What’s In Your Hand?
Speaker
Pastor Jacque Clowers. Juniper Church - Knoxville, TN.
Scripture References
Mark 6:35-44, 2 Kings 4:1-7, Exodus 4:2
Key Takeaways
“Impossible” situations in your life are simply an invitation to God.
Moses used his staff to turn water into blood, parted the red sea, and turned into a snake. What “ordinary” gift were you give by God that you are underutilizing? A voice, pen, hammer, instrument, talent, etc?
Acting upon a need or your finding your purpose is honoring the gifts and resources that God gave you.
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What do you have in your hands? I'm here to tell you that each one of us have something in our hands and everyone in this room has something different in their hands. So hopefully by the end of this, you're going to know what I'm talking about.
And Kelsey always does such a great job with songs that kind of line up with what I'm talking about. And the one that she read the words like the Lord takes us where our fear we don't know are your borders.
He takes us. And that's what our hands are for today. So this is what I'm talking about. So what do you have to offer God? What of mine, God, can you use? How can my life help anyone? What is the purpose of my purpose or calling?
So today I hope that really, I'm just going to give you three stories out of the Bible. And then I'm going to give you a couple stories out of my life that I felt like the Lord said to talk about. So this is the scripture that I was reading the day that this just jumped out.
And this is where Jesus is with his disciples. He's been teaching on the multitudes on the mountain side and the disciples all of a sudden are like, man, these people are hungry. And so I want to read the scripture and I'm going to come back to it.
So this is Mark 6 35 through 44. So there's a little bit of scripture here, but, um, and it's, it's, but we're going to read it. I think it's important. So by this time, it was late in the day. So his disciples came to him.
This is after Jesus has been teaching. So this is a remote place. They said, and it's already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.
But what did Jesus do? He answered, you give them something to eat. They said to him, that would take more than a year and a half's wages. Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?
Okay. Here it is. This is what jumped out at me. And when I say jumped out at me, Jesus says, how many loaves do you have? Simple sentence. How many loaves do you have? He asked, go and see. Well, when they found out, they said five and two fish.
Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties, taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven.
He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish. They all ate and were satisfied. And the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.
The number of men who had eaten was about 5 ,000. Okay. So 5 ,000 is an impressive number, but when you include women and children, they say it could be upwards of 15 ,000 people that those five fish, five loaves and two fish fed.
So this is where Judy, you could put that little graphic up. So I'm going to use this graphic all through this message. Every story in the Bible and in my life story, we're going to compare to this. So number one, I want to go through these steps.
Number one is see a need. So what did I say? The disciples saw a need. The disciples said, they're hungry. What are we going to do? We need to feed them, right? So the disciples saw a need. Let's stop here too.
How many times do we, like the disciples, come up with our own plan? Hey, Jesus, the disciples are hungry. Do we need to send them away to go get food? Or do you want me to spend my money on feeding them?
Right, the disciples had a plan, but was it Jesus' plan? It wasn't. Number two, take inventory. So the disciples did that. They had five loaves and two fish. And you know what, I thought about this. Jesus could have just created his own bread, right?
Right, he multiplied these five loaves. Couldn't he have just said, oh wait, there's some bread and a basket over there. Go use it. But he didn't. He made those disciples take inventory, see what they have, right?
Jesus could do it. Number three, give it to God to bless. So they took that bread and fish, gave it to Jesus, and then he blessed it. Then those disciples just had to start doing it. Can you imagine maybe how they felt?
This was the first time they've seen this. Those disciples, just like us, were a little bit slow sometimes. Because even at the second time they were confused, but this was the first time. So they're like, could you imagine if Tim was like, Jackie, take these five fish and go feed those 5 ,000 people.
I'd be like, uh. But the disciples started doing it. They just started and it continued, right? So it started with what do you have is what Jesus asked them. How many loaves do you have? Okay, so that was the first story.
So the second story I wanna talk about is the widow woman. So this is a story in the Old Testament. And this woman, she was a widow, so her husband had passed away, she had two boys. And back in those days, if you had a debt that you couldn't pay, they could literally come and take your sons as slaves.
That was legal, it was allowed. And she's like, what am I supposed to do? I have nothing. So this was this cry of this mother, okay? So let's read this scripture. This is 2 Kings 4, 1 through 7. I love this story.
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, your servant, my husband is dead. And you know that he revered the Lord, but now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slave, Elisha, which is representing Jesus here.
Elisha replied to her, how can I help you? Let's look at this. Tell me, what do you have in your house? What do you have in your house? Your servant, there's nothing there at all, she said. Hmm, except a small jar of olive oil.
