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Lets begin our Worship this Good Friday
The Cross
To some the cross is a symbol of death. To me, its a symbol of life. To some the cross is a symbol of pain. To me, its a symbol of healing. To some the cross is jewellery, decoration
or a sign of religion. To me, its my strength, my hope, my relationship. Its yesterday
today and tomorrow. Its love, compassion and forgiveness. Its truth. Its peace. Its my light my passage my freedom. It is payment it is atonement. And, it is finished.
It was inconvincible, undesirable and unstoppable. It was unjust, yet perfect. It was not a mistake. It was not an option. It held a son a brother and a Saviour. It showed our wrong
whilst displaying his right. It tells me where I have been, where I am and where I am going.
And I am saved because of it. He demanded it. But I didn’t deserve it. His mother watched him die. His father let him die. And because of one father, sending one son, to one cross
for one reason, I am free. Nothing could have stopped him from dying on that cross
And nothing can stop me, from living my life for that One rugged cross.
Let’s sing, The old Rugged Cross. There are no accompanying voices to sing with us. So, I encourage you all to sing out loud.
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Scripture Reading: John 19 Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified
19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” 7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
The Crucifixion of Jesus So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” 23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did. 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. The Death of Jesus 28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.” The Burial of Jesus 38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
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Let us enter into a time of prayer this Good Friday. To help us with our thoughts I invite you just to listen. Its the well know hymn, When I survey the wonderous cross.
Lets us pray:
Dear God, How can there be anything good about Good Friday?
Give me eyes, God, to see the triumph of the cross. Even when all seems lost. Even, as I mourn your death, remind me, that you conquered the grave by going inside of it and unravelling it from the inside out. O Lord, In the midst of defeat and disappointment, sing songs of victory over me. Turn my world on its head so I can recognize the upside-down Kingdom of God at work.
But how can I possibly celebrate today? Today is the day we betrayed You. Its the day an innocent victim was executed on false charges by a corrupt justice system. Five days earlier, crowds had welcomed their Messiah with palm branches and praises—today, crowds turned on Him and called for His crucifixion. Today is the day Jesus drank from the cup He had begged might be taken from Him. the day the sun’s light failed and the temple curtain was torn and God Himself looked away. Today is a funeral in memory of a promising young man’s tragic death. The soundtrack of Good Friday isn’t an anthem or a victory cry. It’s the chanting of a bloodthirsty mob, the words “Crucify him!” over and over again, biting like a whip. It’s the terrified, heartbroken sobs of Jesus’ few remaining followers, clutching one another as they stood at the foot of His cross and watched Him die.
But today is part of the gospel. Today is good news. Jesus didn’t wait until Easter morning to conquer sin and death. He was already crushing them as He hung on the cross. His dying words weren’t an admission of defeat but a declaration of victory, : “It is finished.”
On Good Friday, Jesus turned the world’s system upside down, losing everything in order to win everything. Death greedily swallowed up a perfect victim, destroying itself in the process. Heaven’s heartbreak bought earth’s redemption. It was the perfect storm: an unspeakable loss, an incomparable victory.
Today, God, I ask that You would teach me to mourn, this Good Friday. Give me grace to linger here, in the place where sorrow meets redemption. Make Your death as real to me as Your resurrection. Keep me always near the cross. As I wait at the foot of the cross, God, reveal to me again the costliness of my sin. Don’t let me live in an imaginary world where Easter’s happy ending makes my selfishness irrelevant. Remind me that Your all-consuming grace came at a highest price.
Jesus, You tell me to take up my cross and follow You. Today more than ever, I remember what a weighty invitation that is. You won by dying—and it’s only by dying that I can follow in Your footsteps. It’s only by dying that I’ll ever truly come alive. Take me by the hand, lead me more into you this Easter Amen.
Let us share together in the Lords Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
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It is vital that we drawer closer to God this Good Friday and beyond. He is the only one who can save us, comfort us, deliver us. Before we go to the word, let us listen to an Easter Hallelujah
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Address: Are You Moved By The Cross:
This account from the Gospel of John, evokes within us, a truly deep sorrow, as we journey with Jesus to the cross. Jesus was resolute in his conviction, the conviction, that through his death we will be healed. Read with me Philippians 2:8-10
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
That obedience, from Jesus, is tenderly witnessed, as John shows Him, yielding in deep obedience to the purposes of God for this hour. William Barclay Said: Here, there met the horror of death and the ardour of obedience.
What was the hope in Jesus' heart that prepared him for this journey to death?
It was his conviction. Jesus had a deep, deep conviction. He said this in John 12:32
32 And I, when I am lifted from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.
Jesus was going to the cross because he wanted to bring all people everywhere to himself that he might present them forgiven and redeemed to God the Father.
