Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My Savior, pray for me. My Jesus, set me free. Look at the wounds that gave me life. Grace flowing from His side. No greater sacrifice. For what He's done. All the glory and the honor to the Son. Blessings are forgiven. My future is heaven. I praise God for what He's done. Sing for the freedom he has won. Even death is dead and done. His life has overcome. Speak, sing the name above all names. Over every broken place, he is risen from the grave. All the glory and the honor to the Son. My sins are forgiven. My future is heaven. I praise God for what He's done. What He's done. What He's done. All the glory and the honor My sins are forgiven. My future is heaven. I praise God for what he's done. Now on a throne of majesty, the fathers will compete. ♪ He reigns in victory ♪ Sing ♪ Hallelujah to the King ♪ He is worthy to receive ♪ All the worship we can bring ♪ What He's done ♪ What He's done ♪ All the glory and ♪ My sins are forgiven ♪ ♪ My future is heaven ♪ ♪ I praise God for what he's done ♪ ♪ What he's done, what he's done ♪ ♪ All the glory and the honor to the son ♪ Well, good evening. Welcome to Grandview Baptist Church. Let's all stand together. We have a couple of songs we're singing as we continue our singing time in service. A Child of the King. That's our song for tonight. As we begin, two verses. Let's join our voices together as we sing. Ready? Here we go. Oh But with one Oh yes, oh yes, I'm a child of the King His royal blood now flows in my veins And I, who was wretched and poor, now can sing Praise God, praise God Now I'm a child in the heavenly home My Holy Father has made me His own And I'm cleansed by His blood And I'm clothed in His love And someday I'll sing When the angels abide, oh yes, oh yes, I'm a child of the King. now can see great That's beautiful singing. Let's remain standing and let's take a couple of minutes tonight and greet one another. Yeah. Yeah. you As we make our way back, let's remain standing. We have the first verse and chorus of This World Is Not My Home. Let's join our voices together as we sing it out. Ready? This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue The angels beckon me from heaven's open door And I can't feel at home in this world anymore Oh Lord, you know I have no friend like you. If heaven's not my home, then Lord, what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven's open door. And I can't feel at home in this world anymore. Great singing. Please be seated. Well, good evening. Welcome back to church tonight. Thank you, choir and orchestra. It sounded so good today. And what a blessing that was to my heart. And I know everyone else and everyone who, all you did today, those who served and were here, there, and everywhere serving the Lord, what a blessing that was. And those able to make it back to church tonight. And it's good to see each and every one of you, whether you're visiting with us, or maybe you're a returning guest, or just somewhere in between, a faithful member. We're glad you're here. And guests especially, thank you for coming and being here and in your place. And we'd love to get to know you more and connect with you. And there's a visitor card and a seat back in front of you if you'd like to take a moment and fill that out. We have a gift for you on your way out. And it's so good to have each and every one of you tonight. And the Lord gave us a beautiful sunny day, did he not? And it looks like maybe it'll continue on this week. And we'll be enjoying that, I'm sure. As well, just a few things to remind us of, of course. It was exciting to have many guests in the service this morning and several returning guests, several who've been sick, able to be back with us. And so it's just a good day. Pray for those who are going through different sicknesses and dealing with physical things. And it seems to sometimes just be a lot. And just prayer support is so helpful for them. and so let's continue to be in prayer for each other. I just want to remind us that next Sunday we'll be kicking back off our 8.30 service, and so for those who are a part of that, and Brother Richard's excited about that, and we'll be here at 8.30, and back to normal schedule there, and then 11 o'clock, and then of course with Sunday school adult connection groups in between, and so we're looking forward to getting that going if that helps you and your schedule. Also, stewardship weekend's coming up, And that will be Saturday and Sunday, February 8th and 9th. And so this is an important day. for our church and I want to encourage each and every one of you who serve in the ministries here at Grandview Baptist Church to be here Saturday morning. We'll have a time where we eat together here in the foyer and then we'll come in the auditorium here and our special speaker, Dr. Edwards with SharePoint Ministries. He pastored a church for many years, started a church and much like this, about the same size with the school, about the same size. I've asked him to come out and help us out. and the area of stewardship, our time, our talent, and treasures. And then we'll also have an opportunity to pray about what God would have us do for the building fund and continued commitment and giving as you have been so faithful to that all these years. And God continues to build his church. And we're thankful for that. And so I want to encourage you in that area. Then we have some openings for discipleship. if you'd like to go through the continue booklet that we gave the certificates