Good Friday | Pastor Jentezen Franklin

Well, welcome to the Good Friday at Free Chapel. As you stand to your feet, we're so delighted to see you today. Whether you're joining us in this room, through an overflow room, or through our online campus, we remember where we were this time last year, and we're so grateful for the opportunity to gather together. Is anybody thankful for that? Come on, is anybody thankful for that?

Well, hey, we want to take you on a journey today through some old psalms and some new ones. So, no matter what we sing, we're singing to our King. Amen. So, lift up your voice, open up your heart as we sing together. If you're thankful for Jesus, somebody let the shout in this place. Come on, put your hands together.

And down at the cross with my savior, I died. Down for cleansing from sin, I cried. Glory to His name. Come on, glory to His. Jesus, so sweetly He took me.

All across this room, if we can just lift our hands as we remember His sacrifice on the cross. It was bloody and beautiful. And I cast my mind to Calvary, where Jesus bled and died for me. I've seen His wounds, His hands, His. Is He my savior? His body bowed, entrenched in. Heavy stone.

Your grace. Again.

The blazing sun, it shall pierce the night. On Jesus. Is the Lord God, we will say.

If you believed. Set a table for us to crucify Jesus. No greater love than the bread, Your body, and the wine. We will never. We will remember. Your side. And then. My. Look at me. Those holes in Your hands. This is our Savior. And this is Savior. Look at Him. Look at Him. And this is. Look at here.

Now we'll give up. You made us white as snow. With every hand lit that we sing. Hallelujah. We thank You for the cross, and we thank You. Come on, if you're thankful today, can you put your hands together? And can we lift up a mighty shout of praise in this place? We love You, God. We thank You for Your blood. We thank You for Calvary. We thank You for Your love. We bless Your holy name. You may be seated as we point our attention to the screens.

My name is Stephanie Britt, and roughly one year ago, I lost my job due to COVID, and my world just got turned upside down. My name is Joanna Mota, and I attend Free Chapel in Orange County. I developed a really rare and life-threatening blood disorder. I was hospitalized for about two months. The doctors and surgeons came out and basically expressed to me that my wife had passed away.

My name is Rebecca Haley. My name is Brandon Haley. We were headed towards divorce. We had crashed our family, and it almost took my life. The suicidal thoughts that I thought I had left back in 2015 came back. I felt like the enemy just telling me, "Hey, Joanna, like, you should just end it before your sickness does." I lost my housing because I just couldn't afford my rent anymore. Unemployment was so backed up at the time that I didn't even get anything till about seven months later. The enemy would come against me a lot of times and tell me it was my fault because, you know, "What if you took her to the doctor sooner?" The time afterwards, I couldn't get out of bed literally without praying. I was sitting at a kitchen table one night, drunk, and I was writing goodbye letters to all three of our kids and a goodbye letter to him, apologizing for our marriage failing. And God spoke to me at the kitchen table that night and said, "If you'll go to sleep now, you'll live to see tomorrow." And I kept fighting, and I kept standing on God's promise that He was not done. He didn't let me go the first time, so He wasn't gonna let me go now. What the world would think is crazy, out of your mind. I feel like I was in my right mind because I was continuously seeking Christ, regardless of the circumstances that I had against me. I didn't know where things were going to come from, but I would, you know, randomly get like a check in the mail early for my birthday, or somebody would Venmo me, or someone would buy me dinner or groceries. So, this whole time, I'm stressing out and I'm angry with God because I just felt like He left. And I see that like He was sustaining me the whole time. I asked God, "God, if You let me get my wife back, I'll let it start with me by being obedient, and You put the pieces back together, and I'm serious about my walk with You." The stuff that me and my wife went through, a lot of couples in today's culture doesn't come back from. He's changed me a lot. I no longer use substances I shouldn't be using, or get into trouble, or live a really reckless and selfish life. So, I took a phone call, and the next day I had an interview, and the day after that, they offered me the job. And what's crazy about it is they are offering double of what I was making before I got let go due to COVID. You know, again, it's still like a daily struggle, but I see that there's like hope, and I'm so humbled by that because I realized that I didn't do anything for that. The only thing I did was hold on. And then we got baptized together, and Brandon lost it. The minute I looked at Jensen, I lost it, and we've been running 100 miles an hour together as a team, yeah, ever since. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for Jesus' sacrifice, especially when you think about the Easter celebration because as soon as I found out my wife was no longer here with this, the scripture came to mind, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." And I knew that had He not made that sacrifice for us, then she wouldn't have that experience now. Just knowing that made me appreciate this season a lot more. But I always think back to like, what His ultimate sacrifice was, and it was Him when He was on the cross. Everything that I had to struggle with is never going to be anything compared to what He's done for us.

