What’s In Your Hand

What if the thing you’re begging God for is already sitting in your hand, ignored because it looks too small to matter? We open with a confronting reset from Colossians 2:8–10: don’t let culture, philosophy, and empty promises steal your focus, because in Christ you’re complete. From there we get honest about the modern trap of “needing” the next upgrade, the next pay rise, the next shiny fix, and why it still leaves people anxious, flat, or miserable. 

We walk through the Bible’s pattern of ordinary people who feel unqualified, then discover God works through what they already have. Moses carries a staff and a pile of excuses, yet God asks, “What is in your hand?” Gideon feels inferior and under-armed, yet God turns simple items into a catalyst for victory. We also touch John 6 and the loaves and fishes, where surrender becomes the real miracle starter, shifting the heart from self-focus to kingdom purpose. 

Then we bring it right down to everyday Christian living and practical discipleship: your home can become hospitality, your marriage can become a partnership of prayer, your kids can be shaped with faith, your income can be stewarded with honour, and your voice can build others up. If you’ve been waiting to feel ready before you serve, this is your nudge to start where you are. Subscribe, share with a mate who feels stuck, and leave a review. What’s in your hand that you can offer to God this week?

Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.

Transcript

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Welcome And The Real Question

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Welcome back everybody. It's good to see that you're uh still listening. So what's in your hand today? So many times we ask the wrong question to our problem, to the wrong people even. We need to look at what we have at our to bring bring bread of God. With this, we lay all of our worries at the foot of the cross. What are we going to do when we need to call on him? Now Colossus 2 8 to 10, it says Beware least anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in

Complete In Christ Not Culture

SPEAKER_01 1:32

him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him, who is the hand of all principalities and power. Now, it may not make much sense to you, but if you read through that passage of scripture, it'll be better understanding is okay. Let me put this in a nutshell, okay? Don't go listen to anybody else. Your first place of call for support and to ensure that you have a better understanding of how to deal with your issues.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Now, I've said it hundreds of times, probably.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

We live in this world, but we're not offered. You see, think round is about needing more. There is always something newer and better than what you already have. It is what do you need in versus what do you want? Yeah, and it continues to give uh biblical truth that uh you and me need to remember that we're in Christ. I mean it be that you need the new iPhone, or perhaps it's the newest uh iPad, the latest pet gadget. Uh and it's all about me, myself, and I, and what do I need, and so your eyes are corrupted by what's in the world, and you're you're looking at what you can get. Remember, I had a box, you want to say it's just the world-like view of things. Get all of it that you can, put it in a can, and then sit on the can. I give a classic example is that uh I I had someone that I know that recently passed away very, very young for um where he was at in his life, and he's just about ready to start his requirement. He had all of this money, he'd been I wouldn't say a miser, but he was he was

Needs Wants And The Misery Trap

SPEAKER_01 4:32

all about the money, you know. You know how they say that the uh the love of money is the root of all evil, you know. It was that principle, get all you can and put it in a can and sit it on a can. And when you've done that, then what do you do? You change what do you say? You go there and you say, if I've got everything I need, why am I still miserable? Why are bad things still happening to me? Why am I going through this? You go back to Colossians 2 10, and it says, if you have Jesus, you have everything you need. Okay? So we're talking about God, but Father and the Holy Spirit, the God here. So you need to get your priorities right. The world tells us that we need more stuff, but God calls us to use what is in your hand. Now, the Lord spoke to Moses, he said, My people are in bondage. You are the to deliver them. Moses said, uh, you said this wrong. Sorry, I'm ad-libbing a little bit here. Um he's basically trying to talk himself out of being used. Hey, look, I tried this once before and I failed. I can't speak very well, they won't listen to me. And most of that's all excuses under the sun of why he is inferior and inadequate. It's B meet me. Doesn't that sound really familiar? And now I'm not pointing the finger or saying that even myself I'm better than you. That's that's not what I'm saying. It's that we need to change our thinking thinking. We need to, you know, like do a I don't know, what do you call it, 180-degree turnout. Or 360. No, not the mathematician. But basically, we need to look at where we're going and what's in front of us, and if that's not with the Lord, then we're heading in the wrong direction. Okay, it's always what we need and what we want, or is it someone's else's problem and someone else's responsibility? This is not my else there other than me. But let's just take a quick look at what the word says in Exodus 4.2. So the Lord said to him, What is in your hand? He said, All right. And now, if we jump down to Exodus 4.7, you can read through this yourself if you don't know it. I I look the old testament is I've been shouting off a few, need to make sure that you have a full grasp of the word of God and put it into its right context and see

