Good Friday 2020

Our sin drove the nails firmly in the hands of God.

All along, these were the plans.

We told ourselves that we were in control, and this was deemed sufficient for all of us.

The brutal beating, the inhuman flogging, the naked humiliation.

Heaven watched and saw it all.

Our rebellion, our guilt, our shame, erasing the very notion of reconciling us with God.

Our sin and our debt overcoming Jesus.

Here is our king.

Obliterated.

The enemy laughing, his plans unstoppable.

There's no longer the sound of freedom rising.

Now God's people are utterly broken.

Behold the chains of mortality.

Yes, this is what is true.

We had heard the stories of old.

The lost are found, the blind conceived, the weak are made strong.

But now we are witnesses to this reality.

God is dead.

We'd almost believed there is a way of redemption, there is a life of fulfillment, there is a peace beyond understanding.

Now we know better.

For us, we can say that God is encapsulated in this one realization.

The single greatest sacrifice in human history is finished.

How clearly we can see it.

So what's so good about Good Friday?

Just one thing.

That the blood of Jesus can reverse the curse of sin and raise the dead to life.

How clearly we can see it is finished.

Encapsulated in this one realization.

We can say that God is for us.

Now we know better.

There is a peace beyond understanding.

There is a life of fulfillment.

There is a way of redemption.

We don't have to believe God is dead.

And now we are witnesses to this reality.

We are strong.

We are destroying freedom right there.

The bright light of our future, all in one moment, bringing death to death by way of God.

This is the story of Jesus, the Son of God, an innocent man putting to an end the wrongdoing of all humanity.

How can one describe such a day?

It's a rewriting my history.

The parasites below the crypto.

It's a rewriting my history.

It's alright writing my history.

The police just a lot of life it's hanging out with a lot of life.

The bottom is just a lot of life.

And it's called a money.

And I'm telling you, really think that we can't be together in this room.

But the next best thing is that we get to celebrate and gather online.

Thank you, God, for technology.

So I want to welcome you, whether you are in social circle and part of our social circle campus, or whether you're part of our Walnut Grove campus.

And maybe you're among those that have been worshiping with us just recently as we have been online, some from other states, some from other communities, and so we want to welcome all of you.

Maybe tonight's the first time that you've gathered with us online or physically.

And we want to specially welcome you tonight as we celebrate Good Friday, as we remember the spilled blood of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, and the significance of that in our lives.

And so we're here with our campus pastor, Nathan, from Social Circle.

And Brandon and Reese that are leading us in worship.

And so we're excited to have them here.

And basically what we're doing is we're we're joining our two living rooms with you.

And just spending this evening remembering Jesus and what he's done in us and what he's done on behalf of us and what he's gonna do in us and through us as we celebrate tonight.

I want to encourage you just to engage with us.

A couple of things that are important is for you to sit down, uh resist the temptation maybe to uh to do some other chores or things around the house, maybe grab the kids and sit them down with you.

We want them to be a part of this, the whole family.

There are some resources available that I've seen uh scrolling through the chat here for your kids to have some things to do while we're worshiping, some coloring sheets and different activities.

Here's the beautiful thing.

As we're live, we're able to scroll down and see the live chat.

And so we want you to introduce yourselves to us.

And especially if you're new, we would love to know where you're watching from.

And uh, we would love for you to just interact with us as we look down and see that um some of the people uh that are worshiping with us, Donald and Sandy Bowen and uh Jenny McCant and Kurt and Daryl and Samantha and Dana and Emma and Tyler, Dylan, all of you that are hosting with us.

Thank you for serving.

Uh, we're excited that you're online with us.

If you haven't been with us before, there's a little new here banner there you can click on.

We'd love for you to fill out an encounter card.

Let us know that you're with us.

And so um we're gonna just spend a few moments in scripture, worshiping together, and taking communion together.

You know, we're in the midst of this global pandemic.

And one of the things we've been emphasizing, and I have been emphasizing in my own personal walk, is our identity in Christ.

Nathan preached an incredible sermon just a couple of weeks back, specifically about our identity in Christ out of Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And so what a weapon that is against fear and against anxiety, and especially as we deal with the circumstances we're in, we want to use our identity in Christ as a weapon to take captive our thoughts, as a weapon against fear and anxiety.

But here's the here's what I want to talk about for a second here is before we can truly understand our identity in Christ, we must embrace and understand the identity of Christ.

