Looking for a Good Friday Message?

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Tonight many churches will have Good Friday services. If you are speaking at such a service and still don’t have your message nailed down, you might want to check out this brief message by Paul Barreca, pastor of Faith Bible Church in Vineland, NJ, whose son is deployed with the troops in Iraq. Each week he sends out an email "Message to Our Soldiers" with a short word of encouragement. I thought this week’s message was especially powerful. And it hit me that this would make an excellent message for a Good Friday service. He points out that Jesus’ message was revolutionary in his day, and is still life-changing today. Here are his points:Jesus taught peace in an age of violence. Jesus taught forgiveness in an age of victimization. Jesus taught humility in an age of spiritual arrogance. Jesus taught equality in an age of division. Jesus taught love in a world of hatred. I pass this along for your own edification and also for the benefit of those who may be speaking tonight or on Sunday morning. Well done, Pastor Paul. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us.

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April 6, 2007, 9:59 AM Helen says:
	Wow, awesome points. I was thinking about Good Friday, how it looked like evil won and Jesus lost. It’s a brilliant strategy if you can pull it off - ’winning by losing’ - because then your enemies, without realizing it, will help by pushing you right across the finish line. I suppose that’s only possible when you have a different definition of ’winning’ from your enemy. Not that there are any humans who are my personal enemies (I hope).
April 14, 2007, 4:23 PM Ray Pritchard says:
	Helen, You are right. For those who follow Christ, the definition of “winning” will be different than for the people of the world. The whole concept of “winning by losing” doesn’t come naturally to most of us. Sometimes we end up “losing by losing” when things don’t work out despite our best efforts. But Jesus showed us a better way that the win-at-all-costs mentality. It’s not the easiest way to live—but I think it is the best. Ray