Moses Learns What He Already Has

SPEAKER_01 8:03

just what people went through. Now, I just finished speaking about uh all these mighty men and women of God who had great um, you know, they're after God's own heart. They still messed up. You don't have to be a partner, a preacher, an evangelist, a prophet. You don't have to be part of the five-fold ministry. But we have a call to arms, and that is the great commission that is given to us by Christ. Now, not everybody's gonna be out there on their soapbox uh doing things. There are many, many ways to do this. I mean, a few years ago, I spoke about um a guy that I'd worked for, he ran his own computer business, and he actually this was before I had actually been to Bible college, right? So I had some knowledge of the word, but not enough to uh be able to allow me use what I had. And he reminded me of something, and he goes, now this was I was not in Bible college, I was not ordained, I was just a young Christian, and I'm just giving this as an example because this is what uh he said to me. He said, Look, you know, in the Bible there's kings and priests. He said, I'm a king. I thought Al goes read it all of himself, and he said, You're a priest, and I go, uh no, you got that wrong. He said, Let me put it in a way that you will understand it. See, I'm working for the kingdom of God because through my business, I'm creating money to go into the kingdom of God. He said, That's what I'm called to do. So he's called to be in the workplace, okay, in the corporate sector, doing uh what God's called him to do. But he turned around to me and he said, But you're a priest. And I and the first thing I'm doing, I'm doing exactly what Moses is doing here. I'm going, no, no, no, no, no, you got the wrong guy, and that's not what here, or that's not what I'm all about. He spoke prophetically over me, and he said, You or end of the five fold, when you become ordained, I want you to come back and let me know that I was correct. Because he knew and he believed that he was using the gift that was in his hands that God had given him, and it was making uh a lot of money, he was pouring that into the ministry, but he said that I was called to do something else. See, so I was just like Moses, and if we go on, we see what Moses' response is. And this when God, you know, Moses say, nah, it's not me, uh, I can't do this.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Um this is the thing I like.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

It was, I don't know, was it a scare the pants off of him moment, or was he just reminding

Calling In Work And Everyday Life

SPEAKER_01 12:07

him of who God was? And he said, put your hand in your bosom again. So he put his hand in to his bosom again and drew it out, and behold, it was restored like his club. Now, if you had a story, you'll see that before that he was told to put his hand in there and pull it out, and it was all leprosy. Leprosy? It was leprosis. All right. He put his hand in there to come out, and he had leprosy all over his hand. And then God told him to put it back in there and pull it back out again. And so he showed and said, This is what I can do. Right? So God responded to get Moses to stop thinking what he didn't have and to look at what he did have. The first thing he had was he had the power of God with him. The second thing he had, he had a rod or a staff in his hand. He just needed to be reminded by God to look at what he already had. God needs remind you today about what you had or what you've got. It's just I'll look at another option for you, okay? When the Lord spoke to Gideon, he was saying, You, a manic man, you'll deliver Israel from the Minnonites. And once again, you know, Gideon was just as good as everybody else in the Bible was, and he turned around and he came up with all these excuses. Uh uh, Lord, you made a mistake. Oh, you could never say that. Uh I'm not a warrior, you got it wrong. I'm a guy, I'm inferior, I'm inadequate, I can't do it. And so what actually happens? God says the same thing. What's in your hand? Hey, got this. Well, I got a trumpet, I got a bucket, and I got a lamp. Nothing special, right? I didn't have a spear, a sword, or a or any weapons of any kind. So God stated using what's in your hand, and he said, You will bring deliverance to Israel. You will be the catalyst for such a great victory. What you want and need is irrelevant. So if you don't remember the conversation, okay, it's there, it's just 7 16 to 21, and all through scripture, God is constantly needing to remind us, like in John 6, 8 to 9, he's talking about Andrew. You go, what's in your head, you know? And then there's the boy uh with the loaves of fishes, you know, he's what it have, you just have your snap for the day. Now, you can read the stories later, but you know, this is why I say, you know, guess what I'm saying? Check out the word of God.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