You ever feel like all you have in your hand is something small? Do you ever feel like I don't have much to offer to God? You ever feel that way or is it just me? It's probably just me. Your servant has nothing there at all, she said, except a small jar of olive oil.
Elisha said, go around, ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars. And as each is filled, put it to the side.
She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. She kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, bring me another one. But he replied, there is not a jar left.
Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God and he said, go, sell the oil, pay your debts and you and your sons can live on what is left. It's pretty powerful, right? So let's pull that graphic back up here.
So what's the need here? What's the need? This is a mom keeping her boys from being sold into slavery. This is a mom who's saying, I need to feed my family. Right, that's the need. Take inventory. So what was her first response?
I don't have anything except a little oil. That's all I have left. a little bit of oil. But she took inventory, right? She saw, I have a little bit of oil. The third thing, give it to God to bless, right?
So she knew who to go to for help. She knew to go to Elisha for help. Help me, bless me, help me, save me is what she was crying out. And then number four, start doing it. Number one, she had to have faith to send her boys to go collect bottles and jars and whatever.
Then she had to have faith to start pouring. Just start, okay, start pouring and it doesn't stop. It continues. And I was thinking here too, I just, I don't know, read these stories a whole lot. So God's provision in this story was as big as her faith, right?
As many bottles, as many jars as she collected, the oil filled them, right? I was thinking, I wonder, were there some big pots that she didn't bring in her house to fill? Was there a tub that she could have brought in the house and would God have filled that tub?
I mean, I have to imagine, you know, there were probably like, when Jesus turned the water to wine, the big things that they took down to the water to fill that turn it, there were probably some of those sitting around.
How often do we stop God's provision because we limit how many jars we bring into our house? Just a question. It's just a question. So don't limit God and have your faith to gather those empty jars. And then those sons, they didn't get sold and she had money left to provide.
Okay, so here is our last story in the Bible. And this is Moses. Don't worry. At this point, Moses has already seen the burning bush. He knew his people were oppressed and he knew there was a call on his life at this point too.
He had been running from it and he had hid from it. So there's only two verses here I want to read. Exodus 4 verses 1 and 2. Moses answered. So Jesus, I love it when we answer God. Just practice that.
He'll laugh at you. Moses answered, what if they do not believe me or listen to me? And what if they say the Lord did not appear to you? Okay, look at this. Then the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand?
What is that in your hand? A staff, he replied. The Lord said, throw it on the ground. And Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, reach out your hand and take it by the tail.
And Moses reached out, took hold of the snake and turned it back into the staff in his hand. And I'm just here to tell you that this staff, it turned water into blood. This staff hit a rock and water came out to give his people the water for sustaining them.
This staff parted the Red Sea so the captives could get away from their captives, from their oppressors. This staff led the people and all this staff was, it's a simple tool. It says that they're about three feet, maybe up to six feet.
It has a little hook on the end and that little hook is so when one of your sheep are running away, you can just pull it back to you gently. This staff, it's why he did for work. It wasn't anything special, but when he took inventory and he said, all I have is this staff, but God, I give it to you, the staff became a miracle working tool in his hand, right?
It did. So he took an inventory. He saw a need. Let's start over. Sorry, Judy. He saw a need, which was getting the people to believe. Moses was nervous. He was a stutterer. He fought leadership from the very beginning.
I love that God uses us who fight leadership from the beginning. That's who he uses. And he's like, but I stutter, I'm afraid, he's afraid of the snake. And he just turned the staff into, I mean, he just created the stake and he's afraid of it.
You know, it's like he just lived in fear. So he saw a need. He took inventory, which was his staff. He trusted God to bless it. And then he started. He said yes, and he started. So, you know, I'm asking you today what is your staff?
Because I believe every person in this room, I bet you wouldn't have to think too long to think of a need in your life, right? There's something in your life that's a need. They're not always bad. They can be good things.
But sometimes they could be life altering things. So we all have needs. So I'm here today to just ask, what is your staff? What ordinary thing, ordinary do you do? Is it your voice? Maybe you can sing.
Is it a pen? Maybe you're a great writer and God's put a gift of writing in you. Maybe it's a hammer. Maybe you're a contractor or a handyman or construction worker and it's a hammer. Maybe it's a broom.
Maybe you're a mom and you clean house all day or you just feel like all I have is a broom, God. Maybe it's an instrument. Maybe you can play something. Maybe it's a calculator. Maybe you're really great at math and you're really smart, right?
Maybe it's just a talent that you have. So I'm asking you as we finish this lesson out to think about what ordinary things can you use that God could make extraordinary. Hey Walter, can you bring me that stuff that I sat back there?
