Our Goal Is Love

God could have chosen any place on the planet to do his most important work. He owns it all. He created every mountain range, every coastline, every hilltop on earth. And yet, when you trace the major moments of his redemptive plan from Genesis to Golgotha, they all converge on one small plot of ground in the ancient Middle East. The same hill. The same threshing floor. Just yards away from the same rock face that looks like a skull. When we examine the Old Testament, it’s clear to see that Scripture has been building on that hillside for thousands of years.

And when we see how deliberately God chose that location, and why, worship is the only honest response!

It’s a cardinal rule in parenting. Before you let your kids leave to visit friends. Before you say yes to a get-together. Before you commit to a gathering. One question must be asked. Always! 

Who’s going to be there? 

Why? Because you know the people who are present tells you everything about what’s taking place.

This Sunday, we’re asking that same question about the most important moment in all of human history.

Luke 23:33 gives us one of the most focused and dense sentences in Scripture: “And when they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him.”

Who is “they”?

We know that whoever “they” were, God sovereignly selected them to be there. And when we discover who they were, it will challenge what we often believe about religion, relationships, and what God actually wants for his creation.

Join us this Sunday as we continue our new series “At the Cross,” as we begin to walk slowly through Luke 23:33.

Think about the logos you recognize without even trying.

The golden arches. The swoosh. The plain bitten apple. The face of a simple mermaid on a green circle. You don't need words to know what those symbols mean. They carry a story, all compressed into a single image.

Logos are powerful because they communicate instantly. A well-designed logo tells you who a company is, what they stand for, and what you can expect from them. Brands spend millions of dollars to get that image exactly right, because they know: people will remember a symbol long after they forget a slogan.

So when God decided to put His message into a single image—when He chose the one symbol that would represent everything He is and everything He came to do—what did He pick?

He chose a cross.

That must have surprised everyone.

Not a throne, which would have communicated His power. Not a scepter or a crown, which would have made sense for a King. Not even an empty tomb, which at least ends on a triumphant note.

A cross. An instrument of humiliation and death. The ancient world's equivalent of an electric chair.

And yet, that is God's logo.

We are spending the weeks leading up to Easter examining that choice. Because the cross isn't just the means of our salvation. It's a message. There is something in how God chose to save us that tells us who He is, how He loves, and what He intends for our lives.

Join us Sunday as we begin a new series, At the Cross.

I think you'll find that God's most surprising symbol turns out to be His most revealing one.

Here's the thing about living in a place you know you're leaving: you stop investing in it the same way. You could redo the bathroom in a rental. It may need it. But you're not going to. It's not your home. Why pour time and money into something you're walking away from? 

There's a freedom in knowing you're leaving this world. You stop obsessing over what won't last. You start prioritizing what travels with you. What matters shifts. That's exactly where the author of Hebrews lands in chapter 13. He tells them to get comfortable living "outside the camp." For Hebrew people familiar with this phrase, who understood exile, who knew what it meant to be displaced, that language carried weight. It meant being on the margins. Not quite belonging. Living as strangers in a land that wasn't theirs. And the author says that's exactly where we're called to go. Outside the camp. With Jesus. 

This Sunday, we're wrapping up our journey through Hebrews, by examining what it means to live outside the camp and why the author chose this particular phrase to encourage us to live as sojourners in this world.

Ever notice how easy it is to lose focus? You start the day with clear priorities, then a notification pings, an email demands attention, a worry creeps in—and suddenly you're miles away from where you meant to be. It’s easy to lose focus. And if that’s true in our everyday life, you know it's true in our faith.

This Sunday, Noah Lauridsen returns to CBC to continue our journey through Hebrews. Noah serves with Cru at Radford University, where he helps students navigate the distractions and demands of college life while keeping their faith centered. He knows firsthand how challenging it can be to maintain focus on what matters most.

Noah will unpack the writer's challenge to keep our eyes on Jesus—the author and perfecter of our faith. How do we maintain that focus when life gets chaotic?

Special announcement: The Galentines event scheduled for tomorrow is being rescheduled. Watch for the new date in an upcoming email.

Join us this Sunday as we rediscover what changes when we truly keep our eyes on Jesus!