You know, let's go back to the Garden of Eden, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Now after Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, uh, but it's fruit. Okay, tomorrow, everybody says it's a fruit. They hid, and then God said in Genesis 3.9, where are you? God does not ask questions to gain information, He asks to make you realize what you already have. He looked past what you lack in point to the current capabilities. See, all three descriptions uh a good God is actually asking a question of you. It's not because he doesn't know the answer, of course he knows the answer, he's God, right? But he's trying to get you to

Gideon And God’s Simple Weapons

SPEAKER_01 16:47

realize who you are and what you're capable of doing, what's your hands, and how can you want to make ordinary people into extraordinary people. So, how does he do this? Well, just look at what we have been talking about. God takes simple tools like Moses a stick, David Sling, a boy with five loaves of me, and does great things with them.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Stop looking for more. Stop. You know, people often wait for a better job, more money, greater talents before they decide to serve.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

God asks you to start with what is right in front of you and what you have in your head and in your heart. See, behold, all things are passed away, everything has become new. God will meet you where you're at. You don't have to clean yourself up and get your act together and be going to a church and having fellowship. But even in saying that, once you start doing those things, if he hasn't already decided, you know, how it can be used for the expansion of the kingdom of God, start serving. Doesn't matter whether you've been in the church for five minutes or you've been there for five years. He doesn't want you to be a seat warmer, he wants you to be proactive. Little is much with God. Or the widow with a small jar of oil. God multiplies what seems small when it's placed in his hands from your hands. See, you know, just speaking about this, this is not what I'm doing. I'm not asking you for money, but by all means, if you want to donate to uh great a ministry, there's ways to do that. Just follow the prompt and what stands there. But this is not what I'm doing right here. This is not a ties and offerings meeting. But what I'm saying is our hands are supposed to be a conjugate. God brings stuff into our hands, and then we use our other hand to pass it out. And he said, you know, press down, shape together, and go, man, give in his bosom. Right? Here again, God is reminding us that it doesn't matter what you've got and how you use it, but as long as you've got something and you're using it to better the kingdom of God, he will continually pour out his blessings upon you. And you know, there's more, okay? There's always more. You you believe you can never have enough, but you only need a little bit and you'll turn it into a lot. Remember the the uh the woman in the uh in the synagogue, she had two two coins, and she gave the whole lot to the kingdom of God. And yet all of the other people, like the tax collectors and everything, they're bragging about. Hey, look at me, look at all the money I'm throwing in here. See, if you give a lip blood of blood, you're not achieving anything. You're not helping yourself until you're making a sacrifice, and that means you give your genuine ten percent to the growth and expansion of the kingdom of God.