And so before we understand who we are in Christ, we know who Jesus is.

And one of the weapons we have is taking captive our thoughts.

In 2 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul says this.

He says, For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Listen what he says, verse 5.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.

So here's what he's saying.

He said the knowledge of God is understanding the identity of Christ.

And it's through knowing Christ more deeply day by day that we are able to be secure in our identity in Christ.

And so, as we've been reading and reflecting on the final week of Jesus, I want to just highlight a few aspects of who he is and how he's revealed in his final week.

We started out on Palm Sunday in our devotionals this past week, looking at how Jesus entered in Jerusalem as a triumphant king.

And so we see this image of Jesus as a king.

And these images that we see in Scripture help us to grow deeper in our knowledge of Jesus and who he is.

And so there's two aspects of what we see with Jesus as a king.

First of all, he's a compassionate king.

The scripture says that he stopped and he wept over the city of Jerusalem.

And so he's a compassionate king.

He weeps over the city.

He says, These are my people, this is my city.

But he's also pictured as an authoritative king.

It says that when he gets into the city, he goes to the temple and he turns over the tables in the temple.

And he and he takes out a whip and he whips those that are selling animals inside the temple.

And so he establishes his authority and he says, This is my house.

And it should be a house of prayer.

But we also see this image of Jesus further in the week, where he is a humble servant.

We see this beautiful picture in John 13, where Jesus stoops to wash the feet of his disciples.

John 13, verses 14 and 15.

John 13:14

It says, If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you.

And so we see Jesus serving his disciples as a humble servant.

What a beautiful picture.

And so as we see that, we're growing in our knowledge.

As we grow in our knowledge of Jesus, we're able to strengthen our identity in Christ.

Now we get to Good Friday.

This is what we're celebrating today.

Good Friday, we see a couple of different images of Jesus.

The first one is the image of Jesus as a priest.

The priest would always be a mediator between God and his people.

The priest would, in the Jewish faith, would go on behalf of the people into the temple, and he would offer sacrifices that would atone for their sins.

And this was constantly happening over and over on a daily basis, and it was bloody and it was brutal.

And they were required to shed blood for the remission of sins and to cleanse people and to make them righteous before a holy God.

I love what Paul says about this in reflection of Jesus' role as a priest, where he stands in our place on behalf of us before a holy God.

In 2 Corinthians 5.21, he says, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So if you if you if this is if this means something to you, why don't you type in the chat and just say amen and say thank you that Jesus is my priest.

And so now on the same day, on the same Good Friday, Jesus is not only seen as a priest, we see the image of Jesus as the Lamb.

He not only offered sacrifices as a priest, he becomes the sacrificial lamb himself, spilling his own blood for the remission of our sins to make us right in the eyes of God.

And he fulfills this promise that John the Baptist prophesies, where he says that Jesus would become the Lamb of God.

And in John 1, 29, he says the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Isn't that good news?

And so while on the cross, on that Good Friday, Jesus makes a declaration.

And it's these three words that make all the difference in our hope and how we journey through this pandemic and how we lead our lives and lead our families.

And he says, it is finished.

It is finished.

And what he's saying is that it's paid in full.

Jesus has paid our death.

He has paid it all.

And now the work on the cross is complete.

And after that, he died.

And after he died, they took his body off the cross and they put it in a tomb.

Right?

Thank you, Jesus.

Amen.

And so we celebrate the risen Savior.

We celebrate the eating tomb.

Conquer death, sin and the grave.

And so here's the image that we see right here.

It's the image of Jesus as the gospel.

I love that word.

Gospel.

It literally means good news.

And it's taken from a word out of the Greek.

It's called Eugeleon, and it literally means a messenger.

And so it reflects this ancient way of life where kings would go to battle against other kingdoms, and the king would provide a victorious victory in the battle over an enemy.

And he would provide for his people to remain or to live in freedom.

And the king would send this good news back to the kingdom.

He would send the gospel.

And the good news would be that your king has fought for you.

Your king has won the victory for you.

And you are no longer bound to slave.

You are free.

So what the cross in the 82.2 is this good news, this gospel, this proclamation.

Jesus has fought and won our spiritual and eternal freedom.

And so here's what I want to do is I want to lead you to this last image.

Going back now to Thursday night, late Thursday night, early Friday morning, where Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And here's the image I want you to picture.

It's the image of surrender.