There is a day that is so precious, and they're so wonderful to me. This name is worthy of all praises. Because of Him, I am made free. That name is Jesus. Eternally. This name speaks peace unto my storm. This name speaks unto. I will have love. It's here. Earthly. I will have a life.

Let's really give the Lord a great praise tonight. Jesus, we do honor You. That's why we came. That's why we came. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Hearing the amazing testimonies on that video, and hearing what people have gone through, and it's just a sample. Magnify it by about a thousand times or so, and you'll begin to understand that this has been a trying time like none ever before in all of our lives. In some way or another, we've all faced things that we never dreamed we would go through. And yet, here we stand. Here we stand, and our faith is still in Jesus. Our eyes are still gazing upon Him, the One who conquered and said, "Because I live, you will live also." And today, we celebrate His majesty, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who hung on the cross. For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him would not perish. Oh, did you hear that part? Would not perish when we die, we don't perish, but that we would have eternal life. If you're thankful for the life that Jesus bought on the cross, give Him a great praise one more time. Oh, it's so good. Welcome to all of you who are here, and all of you joining us online, and all of you at all of our campuses. Can we give them a warm welcome this evening on this Good Friday? What a blessing to have you all.

I want you to open your Bibles with me, and, uh, just the celebration of life continues all the way through this weekend. Amazing opportunities to worship. You know, at each of your campuses, the different times and opportunities for worship, as you've heard tonight, will just continue right through the weekend, service after service after service. And if you're here in Gainesville, we'll be having just whatever you want, a smorgasbord of services, I guess you could say. Because while we're having church in here at 9 o'clock in this room, and we'll be having service outside in the amphitheater with a live band also and a LED screen, and when it's time to preach, I'll stand here and preach outside too, at the same time, through technology. It's kind of amazing. And, um, and we'll have that in the 9 and the 11. And if you're early, how many of you early morning people? Let me see your hand. You just, you just rise and shine. Well, then the early bird gets the word. And this coming Sunday, we're going to have a sunrise service live out in the amphitheater at 7 a.m. And I invite you to join me and the team as we lift up Jesus. And we're just believing God for soul, soul, souls all through the weekend and on all of your campuses. Again, thank you for worshiping and bringing your friends and family this Easter. After going through the fact that this time last year, everything was shut down, everything was shut down. We couldn't have Easter services last year except online. I am thankful to be back in church. Amen. Let's make this one count. Turn to somebody and say, "Let's make this night count."

I want you to go with me to First Samuel chapter 18, verse 3. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and he gave him his armor, even to his sword, and his bow, and his belt. And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely, and set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all of the people, also in the sight of Saul's servants.

