Heroic: The Talent Trap with Pastor Clayton Tyner

Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast.

My name's Clayton.

I'm the pastor here at MetaChurch.

And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you.

I hope that you enjoy today's message.

Well, I want to welcome you in.

If you're new with us, my name is Clayton.

We are so, so excited that you guys have joined us.

I'll be honest, I have almost no idea how to follow what just happened up here.

That was pretty incredible.

We are in a series called Heroic.

And you may not know this if you haven't been in this series with us, but just like there is a Hall of Fame for athletics and for music, the Bible has its own hall of fame.

It's in the Christian scriptures, a letter called Hebrews chapter 11, and it details the incredible feats of all of these great men and women of Scripture in the way that these ordinary people had an extraordinary impact on the world around them.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

What we're doing is quite simple.

We're going through a hero each week in the chapter 11 of Hebrews, and we're really examining their life to try to draw something out that if we could apply it to our own life, we could also be on the hero's journey and live a heroic life.

Last week we were looking at probably the biggest misfit at first glance on the list.

If you weren't here, we talked about Rahab, and not only was Rahab from Jericho, which meant she was an enemy of God's people, and not only was she born into a pagan culture, not only did she grow up worshiping false gods, but Rahab's occupation was a prostitute.

It's almost shocking to look in scripture, not only in the Hall of Fame, but also in the lineage of Jesus himself, and see a woman who had an unsavory occupation.

We learned last week that it is truly never too late to begin living a heroic life.

This week it's almost the opposite problem.

This week we are looking at a man in Scripture who is like so obviously heroic, he's the first person that comes to mind.

He's like a Marvel superhero in real life, the strongest man to ever walk the earth.

This week we're talking about Samson.

Now, for the next three weeks, we're gonna be in Hebrews 11, verse 32.

Hebrews 11:32

Out of one verse, we're getting three weeks.

Here's what it says.

And what more can I say?

He's gone exhaustively through many of the heroes of scripture, and frankly, he's running out of time.

What more can I say?

Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, about Barack.

That's not Obama.

I know I'm gonna get one email just to put it out there.

About Gideon, about Barack, about Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

We're gonna focus on Samson today.

And maybe if you grew up in church, maybe if you didn't, you know a little bit about Samson.

We talk about him as this great heroic figure, truly awe-inspiring in his strength and his feats of athleticism and his military prowess.

However, there's an untold side to Samson's story.

And if we don't see it for what it truly is, a life that, while seen in contrast to Rahab, her sin and weakness was obvious.

Samson's is more subtle, and often the most dangerous aspects of life are those that can fly under the radar.

If we don't understand Samson's true story, then we could fall into what I'm calling this week the talent trap.

Would you pray with me?

Father, we love you and we thank you for loving us.

We thank you that you have called us out.

That is what church means, the called out people of God.

You have called us out and you have placed us exactly where we are in these unnerving times in our world because the world is desperate for a movement of people living truly heroic lives.

I thank you for a place like Metachurch, where all people can come regardless of where they are at in their faith journey, a place where you can belong before you believe, a place where ordinary, jacked-up people have an opportunity to live out an extraordinary life.

And so, God, I ask that we would have open minds and open hearts.

We would allow you to say exactly what you want to say to us today.

And we pray it all in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

The talent trap may sound vaguely familiar in this series.

Back in week four, we spent our time talking about the temptation trap.

The temptation trap is born out of the truth that we all have pain and frustration in our life.

We all have gone through times where we feel like we have no worth or we have no value.

We've all been through confusion and fear.

And out of all of these results of being broken people in a broken world, there is endless temptation to try and escape our pain or numb our detrimental thoughts or try to suppress all of the feelings of worthlessness and valuelessness that can creep into our lives from time to time.

The temptation trap are all of these options the world lays out that tempt us off of the heroic journey, because the heroic journey does not seek to escape our pain, but to use it for the purpose that God has in our life.

And so the temptation trap is like the obvious actions we take that lead us into our worst ways, that dive us into addictions, that keep us stuck in toxic relationships.

However, as much as suffering can lead us to temptation, so can our gifts.

It isn't just the things that we are lacking that keep us stuck in these vicious cycles, trapped in the status quo.

If we aren't careful, even our talents can do more damage than good.

And so am I saying that it's a bad thing to be talented?

Absolutely not.

As a matter of fact, the Bible makes clear that all of us are talented, even if you would excuse yourself from this conversation.

You might be thinking, like, hold up, bro, I see a lot of talented people around.

I just don't really see one in the mirror.