It's the image of Jesus on his knees in front of the Heavenly Father.

Matthew recorded this in chapter 26, verses 38 and 39.

He says, He said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.

Remain here and watch with me.

And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this not pass from me.

Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

Here's the image.

The image is the image of surrender.

It's the image of a child before a father, before a parent, bending his will to the will of the father.

And I believe that's where we all need to begin our journey and our relationship with Jesus.

It's where we come to him openly and honestly, just saying, you know what?

Not my will, but your will being done.

It's where we acknowledge that we are not able to provide anything in and of ourselves to provide for our own salvation.

We're just we're weak and we're powerless in our own ability to save ourselves.

And when we come to Him and surrender, we're saying, you are able to save us.

You are able to forgive us what you provided in your death.

And your burial and your resurrection provides for our freedom and our forgiveness.

And we say, we surrender to you.

We surrender to what you've done for us.

You know what that means?

It means in the circumstances that we're in right now, in a global pandemic, in the midst of anxiety, in the midst of just uncertainty.

We've got to be willing to say, you know what?

Heavenly Father, we begin and we plead we would you heal our world, would you heal our nation?

Would you heal the people that are suffering?

But nevertheless, not our will, but your will.

Maybe you're with us tonight and you have found yourself worshiping with us, celebrating good Friday.

And maybe you've never taken that first step to surrender your life to Jesus.

I want to encourage you that there's no better time than tonight on Good Friday.

To turn your life over to Jesus and to trust in what he provided in his death, in his resurrection, to provide salvation for you.

We say you're the church of the growth.

Salvation is as simple as ABC.

Admit that you need a Savior.

Admit that you're a sinner.

Believe and trust in what Christ provided to be sufficient and to be enough to save you.

And then you confess Jesus as your Lord.

Maybe you've never taken that step, and right now you want to pray.

You pray right now.

There's no magical prayer.

You don't have to say the exact words, but it might be this where you would say, Father, I admit that I'm a sinner.

And I need you to save me.

I believe in Christ and what you provided in your death, in your resurrection.

Would you take my life?

Would I confess you right now as my Lord and my Savior?

Amen.

So listen, here's one of the beauties of technology is you get to let us know.

There is a banner or there is a little uh highlighted section where you can click and let us know if you are responding to Jesus for the first time tonight.

Communicate with us.

Let us know.

Share with us, maybe in the chat, that you have prayed that prayer and you've trusted Jesus.

And we would love to be able to celebrate with you tonight.

Um you're taking your step and putting your faith in Jesus.

We want to know.

Now, for some of us that gather as believers, we gather tonight with with our emotions and feelings all out of whack because of the circumstances that we're dealing with in this health crisis.

And our posture, as hard as it might be to say it, our posture needs to be a posture of surrender.

And it's a dangerous prayer, but let me let me let me preface it with this.

God is sovereign and God is in control, and God, in his perfect will, may allow at times pain and suffering in our lives to bring us to a place of surrender.

And so the dangerous prayer is this Father, would you remove all this pandemic?

Would you heal us?

Would you would you provide a vaccine?

Would you provide a cure for this virus?

But Father, not our will, but your will begins to be done.

And so we want you to put your hope and your trust in Jesus regardless of what the circumstances are.

And so in a moment, we're gonna share in the Lord's Supper.

We're gonna take part in communion where we remember the broken body and the spilled blood of Jesus.

But before we do that, we're gonna just offer this next song as a prayer that says, Lord, I need you.

And so I'm gonna invite you to join in and sing with us just as a response of surrender to Jesus right now.

It's been away, you are for eye free.

Oh God, how I need Just take a moment, sing the truth of the gospel.

I would be hopeless, I would be hopeless, without your goodness, I would be desperate, but without you to the darkness, it feels your kind, it needs to be down when I would go, where would I be a full crowd?

Thank you, Jack High Matto.

Yes, thank you, Jesus.

I was a fish.

You bought my feet for high cross to the cross myself where me now my soul cries up hallelujah, praise me, raise it on speech plant, lose of the guilty state, lose of the guilty state, lose of the guilty state be guilty.

Are just overwhelmed by your presence, Lord, just in this moment.

Lord, just thinking about you hanging on the cross some 2,000 years ago and the sacrifice that you made on our behalf, Lord, is overwhelming in this moment.

And Lord, even just to see here on our screen, Lord, that 14 people raising their hands to put their faith and their trust in you for the first time, Lord, we just praise you.

