’ve failed. He became the only perfect offering, in our place, to take the sentence we all deserve.

Have you noticed how many times we use the word “all” in those two paragraphs? The point is, we all need mercy and forgiveness. None of us deserve anything from God other than his just judgment. It doesn’t matter how much shame we feel or how many skeletons we have in our closet. Jesus suffered and died just as much for the self-righteous religious rule-keeper as he did for the prodigal son.

This means Cedar Pointe Baptist Church will be a safe and welcoming place for every kind of sinner who’s committed to fight his or her sin. We fight not in our own strength, but in confidence that King Jesus conquered sin and Satan at the Cross. His victorious resurrection secures our hope. Through faith in him we’ll also find a new way of life now ,and eternal life in the age to come.

We all know this world is broken, and what’s more, we’re broken too. We’re hungry for the power of the gospel now, and for its promise of final victory and rest. Without that, we have no hope.