sermon highlights

STICKS AND STONES

WEEK TWO: ABILITY
Pastor Steven continued the Sticks & Stones series, which presents five secret weapons to make our New
Years Resolutions more than words. This weeks secret weapon was Ability.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
1 Samuel 16:13-23 !
!

Proverbs 18:16!

1 Corinthians 15:10 (NLT)!

DILIGENCE
-Pastor Steven opened his sermon on ability by saying, Unfortunately, many people separate spirituality from
skill... Whats dangerous is that God deposits gifts within us that we may never develop... What you are is
Gods gift to you. What you become is your gift to God.
-God will uniquely tailor your gifts to fit the assignment He gives you, but its our responsibility to develop Gods
deposit. It is not enough to simply love God and give back to Him our halfhearted efforts.
-Before David became King, he served as both a shepherd and later as a harpist for King Saul. Because God
anointed David as a talented musician and David spent the time and energy to grow as a harpist, God blessed
him with the opportunities he needed to become the king he called Him to be.
-As Pastor Steven preached, While you cant put in what God left out, you must work out what Gods put in...
God can only work through what weve worked on.
EXCELLENCE
-As Pastor Steven preached, If were going to claim something is for God, it ought to be good.
-When we are committed to excellence and work diligently to develop the deposit God has placed within us,
were able to offer our lives back to God as the fullest expression of the person God created us to be.
-Theologian Martin Luther once said, The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much
as the monk who prays--not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves
clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by
making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship."
-God is not interested in us doing just anything and claiming it as being done for the glory of God. Because our
God is great and He is alive within us, He wants us to do things well for the glory of God.
-David was positioned to play the harp for Saul because he was first positioned to play when no one was
looking, where his skills to the point where he could honor both God and Saul with his playing.
UNIQUENESS
-When the time came for David to fight Goliath, King Saul considered David to be a mighty warrior--not
because of his fighting skills, but because of his excellence as a harpist. Pastor Steven challenged us to see
that we will often discover our callings in the midst of our contradictions.
-As Pastor Steven preached, If you dont realize that your uniqueness is often the emergence of what makes
you effective, you will spend all your life trying to fit a mold and missing the meaning of what God uniquely put
inside of you.
-Pastor Steven went on to say, At the intersection of our idiosyncrasies is our effectiveness. Instead of
apologizing for the parts of us that dont make sense, we can offer them to God and ask Him to make
something out of them that would become our unique expression of thankfulness to God.
EXPERIENCE
-Ultimately, Davids decision to simply do his job with diligence, excellence and with the uniqueness of his
ability are what prepared him to fulfill one of his greatest purposes--defeating Goliath.
-God will arrange every experience to serve His purpose in the world. He takes everything that weve been
through and every lesson that weve learned, pairs it with our faithfulness in serving God and developing His
deposits, and uses it all to accomplish His purposes.
-If we embrace every experience God wants to bring us through, God will stack our skills together to achieve
something far greater than anything we could ever form on our own.

sermon discussion
Use these questions to focus on how you wish to facilitate discussion with your eGroup this week.
STICKS AND STONES
1. Take a minute to reflect on last weeks sermon on anointing. How did your perspective shift in the last
week about the assignment you are currently anointed to accomplish?
2. What does ability (or lack thereof) have to do with anointing? How do the two work together to accomplish
Gods purpose?
DILIGENCE
3. What is diligence? Why is it important not just to serve God, but to serve Him with diligence?
4. How did David serve God diligently? What was his payoff for serving God consistently and passionately?
5. Pastor Steven preached, While you cant put in what God left out, you must work out what Gods put in...
God can only work through what weve worked on. When is it appropriate to focus on acquiring new skills
and when is it appropriate to focus on developing the gifts you already have?
6. What skills are you currently trying to develop? How will your diligence help you to serve God?
EXCELLENCE
7. Why is excellence important? Why cant we offer just anything to God and expect God to bless it?
8. David spent a lot of time sharpening his skills between his anointing and his battle against Goliath. How
did David develop excellence in his gifts (both as a warrior and a harpist)?
9. What are you good at? What are you doing to develop that gift?
10. How can you find more ways to do what youre good at?
UNIQUENESS
11. How did Davids background as a harpist and a shepherd make him unique?
12. What makes you unique? What idiosyncrasies make you different from everyone else?
13. How does your uniqueness create a unique way for you to serve God?
14. What are you doing for God that is different from everyone else?
EXPERIENCE
15. How did Davids experience as a harpist prepare him for his purpose as a warrior?
16. What experiences have you had that have prepared you for where you are today? What experiences are
currently preparing you for your future purpose?
17. What new experiences do you believe you still need to gain to live out of the anointing God has for you?
18. What are you currently doing to create opportunities and gain experiences that will allow you to further
develop your abilities? How will this help you to honor God?

reminders
eGROUPS LEADER SIGN UPS
Next week, we are asking people to step up and lead an eGroup in 2014. Weve created resources that
will make leading an eGroup as simple as opening your home and pressing play on a DVD player. If
someone in your group is ready to lead their own group, ask them sign up to lead a group at this link.
eGROUPS KICKOFF 2014
In three weeks, we will be signing people up for eGroups at every location. This will be your chance to
add new people to your eGroup. If your group is full, consider identifying a leader from withing your
group and encourage them to start an eGroup of their own this spring.