Lord, we just thank you.

We're in awe of who you are on this good Friday night.

And Lord, as we just move into a time of communion now, Lord, I pray that you would just um continue to fill this moment with your spirit and help us to see you and uh the beauty and the all-encompassing uh nature of the cross and what that means ultimately for our lives and for our community at large.

And Lord, we just thank you, we praise you, uh, Lord, this this evening.

And it's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Powerful stuff being able just to sing songs like that.

And um, it's weird, honestly, to be sitting in this room.

And if you guys could see kind of what we're seeing right now, uh it's just a big empty room, and uh there's no mics and sound systems, and uh the crowd's not singing.

I saw uh Susan post something about uh how she misses her church family for drowning out her singing voice, and uh they've kind of told me not to sing out loud because they don't want to pick up my voice.

Um but it the room's quiet, the room's empty, and uh it's still just as powerful, and God's presence is just as real as if we were all gathered together in the same room, and hopefully that's how your house feels as well this evening.

And we're gonna just move into a time now of communion, and uh communion is so significant, and it really does several things.

One, it it proclaims the gospel, uh, it aligns ourselves with what God says and what what Christ and ultimately who he was, and it also reminds us of the victory that we have in Jesus, the victory over the enemy that is seeking to steal, kill, and destroy.

And communion is so significant, and I've never really thought of it this way until this week, um, reading over Russ's notes and just talking about our identity in Christ and all that that means, and thinking this week about just how communion, not only is it celebrating the death, the death and the sacrifice of Jesus, but it's also proclaiming who we are as a result.

And so we're gonna take this time in communion and hopefully you've had a chance to gather up some communion supplies if you didn't come and pick up stuff at our uh two campuses this week.

And uh if you don't have you know juice and bread, that's fine.

Just see what you can grab.

And it's really, again, as Russ said, it's just the symbol behind it, not so much the elements themselves.

Um, but we're gonna read just a few passages of scripture just to align our minds and our hearts around the truth of what God has to say when it comes to communion and what we're celebrating tonight.

And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul's talking to the church in Corinth, and he's giving them commands and he's giving them a teaching on the Lord's Supper.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

And he says this in verse 23.

He says, For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you.

That the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and we had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.

Do this in remembrance for me.

And so he's reminding us of that night that Russ shared about where Jesus not only washed the disciples' feet, but he shared in the Passover meal with his disciples, the final meal that he would eat before he was sacrificed on the cross.

And he breaks the bread and he says, This is my body that's broken for you.

It reminds me of a passage in scripture.

If you uh have a Bible, you can flip back, but in Isaiah chapter 53, um, verse 53, it says this, referring again to Jesus that was to come.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

He says, Uh, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

Surely has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And with the stripes, with his stripes we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, and we have turned every one to his own ways, and the Lord has laid on him.

On Jesus, the iniquity of us all.

What beautiful words that were written hundreds of years before Jesus actually walked here on this earth.

And I love just that one verse in verse five.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement, the punishment that brought us peace.

And then it says, and with his stripes or with his wounds, we are healed.

And I think that's something that we can gloss over and we can almost kind of miss the significance of, but the broken body of Jesus, by his wounds, we are healed.

And it's not just a spiritual healing, although it is a spiritual healing for sure.

It's a physical healing as well.

That by his wounds we are healed.

And so I want us to say that together before we actually take in the communion bread.

I want us to make some declarations tonight.

And I want us just to say those, that sentence together.

By his wounds, we are healed, or I am healed.

All right.

So let's say that together.

One, two, three.

By your wounds, I am healed.

We believe that.

That you can have healing because of the wounds and because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

But not only that, I don't want us just to make declarations about ourselves, but I also want us to make some declarations and some statements and some uh statements of faith in what we believe that God is still going to do.

That because just as Jesus died for me on the cross and he bore the weight of my sins and he has brought healing into my life, he's also done that for people all around this community and all around this world.

People that have yet to put their faith and their trust in Jesus.

Jesus died for them as well.

And so here's what I want us to do.

I want us to fill in the blank.

And I want us to start naming some people in our lives that are in need of healing.

Maybe it's a physical healing, but more importantly, a spiritual healing that needs to take place.

And we would love to see that in the chat comments.

We'd love for you to start naming some names of just some people that need the Lord to bring healing into their lives.