I know I work with a lot of talented people, I got a lot of talented people in my family, I've got gifted friends, but me, not so much.

Jesus spoke to this.

One time he told a story, it's called the Parable of the Talents.

Now, a talent isn't the way we're using it today.

It was actually a denomination of money.

It was it was money.

But in this, it makes the same point.

He said there was a king, and based on the skill of his three servants, he gave one one talent.

He gave one three talents, and to one he gave five.

There are two very key points here.

The first point is that no one received zero talents.

I'm not here to lie to you.

Life is not fair.

You might love singing, and you also might not be Celeste, you know?

Life's not fair.

You might be an entrepreneur, you might not be Steve Jobs, okay?

I like to play basketball, but when I go watch the Spurs live and you see these giant human beings running 4340s, it's like we're playing two different games, you know?

The talent gap is immense.

Life is not fair, but everyone is given something, and more than that, everyone is given what they need.

We believe in talent and we need talent because we harness talent for the mission that God has given us.

We say this every week, but we believe that God made you on purpose.

It is no accident, and it matters that you are here on earth.

He made you on purpose, and he made you with purpose.

There's some layers to this because the highest purpose that we all share in common is our mission.

And it's silly to me because some churches think they've got to make up a mission, you know?

Like we gotta we gotta get a consultant in and we gotta put the right words together so we can get on mission.

Our mission has been given to us.

There's no need to change it.

The guy who died called his own shot, came back to life, said, Here's your mission now.

Go into all the world, preach the gospel, proclaim the name of Jesus, live to make him known, live a life that demonstrates the difference that Jesus inside of you actually makes.

We've got our marching orders.

There's layers to purpose.

We have a purpose as a gathering of people, a community of people, a movement of people, and you have purpose as an individual.

And your individual purpose takes all the unique aspects of who you are, your skill sets, yes, your talents, your personality, your upbringing, your background, your dreams, your aspirations, it brings all of those things together to make you a dynamic force in pushing forward the message of Jesus.

You were created on purpose, you were created with purpose, and maybe you don't feel very talented.

And while that's not really the point of this message, it is a hurdle to overcome.

Because if we're gonna talk about the talent trap and you have yourself convinced that you aren't talented, you're going to check out for the rest of the service.

There are some reasons you might not feel talented.

Many people believe they have no gifts, they have no skills, because they are stuck in the comparison conundrum.

They are so busy focusing on what someone else has that they are blind to the things that God has given them.

There are so many things that keep us from feeling talented.

There are false inner narratives.

Most of the times these were spoken into your life by someone who had authority in your life.

Usually it happens young and they become scripts or like soundtracks that run through your mind that convince you you are not good enough, you are not smart enough, you are not beautiful enough, you are not tall enough, you are not talented enough, you're not from the right family, you're not from the right side of town, you've done too much harm, you haven't done enough good.

These are the false narratives that can begin to subtract the very passion and purpose that God has placed inside of you.

And there is a third reason that so many people fail to feel talented.

Many people don't know the power of the talent inside of them because they are simply not using those talents for the purpose that God has placed on them.

And this piece is key because Jesus told the parable of the talents in the first lesson is that everyone gets something.

You may be looking around, stuck in comparison land, thinking you don't have anything because it's not what someone else has, but God has given you something.

And God, who is perfect perfect, if he's given you a purpose, he has also given you exactly what you need to live it out.

Somebody say amen.

Now, here's the second part of the parable.

Not only does everyone get something, but no matter how much you get, one talent, three talents, five talents, everyone has the same expectation set on them by the king.

To take that talent, invest it into the king's purpose, and when he returns, to give him a return on investment.

This is the beautiful thing about heavenly math, is that in the end, you aren't actually judged on how much you started with, you are judged on what you do with what you were given.

This starts with what do we actually believe about the king, and if we don't know what we believe about the king, then it's impossible to know exactly what we believe about ourselves.

When we lose a sense of purpose, we lose our identity, we fall into the talent trap.

And this is the very issue that Samson, the great hero of scripture, dealt with his entire life.

Here at Metachurch, we preach purpose.

We think that it is critical.

A lot of churches use the word discipleship, but too often discipleship means read a lot of books and watch a lot of videos, get a lot of information and do nothing with it.

We think that discipleship is actually the process of beginning to live out your purpose and make an impact in the world.

And so we talk about purpose and we have some programs and processes to help you determine what your unique purpose is.

And I'm not gonna lie, that can be a challenging journey.

There's some stuff you gotta get out of your life, there's some stuff you gotta get into your life.

