Speaker: Greg Lavine

On a scale of Good and Evil, from 1 to 10, with 10 being really good and 1 being really evil, where would you rate yourself? The average person in 2024 rates themselves between a 6 and a 7, not arrogant enough to say a 10, but certainly not evil! How do you suppose Mother Teresa would have rated herself? If she rated herself as a 2, would it change how you rate yourself? The starting place to understand the gospel is to realize that without God we are sinful, selfish, evil, enemies of God. We fight against that because in our sin we believe we are basically good. But we can’t receive Jesus until we realize how sinful we are. To put on our glorious identities in Christ, we must take off the lie that we are good.

Have you ever felt a sense of alienation or guilt? How can we experience peace with God? The story of the angels appearing to the shepherds gives us a glimpse into the answer.