And I want us to declare in faith that God's gonna work and that God's gonna move and through the sacrifice of Jesus and what we celebrate on Good Friday and ultimately what we celebrate on Easter as well, that we're going to see people come to faith in Jesus.

Even though we're socially distant and we can't be shoulder to shoulder and we can't see all the people that we want to see.

God's still working and God's still moving and he's still doing something incredible behind the scenes.

And so we're believing that by his wounds, other people in our lives are going to be healed.

And so I want us just to say that statement together, and I want you to fill in the blank.

By your wounds, blank will be healed.

By your wounds, Jennifer will be healed.

By your wounds, Scott will be healed.

By your wounds, so and so, whoever it might be, fill in the blank.

And as you see them come through the comments, man, believe with other people that are sharing in their chat about who they're believing for, that who God's gonna work and move in their lives.

Man, be calling out their names as well.

By your wounds, so and so, whoever it is is healed, will be healed.

We're believing in faith that that's going to happen.

And so, as we take our bread, and hopefully you got one of these cool communion cups, little communion happy meal to go.

And uh you just pull off that top little piece, and uh we break the bread, and we say we break this, and we say we do this in remembrance of Jesus' body that was broken for us.

After Jesus broke the bread with his disciples, it says in verse 25 of 1 Corinthians 11.

It says in the same way he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

And so we're believing that it's not just his body that was broken, but it was the blood that was shed as well.

And that through his blood we have forgiveness of sins.

In fact, Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 22.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

Hebrews 9, 22, if I can find it in my Bible.

Um there we go.

Uh, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

So because of the blood that was shed for us, we can have forgiveness of sins.

And so I want us to declare that statement as well.

That because of the blood that was shed on the cross for us, we are completely and totally forgiven.

Past, present, and future sins.

And so let's just repeat this sentence together that I am completely forgiven, past, present, and future because of the blood of Jesus.

And the people in the room with me didn't say that.

So we're gonna say it again together, all right?

So we're gonna count to three.

One, two, three.

I am completely forgiven, past, present, and future because of the blood of Jesus.

Man, what an incredible truth that is.

I think of Romans chapter 8 that there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, that he has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Like that is something to be excited about tonight on Good Friday to sing and to celebrate that Jesus shed his blood so that we have forgiveness of sins.

Not only that, in Ephesians chapter 2, because of the blood of Jesus in chapter 2, verse 13, we see that uh, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

So not we were aliens, we were foreigners, we were distant from God, alienated, but yet because of the blood of Jesus, we don't just have forgiveness, but we are brought near to him, that we are close to him.

And so here's what I want us to declare again together that I can come because of the blood of Jesus, I can come close to God, that I can have a relationship with him, that he's not just some distant being out in the heavens, but that we can have a personal connection with the creator of the universe because of the blood that was shed.

So let's say that together.

One, two, three.

I can come close to God because of the blood of Jesus.

It gets even better than that in Revelation chapter 12, verse 11, we see the writer of the of uh Revelation, John, we're hearing him speak, and it says this, that and they can over, they overcame him being the enemy.

Revelation 12:11

They overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death.

That because of the blood of Jesus, we don't just have forgiveness, and we don't just have the opportunity to come close to our Heavenly Father, but we also have power and victory over the enemy.

That's that's an amen right there.

That's an incredible thing that the enemy no longer has power and control over us, but that because of the blood of Jesus, we have the power over the enemy.

And so, Jesus, the last night of his life, they took the juice, and you can go ahead and grab your juice or whatever drink you may have at your house, and you can pull that off.

And this represents the blood of Jesus that was shed for us.

And so we take this, oh, and I spilt it.

We take this in remembrance of Jesus and the blood that was shed on our behalf.

I want to make one more declaration before we kind of close up and sing uh another song.

But um Jesus, when he was celebrating this last supper with his disciples, it was the Passover.

And the Passover is a Jewish celebration that was just done a few nights ago, and the Passover celebration was ultimately a remembrance of how God rescued the people out of Egypt and how he brought the death angel came, and it would pass over each individual house that had the blood of the lamb that was spread on the doorpost of their home.

And I know that there's been this red ribbon thing that's been going well around, which I think is really quite awesome and cool and significant.

But I think that there's also something that maybe in this season that the Lord is trying to do in this moment, that just as they had to spread the blood of the Lamb over each doorpost, over each home, that maybe God in our society and our world and our culture that we find ourselves in today in the current circumstances we find ourselves, that maybe there's a time now where we need to come back and we need to say, man, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.