out last Sunday and so we'd love to help you with that. And then there's some Best Years Club activities, there's some teen activities, some Moana things going on and we're thankful for all of those. Well we are thankful for our missionaries that are absent of our church and that we're able to support rather all over the world. And a couple years ago we brought on a family that's in Tanzania, Tanzania, Tanzan, Tanz, Africa. Thank you. And Tanzania. I'm only going to say it once. And so God's been using them in a great way. I went to school with Mashama Kenyong and his wife. And a year or two ago, they found out she had cancer. And so they've had to go. She's been here in the States. He's been going back and forth to continue the work. and so it's becoming a large work and they want to continue to reach that area and he sent a video to us a day or two ago and do we have it up there? I want to show that. It's about five minutes but we have time for it tonight and I think it will be an encouragement to help. Many of you have been praying for her and they give a little update on the ministry as well. I'm excited 2025 is here. And we are grateful to see the new year. And also many of you have been asking about the update on my wife. She's doing very good. She just finished radiation and then we will be able to see the doctors next month. She will be going to see the doctor and then we'll be able to know the next step in her life. So please continue to pray for her and please continue to pray for us. And also in the month of December, I was able to go to Tanzania to encourage the people. I spent some few weeks there. And then I was able to, on Christmas Day, we had over 700 people who came and God has been so good. We were able to see over 20 people getting saved and three of them getting baptized. So we are grateful for that. While I was there, I came back to share with my wife and what God has been doing there in Tanzania. And we had some goals and planning for 2025. So I'll let us share with you guys. So some of you guys have asked kind of what we wanted to do, what we feel the Lord is doing. So there's a deacon in our church, Baba Lincoln, who gave us a piece of property from the church, for the church, excuse me. And we put a Bible club on that and it's doing well and bringing folks in. They're a little bit farther from the church, so they're unable to come on Wednesdays just because the the shorter Service for Wednesdays, but we would like to put a church out there so they could have it Thursday nights. We would have our pastor our deacon run it and they would like to have their own service out there so they can continue to grow. The church building is about $7,000 and so we were asking if you know if you would like to help towards that. Also the van that they use out there, we bought that van but it seems like part after part it keeps breaking. The model that we have, the Nissan, it's hard to get parts there and they're expensive and it just seems like we keep putting it in and then So we put in a lot of money in this vehicle. It just it seems to be bottoming out So we also wanted to have a new vehicle out there or newer to us vehicle and that runs about $12,000 and so we're just bringing these out there because a lot of people have asked, you know, what can we do? What can we help with and so we just wanted to share It's not pressure to do it or anything like that, but we just wanted to be open because people have reached out and asked us how they could help. If the Lord lays on your heart for any of that, you can continue to give to FBMI and then in the memo, write what it's for. For those of you who don't want to go through the mission board, We understand that as well. You can Come through our PayPal account that we'll put it We'll give the information with the video, but we love you guys. We appreciate you guys We're so grateful for what the Lord is doing and what the Lord will continue to do Thank you personally for me for praying for me specifically for my cancer. I Thank you that you would take the time to do that. And then also pray for my family. I am truly grateful. I'm humbled. I don't deserve your prayers or your time, but I'm thankful. Thank you for allowing us to continue to team up with you guys as we represent you there in Tanzania. And we love and appreciate you all dearly. Before I let you go, I would like to say the point of making this video is to keep the line of communication between my family and our supporting churches. We really appreciate all your support all these years. And also, I just want to let you know what we are doing while we're here. We are going through treatments for my wife, for her cancer. And also, I've been going back and forth to Tanzania four times year I'll be flying back and forth there to see the minister and I've been there I was there in the month of December I was able to see the ministers doing well and God has been blessing the minister there and also I just communicate with my staff through FaceTime or some meetings sometimes and also I preach through the video to my church back in Tanzania so God has been has been helping us through this process while we're here in the states and I'd like to say in the month of March I'll be taking a group of 10 people from California and they are going to see the minister there in Tanzania. I would like to welcome you any time of plan we can go to Tanzania and see the ministry. And also I'd like to make the line of communication, like if you have any question just please