Famous Last Words: Week 5

Welcome to Church of the Crossing. My name is Andrew, and if you're

new, or if this is your first time, I'm so glad that you

chose to be here today. I hope we have a chance to meet personally.

If you are just joining us, we are in a message series titled

Famous Last Words, and in this series we've been looking at the final statements

that Jesus made as he was dying on the cross. And today this message

today is a little bit of a complex one because we're going to be looking

at two parts of the Bible. We're going to be in the New Testament

and in the Old Testament. In a moment, we'll be reading from Psalm

thirty one, and we're also going to look at Luke chapter twenty three in

a moment. But whenever I'm in front of an audience or sharing with a

group like this, I try to always be conscious of what I'm doing with

my hands. I got some training once that your hands can communicate nonverbal signals.

For example, if you don't know me, and I were to hide

my hands the first time we meet, you can't see my hands. There's

something instinctive or a primal about us as human beings that we don't trust.

Somebody we can't see their hands, we wonder are they a threat? Are

they hiding something? Do they have a weapon? Your hands communicate. You

can fold your hands. That sends a signal. Putting your hands in your

pocket sends a signal. Today I want to talk about the hands of God,

the Father. I want to talk about God's hands today. Would you

take a moment and just look at your hands in front of you. You

know there's expressions like I know this place, like the back of my hand.

Well, how well do you really know the back of your hand.

Take a look at your hands for a moment. Have you ever hurt your

hands? Have you ever been in the kitchen working with a knife or hurt

yourself or maybe slammed it in the door. When I was young, I

was traveling on a week long canoe trip with my boy Scout group. We

were in the wilderness area up in can It's like a million square miles of

National park and lakes, and we were canoeing from one lake to the other.

So we would paddle get to the end of a lake and then we

would get out on land and we would carry all of our boats in our

gear across through the forest to the next lake. This is called portaging.

You're transporting all of your gear from one lake to the next. And we

were camping along the way, and early on in the trip, one morning,

I was cooking over a camp stove, a gas stove, and I

did not notice that the handle of the pan was resting over the second burner,

and I grabbed that pan and it burned my hand, and I dropped

the pan, and I rushed into the cold lake water to soothe my throbbing

hand. And I watched as this burn from the bottom of my palm to

the top of my palm, just this burn form, and this blister grew

on my hand. Now I was unshre or if I could keep going on

this trip. We were miles and miles away from any hospital or any first

aid station, and the only contact we had was an emergency radio. And

I didn't want to get my hand infected. I didn't want to injure it.

I really wasn't sure if I could keep going. Now. I'll finish

that story at a moment, but I want to pause, and I wonder,

has there ever been a time in your life where you think I wonder

if I can even keep going. Have you ever felt like I don't know

if I got what it takes. I don't know if I can keep going.

And just like I burned my hand, I wonder if some of us

are carrying some emotional wounds or spiritual pain. Have you ever felt crushed or

broken? Have you ever felt like I don't know if I can keep going?

I want to ask you if you've ever experienced brokenness in your life?

Have you ever felt broken? And? I wonder if these words from Psalm

thirty one might relate to you. This is Psal I'm thirty one. Be

merciful to me, Lord, for I'm in distress. My eyes grow weak

with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by

anguish, in my years by groaning. My strength fails because of my affliction,

and my bones grow weak because of all my enemies. I am the

utter contempt of my neighbors, and an object of dread to my close friends.

Those who see me on the street flee from me. I'm forgotten as

though I were dead. Now notice this last sentence. I have become like

broken pottery. Have you ever felt broken? You ever felt like your life

is broken, your heart is broken. I brought along this broken clay pottery

just as a symbol, as a metaphor for us to think about broken pieces.

You know, these are broken pieces. They can't be fixed, they're

dangerous. There should be trashed, they should be thrown away. There really

can't repair this. It's pretty well damaged. And so today I want you

to think about what are the broken pieces in your life? What are the

broken pieces that you might be holding on to, that you might be carrying

in your hands. What do these broken pieces mean for you? When have

you ever felt crushed or disappointed or discouraged? Are these broken pieces symbolic of

a pain in your life for or a grief or a loss that you've experienced.