That we're gonna put Jesus first.

It's not about just a church building and doing something on Sunday morning, but it's about what we're doing Monday through Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

It's what we're doing 24-7.

It's not church does not happen here, but it happens when we are living our lives for Jesus and living on mission for Him.

And so I want us to make a statement again tonight as we kind of come to a close in a few minutes, just saying that as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.

That as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

And so let's say that together.

One, two, three.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Let that be our prayer, let that be our declaration.

Let us speak that in faith into existence and believe that God is going to work and move in this season.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, we thank you so much again for what we get to celebrate tonight.

And Lord, what doesn't seem like it was good ultimately became the best news that we could ever hear.

The gospel message.

Lord, that you made a way.

And Lord, we stand or we sit in humility and in awe of that truth and that revelation.

We thank you that we can be have healing because of your sacrifice.

We thank you that we are completely and totally forgiven because of the blood that was shed.

We thank you that we can come near to you because of your shed blood.

We thank you so much, Lord, that we have the power to overcome the enemy that is actively working against us because of the blood that was shed.

That's what makes Good Friday so good.

And so, Lord, we thank you and we praise you tonight for the sacrifice that you made on our behalf and that we celebrate what that means for each and every one of us that have put our faith and trust in you.

Lord, we worship you tonight.

And it's in your name we pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

The end of all must drive it.

Now I bought the Jesus must have never started.

All the method stance, it was dance, I know it forever, it will not be shaken.

It is man, it doesn't get much better than that, but it does actually, because uh we're celebrating the death of Jesus, but three days later we know the story that Jesus rose from the grave, defeating sin and death and beating the grave.

And that's what we celebrate.

That's what Easter is ultimately all about.

So as great as it is to sing and to celebrate what Jesus has done, man, what he does on Easter is even more incredible to think about.

And so we're so excited about Easter and all that God is going to do.

We hate that we're unable to meet physically together in rooms and in different campuses, but we're so excited, we're believing that God's actually going to use this and the situation we find ourselves in in a bigger way than we could have ever been used before the coronavirus outbreak.

And so we want to just give you a little teaser.

We've been working on this uh production for Easter, and we're really excited about it again.

And we just want to give you a little teaser of what is coming on Easter Sunday.

Worshiping together, listening as we dive into God's word, taking communion together.

Thank you for being with us.

And um uh we're gonna close tonight with just a time of giving, give you the opportunity.

If you're part of our church family, if you want to, this is part of your rhythm and sharing financially with our church, and don't feel obligated if you're a guest with us tonight.

Um, if you want to give, uh, that's fine.

I will encourage you to consider, as I had said uh for the past few weeks, that probably the greatest needs in our community and and and our ability to meet them is yet to come, and so we count on your generosity.

Let me brag on my church.

You guys have been amazing and how generous you've been.

And and and just be reminded that we give because God has shown his generosity to us in Christ.

And so uh the reason we give is not to earn anything or to get some extra favors because we're giving in response to God's grace.

And so uh let me let me just pray for us and and and we'll take a second for you guys to give.

Father, thank you for the uh your generosity to us in Jesus.

And God, we give back.

Uh it's it's tangible to give and to meet needs, but we give back to you in response to your grace.

And so, Father, we pray that you would uh use these gifts and the generosity of the people uh that have joined us to meet needs.

Uh many of them that will be uh related to this outbreak of the COVID-19 and the coronavirus, we pray that you would um God bring people to us that we can uh share the gospel and also meet practical needs.

We ask for your blessing on these gifts in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Just as you're giving and as we come to the conclusion, I want to just kind of uh share a couple of things.

I want to say, James, yes, you can get a witness.

I I got you right here.

Uh I also want to acknowledge that Carol, we all thank Brandon for singing a hymn and for Reese for sharing a hymn.

There's some folks that were out there, probably Tyler is saying, Amen.

Thank you, God, for a hymn.

And so perfect pitch.

Um I want to thank my son for saying that I'm a great pastor.

Um I'll give you your$20 bill later.

Um so thank you guys for joining it with us tonight.

Um, we can't wait for you to join with us this Sunday as we celebrate the empty tomb.

So God bless you guys.

Have a great night.

When darkness tries to go over my bones, when sorrow comes to steal the joy I know when brokenness and pain is all I know.

Go out each, go out and be taken.