email me, just give me a call, text me through my cell phone number 414-308-7851. I'd love talking to you, I'd love to hear from you, and we are praying for you as you guys are praying for us while we are going through this trial, but I know God will bring us through. We love you and thank you very much. There's a few reasons why I want you to see that video. First of all, it's a missionary we're supporting, and what a work God's doing. But second of all, here's a family who's going through an intense trial, and he's helping keep this ministry going from across the seas. And they said on Fikada, over 700 attended for Christmas Day. And I'd hate to see if they had a bus, how many they could fit in there. But man, I just want to encourage us in the area of our mission dollars are going to see the loss being reached. And so I wanted to share that with you. And just to see that they're real people. And they go through trials just like you and I do. But they just keep on going by faith. And I'm thankful to see that. I wanted you to be able to see that today. OK, men, if you'll get ready for the offering time. Thank you for your faithfulness in giving. As I mentioned this morning, in 2 Corinthians, of course, we are a cheerful giver. The Bible tells us to. And may we continue to be faithful in our giving. Not just our tithes and offerings, but our missions, our bus, and different ministries. God is working and doing great things. And so I appreciate your faithfulness there. Brother Vestal is going to come and pray for the offering. And let's pray together. Lord, we're grateful to be here tonight. We're thankful for a place that we can join and assemble. We can fellowship with one another. We can meet someone new. We can sing out to you and praise and worship to your name. We have the opportunity to give back to you as well. And I pray that you would help us to be obedient and faithful in that. Actually, it's quite a joy to give back to you as we see your hand of God or your hand of blessing upon us. And I pray that you'd bless in this offering. I ask that you would use it as we continue to strive to move ministry forward. Lord, we're thankful that this is your church. We have the opportunity to be a part of it, and we cheerfully give back to you through it tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. you you Yeah. Oh, thank you, Connor and Carissa. What a blessing that was. Little Bear Bible Club is dismissed. Little Bear Bible Club. Have a great time there in the kids' class. Exodus in Chapter 4 tonight. Exodus Chapter 4 in your Bibles, if you're able to find that. Exodus Chapter 4. We'll read the first five verses tonight. Exodus in chapter number four and verse number one. If you found that and you're physically able to stand to your feet for the reading of God's word, if you'll join me for that, and then we'll read it, pray, and then you can be seated. And we'll get into the message tonight. The Bible says, And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice, for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he, this is God, said, Cast it on the ground. And he, Moses, cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it, And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand, that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee. And with God's help tonight, my title will come from verse two. What is in thine hand? What is in thine hand? Let's pray. Lord, we sure do love you. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for this day you've given us. Lord, such a great day. Great crowd this morning. Lord, those who accepted Christ. Lord, all the guests and returning guests and those who are able to be back in their place and then our faithful people. Lord, here today, all the different ministries that we're going. Lord, the jail ministry and and Lord, the ladies there, and Sunday school, and the greeters, and the children, the nursery, the teens, music, Lord, so much that happened today, the bus, the vans, and our site churches. And I just pray that you'll continue to work in our midst, Lord. I know today I was told of this young man, a friend of some of our teen boys who had a bad motorcycle accident and is seizing. Lord, I know there's other needs and requests, Lord, people who are dealing with different physical needs and spiritual needs and even financial needs, I'm sure. Lord, our missionary report, and we're thankful for what you're doing there and our missionaries. Lord, tonight as we come to you and to hear a message from your word, as we look at different scriptures, kind of a Bible study tonight on what is in thine hand and what's in our hand. What can we do? I pray that you'll use it in a special way. We sure do love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Appreciate you standing. Once again, I appreciate your faithfulness tonight. And what a great crowd tonight as well. Yesterday, I was cleaning up some wood area, and I had put it in the shed the first year and needed some more dry wood, so we were cleaning it all up. And there was a bunch of chips and sawdust shavings and all kinds of stuff just kind of added there. So we got all the wood out, and I told my youngest Jackson, I said, we're going to put all this into a wagon. And he said, OK, Dad. He goes, can I do it? I said, sure. And so we have a dirt shovel. It's the only shovel we have. And so he's trying to scoop that up. And it wasn't going real good, but he was giving it all he had. And so I was trying to help a little bit with my hands. And