So what talent? So I want to use the next couple of minutes and just give you, it's great to read Bible stories. I love them. The Bible has became my favorite part of my day. I can say that honestly.
It's became my favorite part of my day. Thank you. Feel like I'm at home. So there was a time and there's a group of people in this room who don't know my story. They don't know my past. They don't know that when I was 39 years old and had been married for 20 years that on a normal Tuesday my husband was killed in a car accident leaving me with three children.
Alone, scared, not sure how I was gonna make it. And can you put that up? Look at her, Judy. She's got it up. So let me tell you, September 12th, that year I saw a need. Not only the grief that I was trying to stand under, but I saw a need that my husband was the breadwinner.
All I was, I didn't have anything. All I was was his assistant, was his helper, was a mom. Right, just like that window, I didn't have anything except a little oil, but I had a little oil. And I'm just here to tell you that this is my life.
I saw a need, God, I gotta pay the bills. And yet we had a little bit of life insurance, but we were not set. We were not prepared. We did not have Dave Ramsey's three months in savings set up. We didn't.
So I saw a need. Then I took inventory of what I had and I had a broom. That's why I brought this up here. Man, I was good at keeping a house. I loved being a mom. I loved keeping my house in order. And all of a sudden I realized there's a lot of women out there who will pay for what I can do.
And I started, made a list. I am not exaggerating. I could bring this, I should bring it sometime. I wrote it out Monday through Sunday. This is how much money I have to make. I laid it before the Lord and said, I need you to do this.
And you know what happened before long? I was cleaning people's mirrors. I had to hire two girls to help me. I was cleaning businesses on the weekend. My kids were being drugged to dentist office to clean them and to all state insurance offices.
I still have people to this day who call me. Do you have anyone who could clean like you do? And you know what that did? It turned into a very successful business to feed my kids. Now did it come with no work?
I had to go gather jars. I had to get up every day and go to work. But I am here to tell you that he took an average thing and turned it into something. I also brought this spoon and this, I'm going somewhere.
Tongs and spoons up here. So that was the other thing I could do. I could cook. I had fed my kids. I had started a little catering business. In fact, the night Darryl died, I was in the middle of catering a job.
It was small, but it was starting. And I started cooking dinner for these women. I would clean their houses and they would come home to a clean house and dinner and they still, I mean, one of them literally paid for the funeral.
They loved me that much, like in a short time. It was just such a gift. And it was because I took an inventory of what I could do. And I said, God, I need you to bless it. And I always say, you know, Lord, what made me special that you did this?
And yeah, I worked hard. I'm never going to deny that. He didn't bless me while I was laying in bed, while I was moaning and groaning. He blessed me when I put my hands to something and I did it. But you know what?
I don't think he blessed me because I was me. He blessed me because I saw a need. I gave it to him and I started doing it and he blessed it. That job of cleaning houses led me to open in my own venue through cooking for these ladies.
They're like, you need to do more. I mean, they were my cheerleader. The next thing I know I've opened a sorority house at UT where it's supposed to have a culinary degree. I had a degree of being a mom and that was it.
But you know, that's what those girls needed. And it was a fun couple of years, which led me to open in a venue. So then we're going to move forward here to Tim. I want to use Tim in an example. So Tim, we meet through this process.
He comes to work at the venue. He's running the kitchen. We're working together. COVID hits, right? I swear in two weeks, we've lost every customer we have that had an event. All right, so did we see a need?
Once again, we saw a need. Well, hmm, our bills keep coming. Our needs are still here. So let's do an inventory. What can I do? And he started making these silly videos and putting them on social media.
Just started small. We were doing a Bible study and the kids were like, you should do it, you're funny. And so what has that led to? Again, we saw a need. We took inventory of what we could do. We also bought a smoker.
He's smoking meat and we're selling meat and it sells out. The minute he gets it done, it's gone, right? And then he starts. You know what I noticed? Sometimes someone will come over and help him video.
And very often he's like, hey, let's pray first. Because what does he do every single day? God, I give you this business. Lord, you know what we need. And I just ask you to take one of these videos and make it blow up so that we can provide for Juniper Church even, Lord, for your work, right?
It's regular, it's faithful. He sees a need, he takes what he could do. He gives it to God to bless and then just watch the Lord work, right? And then the last thing I want to mention here is our homeless outreach.
I just love this so much that the Lord was like, I have loved the homeless since I was a young girl. I have loved working out on the street. My heart has been lint towards that, bent towards that since I was a child.
Tim saw a need and he saw, let's take some inventory. And when we were running that venue, we had leftover food many times that we didn't know what to do with. At that time, there weren't organizations who would take it.