I want to talk to you for a few moments today about this amazing meal that we're about to eat, the bread and the fruit of the vine, and what it means. Because it's possible that you really don't understand the importance of this day, Good Friday. And I can sum it up in a Bible principle that is rock solid in the scripture. There are several covenants, but perhaps the most powerful covenant of all in the Bible is what is known as the blood covenant. The blood covenant. If I were the adversary, if I were the devil, I would do everything within my arsenal to try to keep you from comprehending the truth of the blood covenant. It was a tremendous day in my own life when I realized and I understood that God was as committed to me as I was to Him, that He really did love me, that He really did want to do good to me, that He really does care about me as much as I care about Him. I don't know why, but somehow I kind of always failed. He was a little against me. He was a little disappointed in me. He was really always thinking, "I don't quite measure up." And then I got a revelation that changed my life many, many, many years ago. Many people got it through a book that an old-timer who's been gone for many, many, many generations, E.W. Kenyon, wrote a masterful piece, a book called "The Blood Covenant." The word "covenant" in Hebrew means to cut. It means to cut, to shed blood. Isn't that interesting that the word means to cut? The blood is the main subject of the Bible. The Old and the New Testament are really the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, and they were provided, both of them, by blood. The Old Covenant by the blood of animals. The New Covenant, or New Testament, was provided by the blood of Jesus Christ. The devil knows that if he can remove the pleading of the blood from our prayers, the singing of the blood from our singing, and the preaching of the blood from our sermons, then we have no power to overcome his forces. Don't ever tamper with the blood of Jesus Christ. Don't ever uncover what God covers. When Uzzah reached up with the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament, and they had sprinkled the blood of an animal on the mercy seat, and he accidentally lifted the lid, he uncovered what God had covered, and 50,000 Hebrew soldiers dropped dead. Because you don't ever uncover what God has put under the blood. Where would we be tonight if the blood had not covered our past and covered our sin? And don't uncover what God covers.

When I think about the blood, I think about how that in this story, we see something powerful. I'm reminded, even as a child, how I used to watch little TV shows like The Lone Ranger. I liked Westerns because my dad liked Westerns. And I remember them, every once in a while, the cowboys and the Indians were always fighting, but every once in a while, they would get in a desperate situation where they needed to team up, and they would make an agreement. And what would happen is the chief would pull out his knife, and he would cut himself, and he would say, with his arm stretched, "You cut yourself." And the cowboy and the Indian, who were enemies, would grab each other, and the blood would mingle, and suddenly they would make a blood covenant. The story that E.W. Kenyon tells is one of David Livingstone, who was a missionary, very famous in Christian history. How that he went to Africa and he wanted to reach people who had never heard the gospel. And in order to go into regions that were dangerous and have protection, he had to make an agreement with the main chief over those regions. He was a very powerful man. He went to him and he said, through an interpreter, "I want to make an agreement with you." And the chief took a knife, true story, and cut his wrist. And then David Livingstone, whose body is buried in Westminster Chapel in England, he, in order to reach souls, cut himself, and blood began to pour from his vein, and they mixed the two together. And the people started rejoicing and screaming, the natives, and a celebration broke out. And then before David Livingstone left, there was the second part of the blood covenant. First was the cutting, the shedding of blood, the mixing of the blood. They became blood brothers. And then there would be the exchange of gifts. The chief looked down through, and he looked through all the possessions that David Livingstone had. And he had one thing that the chief wanted. He wanted his goat. He had a pet goat that was all he cared about. He could care less if he took his tent or his gun or something else. He just wanted that goat. And the very thing that he loved the most was the thing, according to Livingstone, that the chief demanded. And he handed over that goat. And then the chief reached in and took a staff that had his emblem carved in it and handed it to David Livingstone. And he then set out with his guides into treacherous jungles of Africa. And to this day, the miracles, you know, just a quick thing, it's interesting that when David Livingstone died, England sent a whole force over to retrieve his body and bring it back to be buried in Westminster. But when they got there, his heart had been cut out. And the natives said, "You can have his body, but his heart belonged to Africa." And they buried his heart in the dirt of Africa because he had such a heart for the souls of the nation of Africa. And what was amazing is when this man, David Livingstone, got out into the deep thick of the jungle, and one place he tells of being surrounded by hostile, hostile people who were ready with bows pulled and spears ready to throw, and suddenly he reached in and he held up that staff that had the emblem of the king. And when he did, they saw that wound, that scar, that was forever there on his wrist where he had cut a covenant with the king. And they knew, "If we harm him, we're harming the king. If we attack him, we're attacking the king and all of his mighty forces." And so they instantly, when they saw the mark, the scar, and they saw the emblem of the king, they dropped to their knees, dropped their weapons, and let him go through. And he changed the nation of Africa with the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful picture of a blood covenant.