then it dawned on me, what if I used one of our leaf rakes and pushed it under there? And man, before long, I was putting a lot in. And we were cleaning up quickly. Next thing I know, he leaves. And I'm used to that. When they're young, they help a little bit. But no, he wasn't leaving, leaving. He came back with our other rake. And it's like a light bulb clicked on. And then here he goes. He's trying to get it going in there. And of course, not quite working like I was getting it. But he was getting it in there. And he started putting. He goes, Daddy, this is way better. And I got to thinking, you know, this title tonight is, What is in Thine Hand? And what is in your hand tonight, and what is in my hand tonight? I think of the Revolutionary War, and you'll see pictures of them going to fight in whatever they could find. Pitchforks, you know, garden tools, and some guns, and maybe a spear, whatever. And they took whatever they could. And when you look at this chapter, you see in verses one through five, God asks a question. Moses, what is in thine hand? Moses doubts. Of course, it's very clear here. Of course, God responds. And the rod in Moses' hand in verse two, it's just a simple, ordinary rod, nothing special about it. But the rod is transformed. God commands Moses to cast the rod to the ground. And it becomes a serpent. Moses is frightened and he obeys God and picks it up again. I don't know about you or I, but that would take a lot of faith. I don't know if I would be so bold to do that. And it returns to being a rod. And then verses 6-9 we see additional signs to build trust. The leprous hand in verses 6-7. puts his hand at his bosom, it comes out leprous. God then restores it to normal, showing his power over life and death. And then we see in verses 8 and 9 the water turning to blood. And the first two signs failed to convince people. Moses is to pour water from the Nile into the dry land and it will become blood. And so God gives Moses all these different tools, if you will, that are in his hand. Then we see in verses number 10 through 17, Moses has more excuses. And we look at that, some of us maybe, and say, Moses, come on. I mean, God's just shown you time and time again what he can do for you. Why do you have more excuses? But he has insecurity about his speech. And many believe he stuttered of some sort. But God's assurance of his sufficiency, in verse 11 and 12, he reminds Moses that he is the creator of man's mouth. And he will teach him what to say. And may I say tonight, this shows us that God enables us to fulfill His calling despite our perceived weakness. And we all have weaknesses. We all have things maybe we struggle with. And God says, I know you do. I created you with those. But I still want to equip you and I want to help you. In verses 13 through 17, God provides Aaron as a spokesperson. Moses is still commanded to take the rod, to perform God signs. In verses 18 through 21 Moses obeys and takes the rod of God. He then, verse number 18, seeks permission from Jethro, his father-in-law, who gives it to him. He then takes his family and we see in verse 19 God's assurance of salvation. And then verses 20 and 21 the rod becomes a rod of God. It's not just a rod anymore, it's the rod of God representing God's authority and power as he sets out for Egypt. God reminds Moses to perform the wonders he has put in his hand. And tonight I want to give us just three thoughts from this passage that I hope will help you tonight as I have been helping me as I've studied this out. And number one, if you're writing, what is in your hand? What is in your hand? Now I know tonight you may be holding your wife's hand or maybe your Bible in your hand, but what is in your hand tonight? When you look at scripture, I see here Moses in verse number 2 and verse number 21. He had the rod in his hand. He had the rod in his hand. But David, I think of him as he had a slingshot and a stone in his hand. In fact, people mocked him and even laughed at him and said, you cannot go to fight Goliath with that. slingshot but yet he goes with that slingshot and five small stones. I think of the lad who had just five loaves and two fishes in his bag in his hand and that's all he had and yet he went. I think of Mary and all she had in her hand was the ointment, that expensive ointment that caused several of the Pharisees to look at her and say what are you doing? yet she broke it, and she blessed the Lord, and she was so thankful for what God had done for her. Then I think of Joseph, and all he had was that code, and all he had was that trial, if you will, but yet he used that trial to do something great, and eventually helped save all of Egypt, and then his own family, and even Israel, he helped because he gave what was in his hand. I think of Daniel as he goes to Babylon, and he doesn't have really much of anything, he just goes and the Bible says what he does have is he has a brain and he's done very well in school and maybe he has good looks and he has leadership capabilities but he really doesn't really take much with him but he uses what he has and eventually becomes third in command and overseeing that and helping influence Nebuchadnezzar and the next few kings and even some of the kings in Persia all because he gave what he had in his hand. I think of Peter When he was where he needed to be, he used his influence in good ways and bad ways. I think of tonight of Ron Hamilton, who's in heaven today, but how he used his patch on his eye to become the great Patch the Pirate