Resourcefulness | Core Values | Chris Jones

Message Text

Exodus 4:1-17

Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” 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.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so 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.” Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous —it had become as white as snow. “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.” Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Message Notes

4 Phases of Resourcefulness

1. Phase 1: Assessment

What do I need to do and what do I have to do it?

As soon as the problem or need is presented we begin the assessment phase.

Taking inventory of resources, abilities, gifting, knowledge.

We are not good auditors of our current situations.

Recency bias, small sample bias.

Moses hears the ask from God and instantly begins to assess what his current situation is from his vantage point.

I’m a fugitive from Egypt, I’ve been hanging around these sheep, I speak sheep better than I do any other language.

2. Phase 2:Poverty

Our knee jerk is to always take a viewpoint of what we don’t have.

Feeding 5 thousand.
Mark 6: They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

When we constantly complain we don’t have enough to accomplish what God has called us to do we paint the picture to everyone around us that God doesn’t supply.

If you wait until you perceive you have what you need the opportunity will be gone. The opportunity a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity.

3. Phase 3: Transition

How could this work?

What is that in your hand? Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.5“This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that theLord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

You will stumble in the transition phase because you are using things in a way you’ve never used them before. Stumble on. It’s part of the process.

Your mentality has to be if God called me to do this He is asking me to start with what I have.

4. Phase 4: Resourceful
I’m using what I have, God is blessing it, and I’m fulfilling His will for my life.
Resourcefulness always gives you more resources.