See, Samson had it easy.

His purpose was laid out for him before he was ever born.

In the Old Testament book of Judges, chapter 13, God is talking to Samson's parents.

Judges 13 · chapter mention

He says, For indeed you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazarite to God from birth.

And he, here's his purpose.

He will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.

Now, in the Old Testament, Israel was God's chosen people, it was his vehicle to push forward his plan of redemption for the world.

And the Philistines were always after the Israelites, and they were powerful.

This rivalry goes way back, even if you're like not from church, you didn't grow up in church.

You probably have heard of David and Goliath.

David is like the preteen who's got the slingshot.

Goliath is the giant over nine foot tall.

Goliath was a Philistine.

This rivalry has been going on forever.

And then the Philistines are always threatening to overtake the Israelites.

Samson has been given a purpose.

Before the bulging biceps, before all the power, before the beautiful Chris Hemsworth playing four hair, before any of it, he already has his purpose.

Samson will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.

We're seeing what his purpose is, but equally as important, you have to understand what his purpose was not.

His purpose was not to be the world's strongest man.

His purpose was not to bench 550 and squat 1200.

That was not his purpose.

His purpose was not even his military exploits.

His purpose was to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.

And already in his life, we begin to see the danger of the talent trap.

And we have this thing that we do, it's very natural to us as humans, is life is complicated and it's hard to understand.

And so we operate in categories.

And one of the categories that we put on people is the category of identity, trying to understand some way to group them in our minds.

And the easiest way to categorize someone's identity is by looking at what they do.

This is especially difficult when you have someone like Samson.

Let's look at just one of his feats of strength.

In Judges 14, verse 5, it says, Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah, and suddenly a young lion came roaring at him.

Judges 14:5

Now we gotta get the picture right because this is not a cub, you know?

This isn't baby Simba, which by the way is bigger than almost any of your dogs anyway.

This is a young lion.

It's not full grown, but it's kind of grown.

It can roar, which means it's mature, it's a couple hundred pounds, it's aggressive, and it will murder you.

This lion comes roaring at him in verse six.

The spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him.

And he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat, but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

Unbelievable strength.

A freaking lion.

He tore it in half.

I was really thinking about this.

Like I try to work out a little bit.

I don't think without the aid of scissors, I could tear a stuffed animal lion in half.

I'd seriously doubt it.

This is a real couple hundred pounds worth of lion.

He's unbelievable.

He's like a superhero.

There is nothing that this guy cannot do.

And so, if you grew up in church, how did they tell the story of Samson?

They focused almost exclusively on his strength.

You sat in Sunday school and you learned about all the feats, taking out over a thousand Philistines without any weapons, breaking free from chains, just doing these things that seriously no one else in the history of the world had ever done or will ever do.

We focused on his strength.

The problem is that when you just focus on the talent, you begin to fall into the talent trap.

And you begin to see their talent as their purpose.

This is the talent trap.

And when the temptation trap is largely about your actions and what you do, the talent trap is largely about your identity.

It is about who you are.

We work in categories, and so as a culture, we've kind of dove headfirst into the talent trap.

How do we determine who people are?

There's a really easy way to think about this.

What is the second question you ask when you meet someone?

What is your name, and what do you do?

That conversation exposes the talent trap in action.

Hey man, what's your name?

Good to meet you.

What do you do?

And they say, I work at a bank.

That is an action.

But we work in categorization.

So we hear, I do something, I work at a bank, and in our mind we say, Oh, good, you're a banker.

And we have moved in one second from an action to an identity.

What do you do?

Oh, I build houses.

Oh, good.

You're a builder.

We make it a part of who they are immediately.

We live full-time in the talent trap, confusing what someone does for who they are.

And this is so dangerous.

When your talent becomes your purpose, you begin to think that heroism is simply showing your strength.

Identity cuts to the core of who we are.

There's a pastor and author I really like, his name is Pete Schizero, and he says often, you have to remember that we are human beings.

We are not human doings.

We are not finding our identity from what we do, and yet that is often how we are navigating the world around us.

You have talents, and that is critical.

We need talents to harness them, to push forward the world's most important mission.

The proclamation of the good news of Jesus.

We need your talents.

But when you begin to confuse your purpose and identity with your strengths and skill sets, you put yourself in a trap, in a cycle.

Instead of finding significance as a heroic part of God's journey, you try to find satisfaction in the gifts and talents that God Himself has given you.

Your talents are tools.

Your talents are tools.

And most of us probably know someone who, if you were to walk into their garage, they don't have a toolbox.

