Sermon Tone Analysis

*/All In His Hands/*

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John 10:27-30

 

As a body of believers we face some serious challenges, some that many of us in the church may not have ever gone through before.

On an individual bases many of us have had to wrestle with a variety of trials and temptations.

Somebody here may have lost a job on this year.

Some of our loved ones have been called to rest from their labor.

Sickness and disease may have come into your house and just made itself at home.

And because of the tragedies and trials that we face on a daily basis, there may have been times that you felt like letting go.

There may have been times that you felt like just throwing in the towel.

The problems we face are not seasonal ones; they don’t just go away with the flip of the calendar page.

No, no.

The bible says, *“man that is born or woman is of but a few days and those days are full of trouble.”

*Jesus promised us that in this world and as long as we are in this body we would have trials and tribulation, failures and frustrations, but be of good cheer, for I heard the Lord say he had already over come all that this world could ever bring against us.

And if God be for us, who can be against us?

But the key to being overcomers is to put all your cares, all your burdens, and all your frustrations in the hand of God.

If we do that, everything will be all right.

So I stopped by to encourage you today to put it all in the hands of the Lord.

John didn’t try to tell the whole Gospel story.

Matter of fact, he left it on record that the world could not contain it if he did tell it all.

He didn’t try to prove God.

But he gave us enough examples of the power of God that we might make up our own minds as to weither or not to trust in the Lord.

But I am happy today that John did include these words of the Lord.

These word of assurance and hope, these words that let us know just how safe we can be if we would only truly trust in the Lord.

The Apostle John says that the reason he wrote the gospel the way he did was that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and by that belief, we might have eternal life through the name of Christ.

In keeping with Jewish tradition, Jesus observed all the feast days.

Here in this text again we find Jesus attending a feast.

This feast was called the “Feast of Dedication” or the festival of lights.

It is said that when the Maccabeus drove the heathens out of the temple and cleansed it they found one bottle of sacred oil that the thieves had over looked and they poured it in the lamps to light the temple.

By the power of God this small amount of oil burned for eight days.

This holiday is what is commonly referred to in the Jewish community today as Hanukkah, a time of renewal and rededication.

We may not be Jewish, but we can rededicate ourselves to God, we can recommit our ways and our will to His sovereign power.

So here Jesus is once again attending a feast; and as he is walking through Solomon’s porch, the people of that day cornered him like news reporters after a hot story.

You see Jesus was the hottest news in town at that time.

He was going around performing miracles.

Turning water to wine, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead.

Some even reported that he feed five thousand (5000) folk with two little fish and fives barley loaves.

If that was not enough to make him hot news the disciples reported that he walked to meet them on the wings of the water.

These things caused many to wonder if He was indeed the Messiah, so they cornered him, they wanted him to say once and for all weither he was the Christ the anointed of God or not.

Jesus being who He is didn’t argue or fight with them.

He simply said, *“I already told you and you didn’t believe me.*”

The miracles I have preformed speak for themselves.”

Now before we get upset and look down on these Jewish people let us keep in mind that it’s not uncommon for Christians to question or doubt the power of God, we all have our weakness and our times of doubt.

Thomas doubted and he walked and talked with Jesus everyday.

Even John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ doubted.

Over in Luke, John sent to his disciples to ask Jesus this very same question that the people wanted the answer to.

*Luke 7:19 says, “John called unto him two of his disciples and sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come or should we look for another.”

* Jesus’ response to John is the same as his reply to the Jews that now surround him here in this text, *“the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and to the poor the gospel is preached.”

*Then like now we have people right in the church that don’t truly believe that Jesus is the messiah.

A word of encouragement is due here, don’t beat up yourself if you have ever doubted God, instead your prayer should be, *“Lord help my unbelief.”*

Have you ever wondered why folk then and now don’t believe Jesus is the Son of The Living God?

The answer is right here in the text *(verse 26).*

Jesus says it’s because you are not my sheep.

You are not the people of my pasture.

Over thirteen (13) times the Lord uses sheep in this 10th chapter of John.

In other places in the scripture the bible says that there are false sheep, yea, *“beware of false prophets which come dressed in sheep clothing, but on the inside (in their heart) they are raving wolves.”

*But here in this text Jesus is calling every true believer sheep.

God’s sheep are those that hear His voice; those he knows and has known from the foundation of the earth, those that follow in his footsteps, those that put all their hope and trust in him.

Those that no matter what come their way, look to the Lord for comfort and care.

Job was the Lord sheep.

Job said, *“Thou he slay me, yet will I trust him.”*

Abraham was a sheep of God’s pasture.

Abraham followed the Lord even though he didn’t have a clue as to where he was going.

So I want to know, how does it stand between you and God?

Will you trust him?

You see you got a lot of folk going around talking about the Lord is my shepherd, You have a lot of folk going around claiming to be sheep but living like dogs or pigs.

And the bible says a dog will return to his own vomit, and no matter how much you bath a pig he will go right back to the pigpen.

And a man that doesn’t truly know the Lord will eventually return to his old ways.

But if you are a sheep of the Good shepherd today, you ought to be willing to listen to His voice and then have the spirit of discernment to recognize it as the voice of God and then to follow whatever instructions the Lord gives.

Saints of God, all of our *security*, *safety* and *salvation* is wrapped up in the Lord Jesus.

No matter how strong daddy may be, no matter how loving and caring mother is, it does not matter how close you and your best friend are, there is none like Jesus.

As the sheep of God our security is assured.

Jesus says here that he will give us *eternal life*.

Eternal life is a gift from God, the bible says that God loved you and I so much that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believe on him shall have eternal life, that my brothers and sisters is security.

It’s not by works that we have eternal life, but by faith in Jesus Christ and his securing power.

You see the security of the sheep is founded or rest on the ability of the shepherd to defend and preserve the flock.

It does not depend on the ability of us as frail, failing sheep, but it rest soully in the Mighty hand of God to deliver us from all our trials and tribulation.

Jesus said the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

And at Calvary Jesus did just that.

So that you and I might be safe, secure and saved.

But we have to stop relying on our own strength and put it all in His hands.

If we would only have the faith of a little shepherd boy, In 1st Samuel 17:37 David said, *“The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear will deliver me out hand of the Philistine.”*

David was referring to his up coming battle with the giant Goliath.

David went on the say, “The battle is not mine, but it’s the Lords.”

For he alone knows how to truly deliver.

The principle here is that David a young man put it all in God’s hand.

All year long you’ve been trying to fight your own battles, and you haven’t gotten any further than when you first began.

Children still being disobedient, husband or wife still cutting up.

Folks at work still getting on your nerve.

No matter what giant comes your way, no matter what you may be facing right now.

Put it all in God’s hand.

If your children are out of control, put them in His hands.

Husband about to walk away from you, put that marriage in God’s hand, boss man told you we don’t need you no more, all in His hand.

What ever it maybe, addiction and disease, sickness and distress, put it all in the Mighty hand of God.

For God know how to save to the utter most.

For those of you that might be fearful today, I hear the Lord saying to that fearful soul, *“Fear not, I am with you.

Be not dismayed for I am thy God and I will strengthen you.

Yea I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.”

* You ought to trust Him today.

Way back at the being of last year you were facing a problem and the problem is still there.

Why is that?