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WHAT YOU HAVE NOW (5.23.04)
(Exodus 3:16-17; 4:1-5)

3:16GO AND GATHER THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL TOGETHER AND SAY TO THEM, 'THE LORD, THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, OF ISAAC, AND OF JACOB, HAS APPEARED TO ME, SAYING, "I HAVE OBSERVED YOU AND WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU IN EGYPT, 17AND I PROMISE THAT I WILL BRING YOU UP OUT OF THE AFFLICTION OF EGYPT TO THE LAND OF THE CANAANITES, THE HITTITES, THE AMORITES, THE PERIZZITES, THE HIVITES, AND THE JEBUSITES, A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY." '

4:1THEN MOSES ANSWERED, "BUT BEHOLD, THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ME OR LISTEN TO MY VOICE, FOR THEY WILL SAY, 'THE LORD DID NOT APPEAR TO YOU.' "

2THE LORD SAID TO HIM, "WHAT IS THAT IN YOUR HAND?" HE SAID, "A STAFF."

3AND HE SAID, "THROW IT ON THE GROUND." SO HE THREW IT ON THE GROUND, AND IT BECAME A SERPENT, AND MOSES RAN FROM IT.

4BUT THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, "PUT OUT YOUR HAND AND CATCH IT
BY THE TAIL"—SO HE PUT OUT HIS HAND AND CAUGHT IT, AND IT BECAME A STAFF IN HIS HAND—

5"THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE THAT THE LORD, THE GOD OF THEIR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB, HAS APPEARED TO YOU."
Exodus 3:16-17, 4:1-5 (ESV)
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Have you ever wondered:
1. If you throw a cat out a car window, does it become cat litter?
2. Since a fool and his money are soon parted, how did that fool and his money get together in the first place?
3. How do they get deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
4. What is another word for thesaurus?
5. Why is abbreviation such a long word?
6. How do you know when it's time to tune your bagpipes?
7. Why is there an expiration date on a sour cream container?
8. Why do they call it a TV set when you only get one?
9. If you shoot a mime, should you use a silencer?
10. Is it true, that cannibals won't eat clowns because they taste funny?
11. Why isn't phonetics spelled the way it sounds?
12. Why do TV stations report power outages?
13. What hair color do they put on the driver's license of a bald man?

Silly questions aren't they? And, at first glance the question God asked Moses - “WHAT IS THAT IN YOUR HAND?” – appears to be a silly question as well.
– Surely God, having appeared to Moses in the burning bush to commission him for the assignment of freeing the Israelites from Egypt, knew what Moses had in his hand. Of course He did! So, why ask the obvious question?
– God asked that rhetorical question because there was something crucial about the staff and what it represented for Moses.

The staff symbolized everything Moses owned. At this time in his life Moses was a shepherd of flocks that didn't even belong to him; the flocks belonged to his father-in-law.
– So, Moses wasn't a Wall Street player at this point in life. Nearly 80 years old and what's he got to show for his life? The staff, which represented the totality of Moses' wealth.
– At one time Moses had been a prince in Egypt, with power, prestige and palaces. Now, he was lowly shepherd living in the middle of the desert in a tent that moved whenever they needed to find new pasture for the flocks.

Do you think Moses ever had a mid-life crisis? (Or, at 80 would it be called a three-quarter life crisis?)

Moses had little that was his own except his staff, and it symbolized all he was and had.

So, God asked Moses what was in his hand.
– And, whenever God calls you and me to serve Him, that's what He asks us: What's in your hand? What do you have?

~~~~~~~

A man once had a dream where God offered him a pearl of great value. "I want that pearl. How much is it!"
– "Well," God said, "it's very expensive.
– "But, how much!" he asked.
– "A very large amount."
– "Do you think I could buy it!"
– "Of course, anyone can buy it."
– "But, didn't you say it was very expensive?"
– "Yes."
– "Well, how much is it!"
– "Everything you have," says God.

Consumed with a desire for the pearl the man said, "All right, I'll buy it!"
– "Well, what do you have!" God said, "Let's write it down."
– "Well, I have ten thousand dollars in the bank."
– "Ten thousand dollars. What else!"
– "That's all. That's all I have."
– "Nothing more?"
– "Well, I have a few dollars here in my pocket."
– "How much!"
– He starts digging through his pocket; "Well, let's see-thirty, forty, sixty, eighty, a hundred, a hundred twenty dollars."
– "That's fine. What else do you have?"
– "Well, nothing. That's all."
– "Where do you live?" God asks.
– "In my house. Yes, I have a house."
– "The house, too, then." He writes that down.
– "You mean I have to live in my camper!"
– "You have a camper? Good… What else!"
– "I'll have to sleep in my car!"
– "You have a car?"
– "Two of them."
– "Good, both become mine - what else?"
– "Well, you already have my money, my house, my camper, my cars. What more do you want!"
– "Are you alone in this world?"
– "No, I have a wife and two children.”
– "Oh, yes, your wife and children, too. What else?"
– "I have nothing left! I am left alone now."
– Suddenly God exclaims, "Oh, I almost forgot! You yourself, too! Everything becomes mine-wife, children, house, money, cars and you too."

Then God went on:
– "Now listen: I'm going to allow you to use all these things for the time being. But don't forget that they belong to me, just as you do. Whenever I need any of them you must give them to me, because now I am the owner."