They don't have a tool chest.

They don't have a tool wall.

They have a tool room.

They are serious.

If you were to walk in the garage, you would assume this person is a master level carpenter.

They've got like 47 different saws.

They got 12 different kinds of the same drill.

They got every size screw.

They got every piece, all of it.

And then you get a little closer to the tools and you start realizing all of these saws are still really sharp.

All of these drills still have the stickers on them.

And what happens, and I don't know what it is, and it's it's not it's not solely a gender thing, but there is something where a lot of men, you go to Home Depot and just magically you buy a tool.

You don't know if you need it or really what it does, but it just calls out to you, you know.

We think we need more tools than we need, so like one time we have a wobbly chair, we buy$5,000 worth of tools, you know, and then they sit in the garage, completely ignored and unused.

But man, do we have a great tool collection?

I mean, it is beautiful.

They are color-coded, they are laid out, they are organized.

We go in the garage and sometimes we just look at them.

And what we do is we confuse it.

Because tools are made for projects.

You've got all of the tools, but no use for them.

Tools are made for projects, and talents are made for purpose.

And we buy treadmills.

And I think they should just change the marketing.

They should just market honestly.

The world's most expensive clothes hanger.

Because you go and it's hard to buy a treadmill.

They're hundreds of pounds, they're shaped at a 90-degree angle.

It's hard to get in your house.

No one's ever bought the treadmill, got it in the truck, got it to the house, worked it through the hallways, banged up all the doors, gotten it in the room, plugged it in, and gone.

We did it.

The purpose of the treadmill has been accomplished.

The treadmill is a tool.

The running is the purpose.

The health is the potential.

And we fool ourselves when we think that the tools are the purpose.

And we fool ourselves when we think that the talent is the purpose.

And yet, so often we seek to find our identity in the very things that we can cling to outwardly, the things that we have skill sets in, the things that we feel like we have some control over, the things that we have gotten appreciation for, the things we have gotten affection for, the things that we've gotten positive responses from the people.

Around us, and all of a sudden, we fall into the very same trap.

All of a sudden, we're not living as human beings, we are living as human doings.

We are finding our identity, not in the core seat of who we are and who we've created to be in Christ and the purpose that He's placed inside of us, but instead the talents that can be outwardly viewed and appreciated by the world.

We have, I mean, we've kept it real in this series.

It's gonna get real, real by the end, I promise.

The heroic journey is not for the faint of heart.

It is a life of struggle and pain, but it is pain with purpose, it is struggle with significance, and the talent trap leaves you longing, not for significance, but for satisfaction from a world that is outside of your control and largely doesn't actually care about you.

We know Samson's purpose.

It was given to him before his first feed of strength, it was given to him before he was even conceived.

And when we trade in that purpose and we live just for talents, we become trapped.

This was a consistent struggle for Samson.

He was a man powerful enough to get whatever he wants.

And if you don't want to give it to him, he can take it from you.

That is incredible power.

It is quite the talent.

Probably the most talented guy around.

And yet, the question is: will he use that talent as a tool for the purposes of God?

Or will he trade that purpose for the talent itself?

Back in Judges 14, verse 2, it says, He went back and told his father and mother, I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah.

Judges 14:2

Now get her for me as a wife.

Just a quick reminder: what is Samson's purpose?

It is to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.

Like, at best, this is a ginormous conflict of interest.

I know some of you have problems with your in-laws, all right?

But God has not decreed for you to destroy them.

This is this is not going to work.

Samson is having to trade his purpose for the pleasure that he can attain through his talents.

He sees it, he wants it.

And he's powerful enough that what he wants, he gets.

And how can he destroy the Philistines when he would be destroying the very family of the woman that he is married to?

Over time, the marriage didn't work out.

It should probably come as no surprise when you read the history of the Philistines and the Israelites.

And still, Samson cannot see his purpose because he is so overwhelmed by his pride.

And your hope, because this did not end well, and we don't have time to go through the whole story, but this marriage, it did not end well.

And you would think that's Samson, called by God, given an incredible purpose and the talents to pull it off, would have learned his lesson.

But unfortunately, you would be wrong.

Two chapters later, in Judges 16, verse 1, it says, Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her.

Judges 16:1

Last week we saw Rahab, a prostitute.

A prostitute in the Bible's Hall of Fame.

This week we see Samson.

Rahab starts with a bad rap.

Rahab starts with judgment.

They put it in her title, Rahab the prostitute.

And yet, so often we confuse what someone does with who they are.

Prostitution is something that she was doing.