that many of us grew up listening to. I think of Bill Rice, who had a deaf daughter and decided to start the Bill Rice Ranch, a camp that would help many, many people. I think of my parents and their daughter Natalie who had Down syndrome and leukemia and they gave her to God and God healed her and then they wrote a track and that track has been used to help so many people. I think of another family in my home church My brother, his best friend Ezekiel Pohazy was coming home one night and one of his lights were out and this lady was drunk. She crossed the line and hit him head-on. He was halfway through Bible college and he went to heaven. And then two years later my brother's younger brother and their wife was coming back from Highlands Anderson College and a drunk went over the 30 medium and hit him. head-on and killed the mother and the father and their newborn baby and yet this dear family did not quit on God and he wrote a track as well and got his use that to see many people come to Christ. I think tonight, perhaps, of your talents that you use today, and maybe you have talents that doesn't seem like much, or you don't know if you even have any talents, but God wants to use them. Some of you have treasures that are more than others, and you're trying to figure out how to steward those treasures God has given to you, but God has given them to you. I think we all have time. We all have time. And what are you doing with what's in your hand? And what is in your hand tonight? What trial maybe are you facing that you did not want, you did not ask for, you certainly did not desire, but God gave it to you? What maybe heartache do you have tonight that's bearing you down that maybe God can use to help someone else who's going through that same heartache? What health issue are you struggling with tonight? I often times, I just pray, and the Lord knows my heart, and I just say, God, I'm in seemingly good health, at least I think I am. But yet so many of you deal with so many things. Some of you, the very pills you have to take every day to stay healthy are thousands and thousands of dollars. What is in your hand tonight? What has God given you? Maybe it's good looks. Maybe it's a great voice. Maybe it's a great mind. Maybe it's an athletic ability. Maybe it's a charisma attitude. Maybe it's just that charming smile. Maybe it's you still haven't figured it out yet. But what is in your hand today? Moses had no idea what was in his hand. The second thing tonight is what are you doing with what is in your hand? What are you doing with what is in your hand? See, that rod was just being used to get Moses around. But eventually it became a tool that God could use in a great way. Several have used their hands. I did a little Bible study on hands in Scripture. Several have used their hands to please themselves. or please ourself. I think of Aaron and the children of Israel in Exodus chapter 32 and verse 4. The Bible says, Can you imagine as Moses came as Aaron used his hand. He had a gifted hand. I don't know about you, but if I tried to put together a cow out of stuff, it would not probably look like a cow. Even if you gave me a piece of wood, it never turns out like I want it to look. And some of you have that ability to use your hand to do amazing things, maybe to paint, maybe to write. What are you writing today? What are you texting today? How are you using your hands? Are you dividing people as Aaron did? Are you encouraging people maybe? Are you trying to turn people away from the truth as Aaron did? He gave them what they wanted, but he was not using his hands for the glory of God. I think of Genesis chapter 16. And verse number six, but Abram said unto Sarai, Behold thy maid is in thine hand. Do it to her as it pleases thee. What are you doing with your hands tonight? Some of us have very powerful hands. And you have the ability to hurt people. The ability to cut people down. And that's what essentially Abraham said, Sarai, do whatever your hand wants to do. What are you doing with your hand tonight? I think of Genesis 4.11, one of the saddest stories in the Bible. The Bible says, And now art thou, that's Cain, cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother, that's Abel, thy brother's blood from thy hand. Cain tonight, he used his hand for destruction. He let his temper get the best of him. He let his anger overcome him. He let his emotions get out of control. When God said, this is what I want you to do, Cain did the opposite and then got mad. And what did he do? He took it out on his brother Abel. Abel, who was just following God. What are you doing with your hands tonight? Well, Sarah, I didn't do wise with it. Of course Aaron didn't. Cain did not. I think of Genesis 31 verse 29. You have a choice. Of course the story, Rachel is stealing images from her father Laban. Jacob has no idea this is happening. The Bible says in Genesis 31 verse 29, it is in the power of thy hand to do your hurt. But the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Laban had the ability to do something bad, but he listened to God. Church, we all have the ability to do good or bad with our hands. What are you doing with your hands tonight? What are you looking at with your hands? What are you involved with in your hands tonight? What are you doing maybe that's making the Lord just sad or upset? How are you using your hands tonight? I see pleasing ourselves, but second of all, we see several times in Scripture where we can use our hands to please our Savior. the Bible says in 