Good Friday 2026
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(Song: What Wondrous Love Is This)
Welcome/Introduction
Welcome/Introduction
Good evening. Thank you for joining us tonight for our Good Friday worship gathering.
In case you’re new, my name is Mitchell and I serve as Campus Pastor here at Edgewood’s Waupun Campus.
—
We gather tonight to reflect upon the sacrifice that Jesus paid for us on the cross.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it was good.
God made man in His own image, and it was good.
Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempted Adam and Eve, and they rebelled against God.
They sinned against God, and nothing was ever the same…
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
The first glimpse that this was just the beginning of something more…
With the arrival of sin, welcome to the scene:
Murder
Death
Pain
Agony
Corruption
Lies
Impurity
We have inherited this condition of sin.
Sin separated us from God.
There was now a chasm between God — the Father — and man and woman — His children.
Blood must be shed for the shedding of blood.
Now, enter in:
The sacrificial law
… to “make up for the sin of the people”.
However…
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
So now what?
There had to be a solution.
There had to be Someone who could save us… who could live a perfect, sinless life before God.
There had to be a perfect, spotless Lamb to be sacrificed to atone for our sins…
A Rescuer had to come.
The Messiah, the Savior… the spotless Lamb who could take away the sins of the world.
Fully man — to represent us.
Fully God — to live the perfect life that we couldn’t live.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Immanuel, meaning: “God with us”.
Our Lord, Jesus, the Christ.
He came on a mission to redeem His people…
Jesus came to pay a debt that He didn’t owe, because we had a debt that we couldn’t pay.
Jesus would preach the Good News of forgiveness and salvation by grace through faith in Him.
He would perform miracles and teach.
But, it wasn’t His miracles or teaching that would save souls…
it was what He would end up doing for us on the cross…
and, that’s what we reflect on tonight.
The message of the cross is summed up in 1 Peter 2:24…
ME: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
ALL: that we might die to sin and live to righteousness…
Pray
Pray
Lord Jesus,
We worship you tonight… our Savior who died for us… and not merely for us, but in place of us. By Your Holy Spirit, cause our hearts to meditate deeply tonight on who You are and what You have done for us…
You bore our sins in Your body on the cross that we might die to sin and live… Thank You… in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
—
Let’s stand and sing of and to our Savior, Jesus…
(Songs: The Power Of The Cross, Here Is Love Vast As The Ocean)
The Hour Has Come (Meditation 1)
The Hour Has Come (Meditation 1)
23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
The hour has come.
Jesus’ ministry is all about timing…
John the Baptist preached ahead of time “prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!” until the right time had come for Jesus to begin His ministry…
When it was time, Jesus said in Mark 1:15
15 …“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
And, on the other hand, when Jesus performed His first miracle in John 2:4, He said…
4 … “…My hour has not yet come.”
… in this He was also acknowledging that His hour would come…
8 …for my time has not yet fully come.”
30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
Again, in John 8, He avoided arrest because…
20 …because his hour had not yet come.
But, finally, the time had come… the time that would be the most impactful splash the world has ever seen.
The Lord says to us here in John 12 that “the hour has come”…
And again a little bit later in John 13:1
1 …Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
And Jesus prays in John 17:1
1 … “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
The hour has come for Jesus to do what He came to do… and He describes it as “to glorify”… it is time for Him to be “glorified”…
In John 12:23-24, Jesus compares the way that He will be “glorified” to a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying — and unless that grain of wheat dies into the ground, life won’t come…
It’s actually an amazing picture…
Consider a “Mongolian Giant Sunflower”… they can grow anywhere from 10-14 feet tall, and sometimes even up to 30 feet…
On the head of the sunflower there are hundreds of seeds.
Those seeds dry out and then fall out onto the ground or are moved by birds or animals…
If those seeds land on good soil, then a sunflower is planted.
One sunflower can then grow an entire sunflower field.
But, in order for that to happen, the seeds must dry out and fall to the ground to be re-planted.
Likewise, Jesus uses the illustration of wheat to describe how He was going to be the victorious King.
He came to carry a cross, not a crown.