Maybe for some of us, these represent some sin issues, some addiction

things, or secrets that we're hiding. What are these broken things that you're

holding on to in your life? Because we all experience brokenness, The human

condition includes brokenness in this world, and today's message is for every one of

us who feels lost, who feels broken, and who feels desperate. You

know, I believe that we all experience brokenness, and there are some basic

categories of brokenness in our lives. For example, one of those categories is

there's a brokenness at the hands of a broken world. We just live in

a broken world. That comes with brokenness, disease, decay, death,

that's just part of being in a broken world. One time I was at

a church event and there was a group of guys who were playing basketball together.

And to be honest, none of these guys were professional athletes. Well,

in fact, very few of them were athletes of any kind. But

they were playing basketball. And what do you think a group of non athletic

competitive guys do at a church basketball game. Well, they do what every

group of non athletic competitive guys at a church basketball game does. They lower

the basketball rims so they can dunk. And one of these guys overestimated when

he tried to dunk, overestimated his momentum, and when he went for the

dunk, his momentum carried him forward and he landed on the ground hands first,

breaking both of his wrists and hurting his shoulders. And he was rushed

to the hospital and he got discharged from the hospital. They put him in

one of those casts, you know, the one with like the t bar

there like this. We live in a broken world. Accidents happen, tragedy

happens in a broken world. A broken world means that we have illnesses,

we have diagnoses. A broken world afflicts our mental health, our emotional health.

We have financial brokenness because we live in a broken world. There's another

category of brokenness, and I think we're all familiar with this one, and

that is brokenness by my own hands. We probably don't need to spend a

lot of time talking about that. What sinful choices or selfish decisions have you

made that has brought brokenness in your life? What have you done with your

hands that you're ashamed of? How have we broken trust? How have we

broken relationships? Some of us come from broken families, broken marriages, The

loss of a loved one makes us feel broken. Sometimes we hold unforgiveness and

bitterness because we've lost trust. This brokenness by our own hands. And then,

of course, there is brokenness at the hands of other people, brokenness

caused by broken people. Some of us have been harmed, we've been abused,

We've been mistreated by other people. They may have used their real physical

hands, or maybe it came at the hands of a decision or the hands

of some words, or maybe it was unintentional when that person passed away unexpectedly,

and we are left feeling broken. Some of us are wounded and hurt

at the hands of other people. And that's where we talk about Jesus today,

because Jesus suffered at the hands of other people. His crucifixion was the

most excruciating painful experience at the hands of human executioners. So let's talk about

the hands of Jesus for a moment. The hands of Jesus that were nailed

to the cross. Medical experts have done research on first century crucifixion and they've

identified through archaeology and history records that the spikes used to go into Jesus's hands

were probably five to seven inches long, and that had a square top that

was maybe three eighths of an inch across, and the nails were probably driven

through the wrists and not the palms, because the palms couldn't support the weight

of the human body, so they went through the palms through the carpal bones

there and when that spike would have entered the wrists of Jesus, it would

have severed the sensory motor median nerve, causing all this agony, all this

pain shooting up and down his arm, and in order to even get a

breath of air, Jesus would have to pull himself on those nails in his

wrist, sending all that pain through his nerve, and he was just to

get a breath. And often the death by crucifixion was cardiac arrests, suffocation,

or just simply shock from exhaustion. And so Jesus, his hands nailed

to the cross, is dying at the hands of other people. And now

we're gonna read what Jesus said as he's hanging on the cross in his final

moments. Look at Luke twenty three with me. Verse forty four says it

was about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon

for the sun stops shining. They paused for a moment. Have you heard

about the eclipse that's coming in a few weeks. That's right, the moon

is going to totally eclipse the sun. And did you know that Indiana Indianapolis,

Central Indiana is one of the best places to see the total eclipse.

I mean, there are expected hundreds of thousands of people coming to central Indiana.

I've heard some of my friends are trying to rent out their homes as

on Airbnb for this big gathering. Schools are closing, businesses are adjusting their

hours. It's going to be this big event. Now. The eclipse is

only going to last for a few minutes here in Indiana. NASA predicts eclipses

can last from anywhere from ten seconds to at the most maybe seven minutes.