1st Samuel 16 verse number 16 let your Lord now command thy servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp and that shall come to pass when the evil spirit from God is upon thee that he shall play with his hand and thou shalt be well we know that's David essentially some of y'all did that today in the orchestra on the piano as you taught a class, as you shook a hand with a smile and greeted people as they came in. Today was cold outside, but you were still outside parking cars. Some of you had to get here a little early to use your hand to turn the key on that bus to get it going, to get that van going. You used your hands today to maybe change a stinky diaper, and hopefully you didn't get your finger in it. You used your hands maybe to clean a toilet this week. Or to run a vacuum cleaner. Somewhere along the way you try to use your hand for the glory of God. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10, "...whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Deuteronomy 12 verse number 18, The Bible says, Isn't it great when we get to do all we do for the glory of God? Isn't it great when we can use our hands to rejoice and thank God for what He's done? for us. Deuteronomy 16 verse 10, you can also bring an offering with your hand. The Bible says there, the Lord thy God with the tribute of a free will offering of thine hand which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God. No one this morning was forced to give, but many gave today. Gave with your hand. Why? Because you want to use your hands. for the glory of God. So this morning, what is in your hand? But second of all, what are you doing with what's in your hand? And then third of all tonight, I want us to see when God gets involved with what is in your hand. You see, Moses had that rod. It was really nothing. But when God got involved, Oh, that rod gave Moses authority to tell Pharaoh, let my people go. No one would have dreamed in a thousand years to do that. Could you imagine going before the most powerful man in the land and saying, hey, you better let my people go. He would have laughed you to scorn, but not when you had that rod in your hand. Not when you could turn the water into blood. Not when you could tell him, if you don't let my people go, the firstborn will die. And yet his did. And he said, get out of here. Let me even give you supplies to go. That rod made all the difference. Many of you know people who had great talents, who started off great maybe, and then using their voice talents to go a different direction with them. Made millions because of it. But yet tonight, there's some who said, you know, I just want to use what I have for God's glory. Tonight we heard some wonderful piano music. I believe if I'm correct, Brother Connor had all kinds of opportunities to play the piano, but he chose to serve the Lord. I want to encourage you tonight. What are you using your hands for? And then will you allow God to get involved with your hands. I see three things here in scripture. First of all, He bought us. Genesis 14 verse 20, Isn't it interesting as we learned this morning that God gave Abraham the victory over Shulamit. May I say to Nate tonight, God wants to get involved with what you're doing with your hands. And He wants to give you victory. Exodus 13, verse 14, the Bible says, You remember that day when God's hand brought you out of bondage? I've given my salvation testimony many times. I was a 10-year-old boy and God touched my heart. I realized I was a sinner in need of a Savior. Aren't you thankful tonight by God's hand He brought you out? He bought you. The devil had you firm in his grips. And he cried, He's all mine! And Jesus says, No, I purchased him with my blood. Aren't you thankful tonight that Jesus used his hand to bring you out of bondage? Exodus 15, 6, thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. Aren't you thankful he didn't just bought us, brought us out? But he has dashed in pieces Satan's control over us. You see, no longer does sin have to have power over us. No longer do we have to go through life and despair and discouragement and distrust. We can have joy and confidence and a life of victory. through Jesus Christ. Not only has He bought us, but second of all, aren't you thankful for God who builds us with His hands? The Bible says in Isaiah 41 verse 10, "...fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will..." What's that next word? "...strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Aren't you thankful for God who just keeps on working on us? Just keeps on being patient. He keeps on strengthening us every day. Often times I'll talk to people and I'll just say, one day at a time. One day at a time. One moment at a time. Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find. to meet my trials here. Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I have no cause for worry or for fear. Aren't you thankful tonight for a God who builds us? Isaiah 64 verse 8, But now, O Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and thou art the potter, and we all are the work of thy hand. Some of you can testify where you used to be and who you used to be. Maybe you weren't the most fun, most enjoyable husband for your wife. Maybe you weren't the most enjoyable wife for your husband. Maybe you weren't the best child, or the best teenager, or the best young adult. And often times you go through life living and remembering what you did in the past. And you thank God, I'm glad I'm not who I used to be. All because God just kept working on you. That scripture would hit home to you. The Holy Spirit would convict you. God would start sanctifying you. And you started changing into the person He has for you. Not only has He bought us, not only does He build us, but last of all, His hand blesses us. God's hand blesses us. Deuteronomy 2 verse 7. The children of Israel had to be reminded. God's blessed us and church we've had many services this last year of course our 40 year anniversary wasn't that a sweet day we just remembered God's goodness but hasn't God been good to us you say well pastor Justin I've had a rough week I know but look back over your life hasn't God been good God blesses his children with his hand. Deuteronomy 30 verse 9, And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, and the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers. God uses his hand to bless us. Don't ever leave that hand. Stay under the blessing of God. Stay under the blessing of what God loves, His church. Doing what God's Word says. God wants to bless us with His hand. He wants to build us with His hand. He bought us with His hand. He's brought us out with His hand. So tonight we see, first of all, what is in your hand. Second of all, what are you doing with what's in your hand? Third of all, when God gets involved with what is in your hand, He wants to build you. He wants to bless you. And then, may I encourage you with four concluding statements. Number one, God uses what you have. God uses what you have. Aren't you thankful tonight you don't have to have a bunch of things for God to be able to use you? God just uses what you have. The rod represents the ordinary things in our lives that God can use for extraordinary purposes. I remember the first time I went door knocking. I was so excited, so confident. I knocked on the door that I couldn't remember my best friend's name. Man! Couldn't believe it! But I tried to give God what I had. Church, tonight you may feel like you don't have much to offer. some you can retain things I wish I had it some you have that photographic memory I wish I had that some you have amazing skills that I wish I had some you probably wish maybe you had some things I have I don't know we all want what each other has sometimes in all reality God just wants what we have and he wants to take it and he wants to do something with it number two not only does God use what you have but God equips the called Whether it's through signs, encouragement, or the help of others, God provides what we need to fulfill His mission. If God's called you tonight, He will equip you. Where God guides, He feeds. Where He provides, I think it was. I'm misquoting Pastor Mutchler there. Where He leads, He feeds. There we go. Some of you knew it better than I did. You've been here longer. God wants to equip you tonight if He's called you. You say, Pastor Justin, I know there's a need, but I don't know how I'm going to do it. Well, just try and see what God does. You may be surprised. Number three, we see God uses what you have. God equips the called. Number three, trust God's power, not your own. Moses's limitations didn't hinder God's plan. They highlighted God's sufficiency. You see, when you think my limitations is going to hinder what God wants to do, God says, no, no, no. Instead, let me take your limitations and let me highlight what I want to be sufficient for you. Tonight, God wants to take the meager things we have and say, hey, let me do something with you. And then last of all, number four, obedience leads to transformation. Could you imagine if Moses would have never taken that rod and gone? That rod would have never done what it could have done. And sometimes I wonder, Justin, how many times has your rod that God's given you not done anything? But if you would have just let God do it, what more could that rod have done? Tonight, if we'll just be obedient, it will lead to the transformation in our life. What is in your hand, it is not a rod, nor is it this rod, but it is God's rod. The story is told of a master violinist who was to play a great concert with a very expensive European violin. The concert hall was packed as the crowd stirred with anticipation and excitement. The master violinist finally emerged from backstage and began playing his first arrangement. It was a beautiful, stirring, moving, and exciting. But when he was finished, the crowd erupted into applause and ovation like none other. After several minutes, when the crowd finally settled down, the master violinist promptly took the violin, stepped to the front of the stage, and smashed the violin against the stage. The crowd was shocked. It was stunned. It gasped. Could not believe that this expensive European violin, he would just break it. The violinist then went to another violin case on the stage and pulled out the $5,000 violin and finished the concert. You see, the violin he smashed was purchased at a pawn shop for $20. You see, no one came to the concert hall that night to hear a $5,000 violin. They came to hear the master violinist. And may I say tonight, with God's help, the ordinary things are made extraordinary. The natural are made supernatural. No one came tonight to see what you could do with a rod. They came tonight to see what God would do with the rod that you hold in your hand. Church, may we never forget when God uses us, it's not about us, it's about Him. And may He get all the glory. This church could never do what it does, this school could never do what it does without everybody doing