Bible Readings:
Psalm 104:1 – 35
John 10:1 – 21
Sermon Outline:
Psalm 145:9 (NKJV)
9 The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.
Psalm 145:17 (NKJV)
17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
Matthew 6:26 (NKJV)
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 10:29–30 (NKJV)
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
I God’s love for animals
Luke 12:24 (NKJV)
24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
Jonah 4:11 (NKJV)
11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?
II God’s use of animals to picture salvation
Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10
QUESTION 27. What dost thou understand by the Providence of God?
The almighty everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were by His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth, with all creatures; and so governs them, that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, all things, come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.
II Providence and Confidence
Matthew 10:29–30 (NKJV)
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10
QUESTION 28. What does it profit us to know that God has created, and by His providence still upholds all things?
That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and for what is future, have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q. 11. What are God’s works of providence?
A. God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise,w and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.