Let me show you quickly. I'm taking you quick. God appears to a man by the name of Abraham and He says, "Split five animals down the middle." Why? Because I want to make a blood covenant through the shedding of blood. And the blood was shed, and God came sloshing through that blood as a torch of fire, and He made a covenant with a man by the name of Abraham. But then came the second part of a blood covenant. There's the shedding of blood, and then there is the exchange of gifts. And that's when some years later, God said to Abraham, "I want your son. I want you to take your son, your only son, Isaac, up to Mount Moriah, and I want you to sacrifice Him to Me." Abraham said, "God, that's the thing I love the most in this world. He's a miracle child. You gave Him to us in our old age, and now You want me to lay Him on an altar and raise the knife and stab Him and burn Him?" And how can I do this? How could any father do that? But Abraham obeyed God because he understood the power of the blood covenant. He really believed that if he did it, God would raise him back up from the ashes. That's why he knew the power of the blood covenant. And when he raised the knife and was about to stab his son Isaac in the heart, an angel stopped him, and God spoke and said, "Now I know you don't have to kill him. You don't have to sacrifice your son." And God was thinking in His infinite mind, "I'll take care of that sacrifice. You don't have to." But I will. I'll send one with a blood covenant that will pay the price. But I wanted to know, would you give Me your best? Because in the blood covenant, you give your best. And God gives His best. Really something when you understand that God said, "In blessing, now I will bless you." And God said, "I swear by My own name that as long as you have seed on the earth, as long as you live, your seed will possess the land." And He made him unbelievable promises that continue to this day. It all started. The Bible started the covenant that we're in through Jesus Christ. It all started with a blood covenant.

