WHAT IS THAT IN THINE HAND ?
Ex.3:1-4:5; 17
Usability
To show that God can use most anything if we will only surrender it to him
A. WHY GOD WANTS WHAT’S IN YOUR HAND
1. God doesn’t ask you to give him what is in someone else’s hand, only what is in your hand
2. God doesn’t ask you to give what you do not already have in your hand
3. God does not need Strength, he just needs what is in your hand
4. God does not need Beauty, He only needs what is in your hand
5. God does not need Intelligence, He simply needs what’s in your hand
6. God doesn’t need Talent, He just wants what’s in your hand
7. God doesn’t ask you to go off and get something in your hand so you can give it to him. God just wants what is already in your hand.
B. THERE WAS NOTHING EXTRAORDINARY ABOUT MOSES OR THIS ROD
1. The rod was just a simple shepherd’s rod
2. Without the rod Moses was just like any other man
3. The rod didn’t make Moses unique from all other Shepherd
4. The rod in Moses hand was just another rod, But given to God from Moses hand it was used to do the miraculous
5. God can’t use anything you’ve got until you let go of it
6. God doesn’t have you until he has what’s in your hand
7. As long as you’re in God’s hand, all God needs is what’s in your hand
D. ONCE GIVEN TO GOD THIS ROD WAS USED IN THE HAND OF MOSES
1. To confront to soothsayers of Pharaohs court (7:12)
2. To turn the waters of Egypt into Blood (7:17-20)
3. To bring frogs upon the land (8:5)
4. To cause lice throughout all the land of Egypt. (8:16)
5. To bring thunder and hail throughout the land (9:23)
6. To bring an east wind that brought the locusts across the land. (10:13)
7. To cause the waters of the Red Sea to stand up like a wall (14:16)
8. To cause the bottom of that sea to dry up so they could pass
9. To cause the waters of the Red sea to come back upon Pharaohs armies
10. To bring forth water from the rock at Horeb to supply their needs (17:5)
E. GOD CAN USE ANYBODY SO LONG AS HE CAN HAVE WHAT IS IN THEIR HAND
1. Educated or Uneducated, Rich or Poor, Black or White matters not to God.
2. The important thing to God is does he have what is in your hand.
3. None of us have the same thing in our hand, but all of us have something that can be used of God to do the miraculous.
C. THE INTERACTION BETWEEN MOSES AND GOD IS CHRISTIANITY IN IT’S MOST BASIC FORM
1. God makes inquiry of Moses
2. Moses answers God’s inquiry
3. God gives Moses a simple command
4. Moses simply obeys God’s command
5. God transforms the ordinary into the miraculous
6. God gives back what is given to Him with dividends (v.17)
F. WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF MOSES WOULD HAVE REFUSED TO GIVE TO GOD WHAT WAS IN HIS HAND?
1. A nation would have stayed in slavery
2. Thousands would have been killed
3. We may have never heard of Moses at all
4. The rod would have been just another rod
5. What’s happening as you hold onto what’s in your hand instead of giving it to God?
G. WE WILL NEVER REALIZE THE FULL POTENTIAL OF WHAT WE HOLD IN OUR HAND UNTIL OR UNLESS WE ARE WILLING TO LET GO OF IT AND GIVE IT TO GOD
1. You’ll never really have what’s in your hand until you give it to God
2. Once Moses gave it to God from his hand, it was given back into the hand of Moses by God to be used for God (17)
3. We need to realize that we can do more with what is in our hand once we give it to God
4. You may say Moses didn’t have much to give up. it was just a rod. Nothing you have is any better than this rod if it remains only in your hand
5. You will never be all that you were meant to be until you give whatever is in your hand to God!
BODY
I WHAT IS THAT IN THINE HAND, LAD? - Five loaves and two fishes
1. Not much you say, but given to God it was used to feed 5000
2. What if the Lad had held on to his lunch?
3. Would we have had such a wonderful miracle recorded by Jesus?
II WHAT IS THAT IN THINE HAND, MARY OF BETHANY? - a box of precious ointment (Mt.26:7-13)
1. Some complained about her wasting the ointment
2. Don’t let others discourage you from giving to the Lord what is in your hand
3. What if she had kept the ointment in her hand and used for herself?
4. Would we have ever learned of her sacrifice?
5. Jesus praised her for what she had done and said her act would be memorialized wherever the gospel would be preached throughout the entire world
6. But if she had kept it in her own hand, we would have never known of her act and the ointment would have been just like any other ointment.
III WHAT IS THAT IN THY HAND, DORCUS? - a needle and thread (Acts 9:36-39)
1. How many seamstress do you know of in the Bible?
2. We know Dorcus only because she gave what was in her hand to the Lord
IV WHAT IS THAT IN THY HAND, DAVID? - a sling, a harp (I Sam.17:40)
1. David wasn’t great because of who he was
2. David’s greatness is seen in the fact that he took what he had and gave it to God
V WHAT IS THAT IN THY HAND, SAMSON - a jawbone (Judges 15:15) 1000 slain
1. Don’t think that Samson’s secret was his physical strength
2. His strength came from the Spirit of the Lord just as ours does today
3. God takes pleasure in using insignificant things
VI WHAT IS THAT IN THY HAND, GIDEON - lamps, pitchers, and trumpets (Judges 7)
1. Nobody would ever in their right mind plan to go into battle the way Gideon did
2. Thank God he was willing to take what was in his hand and use it the way God said use it.
3. God can do wonders when we give him what is in our hand
VII WHAT IS THAT IN THY HAND, SHAMGAR - an ox goad (Judges 3:31)
1. Not much is said in the Bible about Shamgar
2. I doubt anything would have been said of him if he had not taken what was in his hand and given it to the Lord
VIII WHAT IS THAT IN THY HAND, WIDOW - two mites (Mk.12:42-44)
1. What the widow gave wasn’t much
2. You don’t have to have a lot to give
3. God is a great big wonderful God, and he can take our little and make something big out of it.
BENEDICTION
Let go and let God have his wonderful way, Let go and let God have his way. Your burdens will vanish, your night turn to day. Let go and let God have his way.
What is that in thine hand? a Broom? Hammer? Brush? Pen? Instrument? Song? Money?
Give it to God! And watch him work wonders with it!
Many that have their hands full now will one day stand before God with their hands empty.
What are you gonna do with what’s in your hand if you don’t give it to God?
( BMBC 2-4-01 PM )
