Good Friday, 2025

Good Friday, 2025

Song: The Wonderful Cross

The First Word on the Cross

“Father, forgive them,

for they do not know what they are doing.” 

-Luke 23:34

 “The Plague of Darkness”

 (9th Plague)

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived. 24 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord… 27 But the Lord hardened [“honored” gave heavy weight to] Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. 28 Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” 29 “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”

 -Exodus 10:21-29

The first thing that Jesus says while hanging on the cross was the very reason that he was hanging there.

 This was not the end for those who crucified Jesus…

 And it is not the end for you…

 You are forgiven of ALL of your sins.

Confession

All: Lord, forgive us for willingly sinning. We cannot say, “we know not what we do”. Most of our sins are ones that we are aware of committing. We thank you that we know that we are forgiven by your grace. So we say along with Paul “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” 

-Galatians 6:14

(Silent and Personal Confession)

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath...” 

-Romans 5:9

Song: Amazing Grace; My Chains Are Gone

The Lord’s Prayer

All: 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

and the power

and the glory

forever and ever.

Amen

Apostles Creed

All: I believe in God the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth. 

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

Born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

Was crucified, died and was buried.

He descended into hell;

The third day He rose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit;

The holy Christian Church;

The communion of saints;

The forgiveness of sins;

The resurrection of the body;

And the life everlasting. 

 Amen!

Second Word

“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” 

-Luke 23:44

Putting “Today” and “Paradise” together means that the man is saved.

Never judge a person’s story by the chapter you walked in on.

 Humanly speaking, no one gave this thief a prayer, but now that is all he had. 

 It’s never too late… until it’s too late! 

Song: I Will Rise

Third Word

“…he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ ”

-John 19: 26-27

 “Dear woman” = A term of endearment.

(v. 27) “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

Jesus will always take care of you. 

Fourth Word

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

-Matthew 27:46

33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). 35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

-Mark 15:33-35

While Jesus was forsaken, Barabbas was set free

 “Very early in the morning, the chief priests… made their plans… bound Jesus… handed him over to Pilate. 2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. 3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” 5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. 6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas … had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. 9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

Video: The Visual Bible - Matthew 27:18-26

12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. 13 “Crucify him!” they shouted. 14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” 15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

 -Matthew 27:46

 God had to turn his back on sin.

Bar   Abbas

 Son of the Father 

“God made him who had no sin to be sin [Become] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

 - 2 Cor 5:21

“I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

– Romans 8:38,39

Song: Above All

Fifth Word

“I am thirsty.”

-John 19:28

Sixth Word

“It is finished.”

John 19:30

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

 -Colossians 2:13-15

Song: Just As I Am

Seventh Word

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

-Luke 23:46

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my HAND. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s HAND. I and the Father are one.”

 -John 10:27-30

“When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. “The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life…When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

 -Matthew 27:50-54

He may not be in control of all other things

but he is in control of himself.

I’m putting myself in my fathers hands.

Song: At the Cross