What I think about when I look at where we are today on Good Friday. Jesus said when He entered into the Upper Room with His disciples for the Last Supper, He said in Luke the 23rd chapter, He said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant of My blood, which is shed for you." Do you understand what He was saying? He was saying, "We're entering into a blood covenant." And the old covenant is the Old Testament, and it's been all about the keeping of the law and the rituals and legalism, and you had to earn it, and you had to work for it, and you had to deserve it. And if you messed up, you could take the blood of an animal, and the blood of an animal would never take away your failure. It would just roll it over to a new year. But Jesus said, "This time, on this cross, this day, this is My cup." Put it up, please. "This is the cup of My covenant. This is the cup of the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." And we just read over that, we don't understand. He was saying to them, they fully understood blood covenants, and He said, "I'm entering in. This cup is My blood. This bread is My body, and I'm entering into this." And what I want you to see is simply this. In this story, there's something remarkable that I read. I chose the fact to tell you today and start out in First Samuel because we see something beautiful and powerful in the covenant that Jonathan, the king's son, made with David. The Bible said that Jonathan said to David, and David said to Jonathan, "Let's make a covenant." And they entered into a blood covenant. And when they did, because the word covenant means cut, watch this. Jonathan does something strange. He takes his robe off and he hands it to David. And then he takes his garment off. It says in another place, if you keep reading, it says he took his garment off and he handed it to David. Possessions. And in another place, it said he took his sword, his weapons, and he gave them to David. It's really a powerful thing when you understand what that really is about. Because the robes spoke. It was not just a garment, regular clothing. It identified Jonathan as the king's son. It was one that wherever he went, people would look and see that particular robe, and it meant royalty. And it spoke of his position. It spoke of who he was. It spoke of the power and authority that he had. And really, what Jonathan was saying is, "I am the rightful heir. My father Saul is king of Israel, but I want you to take my position. I want you to take the authority and the position that I have. I'm giving you my robe." And that came through a blood covenant. That's what Jesus Christ has done for you and me. He says, when the King's Son, the King of Kings' Son, Jesus Christ, went to the cross, the first thing He did is He traded positions. And He said, "I'm giving you this place, a position, so that you don't come before the throne as a beggar, but you come as a child of the King. You come as a daughter of the King, a son of the King. You come clothed in My righteousness. You come with boldness and authority because of what the blood has done." Not only that, but He said, "I'm giving you my garment." And that speaks of possessions. That speaks of meeting the needs. The blood covenant not only changes your position, the blood covenant not only gives you authority to walk boldly into the throne of grace because of the shed blood, but it also says that He will supply your needs. That the possessions that I have through the cross, what are those possessions? Through the cross, through the blood covenant, there is healing. Through the blood covenant, there is deliverance for the mind. There is peace. There is joy. There is healing for broken places in our life. All of these possessions, they come through the riches of the cross. They come because Jesus gives us His righteousness and gives us a position that we can receive freely the grace and the forgiveness and the healing and the miracles of God. He gives us all of His possessions. "In My name, you can heal the sick. In My name, you can recover. In My name, you can see miracles." And then, as if that wasn't enough, He takes His sword. Jonathan did, and he gave it to David, making the blood covenant. What a picture. What a picture. What He was really saying was, "From this day forward, since we've entered into this sacred blood covenant, I give you my sword." Means this, that whoever fights you, fights Me. Whoever comes against you and tries to destroy you, they're trying to destroy Me. And just like they attack you, I will come and I will fight with you, and I will fight for you, because the battle is not yours alone, but I'm going to fight it with you. And the blood covenant says, "I not only give you position, I not only give you royal position and possessions, I supply all of your needs, healing, health, blessing, success, goodness, joy, all that you need. But the blood covenant says through the giving of the sword, it simply says, 'I give you my power. I give you my name. I give you the Holy Spirit. I give you the blood, and I give you my sword. I give you my word.' And when you speak it, and when you enforce it, the blood covenant stands behind it." And if that's not enough, there's the personhood that the blood covenant not only says, "See, the devil wants you to fight in your own position, in your own righteousness, in your own possessions, and what you have. He wants you to fight and use that, that if you get in a battle, you have to fight with your possessions and your sword and all of your positioning that you can earn." But that's not what a blood covenant is. The blood covenant says, "You don't earn any of this. I freely give it to you. I freely give it to you." And I want to fast forward, and I'm almost done, but I want you to lean in now because it's good. What I'm going to share with you, it'll change your life. I want you to see that through the blood covenant, I have a new position. I am the righteousness of God. I am not condemned. I am not ashamed. I am not a pauper. I am not a second-class citizen. I am in the royal family. Not only that, but I have the possessions that come through the riches of the cross. I have authority. I have anointing. I have the name of Jesus. I have the power of the Holy Spirit. I have the sword of the Lord. I have Him fighting. He says, "The battle's not yours, it's the Lord's." And when I get in battles and when I get in fights, even if I shouldn't have got myself in them, He doesn't leave me out there and say, "Good luck." But He says, "You've got My sword. You know you've got My name. You need to stand up in the blood covenant." Because here's what, here's what the Bible said in Psalms 26, I think it is, 25. This is what it says: "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." The secrets of the covenant. I'm giving them to you. That when the devil sees you, he wants you to think that you're a nobody and a nothing, and you don't, you can't have anything because you don't deserve it. But here's the secrets to the covenant. Leave that scripture up a minute. I just like seeing it up there. "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." I'm showing you how the devil. I'm going to tell you a little secret. This is how the devil sees you. He sees you in a high position that has that the blood of Jesus Christ has raised you up into. He sees you with all the possessions that you need to do the will of God. He sees you with the sword of God. It's just like that man out in that jungle when he raised up that emblem that had the king's signature on it, and all of a sudden they bowed down. When you stand up in the position and in the possessions and in the power and in the personhood of who Jesus has called you to be, all of hell, every knee has to bow, every tongue has to confess that Jesus is Lord.