So it would oftentimes just get thrown away. One day he said no more. He put it in the back of our car and him and Caitlin, she was a little thing, go down there with some forks and spoons and just start spooning it out, right out of the back of the car.
So we saw hungry people. We did inventory of leftover food and we asked God to help. And today Juniper Worldwide and Juniper Church was birthed out of that desire. And now there's garages all over Knoxville that are full of stuff that we use on Fridays.
There's a team of between 15 to 25 people who come every time we serve and serve the less fortunate. We feed between two and at times 300 people hot meals. We do hygiene packs. We, all because we saw a need and instead of just saying, man, I wish something could be done, we took inventory to see what do we have that we can give to God to bless and see where it goes.
And I just know that the Lord today did not have me talk about this without a purpose. I believe with everything inside of me, there's some of you sitting that you've already thought of a need or a dream or something that just nags at you right here.
And you're like, I can't all I have is a little bit of oil. I just have a staff. All I have are five loaves and two fish. I don't have anything, God, I'm here to tell you to take what you have, give it to God to bless and watch him use it.
You can choose to live your life ordinary. And I also, you know, I'm not here to say that Tim and I have this perfect, it's a dream world at 5220 Swana Road. It's just perfect. If you want to experience heaven on earth, you should just come to our house.
It's just glory all the time. We never argue. We never get stressed. It's so peaceful. Our dog is so peaceful. But I am saying that you can live above all that, that even in the midst of that, you know that I've given God my olive oil and he is going to bless it.
You can also live with the peace of I've given it to God. So if it doesn't work, I did my best. It can take Pam, you can come on up. It takes away the pressure of performing and it opens you up to the ability to step into your purpose, to what God needs for you.
I believe I say this to my kids, I've had the blessing of watching my grand baby for the last few weeks and I've been speaking over her, Blakely, you were born for such a time as this. You were born, I think of little Lucas and his energy and his outgoingness and he's probably what you would call hard sometimes because he's so strong willed, but he was born for such a time as this.
But not just our children, we, we are here for such a time as this. There's a need that only we can feel, only Juniper Church can feel. I don't believe it's a mistake that we are down here in the heart of Knoxville.
You know, I don't know if any of y 'all noticed there was a couple looking in the window and they were walking away and I just ran to them and was like, come get a cup of coffee. That's what we are. We want to be a safe place, you know, for the community, for the people that need us, that need what we have from Jesus.
So I hope through this, through the stories of the widow in the Bible, of the disciples feeding the hungry, of Moses leading the people, you see all they used was just ordinary items. They weren't and we could keep going with this list.
There were so many options that I whittled it down to these three. Think about David and Goliath. What took down Goliath? Three little stones, just the stones he used while he was out being a shepherd boy fighting off the lions and the bears, right?
God just wants what we have. So I want to pray. I want number one. I just want to ask. to the people in the room today. If this has triggered something in you, I don't want you to just leave here and not address it again, not see it again, not revisit it, because I don't believe it's a mistake if God brought it up.
I believe there's purpose and a reason behind it. And God is speaking to you. You know, about it. So I just want, if any of you, how many of you, I just want to, let's just raise our hands. Is there something in your hand that you could possibly use for the Lord?
Raise your hand. Who's got something, right? We've all got something. And I promise true fulfillment, true peace, true joy, it's not found in anything the world has to offer. It is not found in stuff.
It's not found in prettier clothes. It's not found in anything that causes you to be addicted. It's not found in success. It's not found in popularity. It is found in serving. It is found in using the simple things in your hand.
So let me pray over you. So if everybody will just close their eyes. Lord, right now, I just pray, holy spirit, that you invade the hearts of everyone who raised their hand. I would love to have time right now to have them yell out the item that's in their hand.
Whatever it is, Lord, if it's a wrench, if they're a mechanic, if it is a spatula that they know how to cook, if it's a microphone, because they feel called to speak, if it's a textbook, because they're a teacher, if it's a bottle, because they're a mother or a father, if it's a computer, because they have great skills with IT and computer things, if it's a pair of scissors, Lord, because they can cut hair.
I thank you for using it, Lord. I thank you, Lord, for arresting them and making them take inventory of their life to fill a need. Whether it's a need for themselves, something they need to survive, or a need for the world around them, which I believe the two go together, Lord.
I just thank you for doing that, Father. I just thank you, Jesus. I thank you for stirring it up inside of us to use what we have, Lord God, for you and for your kingdom. And I just thank you for that, and I just speak a sweet blessing over every person in this room as well, Lord God.
And we just love you and we praise you, and I thank you, Jesus. Just pray, Lord, as we go and we sing this song, Lord God, you continue to minister to us about what's in our hands, and we just thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen.