What does Tribe teach about gifts and talents?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on gifts and talents starts with a clear distinction between the two words, because Brian noticed they get used interchangeably in ways that blur something important. A talent is a natural ability, something a person has a knack for that others notice even when the person takes it for granted. A gift is what happens when God puts his 'super' on top of that natural ability. Gifts and talents together are tools given to help a person fulfill their calling, and that calling itself flows from a settled sense of identity.
Brian walked the congregation through Bezalel, Esther, and Tabitha alongside Gideon to show how this works in practice. Bezalel was already a master craftsman before God filled him with the Spirit to give him wisdom beyond his own skill. Esther's natural beauty and grace were her talent, and her gift was the strategic placement God arranged, being positioned as queen at exactly the moment her people needed someone on the inside. Tabitha had a calling to help the poor and a talent for making clothes, and the congregation noted that those two things fit together so naturally it is easy to miss that someone still had to see the connection. In each case, the natural and the God-given work together rather than competing.
The earlier message in the series laid the foundation for all of this: before a person can put their gifts and talents to work, they have to know who they are. Brian put it plainly that only the creator has the authority to define his creation. The series established that God gives the tool, but as Brian said, 'God gives us the tool, but whose job is it to keep that tool sharp? Our job.' A gift operating under the flesh, like Moses striking the Egyptian, produces almost nothing. Surrendered to God, the same capacity can free a nation.
Taught from Judges 6:11-23 · Exodus 31:1-6 · Acts 9:32-39 · Esther 4:14 · 1 Kings 5:6
The passage taught · 1 Kings 5:6
6 Now therefore command that cedar trees be cut for me out of Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say. For you know that there is nobody among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- June 7, 2026 Go With The Strength You Have Brian Hunter walks through Judges 6, Exodus 31, Esther and Acts 9 to show how God puts his supernatural power on your natural abilities to fulfill your calling.
- May 18, 2026 Identity Brian Hunter walks through Judges 6 to show how God named Gideon a mighty warrior before he had done anything, and what that means for how we see ourselves.