But when Jesus died, darkness came over the land longer than just a few

minutes. The text says, for three hours. I mean, this was

a supernatural event. So darkness was over the land for the sun and stopped

shining. And we read on, and the curtain of the temple was torn

in two, and Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into

your hands, I commit my spirit. Into your hands. I commit my

spirit. When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion,

seeing what had happened, praised God, saying surely this was a righteous

man. In his agony, Jesus calls out to the Father with his hands

nailed to the cross. He cries out, Father, into your hands,

I commit my spirit. Did you know that when Jesus says this. He's

quoting a verse from Psalm thirty one, the song that we just read a

few moments ago. Psalm thirty one, verse five says, into your hands,

I commit my spirit, deliver me Lord, my faithful God. Jesus's

words on the Cross are connected to Psalm thirty one. When I burned my

hand in the wilderness, I was unsure if I could keep going. I

didn't want it to get infected. I didn't know if I could keep going,

but I decided that I wanted to try, and so I wrapped my

hand as best as I could with some first aid, and then I put

a big, thick work leather glove on it. And I was really careful

for the rest of the trip. How I paddled the canoe, careful not

to get it too wet in the water. And when we would get to

the end of a lake and we would have to portage across the forest to

the next lake, I was careful. How I lifted my gear and walked

on the portage trail. The words of Jesus on the Cross, into your

hands, I commit my spirit is like a portage trail, connecting us to

the words of Psalm thirty one in the Old Testament, taking us back to

Psalm thirty one, and Jesus says, Father, into your hands, I

commit my spirit. And today I want to talk about those hands. I

want to talk about the hands of the Father. God's hands are faithful in

brokenness. Whatever these broken pieces are in your life, whatever trouble, whatever

sin, whatever disappointment, I want to encourage you to hand over your broken

pieces to the hands of the Father, because his hands are faithful in brokenness.

I have a bad habit I've mentioned before of biting my fingernails, and

I'm trying to stop. When I was a teenager, my bad habit got

one of my fingers, in fact, and they got real swollen and painful

and throbbing. And my dad happens to be a surgeon. And when I

showed my dad my infected finger, he grabs some anesthetic and a scalpel,

and I was a little bit nervous, a little bit scared. And first

he injected the anesthetic into my finger, and then he used the scalpel to

remove the infection, and he stitched up the incision. Now, while he

was working on me, I couldn't even watch. I was just scared.

But I never doubted the hands of my Father, because he was operating for

my healing, not to harm me. He held the instrument to my healing.

I trusted his hands. I want to tell you that you can trust

the hands of the Father. They are faithful in brokenness. Now you probably

don't have an infected hangnail, but every single one of us has a spiritual

infection. We've all been infected by sin. We've all been corrupted and damaged

by sin. Our sinful choices, decisions, the words that we've said,

even our attitudes that go against God. Our sin has infected us. And

your sin breaks your relationship with God the Father, and you cannot repair it.

Sin is like a trap that ensnares our lives. We read in Psalm

thirty one, keep me free from the trap that is set for me.

For you are my refuge. Into your hands, I commit my spirit.

But Jesus came to deliver us from the trap. Jesus came to restore us

to the hands of the Father. The Father's hands deliver you from your sin,

no matter how sinful, no matter how ashamed you may feel. The

Father's hands deliver you from your sin. Notice what we read when Jesus dies

in Luke twenty three. It says 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. Now this is significant. God had set up

the Temple as a place of worship for the Israelite people, and inside the

temple was the most holy place, the Holy of Holies, and it was

separated by a curtain. In this Holy of Holies, no one was allowed

to enter, because this is where God's presence was. Human beings are too

sinful to come near the presence of God. Only one person was allowed in

the Holy of Holies, and that was the High Priest, and he was

only allowed in one time a year to make a sin offering on behalf of

the entire nation. And so this curtain separated the people from God. If

you saw this curtain, this curtain would have been a symbol of your sin,

your brokenness that keeps you separated from God. That curtain was every wrong

decision you've made, every hurtful word you said, every time you've exaggerated the

truth, taken something that's not yours, every time you advanced yourself at the

expensive of someone else. That curtain was all that stuff that separates you from

God. But when Jesus died, the hand of God tore that curtain in

two. God has removed the barrier that separates you and me from his love

with his own hands. He has broken down the barrier of sin so that

you can be reconciled to God, the Father. There is no sin too

great that the Father cannot forgive you. Have not sinned too much or too

often that he will not forgive you because of the price that Jesus paid.

That's why his hands were nailed to the cross. Do you trust his hands?

