"The Father's Hands"
Pastor Albert Almore
This Sunday morning, Jesus wants to teach us a powerful lesson about running to the Father. For the last couple of weeks, many churches around the globe have been teaching through what many call the Seven Last Words from the cross.
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
Luke 23:34
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Luke 23:43
Woman, behold, thy son! Behold, thy mother!
John 19:26-27
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34
I thirst.
John 19:28
It Is Finished.
John 19:30
The last of the 7 sayings is found in Luke 23. We’re going to take a look at it today, beginning at verse 44 where it reads,
“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,” Luke 23:44
“for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain (the veil) of the temple was torn in two.” Luke 23:45
“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 23:46
In Psalm 31:5, we find these same words from David,
“Into your hands I COMMIT MY SPIRIT; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.” Psalm 31:5
We’re definitely going to come back to this in a moment and connect The Old Testament to the New Testament, but before we do, something else caught my attention as we begun reading the text. Maybe you saw it this morning too while we were reading it together. It’s the first five words in Luke 23:45 where it reads...
FOR THE SUN STOPPED SHINING...Luke 23:45
I wonder how many people in here this morning can relate to these five words...FOR THE SUN STOPPED SHINING.
You’d be amazed of the amount of people that for them the Sun has stopped shining a long time ago. For some the sun has stopped shining in their marriage. For some the sun has stopped shining in their relationship with God. For others the Sun has stopped shining in their career, or inside of them and they just don’t feel like theirselves.
Nobody knows it. You’re here this morning. Smiling. Looking nice. You’re here sitting with your family, your friends, others are sitting alone, but both scenarios are alike, nobody knows how you feel on the inside. The sun has stopped shining.
Nobody has a clue that you’ve been crying yourself to sleep at night. For others, you’ve been lucky if you’ve been sleeping at all. But the crazy thing is you can’t pin point what’s wrong. You don’t know when it happened, how it happened, or what’s happening. All that you know is that it feels like the sun has stopped shining in your life.
The moment that the sun stopped shining, the gospels records that the veil was ripped not just apart, but from top to bottom. Before this happened Jesus cried out in John 19:30 Tetelestai meaning, "It Is Finished!” What is finished? Everything that I left heaven to do on earth is finished! For 33 years, I lived a sinless life, offered up my body as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, dying a death that I didn’t deserve, reconciling mankind back into right standing with God. It is here that Jesus calls out from the cross, Tetelestai, It is finished! And as He did, the veil was ripped from top to bottom signifying to us that the The Kingdom that the first Adam lost, has now been restored back to earth! You no longer have to go through a priest or anyone else to get to God, because Jesus Christ, our High Priest, Jesus Christ our God man has paid the price, access has been granted to a rightful relationship with God THROUGH JESUS CHRIST!
After the veil was ripped it’s as if Christ saw God welcoming Him home. One translation reads in Luke 23:46,
Jesus shouted, "Father, I PUT MYSELF IN YOUR HANDS!" Then he died. Luke 23:46
In one last DEMONSTRATION sermon, Christ the master teacher, teaches us what to do when the sun appears to no longer be shining in our lives. He points us to The Father’s Hands.
The Bible says, Jesus shouted, "Father, I put myself in your hands!" I want to share in a message today titled,
THE FATHER’S HANDS
Maybe you’re here today and you’re dealing with a situation that’s out of your hands. You keep saying to yourself and to others, "It’s just out of my hands. It’s just out of my hands.” The bottom line for today’s message is this…
📝 What’s OUT OF YOUR HANDS, isn’t OUT OF HIS.
📝 Out of my hands, and into His hands is the best place for my ALL to be.
FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT…
📝 If Jesus could entrust the Father with HIS SPIRIT, then you can entrust the Father with YOUR EVERYTHING.
You can entrust the Father with your everything because….
📝 His hands are MIGHTY.
“Who else has held the oceans IN HIS HAND? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?”
Isaiah 40:12
You have The One who holds the oceans in His hands on your side.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under GOD’S MIGHTY HAND, that he may lift you up in due time.”
1 Peter 5:6
His hands are mighty, mine aren’t.
You can entrust the Father with your everything because….
📝 His hands MULTIPLY.
“And they said to Him, “We HAVE here only five loaves and two fish.””
