Go With The Strength You Have

In one paragraph

This message was week four of the "Work Smarter, Not Harder" series, building on earlier conversations about identity and calling. Brian used the story of Gideon and several other biblical figures to define and distinguish between gifts and talents. The core idea is that a talent is a natural ability, and a gift is what God does when he puts his "super" on that natural. The series started from a...

Read together

1. 1 Kings 5:6 springboard for the series, about the Sidonians being skilled timber cutters
2. Judges 6:11-23 read aloud together, the story of Gideon's calling by the angel of the Lord
3. Exodus 31:1-6 read to show Bezalel's calling, talent, and the gift God gave him as craftsman for the tabernacle
4. Esther 2:5-7 read to introduce Esther, describing her beauty and her adoption by Mordecai
5. Esther 2:15-17 read to show Esther winning favor with the king
6. Esther 4:14 quoted to identify Esther's gift of strategic placement, for such a time as this
7. Esther 7:3 quoted to show Esther using favor and persuasion to plead for her people
8. Acts 9:32-39 read aloud together, the story of Tabitha and her calling to help the poor through making clothes
9. John 15:8 quoted to connect bearing fruit with using gifts and talents to glorify God

Talk about it

1. Brian talked about the difference between a dull tool and a sharp tool, where a sharp tool is a gift or talent surrendered to the leadership of the Spirit. What does that surrender actually look like in a practical, day-to-day sense for you?
2. Several people in the group spotted different things in Gideon's story, including humility, patience, a passion for justice, and the fact that he was hiding. What does it say to you that God chose someone who, as Carissa put it, was kind of a coward, and that God still gets the glory?
3. Brian laid out three examples, Bezalel, Esther, and Tabitha, where a person's natural talent and their calling fit together in a way that only became obvious in hindsight. Can you think of a time in your own life where something you were already doing turned out to be exactly what a situation needed, even though you did not see the connection at first?
4. One person in the group said that a calling will often first show up as a frustration, that holy frustration about something in life or the church or society. Does that ring true for you, and is there a frustration you have been carrying that might be worth paying attention to?
5. Brian closed with four questions for identifying gifts and talents: what comes naturally to you that seems hard for others, do people consistently come to you for help in the same area, where do you see unusual fruit when you serve, and where do you lose track of time. Which of those four questions felt most pointed for you personally, and why?