their part. But may we never forget that it's God's ministry and He gets all the glory. Tonight, what is in your hand? Is it a good thing? Maybe you feel like it's a bad thing. But will you give it to God tonight? How are you using what's in your hand? For good? To please ourselves? As we saw in Scripture with Aaron? As we saw with Cain? As we saw with Rachel? As we saw with Sarah? Or, is it to please our Savior? And then, will you take what's in your hand and say, God, it's actually yours. Will you get involved? And may we watch as He has bought us, as He builds us, and as He wants to bless us with what's in our hands and with His hand. Every head bowed. Every eye closed tonight. May I encourage you to give God what's in your hand and allow Him to work. Maybe there's someone here tonight that does not know Christ as their Savior. Will you come to Jesus? He wants to save you. Maybe there's someone tonight that just needs to come to an altar and just say, God, I haven't been using what's in my hand. I've been begrudging it. I have been using it for other things, for self. But tonight I realized The good, the bad, the ugly, what you've given me, you've given me for a reason and I want to use it to do great things for you. I want you to build me. I want you to purchase me, first of all. I want you to build me. And I want you to bless me as you see fit. But may we allow God to use what's in our hand. Lord, we sure do love you. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for this dear church. It listened so well tonight. Or be with the thoughts that were given. Thank you for this story about Moses. Lord, so often we can be like him. We can think of excuses. We can come up with reasons. And you just want to turn a rod into a snake, if you will. You just want to show your power in our life. But we've just got to be willing. Lord, so many of these dear people, you've done that for so many years now. And may they continue on. But for those maybe who are struggling with giving you what's in their hand, may they do it. And may you bless it in a special way. We sure do love you, Lord. Bless this invitation in Jesus' name. Amen. If you can stand to your feet, the piano's gonna play. The altar's open. If you'd like to come, spend some time with the Lord. What is in your hand? What do you want to give to God tonight? What can God use? What can God continue to use that you've given him? Maybe it is a trial. Maybe it is a sickness. Maybe it is a burden. Maybe it is a talent. Maybe it's a treasure. I think most of us are already done this, but maybe there's some. God wants to do something in your life tonight. God wants to get involved. God wants to do for you like he did for Moses, fulfill his plan. For Moses, it was a pretty big plan, rescuing Israel out of bondage. But could it be God wants to use you to help be the facilitator, the ambassador that God can use to rescue someone else out of bondage? Someone who's struggling, someone who's defeated, someone who's distressed, someone who's in sin that needs a savior. May God allow you to be that person this year in 2025 as by faith we go forward for Him. God bless you. You may be seated tonight. We have a video we're going to share. Thank you for your faithfulness and being here in God's house. And I hope you have a great week. I hope you know God loves you and his pastor loves you. And be safe as you drive home. We got about a two-minute video we want to share with you, just some upcoming events. And then we'll be on our way tonight. Just a reminder that we will be resuming the 8.30 service on Sunday, January 26th. February 9th is our stewardship weekend here at Grandview Baptist Church. We are so thankful for what God's done so far with our building commitments and those who have gotten involved in serving the Lord over these last couple of years. We want to take a time on the 8th on a Saturday morning at 10 o'clock. This will be open for all those who currently serve in the ministries of Grandview Baptist Church or are interested in serving We will have a brunch for you and then a special speaker, Mike Edwards, will be speaking to us. He'll also be speaking Sunday morning and Sunday night. I hope you'll come and be ready to be helped and encouraged and challenged and pray about what God would have you do to help us finish the gym this year and other projects we are working on. There will be an overtime team activity on Wednesday, January 29th. We'll have a shortened bio study at 7 p.m. followed by dodgeball in the gym. There will also be a team activity to the Portland Trailblazers basketball game on Thursday, February 6th, and the cost is $40. For more questions or more information, please see myself or Derek Vestal. Our 2025 team activity calendar with all of our upcoming activities is also available to be picked up this morning at the welcome desk. If you're interested in learning more about the Bible through discipleship, we would love to get you started with a one-on-one weekly Bible study through the Continued Discipleship Book. For more information or to sign up today, please stop by the welcome desk or contact the church office. If this is your first or second time here, we want to answer your questions and get to know you. Please fill out the connect card in the pew in front of you and bring it to guest services as you exit the auditorium. We would love to meet you and you'll receive a gift card. Have a great week and we'll see you Wednesday night at seven. Okay. God bless you. Have a good night. You are dismissed.