Do you trust his hands? The Father is faithful, and the Father's

hands that deliver you from your sin? But what about all the other brokenness

in our lives? What about the brokenness that isn't our own sin? What

about these other broken pieces, the hurt, the disappoint the illness, the

job loss, the betrayal. What about all those broken pieces? Why doesn't

God deliver us every time? So I'm thirty one point fifteen says my times

are in your hands, deliver me from the hands of my enemy. Have

you ever prayed God get me out. God, get me out of this

job. God get me out of this relationship. God get me out of

this situation. God get me out of this mess. God get me out

of this hospital room. God get me out. Have you ever prayed God

get me out? Well? The next thing that I want to share with

you, The next thing I want to share with you is a very powerful

thought. And I believe that if we understand what I'm about to say,

it's going to help change and transform a lot of our perspectives when we go

through brokenness and when we go through suffering, because we wonder, if God

can save me from sin, why doesn't he save me from all the other

brokenness or get me out of the brokenness in life. And here's what I

want to say, The Father's hands deliver you through brokenness. He may not

get you out of the pain and the suffering, but He will bring you

through. And this is based on the Gospel. This is based on Jesus's

death and resurrection. Because Jesus, God did not deliver Jesus from the crucifixion,

He didn't deliver him out of suffering, He didn't deliver him from death,

but he delivered him through death when Jesus rose from the grave. On

the other side of brokeness, there is always a resurrection. On the other

side of disappointment, there was always hope. There is a new life on

the other side. And so in our suffering sometimes we need to shift our

prayers to saying from God, get me out, we need to shift to

God, get me through, God get me through. He Let me tell

you there's a difference between getting through something and just getting by. Last summer,

it was really hot and I unfortunately lost power at my house for several

days, which means I had no air conditioning, which in Indiana can be

a little bit miserable when it's hot and humid and sticky. But ironically,

my neighbor across the street still had power. I didn't have power, but

they had power. Well. At first I thought about running an extension cord

to my neighbor's house, but instead my neighbor to let me borrow his generator.

And it was an old generator. It wasn't very efficient, but it

got me by. It was enough to get by. I could power my

refrigerator, a little fan, and my WiFi router. I mean, what

more do you need than a refrigerator and some internet when the power's out.

But this wasn't going to get me through. This wasn't going to fix the

problem. It got me by, but I needed the power company to turn

the power on. Have you ever been in such a low place where you

say, just get me out. Have you ever been so broken You're like,

I'm just trying to get by. In the hospital room, you say,

get me out. In the waiting room, you say, get me

out. I want to tell you God doesn't want you to just get by.

God wants to bring you through. He's gonna deliver you through that brokenness.

On the cross, Jesus prayed, Father, into your hands, I

commit my spirit. He's quoting Psalm thirty one. And there's one line in

Psalm thirty one that says, in verse eight, you have not given me

into the hands of the enemy. Now, when I read this, I

thought, if I were a cynical person, I might say, ah,

this verse is lying, because Jesus was delivered into the hands of his enemies.

He was trapped in the hands of his enemies. Jesus was crucified.

But I would say, yes, Jesus was crucified, and no, the

Father did not leave him in the hands of his enemies. He delivered him

through death, He delivered him through suffering because of a resurrection. Just think

about all of the human hands that touch Jesus in those final hours. Judas

betrayed him into the hands of the mob. The guard's hands seized Jesus and

arrested him. Pilot handed him over to be crucified. The soldier's hands drove

the nails into Jesus's hands. But he was not stuck by those human hands.

He was not trapped by those human hands. Human hands cannot hold him

back or keep him down because the Father delivered him through the resurrection. And

so I want to tell you, whatever your brokenness is, it will not

keep you stuck whatever hands you find yourself. When you are not trapped in

the hands of sin, you are not trapped in the hands of pain and

loss and grief, You are not trapped in the hands of addiction, and

you will not be trapped by the hands of death. When the hands of

depression and anxiety feel like they're smothering and choking you, you have a hope

that God will deliver you through. Because there's always a resurrection, there's always

new life on the other side of our brokenness. Do you trust his hands?

That's why his hands were nailed to the cross, so that he could

bring us through. And when you allow God to bring you through brokenness,

when you walk with him through brokenness, he does good things in your life.

Because you in that brokenness, you experience more of the Father's love and

you experience a closer connection to his heart that you cannot experience if you were

not in that pain and brokenness. Look at Psalm thirty one again. Verse

nineteen says, how abundant are the good things you have stored up for those

who fear you. How abundant are the good things. God has good things

for you. He's got good things for your family. He's got good things

for your future. Even in the brokenness, He's got good things for you.

