SERMON NOTES: GOOD FRIDAY 2025

"The Power Of Knowing Him" Pastor Albert Almore

“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.”

Luke 23:44-46 NIV

“The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.””

Luke 23:47 NIV

“When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts AND WENT AWAY.”

Luke 23:48 NIV

This my friends is where the enemy wants you to be….

He wants you to walk away. He wants you to walk away from your faith. He wants you to walk away from Kingdom community. He wants you to walk away disappointed. He wants you to walk away heartbroken, simply devastated. We know this is how they felt, becoming after the resurrection when Jesus appeared to

“As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.”

Luke 24:15-16 NIV

“He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast.”

Luke 24:17 NIV

“One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.”

Luke 24:18-19 NIV

“The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, IT IS THE THIRD DAY since all this took place.”

Luke 24:20-21 NIV

“BUT WE HAD HOPED...”

Luke 24:21 NIV

But this situation caused us to walk away. We had hope, until the phone call came in. We had hope, but it didn’t happen how we wouldn’t it to happen. We had hope, but it didnt happen when we wouldn’t it to happen. So we walked away from the cross. So we beat our chest, and walked away in despair, faces downcast, WE HAD HOPED.

“When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts AND WENT AWAY.”

Luke 23:48 NIV

“BUT ALL THOSE WHO KNEW HIM, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, STOOD AT A DISTANCE, watching these things.”

Luke 23:49 NIV

Everyone else walked away, but those that knew Him, stayed when everyone else left. When everyone else went home in despair, they stayed thinking to theirselves, there has to be more to the story than this. There has to be more to who He is than this. There has to be more to His life than this. Everyone else went away, but those WHO KNEW HIM, THOSE WHO SERVED WITH HIM, THOSE WHO TRAVELED WITH HIM, when everyone else went away because of what they saw, there was another group that stayed!

I interviewed them and I asked them, why did you stay? When everyone else walked away, when everyone else said this is it, why did you stay? With tears in their eyes, they told me…

He’d been too FAITHFUL for them to walk away now. He was faithful to call us. He was faithful to walk with us. He was faithful in the storms. He was faithful in shortages. He was faithful in spiritual warfare. He was faithful at the tomb. He was faithful to the blind. He was faithful to the point of death. We knew Him, and to know Him was to know His faithfulness to us.

This can’t be it. Not here. Not now. Not like this. We knew His faithfulness. We knew His Word. We knew His Word in John 11:25

“Jesus said to her, “I AM THE RESURRECTION and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;”

John 11:25 NIV

“I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS; I will come to you.”

John 14:18 NIV

“I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. HE HAS NO HOLD OVER ME,”

John 14:30 NIV

“He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”

Luke 10:18-19 NIV

“But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.”

Luke 23:49 NIV

“From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, BUT ON THE THIRD DAY he would be raised from the dead.”

Matthew 16:21 NLT

…..but it’s not what it looks like!

📝 Everyone else walked away, because THEY HAD HOPED. We stayed, because WE HAVE HOPE!

📝 • We didn’t allow what we saw to MOVE US.

📝 • We stood on His FAITHFULNESS.

📝 • We stood on His WORD.

📝 • We stood on His PROMISES.

“And he shall be like a tree PLANTED by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Psalm 1:3 KJV

When you find yourself dealing with heavy cross situations, YOU BETTER KNOW HIM! It won’t be easy, when others walk away, stand on His faithfulness. Stand on His Word. Stand on His PROMISES.

Philippians 3:10 KJV…

“THAT I MAY KNOW HIM, and the power of his resurrection, AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERINGS, being made conformable unto his death;”

Philippians 3:10 KJV

I know pain. I know suffering. I know betrayal. But even greater than that…I KNOW HIM. I know that He’s FAITHFUL. Faithful to His Word. Faithful to His Promises. Faithful to His Sons. Faithful to His daughters.

When everyone else walked away they stayed, because Caesar didn’t have the final word. The Roman soldiers didn’t have the final. Death didn’t have the final word. THE CROSS HAD THE FINAL WORD.

John 12:32 KJV…

“And I, IF I BE LIFTED UP from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

John 12:32 KJV

Corinthians 1:18 NIV…

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, BUT TO US who are being saved IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

📝 To them it was capital punishment, but to Jesus, it was an eternal PROMOTION!

“he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death ON A CROSS. THEREFORE, GOD ELEVATED HIM TO THE PLACE OF HIGHEST HONOR and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:8-11 NLT

None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

1 Corinthians 2:8 NIV

Because of the cross, it’s not we HAD hope. Because of the cross WE HAVE HOPE. When everyone else walked away they stayed. They stayed, because they knew Him. They stayed because they knew His Word. They knew that Caesar wouldn’t have the final word. The Roman soldiers wouldn’t have the final word. Death wouldn’t have the final word. The sealed tomb wouldn’t have the final word. THE CROSS HAS THE FINAL WORD!

📝 Do you KNOW HIM?