Welcome to the Voo Church podcast. In today's message, the cross I didn't choose,

Pastor Rich reminds us that the cross we carry, especially the one we didn't choose,

can be the very thing that God uses to shape us. This Easter at Voo, we're remembering that through

the cross we find victory. Join us at Voochurch.com slash Easter. Now let's lean into the message together.

Awesome. If you've got a Bible, Matthew chapter 27 is where I want you to turn today.

We are in part three of a collection of talks entitled Crux. Crux is the Latin word for cross.

And I really felt led by the Lord that as we were leading up to Easter, that it was important

that we would take some time to talk about the cross of Jesus Christ.

And what I firmly believe is that until we can rest in the finality of the cross, we're never going

to truly experience the reality of his glorious resurrection.

So we've been stopping this month, and we have been leading ourselves all the way up to

that moment that he resurrects, but before he resurrects, he must die.

And so today I want to give you another snapshot of the cross. This is

Matthew chapter 27. We're going to start in verse 32. And it says this, as they were going out,

they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him.

Someone say forced him.

They forced him to carry the cross.

They came to a place called Galgotha, which means the place of the skull.

There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with Gaul, but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.

And when they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head, they placed the written charge against him. This is Jesus,

the King of the Jews. Today, part three of our collection, I want to preach for the next few

moments if I can from the subject. The cross I didn't choose. The cross I didn't choose.

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