Now, I want everybody at every campus to clap your hands and praise the Lord just a minute. No, no, clap your hands and praise the Lord just a minute. I'm not through preaching. I'm almost through. But now listen to this. So, so fast forward now. So David, David becomes king. Saul dies. Jonathan tragically dies. But he made a covenant, he made a blood covenant with David. And now David is sitting on the throne. And as David is sitting on the throne, he asks a question. I don't know what made him think about it, but he was just sitting there, probably in the palace, thinking of the faithfulness and goodness of God. And one day he reaches to grab his cup, and when he does, he sees that scar. He remembers that he made a blood covenant with the king's son. And he asks a powerful, powerful question. Second Samuel 9: "Is there anyone in the house of Saul that I might show kindness to him?" Listen to these words: "For Jonathan's sake," he said. "Is there any family left of King Saul that I can show kindness?" Listen, that's a covenant word. "Show kindness to for Jonathan's sake." Who is Jonathan? The one he made a blood covenant with. Really, what all the people in the palace thought is, "This is revenge time." Because in Bible days, the first thing a king would do if he overthrew and took over a kingdom is he would hunt out anyone who would be the rightful heir, and he would kill all the seed royal. He would kill all the children. He would kill all the sons who could potentially down the road cause him a problem. He'd just kill them all. And so when he made, asked this question, "Is there anyone of the house of Saul that I might show kindness to for Jonathan's sake?" They're all like, "Yeah, right. Here comes the purge. Here comes this." This is going to be like those shows on National Geographic when the lion, the new lion comes in and kills the old lion. Y'all know what I'm talking about? And y'all know what he does? He then goes and kills all the little cubs because he didn't want any problems with that. That's what they think is about to happen. Listen now. And somebody spoke up and said, "There's only one left of Jonathan's house, and his name is Mephibosheth." It's a tragic story. When Saul was killed and you were crowned and the people were bringing you back to the throne, the nurse picked Mephibosheth, the baby, up and was running out of the nursery for her life, knowing the child was in danger, and she tripped and fell on the baby and crushed it, and the child is crippled. And now he lives in a place called Lodebar, which means barren, dry pastures. He's out in the middle of nowhere, and it's fruitless. It's a barren place. It's dark and gray, and he lives in a shack, and he eats out of a tin can, and it's pitiful. He crawls around all day in the dirt hut that he lives in. And David says to his mighty men, "Take chariots and horses and go and fetch him out." I like that word, "fetch him out." See, he was a little southern, David was. We don't, the only people who use the word "fetch" are country people like you. But I got to thinking about that last night, it just got in my spirit. God knows how to fetch us out. God knows how to fetch you out of addiction. He knows how when you can't get to Him, He can send some power after you that can raise you up and fetch you out. And here comes, here comes the mighty men rolling up in chariots and horses and power and strength. And I could see, I could see Mephibosheth, poor thing, crawling on that dirt floor, that old hut, and pulls himself up to the window in pain and looks out, and he sees these mighty soldiers, and he thinks to himself, because all he had ever been told, all he had ever been told, all he had ever been told was, "Be afraid of David. Hate David. He's your enemy. He's going to hurt you. He's going to get you one of these days. He's going to try to wipe you out and give you what you deserve." So he was trembling, and he thought, "This is it." They take him and put him in the chariot and bring him back. But when he gets there, they don't take him to a prison. They take him to a palace. He walks in, and they say, "His Highness, would you like your bath hot or lukewarm? We have all of your new clothes laid out. Versace, Gucci, whatever you want, we have it all here. And by the way, dinner will be served in the main dining room of the presidential palace, and you are the honored guest at the king's table." And they bathe him, and they clothe him, and they help him and carry him down, and they sit him at the table right beside the king. And his weakness is covered at the table. He looks just like old beautiful Absalom is sitting there. The Bible said he had some long hair that was so long, he got hung by it one time. But he's sitting over there like Fabio, or whoever, you know, just doing his hair. And all these beautiful jet setters are sitting around. His daughter was gorgeous. Read the story. If all of his family was there, and here's this crippled boy, and he's sitting at the table, and his lameness is covered, his issue is not even existent, and he's sitting there wondering, "Why? Why am I here? Look at this food I've never seen such food. Oh my God, look at this place." And the king says, "Do you like your new home, son?" "I love it. I love it." He says, "You know, you're never going to leave here. You'll eat here continually at my table. You know you belong here. You know I made a..." And he's thinking, "Why? Why? Why?" And all of a sudden, I could almost see in my mind, I just preach it like I want to because this is how I see it. I could see them passing the food. Somebody's passing the green beans. Somebody's passing the collard greens. Come on. Somebody's passing the pork chops. Somebody's passing the homemade biscuits. David reaches out and grabs some biscuits, and he's about to... And all of a sudden, Mephibosheth sees it. He sees the scar. And he realizes the only reason I'm here is because Dad, my father, Jonathan, made a blood covenant. And that's why I'm here. All my life, I thought I had to fear you, God. And that's how some of you are about God. You think He's out to get you. You think He's out to mess you up. And you think He's gonna get you back. No, He's not. If He ever catches you, all He's going to do is show you love and kindness.