When you go through brokenness. There's a few things, good things that

God does. One your character develops in brokenness. God shapes and forms your

character when you're going through brokenness. I want to draw your attention to Verse

fourteen says, but I trust in you, Lord, I say you are

my God. And now look at this. My times are in your hands.

My times are in your hands. I want to speak on this for

just a moment. I want to speak to both young people and I want

to speak to older people for just a moment. Young people, I meet

so many young people who are anxious, and they're filled with angst about getting

on with life. They're nervous about finishing the degree, paying off the debt,

getting a job, moving out, or young people are anxious to find

a spouse before all the single people are taken and it's like your life is

this broken mess or just all of these puzzle pieces you're trying to fit together.

I want to tell you, young people, your times are in his

hands. Do not be anxious, do not be worried, do not be

afraid. Your times are in his hands. He knows your future, he

knows what he's doing in your life. Trust his hands. And then,

for those who are older, your times are in his hands. God has

formed your character. God is shaping you. You may be retired, your

kids may be grown, and you may be in what you call the twilight

years. And it's possible that you find yourself attending more funerals these days than

weddings. And maybe there's some loved ones or even a spouse who's passed on,

and you wonder if this life has any more meaning. I want to

tell you that your days are not over, that God still works in you,

that God still has work for you to do. In fact, it's

the next generation that needs your example, that needs your character, that needs

your love. Your times are in his hands. And when He holds your

times, he forms your character. He shapes your character. Do you trust

his hands when you go through brokenness with the Father, he forms your character.

And also in that brokenness, you might be able to lend a hand

to someone else who is broken. You might be able to help someone.

You might be able to serve someone. We read in tewod Corinthians Chapter one,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,

the Father of compassion and the God of all what, the God of all

comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, you could say, in

our brokenness, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort

we ourselves receive from God. God may allow you to go through brokenness to

help other people. I have a relative, uncle Bob, and Uncle Bob

happens to be missing three or four of his fingers. From his hands a

wood ship or accident a few decades ago. He's missing several fingers off of

his hands. But ironically, Uncle Bob is a talented woodworker, craftsman,

carpenter, even though he's missing three or four fingers. I mean, he

produces furniture, bedroom sets, lamp stands, crafts, artwork. It's absolutely

beautiful and solid craftsmanship. And he gives this furniture and these things to other

people. I've received some of his furnitures in my house today. I mean,

it's beautiful. Even though he's missing some fingers, even though his hands

are broken, he's able to bless and help other people. You may be

scarred, but I wonder if out of your scars, God wants to heal

someone else's wounds. You may never be the same by what you've been through,

but God can use you to lend a hand and to help someone else.

When we go through brokenness with the Father, he develops your character.

You can help other people. And when you go through brokenness with the Father,

your faith grows. Your faith grows. Ps I'm thirty one, Verse

fourteen says I trust in you, Lord, You are my God. Trials,

suffering pain force us to depend on God when we go through brokenness.

We've got a choice to make. Are you going to go through this with

the Lord? Or are you going to take things in your own hands?

You ever wanted to take matters in your own hands before. Over a year

ago, Lauren and I were stunned, shocked when we got hit with a

large medical bill. Long story, but the short version is that when we

had this medical operation, we expected insurance to cover it. We even called

insurance before we went to the hospital and they said, yeah, you're in

network, You're good. Well, somewhere along the way part of it was

covered, and then part of it was out of network, and so we

received this massive bill. There's no way that we can pay. And at

first I felt angry, I felt overwhelmed. I felt a little bit defrauded

actually, and we've tried, you know, contacting insurance and arguing and it's

just overwhelming, like how am I going to pay for this? And so

I thought about taking matters into my own hands. And what I'm about to

tell you is something I'm not proud to share with you. It's a little

bit embarrassing, but I want to try and be vulnerable in my brokenness in

feeling overwhelmed. For just a second, I thought about reducing the amount of

my giving. I thought about changing my tithe amount. You know, just

for ten seconds, I had this thought. You know, these are extreme

circumstances. Just lower that amount and that'll you know, I can get some

margin. But almost immediately, do you know what I felt? I did

not feel the Lord's condemnation. I did not feel the Lord's judgment. I

felt the gentle hand of my Father on my heart. And I felt God

say to my spirit Andrew, have I not always provided? Why would I

stop providing now? I felt him say, do you only trust me in

the good times? Won't you put this in my hands? And so that's

what I had to do. I had to put it in his hands.

