October 27, 2019
Hymn 346 - Jesus who lives above the sky,
Prayer
Last time I talked about about feet; today we are going to move on to the hands. Let’s start with some stories that has the Lord’s hands in them.
Matthew 8:1-3
Jesus was coming down from a mountain when a man approached Him and asked to be cleansed from leprosy. Leprosy was a very dangerous and deadly disease. No one wanted to get near a leprous man but Jesus touched him and cleansed him. Jesus was always showing kindness and compassion with his hands.
Matthew 14:28-31
This time Jesus used his hands to save Peter. Peter had started to focus on the waves instead of Jesus. He began to sink when he did that. Then Peter cried out and Jesus was right there to save him. Jesus is right there to save you, too. You just need to ask.
Job 12:6,10
Everything is in God’s hands. He made everything with those powerful hands.
Isaiah 40:11,12
Here’s His hands again. We know He could speak and it would happen but for some reason He chose to use His hands.
John 10:27-29
These are the same powerful hands that created everything. They’re protecting us. Nothing can get us there.
Isaiah 49:16
He has graven us on His hands. Those kind hands that were nailed to the cross. The nail prints are still there. His pierced hands are now our guard and guide.
He’s done so much for us. We should want to give Him our hands. Let’s look at some verses on how we can use them for Him.
Isaiah 56:2
There are so many things we can do with our hands. We should do them all for Him. The Lord hates when we use our hands for evil. We should keep as far away from evil as possible.
Proverbs 15:3
The Lord is always watching us. He sees how we help Him with our hands.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
No matter what your job is make sure you are available to help Him.
Romans 12:1
We should make our bodies available to Him. Especially our hands. We need to be ready for His service.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Don’t do things halfheartedly. Put your heart into it.
1 Samuel 23:16
Jonathan strengthen David’s hands. He encouraged him. We too can encourage others.
So there are some examples of how Jesus used His hands and how we can use our hands for Him.
John 17
In this chapter Jesus is talking to His Father about the disciples. They got to hear His thoughts, plans, and desires for His own.
In a world that hated Him, Jesus lifted His eyes to heave and said, “Father”. His eyes could see beyond. What a relationship! We can’t see what He did or have the same knowledge about the Father . But we can still raise our eyes to heaven and call Him Abba Father.
Even on the cross God was glorified. But in this passage the Lord is seeing past the cross as if the work was done. Perhaps He was thinking of being back in the Father’s presence. Jesus took on a human veil. He hadn’t been a human in glory before this. He was going back to glory and would enjoy it in human form. He was without blemish, though. We are imperfect and we probably wouldn’t properly recognize perfection. In scenes above there is only perfection and never sin. What He has given us is divine.
Darby puts verse two as “As Thou hast given Him authority over all flesh, that [as to] all that Thou hast given to Him, He should give them life eternal”. Power is ability, while authority is the right to use the power. He has authority over all. At the grave of Lazarus He was able to raise him from the dead. He has authority to give us eternal life, but He will also use the same authority on judgement day.
John 1:12
Power in this verse is the right or privilege.
John 17:8
The disciples were a gift and He prayed for them dearly.
Many people say they have their own gods, but there is only One true God who sent His Son to give us eternal life.
Hymn 362 Two little eyes to look to God
Prayer