Can I conclude this little message? Do you know when you get to heaven, when Jesus rose from the dead, everything was healthy and healed and beautiful, except for one thing on that body. Jesus still had the scars. He said, "Look, Thomas, touch these wounds." Why didn't the... I mean, if He's so resurrected and got a glorified body, I hope none of my scars and none of my issues and none of this and none of that. None of that. I don't want any of that on my glorified body. I want a perfect body. How about you? Come on. But Jesus still had the scars. Why? Under the Old Covenant, under the Old Covenant, the mark of circumcision meant the blood covenant had been cut. Under the New Covenant, the wounds and the scars of Jesus are forever on display. And when we look, when we're sitting at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and living in mansions, and streets of gold, and gates of pearl, and flying over to see our loved ones, and having a glory, hallelujah, every once in a while, we'll look back and see the scars, the marks of the covenant, the blood covenant that Jesus shed. It's not Jesus Christ Superstar, it's Jesus Christ Superscar. I worked hard on that, and you didn't even appreciate it. Hallelujah. And when we get up in heaven, we're going to shout and say, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive..." This is what Good Friday is all about. It's about nails. It's about the fact that blood was shed when those holes were put in His body. And Jesus says to every person here, "I know you. I know your name. And I give you a new position. I give you the possessions you need. I give you the power and the weapons that you need. And I give you My personhood through the power of the Holy Spirit. And I make a covenant with you, the blood covenant. And the secret of the Lord is with them that fear the Lord, and He will show them His covenant."

I want you right where you are to stand to your feet, and I want you at every campus to lift up your hands unashamed. And for the next few moments, as we prepare for communion, I want you to open up your heart. I want you to open up your spirit. I want you to take the bread. If you've got your communion set, take the bread. Do you understand that's what Good Friday is all about? I thought I was preaching a message of good news. Do you all hear what I'm saying up here today? Does anybody believe what I'm preaching is the truth? It ought to turn into praise like crazy, especially this Easter. You're not just fighting me, Satan. You're fighting against the blood covenant. That's why Jesus said, "This cup is the new covenant of My blood. Drink it. This do in remembrance of Me. This is My body. Take, eat. This do in remembrance of Me." Receive the bread. And this is My blood. This is My blood which is shed for the remission of sin of the new covenant. It's the new covenant. This cup, you're entering in right now into a blood covenant. Isn't that amazing? That means that your house, your children, your children's children, your family, it's not the hell won't come against it, but God's given you the sword and given you the position and giving you the power to prevail through the blood. Take, drink this, do in remembrance of Me. Come on, guys. Come on out. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.