Surrender That Turns Little Into Much

SPEAKER_01 21:12

John 6, 7 through to 11, he did the same there with the fish, with the boy with his snack lunch during the meeting at 5,000. We look at a very big secret almost everyone else in the group most certainly missed the secret of surrender. You surrendered to God. The moment this boy extended his hand and offered his lunch to Jesus, he took a step out of his own gen, a step into crop focus from his selfish interest to kingdom work. Let me put this into simple terms that you can understand, all right? While it appeared that he was giving something he needed most in the hour, that the food, he was just about to gain something much greater. Here they were. The five thousand freshly touched by God. Right? Each one of them who had been sick was now healed. At that moment, they must have been the healthiest pack of people in Palestine. But there was one problem. Now they were really hungry. And to make matters worse, they were way out in the wilderness. The nearest food market was probably days away. Imagine you were in that desperate place, feeling healthy but hungry.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

And you have something no one else in my fat could have.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Just because that's what it can do. But not this lad. No. He taught something before Jesus ever taught it. With words that that is he learned the script surrender. This young man or boy, like all the rest of the 5,000, had received from God, maybe he was healed as well, as many of the rest of them were. As a matter of fact, I think that maybe what motivated him to give his lunch to Jesus is it's quite doubtful when he placed in Jesus' hand, he had any idea what the Lord intended to do. For all he knew, he was offering Jesus a meal for himself. The Lord administered to probably and healed probably all of them, including him. And now the least that he could do to this minister was to serve Jesus in some way. Which is like the people have these days in the church. We sort of like need to give something back because he's a servant of the Lord. Look, it doesn't really matter what your motivation is for sewing into the kingdom of God because it's all about your heart. Okay? Now I know some people do have obligation, or they say, well, the Bible says this, that's what I'm gonna do. No, get with a whooping heart. And what the pastor or Jesus or the kingdom or your church does with that, that's between them and God. But the idea behind that is that we can all, you know, invest in the ministry, like God's saying, what's in your head, you know. We know from reading the Bible that God can make something out of nothing. He made the heavens and the earth by the power of his words. Whipping up a banquet for this won't seem like child's play compared to creating the world. However, he chose to make it out of nothing or even to speak it into existence. No, he wanted to take what was in this young man's hands and bless it.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Even multiply it. It what about you? Okay?

SPEAKER_01 27:41

Let's just talk about those that are listening to my podcast right now. What about you? What do you have in your hands? What has God given you to use for his glory? Give it back to him. Present it to him intentionally, place it in his hands even now, and you will no longer just have a possession, you will have a ministry. You may say, uh, but I don't think I have anything that you ministry.

Turn What You Own Into Ministry

SPEAKER_02 28:22

Are you God? Let me give you a few options, alright?

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Do you have a house? God wants to make it a place of ministry by filling it with people in need of hospitality. You can run your uh a Bible Connect group, you can run a pure air group, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:47

And just op along, check it out.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

You have a spouse. God wants you to make your powerful partnership of prayer. Be an example to others in the church, you know. It says the two become one, you know. If two or more agree on any one thing, then he's in the midst of you. Do you have children? I pray that everybody is blessed with children. You know, he was sure that he got birth, and after eight years his um prayers were answered, and they had a beautiful baby boy.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

And I could be a grandfather again. So, do you have children?

SPEAKER_01 29:43

God wants to use you to shape them into men and women of God. He says, Bring them up in the way that they could go. Do you have an income? God wants you to honor him and to strengthen others' ministries with the first fruits. And it talked about this in Exodus 23, 19. Do you have a voice? Well, sometimes people think that I talk too much. But God wants even your word to touch other lives. Now, I can tell you right now, when I first became a boarding end Christian, okay, granted I was in a situation where I, you know, uh needed to grow spiritually, but the thing is, never, ever in my wildest dreams would I have thought of that I would have entered into the five-fold ministry. Sometimes God puts you somewhere where you have not tension of being, but that's where you'll actually bear fruit and you'll prosper. So I'm hoping and praying that these podcasts that I put out there are going to fall into good soil and are going to grow and to manifest. Right. Now, let's go a little bit further, because this is what we're talking about. Do you have God wants to lead you to places where you can share his love with others? Do you have hands? God wants to touch lives, to embrace the lonely and serve needs through those hands. Do you have any talent? Because God wants to bless people with it. Do you have skills? God wants to reach lives and it. Amen.