There are just some things that are too big and too painful, that are

out of our hands. And so I went to the Lord in prayer,

depending on the Lord, trusting in the Lord. See, my faith is

not in an insurance company. My faith is not in a bank account.

My faith is in my father. Scripture says that he is the father who

owns the cattle on a thousand hills. That means his resources are unlimited.

My resources are limited, my bank account is limited, but his is not.

So I trust him. My faith is in him. And just a

few months ago we got a letter from our insurance company that they've accepted our

appeal. Now we are still way in the middle of this and working it

out, but there's a hope that my father's working it out. It's in

his hands. There are some things that we just got to put in the

father's hands. And this is where I want to end. I want to

encourage you to hand over your broken pieces to the hands of the father.

Whatever these things are, hand them over to the father, put them in

his hands. As I was preparing for today, I thought about, you

know, maybe handing out to all of us here, handing out little broken

pieces of pottery, something that you could take and remember what we've heard today.

But then I also realized that these are kind of sharp, They're a

little bit dangerous. There's been sometimes where I've broken these and I've cut myself.

So I didn't want to hand these out. I didn't want to risk

that. I didn't want to risk a child getting a hold of them,

so better safe than sorry. But that made me think about what happens when

we hold on to the brokenness in life. What happens when we wrap our

hands around the broken pieces in our lives. It hurts us. Holding on

to an addiction hurts us. Holding on to a toxic relationship hurts you.

Holding on to a sin or a secret can hurt you. Will you hand

it over to the Father's hands, because if you're holding on to these broken

pieces, your hands are not open to receive what the Father wants to give

you. He has stored up good things for you. He wants to release

good things, Jesus said, Father, into your hands. I commit my

spirit. Over these last few months, as I've become a father myself,

it's really shaped and changed how I see my relationship with God, the Father.

You know, when Shepherd was born, my heart just melted. There's

nothing that I would not do to protect and provide for him. I love

him. He has my heart, and I'm just learning how to be a

parent. God is a way better parent than me. When Shepherd and I

first met each other in the hospital, he was just born, and he

wrapped his little hand around my finger. He grabbed a hold of my finger

and he held onto it. I think we have a picture of it.

He held onto my finger and there's no way I ever want to let that

hand go. The Father holds you in his hands, and he's not going

to let you go. He holds your brokenness, he holds your past,

he holds your future. Your times are in his hands. Do you trust

his hands? Think about the hands of Jesus, the hands that were nailed

to the cross. His hands are scarred with the scars of love. His

hands were the hands that healed the sick. His hands were the ones that

touched the blind and gave them sight. His hands reached out to the leper

and friendship. His hands blessed the children, and his hands raised the dead.

Do you trust his hands because his hands are reaching out to you today.

The hands of Jesus are bigger than any of your deepest pains and greatest

heartbreak. His love is greater than any sin or shame in your life.

Will you take his hand? I want to invite all of us to respond

to what we've heard today. Would you take a moment and hold your hands

in front of you like this, and you're welcome to close your eyes.

This is a response, personal response between you and the Father and with your

hands. In that posture, I want to invite you to imagine, what

are some of those broken things that you need to hand over to the Father.

Is it a relationship? Is it a secret? Is it a issue

of the heart? Is it a sin? Is it some stubbornness for someone?

It might be fear crippling fear. And now I want I want you

to imagine that beneath your hands are the hands of Jesus. Can you see

the scars, can you see where the nails were? His hands are open,

and his hands are ready, and his hands want to take that thing.

And so in these moments, whenever you're ready to trust the Lord with

that thing, with that stuff, I'm gonna invite you just to symbolically turn

your hands over as if you're placing that in Jesus's hands. Jesus said,

Father, in your hands, I commit my spirit. Today you may need

to say, I commit my finances, I commit my family God into your

hands. I commit this relationship God into your hands. I commit this diagnosis,

in this treatment plan, whatever it is. Whenever you're ready, just

turn it over and place it in his hands. And then I'll pray for

us, Father God, we thank you that your hand is greater than all

the brokenness and the pain that we experience. God, we thank you that

your hand is near to us. And so Father, I pray that you

would increase our faith. God, that you would provide where we are lacking.

And most of all, God may through this life confident because Jesus rose

from the dead and it's in his name we pray Amen.