Matthew 14:17
“He said, “BRING THEM HERE TO ME.””
Matthew 14:18
Take what you HAVE. Bring it to Him. Place it in His hands. Watch Him multiply it.
From the beginning God had MULTIPLICATION on His mind NOT ADDITION.
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and MULTIPLY; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””
Genesis 1:28
God told Abraham in Genesis 22:17,
I will certainly bless you. I will MULTIPLY your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. Genesis 22:17
II Corinthians 9:10 says,
“Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and MULTIPLY the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,”
II Corinthians 9:10
Ephesians 3:20 sums it like this….
“Now to Him who is able to do EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,”
Ephesians 3:20
You can entrust the Father with your everything because….
📝 His hands are MERCIFUL.
One time when David displeased the Lord, God told Gad in 2 Samuel 24:12,
““Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ””
2 Samuel 24:12
“So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.””
2 Samuel 24:13
“David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into THE HANDS OF THE LORD, for HIS MERCY IS GREAT; but do not let me fall into human hands.””
2 Samuel 24:14
God’s hands are MIGHTY. God’s hands multiply. God’s hands are merciful and SO MUCH MORE, but NONE of this works without the final part of verse 26. The KJV captures it perfectly. It reads,
“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, HE GAVE UP the ghost.”
Luke 23:46
This is significant because in this moment Jesus makes a decision to GIVE UP THE GHOST. Jesus makes a decision to GIVE UP His spirit. Because He was fully God and fully man, Jesus could have taken himself off the cross, remained alive, and exerted His divine authority. He CHOSE not to do so. His divine nature means He INTENTIONALLY had to CHOOSE to no longer hold onto life. The one who is LIFE, had to CHOOSE to no longer hold onto life! In essence Jesus did what many of us need to do. When Jesus GAVE UP THE GHOST, JESUS GAVE UP CONTROL.
I’ve found that most times when the sun stopped shining in my life, I was attempting to carry things I wasn’t intended to carry.
Jesus GAVE UP THE GHOST.
📝 Don’t give up your life. GIVE UP YOUR CONTROL.
Joseph asked his brothers a question that’s still ringing out to us today. Joseph asked his brothers in Genesis 50:19,
“And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD?”
Genesis 50:19
📝 GIVE UP trying to BE GOD.
📝Stop being CONTROLLED by what you can’t CONTROL.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under GOD’S MIGHTY HAND, that he may lift you up in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6
His hands are mighty. My hands aren’t. His hands can handle it. My hands can’t.
📝 When situations arise that are out of YOUR HANDS the best place to place them is in the FATHER’S HANDS.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you WITH MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND.” Isaiah 41:10
📝 God’s hands are already in your TOMORROW’S. You can REST in that TODAY.
“With A MIGHTY HAND and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:12
Therefore…
“CAST ALL YOUR ANXIETY on him because HE CARES FOR YOU.”
1 Peter 5:7
📝 You weren’t designed to CARRY IT, you were designed to CAST IT.
📝 God CARES about what you’ve been CARRYING.
📝The moment you RELINQUISH CONTROL is the moment that ANXIETY RELINQUISHES YOU.
You can relinquish your control because of the promise of Psalm 31 that Jesus recited while on the cross. It reads,
“In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; Deliver me in Your righteousness.”
Psalms 31:1
“Bow down Your ear to me, Deliver me speedily; Be my rock of refuge, A fortress of defense to save me.”
Psalms 31:2
“For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me.”
Psalms 31:3
“Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength.”
Psalms 31:4
“Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have REDEEMED ME, O Lord God of truth.”
Psalms 31:5
Jesus recites this Psalm knowing that not only would He go to be with the Father, but He knew His life would be VINDICATED, REDEEMED with the resurrection mere days later, and the same goes for you. The sun may not be shining today, but it won’t always be like this. Psalms 30:5 says,
“Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”
Psalms 30:5
You will be vindicated. You will be redeemed. Humble yourselves, therefore, under GOD’S MIGHTY HAND, that he may lift you up in due time. Because what’s OUT OF YOUR HANDS, isn’t OUT OF HIS.
Then Jesus shouted, "Father, I ENTRUST my spirit INTO YOUR HANDS!" Luke 23:46
What about you today???
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO ENTRUST TO THE FATHER’S HANDS?
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