He came not to live a life of ease and honor, but to die a brutal and shameful death.
His Kingdom was to begin with a crucifixion, not a parade.
This Kingdom’s victory was not to be won with a sword, but from the death of its very own King.
Jesus’ death was necessary for life to come.
Because the one Seed — Jesus — died, we can now live before a Holy God.
The Old Testament law wasn’t going to save anyone…
19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
This “better hope” is Jesus.
His death had to happen because…
Of our sin…
When we sin, we’re choosing our own way.
When we sin, we are making ourselves to be our own “God”.
When we sin, we are insulting the infinitely holy God…
It was our sin that held Him there… every time we sin, we’re pressing the nails into His hands…
Let’s take the next few moments to prayerfully reflect on how He took our place on the cross…
Prompt for prayerful reflection: Isaiah 53:6
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
(Songs: How Deep The Father’s Love For Us — prayerful reflection, instrumental only, no vocals, Lead Me To The Cross)
The Body Broken, The Blood Shed (Meditation 2)
The Body Broken, The Blood Shed (Meditation 2)
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.
16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
This is it.
This is the atoning for our sin that Jesus made on our behalf.
This is the cost of our sin…
What happened in Genesis 3 has implications.
Our sinful actions have implications…
There are consequences for our actions…
We see the ultimate consequence, the ultimate effect of our sin, here in what Jesus did for us on the cross…
And this is the moment Jesus was pointing to all along.
He wanted us to know what was coming, and to know what He came to do…
He wants us to remember what He did for us on the cross and what the message of it is…
Before He went to the cross, He instituted the Lord’s Supper in Mark 14…
Communion (Introduction)
Communion (Introduction)
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
This is the origin of the Lord’s Supper… this is the foundation… the cross is something Jesus wants us to remember…
When we take the bread, we recognize that the body of Jesus was beaten and broken — AND YET — not a single bone was broken… but, His flesh was torn apart…
When we take the cup, we recognize that as His flesh was torn, His blood was shed… His blood was poured out… to make atonement for our sin.
As His blood poured out for us, His love poured out for us…
He has given us the Lord’s Supper as a way to remember this…
There is something to the physical action of doing this that causes us to experience the Gospel differently…
As we take the bread and the cup together, there are a few instructions I want to give…
If you are a Believer in Jesus… if you claim Him as your Lord and Savior… this is for you…
If you’re not trusting in Christ for salvation… if you’re not ready for that yet… we ask that you let the elements pass by as they are passed down your row.
BUT — this could be your moment of salvation. You can trust in Him now…
This meal is for the Living, not the dead.
Ephesians 2 says that once we were dead in our sins and trespasses… but God made us alive in Christ.
If you have been made alive in Christ, this meal will nourish you.
If you are dead in your sin, this meal is not for you… it won’t nourish you, it won’t save you… Only faith in Jesus will save you…
Trust in Him now, by faith — be made alive by grace through faith — and then take this meal…
If that’s not you right now, please let the plate pass…
When the elements are served, please take both cups stacked together — the juice is on top and the bread is underneath.
A gluten-free option is available in the center of the tray.
Once you have received the elements, please hold them, and we will wait to partake together.
I’d like to invite the servers to come forward now…
—
3 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. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
(Song: Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted) — during the passing of the elements
Communion (Take the elements)
Communion (Take the elements)
(Invite to all to stand)
The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Together, let’s pray the way the Lord Jesus taught us to pray…
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 debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
And the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.
Together, let’s take the bread: Christ’s body broken for us…
Likewise, let’s take the cup: Christ’s blood shed for the forgiveness of sins…
Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift.
(Song: Nothing But The Blood)
Closing
Closing
1 Peter 2:24 (full) C&R; L-A-L
ME: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
ALL: that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
ME: By his wounds you have been healed.
Jesus says in John 16:20...
20 … You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
Good Friday is only good because this isn't the end.
Come celebrate the next chapter with us…
Tomorrow at 5:00 pm
Sunday at 8:00 am, 9:30 am, and 11:00 am
See you then. You are loved!