~~~~~~~

Do you realize that's what it means to be a fully devoted, radically obedient Christian?

If you are claiming Jesus as your Lord today, that means everything you have is His.

It's like when a young couple gets married and they say “for better, for worse; for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health.”
– They realize these are the kind of words they need to say, but they really don't understand their impact until later. Then they begin to question whether it's worth it to have that kind of a life- long commitment to someone who isn't always easy to love.

It's only after you've been a Christian for awhile that the idea of God owning everything you are and everything you have begins to register in your mind.

God asks us today, “What's that in your hand?”

Do you have anything you haven't given to God yet; that you are hanging on to that hasn't been signed over to His ownership?

44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46 (ESV)

Some people say: “If I were a rich person, or retired, or win the lottery, then I'd give this to God, or do that for the church.”
– There are people who are forever saying, “One of these days I'll do something special for God; but not right now. I haven't got enough money, time, or resources to make a difference.”

God said to Moses, “What's that in your hand RIGHT NOW?”
– It wasn't much; just a staff. But once Moses gave it to God - once he threw it down before the burning bush -then it became God's staff, not his.
We're told in Exodus 4:20 that once Moses started back to Egypt to lead the Israelites out of slavery, he TOOK THE STAFF OF GOD IN HIS HAND. Exodus 4:20 (ESV)
– Once that humble shepherd's staff was given to God, God used it shake an empire.
– With that staff of God:
1) Moses struck the Nile river and turned it to blood (7:17)
2) He stretched it over the waters of Egypt and brought a plague of frogs upon the land (8:5)
3) He struck the dust of the earth and up from the dust rose a plague of gnats (8:16)
4) He stretched it toward heaven and down came fire, thunder, and hail (9:23)
5) He waved it in the air and a horde of locust invaded the land (10:13)
6) He stretched it out over the Red Sea and the waters parted for Israel to pass on dry ground (14:16)
7) He struck a rock and water poured forth to
8) quench the thirst of God's people (17:6)
9) and when he held it high in the air, the Israelites prevailed in battle over their enemies (17:9).

“No longer was this a mere shepherd's staff. It was as though God had placed in Moses' hand the very power of the universe.”

Had the nature of the wood changed? No, it was still the same shepherd's staff, but with a difference.
– Now, it was no longer a mere piece of wood. Now, it belonged to God.

~~~~~~~

What do you have in your hand? What is it that YOU OWN, rather than what God owns?
– It may be your finances, your home, your family, or your leisure time.
– It might be your very soul.

Throw it down before God; give it to God. Let it be His to use. And when you do, it can be used to shake the very foundations of the world around you.

~~~~~~~

I close with a story:

A young boy by the name of James had a desire to be the most famous manufacturer and salesman of cheese in the world. He planned on becoming rich and famous by making and selling cheese and began with a little buggy pulled by a pony named Paddy.

After making his cheese, he would load his wagon and he and Paddy would drive down the streets of Chicago to sell the cheese.

As the months passed, the young boy began to despair because he was not making any money, in spite of his long hours and hard work.

One day he pulled his pony to a stop and began to talk to him. He said, "Paddy, there is something wrong. We are not doing it right. I am afraid we have things turned around and our priorities are not where they ought to be. Maybe we ought to serve God and place him first in our lives."

The boy drove home and made a covenant that for the rest of his life he would first serve God and then would work as God directed.

Many years after this, the young boy (now a man) stood as Sunday School Superintendent at North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago and said, "I would rather be a layman in the North Shore Baptist Church than to head the greatest corporation in America. My first job is serving Jesus."

So, every time you…
– take a take a bite of Philadelphia Cream cheese,
– sip a cup of Maxwell House,
– mix a quart of Kool-Aid,
– slice up a DiGiorno Pizza,
– cook a pot of Macaroni and Cheese,
– spread some Grey Poupon,
– stir a bowl of Cream of Wheat,
– slurp down some Jell-O,
– eat the cream out of the middle of an Oreo cookie,
– serve some Stove Top Stuffing,

…remember a boy, his pony named Paddy, and the promise a young man named James L. Kraft made to serve God and work as He directed.

~~~~~~~

Is there anything you are holding back from God? Anything you won't let God be a part of in your life?

Remember: we are nothing more than stewards; God is the owner.

Adapted from “THE STAFF OF GOD” by Jeff Strite (SC)