Sermon Notes: 4/6/25

"Don't Forget The Father's Hands"

Pastor Albert Almore

By now Satan had entered Judas, prompting him to betray Jesus. By now Jesus had been arrested, gone through a mock trial, wrongfully found guilty as charged FOR OUR SINS. From there he went to the whipping post where he took 39 lashes on his back for us. By now he has been crowned with thorns being forced into His forehead. By now he has carried His cross, and the 7 inch nails have been driven into His wrist and feet. From here we hear his last words. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. My God, my God why have you forsaken me. Today, you will be with me in Paradise. I thirst. Woman behold your son, son behold your mother. We pick his last words this morning in Luke 23:44 where it reads,

“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.”

Luke 23:44-45 NIV

“Jesus called out with a loud voice, “FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. 47) The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.””

Luke 23:46-47 NIV

Luke 23:44-45…

“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, FOR THE SUN STOPPED SHINING...”

Luke 23:44-45 NIV

FOR THE SUN STOPPED SHINING…

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN IT FEELS AS IF THE SUN HAS STOPPED SHINING IN YOUR LIFE?

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, their relationship with God, 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.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN IT FEELS AS IF THE SUN HAS STOPPED SHINING IN YOUR LIFE?

What do you do? Where do you go? Where do you turn? Thankfully for us, Jesus teaches us what to do from the cross. The moment that the sun stopped shining, Luke 23:46 says,

“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 NIV

With 7 inch nails in His wrist and in His feet, class is still in session. The Master teacher is still teaching. He uses His life as a visual aid, and teaches us what to do when you feel as if the sun has stopped shining in your life. He teaches us to not look to ourselves. He teaches us to not look to our own strength, or TEMPORARY fixes. Instead, Jesus teaches us to look to the ETERNAL sovereign hands of our Heavenly Father.

The CEV translation says Luke 23:46 like this,

Jesus shouted, "Father, I PUT MYSELF IN YOUR HANDS!" Then he died. 

Luke 23:46 CEV

When life get’s tough and it will. When life feels as if the sun has stopped shining in your life, and at times it will. In moments like these…

Today’s Message 

Jesus shouted, "Father, I PUT MYSELF IN YOUR 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, I PUT MYSELF IN YOUR HANDS!" 

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 trust God with your spouse, children, significant other, your finances, your health…

📝 • You’ll find COMFORT in the Father’s hands.

“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I WILL UPHOLD YOU WITH MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND.’”

Isaiah 41:10 NKJV

“For I, the Lord your God, WILL HOLD YOUR RIGHT HAND, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’”

Isaiah 41:13 NKJV

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV

📝• You’ll find MERCY in the Father’s hands.

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 NIV

“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 NIV

“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 NIV

“Surely goodness and MERCY shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”

Psalms 23:6 NKJV

📝 You’ll find MIGHT in the Father’s hands. 

“But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.”

Deuteronomy 7:18 NIV

“You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, THE MIGHTY HAND and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.”

Deuteronomy 7:19 NIV

Isaiah 40:12 says….

“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 NLT

You have The One and only who holds the oceans in His hands ON YOUR SIDE. Why not entrust what you’re carrying INTO HIS HANDS? 1 Peter 5:6 says,

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under GOD’S MIGHTY HAND, that he may lift you up in due time.”

1 Peter 5:6 NIV

His hands are mighty, mine aren’t.

In God’s hands you’ll find comfort, mercy, might, 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 KJV

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 on life. Give up on your ALLUSION OF CONTROL.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under GOD’S MIGHTY HAND, that he may lift you up in due time.”

1 Peter 5:6 NIV

“In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, DRESS YOURSELVES IN HUMILITY as you relate to one another, for “GOD OPPOSES THE PROUD but gives grace to the humble.””

1 Peter 5:5 NLT

“PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION, And an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Proverbs 16:18 ESV

📝 When PRIDE takes the lead in our conversations, in our actions, DESTRUCTION is soon to follow. 

God hates pride, because pride doesn’t allow God to be God in your life. Why is this? Because you’re living under the allusion that you’re in control, and that you don’t need Him.

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 KJV

Jesus gave up the ghost, for you..,

📝 GIVE UP trying to BE GOD.

📝Stop being CONTROLLED by what you can’t CONTROL.

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.

📝 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 NIV

Therefore…

“CAST ALL YOUR ANXIETY on him because HE CARES FOR YOU.”

1 Peter 5:7 NIV

CAST ALL YOUR ANXIETY on him…

📝 You weren’t designed to CARRY IT, you were designed to CAST IT.

 “CAST ALL YOUR ANXIETY on him BECAUSE HE CARES FOR YOU.”

📝 God CARES about what you’re CARRYING.

📝The moment you relinquish CONTROL is the moment that ANXIETY relinquishes you.

“In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; Deliver me in Your righteousness. Bow down Your ear to me, Deliver me speedily; Be my rock of refuge, A fortress of defense to save me.”

Psalms 31:1-2 NKJV

“For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength.”

Psalms 31:3-4 NKJV

“INTO YOUR HAND I COMMIT MY SPIRIT; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.”

Psalms 31:5 NKJV

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 NKJV

You will be vindicated. You will be redeemed. You  will be restored. 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.

Jesus shouted, "Father, I PUT MYSELF IN YOUR HANDS!" Then he died. 

Luke 23:46 CEV

What about you today???

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PLACE IN THE FATHER’S HANDS?