I want you to get the song ready that we did this morning, "Thousand Generations." I want you to raise your hands high all over the room, and I want you to receive the blood covenant, the secrets that are being revealed to you of who you are and what you have through the blessing of the blood covenant. Make His face shine upon the Lord. Come on, every hand, lift it together. Let's sing it out again together. The Lord's. The Lord's turn. Lift your voice and sing it all over the room now. I am is make His face shine upon me. Generations. Good. Please. Come on. Wow. Is. Is. Come on. Put your hands together, praise Him tonight. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Come on, let's worship Him. Let's thank Him for Calvary. Thank Him that He bled and died and He cut the covenant. He made the covenant on that old rugged cross for you and for me. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.

If you're here tonight, with every head bowed and every eye closed, and you would say, "Pastor Jensen, I've feared God. I've ran from God, but now I need Him like I've never needed Him before." Maybe you need Him in your family. Maybe you're going through something that you need the power of the blood covenant. I'm telling you, there is nothing that can match the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. And when you apply it to your life, and when you, in faith, stand in the position and in the power and in the person of Jesus Christ, He says, "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." He can fetch you out. He can fetch your family out. He can fetch your life out of the barren, dark, low pastures of Lodebar. He can bring them up and bring them out who trust in His blood and in His name. If you would say, "Pastor, I really, really, really need a change in my life. I need the power of the blood covenant." Just be honest in some area of my life. I need the power of the blood covenant on me and my house. Raise your hand. I want to see it all over this room. Be honest. Be honest. How many of you would say, "There's something in my life that I would like, through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, to see broken and defeated, and I want to come out of that low place." Let me see your hand. Raise it high and unashamed. There's no need to hear a sermon like this if you don't stand on it. There is power in the blood of Jesus Christ. All Abraham had was the blood covenant. All David had was the blood covenant. And you know what the greatest thing that we have is? The blood covenant. It's the blood of Jesus.

Everybody, raise your hands high toward heaven at every campus, representing that situation in your life. Say these words: "Lord Jesus, I surrender completely to You. I give You my life. I give You my best. I give You my family. I give You my marriage. You required the best in the exchange of gifts, so I give You the best of me, the rest of me, all that I have, all that I possess, I give to You, King Jesus. And now I receive Your best." And it's not a fair exchange. I receive, Lord, Your favor. I receive Your blessing. I receive Your blood that cleanses me. Say that it cleanses me and my house. Satan, in the name of Jesus, your power is broken off of families and homes and minds and bodies. Health and healing is flowing. Deliverance is flowing. Fentanyl and all of those things that are destroying, destroying lives, we just right now, Lord, plead the blood of Jesus over our sons and our daughters and our children and our children's children. Hallelujah. And we believe You. And we thank You. Everybody say this: "In Jesus' name, and through His blood, me and my family are highly favored and blessed of the Lord." Clap your hands and give God praise. Do you receive that on this Good Friday? Would you praise the name of Jesus?

And now, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Make His face shine on you, be gracious unto you. Lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Sunday morning is going to be another level. Don't miss it. We love you so much. If you gave your heart to the Lord for the first time online or here in the audience, make sure you go by the center out there, the Connections Lounge. We have people waiting. They'll give you a Bible. We're going to be giving every child that comes to church this Easter a beautiful, beautiful Bible. It's very full with pictures and illustrations and hands-on Bible for children. If they come, they're going to get one of those free. And so many other things this coming weekend. Do not miss Sunday morning, 7 a.m., 9 a.m., and 11 a.m. Be blessed, everybody. God bless you.