John 10_24-29      Can You Trust God's Hands?

Rev. David Holwick  ZI

First Baptist Church                                                #3766

Ledgewood, New Jersey

November 2, 1997

John 10:24-29


CAN YOU TRUST GOD'S HANDS?



  I. It began with a touch.

      A. Sistine chapel ceiling and finger of God.

          1) (Also, hockey games and foam hands.)


      B. We can leave our problems in God's hands.

          1) Trite advice?

          2) We are driven by a need to DO something.


      C. What does it mean to leave something in God's hands?

          1) Do we ever really do it?

          2) What kind of place is God's hands?

              a) Stats - mentioned 200 times in OT alone.


II. God's hands are a place of majesty and power.

      A. To say that God has hands, is to say he can act with power.

          1) Habakkuk - rays flash from his hand.

          2) Isaiah - his hands spread out the heavens.

          3) Exodus - his hands shattered the enemy.


      B. Can a God with such awesome power save a bad marriage?

          1) One woman's experience.


             Helen Lescheid's husband was in a mental hospital 5 years.

             Psychiatrist said recovery would take 20 years, suggested

                she divorce him.

                  "Get on with your life."

             She went home and looked through their marriage album,

                and noticed the symbol on their cake:

                   a brass cross with two small rings entwined.


             Their marriage had changed, but had Christ changed?

                She remembered the verse,

             "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is

                 made perfect in weakness."                    2 Cor 12:9

             In the silence of her room she prayed,


                "We have nothing left but you, Lord.

                 Apart from you we have no marriage, but with you

                    we've still got something worth preserving.

                 I place this broken marriage into your hands now.

                 Only you have the power to make something beautiful

                    out of it."

                                                                    #3766

          2) Do you believe God's hands are more powerful than any

                of your problems?


III. God's hands are a place of loving intervention.

      A. God's hands have a power he wants to use.

          1) Common in Psalms - God drawing out of deep water. Ps 18:16-17

              a) Theme of rescuing Israel from bondage.   Exod 13:3,14,16

              b) He wants to rescue you from addictions, etc.

          2) God's hand is not too short to save.          Isa 50:2, 59:1


      B. God's hands are tender.

          1) Hand of Lord upon someone denotes favor.

              a) It was on Ezra before a hostile king.        Ezra 7:6,28

          2) God wants to do good to us, not evil.


      C. His hands take the initiative.

          1) God stretches his hands out toward us.

              a) He not only can rescue, he wants to.

              b) We must not dictate how, or when, he does it.

          2) God makes the first move.

              a) Even when we are not looking for help.


                 Conrad Manalansan lived in the Philippines.

                    He was 7 years old.  And very poor.

                 His father had broken off contact with his mother.

                    As a "second wife," she was left with nothing.

                 She moved her son, his sister and herself to a cheap,

                    one-room basement apartment.

                 His sister got out: she eloped.


                 Conrad and his mother tried to make ends meet by selling

                    tomatoes or garlic or whatever they could get from a

                       wagon outside the market.

                 In a short time they were two months behind on their rent,

                    their rice was gone and they were about to be forced

                       onto the street.

                 "It's all right.  God will provide," the young boy told

                    his mother.

                 Conrad was repeating the lesson he had heard from Baptist

                    missionaries in a Sunday School class.

                 The suggestion enraged his mother.

                    "There is no God," she screamed.

                 "For others there may be God, but there is no God for us."


                 A few minutes later the Baptist missionary knocked on

                    their door.

                 He had visited Conrad before, but each time the boy's

                    mother had hidden.

                 This time she faced him.

                 He explained quietly, "God has been speaking to me and

                    told me to give you this."

                 He handed her a 100 peso bill.


                 That was 25 years ago.

                    Both Conrad and his mother became Christians.

                 Their life never got easy, but it did get better.

                 Through it all Conrad kept what he refers to today as

                    his "simple faith," trusting that God would provide.

                 Each time, he says, God came through.

                 Today he is a "hero of the faith" is his local church,

                    and his mother leads a prayer meeting.

                                                                    #3469


      D. Our children can never go beyond the reach of a loving God.

          1) We can trust our loved ones' safety to a caring God.

          2) What if they don't want to be held onto?

              a) Like a good parent, God still doesn't let go.  (fire)


IV. God's hands are a place of discipline.

      A. You don't want God's hand to be "against" you.        Acts 13:11

          1) Dreadful to fall into hands of living God.  Heb 10:31

          2) Troubles can be an indication of God's hand on us.

              a) He is shaping us, like a potter shapes clay.


      B. Ultimately, God disciplines us to save us.

          1) Even Christians need his rebuke at times.


      C. Not all trouble is discipline from God.

          1) Bad things do happen to good people.

          2) But God censors trouble.  He puts limits on it.

          3) Everything ultimately happens for our good.


  V. God's hands are a place of fulfillment.

      A. We often experience unfulfillment.

          1) Questions arise: are God's hands a graveyard of broken dreams?


                George Mueller was a remarkable British Christian who

                   supported his orphanage exclusively on prayer.

                Mueller never directly asked anyone for a

                   contribution.

                He simply prayed to God about his circumstances.

                Someone observed, "It looks like a hand-to-mouth

                   proposition."

                "Yes, it is," Mueller responded, "But it is God's

                   hand and my mouth."

                                                                #1705

          2) When we leave something in God's hands, don't we have

                to take ours off?

          3) Can we trust God to do what is best?

              a) Acknowledging God is not shrugging off responsibility.


      B. Acknowledge our helplessness and dependence on God.

          1) When we are in the right frame of mind, God can guide us

                into the appropriate action, at the appropriate time.

          2) A calm attitude, greater understanding, and courage results.


      C. Whatever we commit to God's hands are in safe keeping.



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