Not everyone would come to believe, but he would die for everyone. The appeal was to be universal. All people, would feel the tug of his great love for them, demonstrated at the cross on which he would be lifted up. William Hull says: Judaism offered men a national shrine, a racial circumcision, and the sectarian religious law. Jesus offered "himself," obedient, gracious, loving, dying.
Let me ask, are moved by the cross? Are you drawn to his death? What draws you to the crucified Christ? Are you moved by the agony you see?
Physical agony seizes us when we consider the cross. Jesus' back torn to shreds by a flying whip. Pressed down on a rough and splintery cross. His head, that is filled with visions of God's love for humanity, now, surrounded by a crown of thorns that bite painfully into his scalp. Nails pierced his flesh. Muscles which held him with jagged waves of pain to his makeshift throne, a cross. As painful as the wounds were, the most desperate need was for breath. As he hung by his arms, no air could enter his lungs. He pressed against the nails in his feet to lift himself and breathe. When he could stand that pain no longer, he fell against the cross. Jesus was in agony. Horrendous and unimaginable to us. Now, consider the spiritual agony that Jesus endured whilst on the cross. Remember, he was sinless. He had never known sin in his own life. Now, he was covered with it.
Listen to 2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Let's consider his separation from the Father. Jesus had never known a moment's isolation from the Father. But now on the cross, he cries out, My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Who can illumine for us the spiritual loneliness that Jesus felt in that eternal moment? That eternal moment, when our sin, cut him off from the Father. A sacrifice, that was offered, once and for all. Are you drawn to Jesus by the agony he suffered for you? Are you moved by the love you see? God has loved us with a love that holds nothing back.
For our selfishness, he prescribes a death to self and a sharing with others. For our cynicism, he prescribes a rebirth of innocence. But Nothing, gets through to us, as love can.
In Good Friday, we are dealing with nothing less than the love of God displayed on a cross.
For God is love.
Are you drawn to Jesus by the love he showed to you, in his dying?
Are you moved by the forgiveness you see? The willingness to forgive is one of the clearest indicators of the spirit of Christ alive in a person. I know it’s not easy to forgive. But the cross gives us our most powerful encouragement to do just that, forgive.
Luke records, that Jesus implored the Father to forgive those who had taken him to the cross. Jesus said
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing
In the moments of Jesus’ greatest personal darkness, He was still caring for others.
In his pain and separation from the Father, Jesus still heard and responded to the cry of the repentant thief.
Today, you will be with me in paradise.
Such love, flowing from the cross of Jesus.
And then John gives us that ultimate word of courage, "It is finished".
In these three words from the cross, we see an indomitable spirit that refused to retaliate in anger. We see a spirit that ached with love for a desperate repentant thief. We see a spirt yearning for the world to come to know who he is. Lord of lord’s King of kings. On the cross, we see love and forgiveness displayed through agony. I am moved by the cross, are you?
His atoning death did not stop short of being adequate to forgive any person or sin. When he cried, "It is finished," he had gone far enough to cover every sin in any person's life.
A young man and his wife had come to church for several weeks. They invited the pastor to visit them. Karl had never made a commitment to Jesus, and he wanted to talk with the pastor about it. He was afraid God could not forgive him. Years before, as a teenager, he had shot his older brother in a fatal hunting accident. He had not been able to forgive himself, and he could not believe God would forgive him. Everyone said it was an accident, and he himself, believed it to be an accident. But still, his brother was dead, and he had shot him.
He accepted the blame and could not go free. The pastor shared with him the words of Jesus on the cross and urged him to see, that, if Jesus had died for every sin but his sin, God had made a terrible mistake and Jesus was misled when he called out, "It is finished."
You see, Jesus' death is enough; God's grace is sufficient. We can all be set free. No sin is more powerful than his forgiveness and no hurt can outlast his love.
Karl heard the promise of God that night and experienced the cleansing and the relief that comes, when we really hear, in the deep places of our life, forgiven, accepted, beloved, made new. And it is all because of the cross.
Are you moved by the cross?
Jesus admonishes his listeners to walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. What response will you make, this Good Friday in the light of the cross
Whatever stands between you and the response of faith in Jesus Christ, I call you to lay it aside. Be drawn to the cross and respond by walking with him. Amen
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He wrote of his love In RED. International Staff Songsters sing; Written In Red
Just listen to these words.
In letters of crimson God wrote His Love. On a hillside so long long ago.
And that message of Love is still as vibrant and compelling today.
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As we come to the end of our Good Friday Service, come to Jesus, who is the Lamb Of God. Bring to him all that you are. Your worries, concerns, anxiety. Bring all the good and bad that has happened and leave it with him. Watch with me Lamb Of God
Please spend time in personal mandative prayer. Reflect upon the cross. What the cross did and continues to do in us and through us.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee
And be gracious unto thee
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee
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