It was not who she was.

And even when she was in the thick of her sin, it is not who she was.

Who she was was a powerful woman of God placed at the perfect position to make all the difference for the people of God to get into the promised land of God.

She was a hero.

That's what you have to understand.

At the core of who you are is not what you think about you, what these people think about you, what your family thinks about you.

Your identity is found in what God thinks about you.

It's like Rahab right off the bat, easy to judge.

Samson, not so much.

He's doing some stuff, you know.

He took out some Philistines.

That's his purpose.

He's doing it a little bit, but he keeps trading it in, using his gifts for his own greed.

He's visiting a prostitute.

These are not the actions of a man who is secure in his purpose.

These are the actions of a man stuck in the talent trap, seeking satisfaction out of the things that he can get by using his gifts.

Now you must know, if you go looking for trouble, you almost assuredly will find it.

In verse 4, it says, sometimes later, he fell in love with a woman you already know, named Delilah.

Delilah, who lived in the Sorak Valley.

He went to Gaza to see a prostitute.

He ended up in the Sorek Valley.

More than likely, he met his new boo on the way to see a prostitute.

I've done quite a bit of marital counseling throughout the years.

Not a great start, I'm gonna tell you right now.

Not the love story that you want when your kids ask how you met, you know?

Samson is messed up, man.

And it's almost almost painful for me because I grew up putting the big muscly guy on the flannel board.

All my Sunday school people will know exactly what I'm talking about.

He was like perfect.

That's how we told the story.

And you know why we told the story that way?

Because we're a culture that is stuck in the talent trap.

We can't even see his story for what it is.

A guy who is incredibly jacked up.

A guy who is seeking for some level of significance that could be found easily by just using his talents as the tools to live out his purpose.

I'm sure it's not easy being the strongest guy in the world.

There is a weight that comes with power.

There is a weight that comes with authority.

There is a weight that comes with talent.

And every single one of you has been given talents.

And the weight has been distributed equally, whether you are given five, three, or one, the point is that you will invest what you have been given into the work and the purpose of our king.

This way of living will catch up with you.

You probably know the story.

The very next verse, like they just fell in love.

The very next verse, verse five, it says, The Philistine leaders went to her and they said, Persuade Samson to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless.

And then each of us will give you 1100 pieces of silver.

And Delilah doesn't hesitate.

So she said to Samson, please tell me, where does your great strength come from?

And how could someone, you know, tie she's not very good at this.

And how could, like, I don't know, if someone wanted to tie you up, overcome you, make you helpless, probably kill you, make your life miserable.

Like, if someone wanted to do that, I'm just curious, you know, how might they go about that?

You're a strong guy, there's gotta be a way, is there an off-switch, you know?

And it's a miserable situation because Samson has married her almost 100% for lust.

He's in a marriage where he immediately cannot trust her.

And so over and over again he keeps lying to her.

Well, if you just tie me up this way, well, if you if if you just sit me in the right chair, well, if you just if you just make it out of these kind of strings, and over and over he lies to her, because he knows that he can't trust her.

In verse 15, she begins the manipulation.

How can you say I love you?

She told him, when your heart is not with me.

This is the third time you've mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great.

And verse 16 is one of my favorite verses in all of scripture.

And because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him, she wore him out.

A thousand Philistines couldn't take this pole down, but one woman just nagging and nagging, it finally broke him down.

This is life or death, and he's like, enough.

Verse 17, he told her the whole truth.

Like, if you will shut up, I will literally let you kill me.

He tells her everything.

He said to her, My hair's never been cut.

I'm an Azurite to God from birth.

But if I am shaved, my strength will leave me.

I'll become weak, and I will be like any other man.

And of course, that's exactly what happens.

She gets him drunk, he goes to sleep, she shaves his head, he wakes up, just a normal guy.

He's overcome by the Philistine leaders.

In verse 21, the Philistines seized him, they gouged out his eyes, they brought him down to Gaza, the very place he shouldn't have been in the first place.

They bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.

You see, what happens when we fall into the talent trap and we begin to try to find our identity and we begin to try to find our satisfaction out of the gifts that we have been given is we fully begin to rely on things outside of our control, things outside of our control that don't actually care about the core of who we are.

And so we want so desperately to be liked or maybe even loved because of the things that we're good at, the talents that we have, and yet you can't control the people around you and how they're gonna react to when you begin to flex your talent a little bit.

And you want so badly, if you can just build enough skill set, or if you can just look good enough, or if you can just make enough money, then maybe you'll feel some sense of self-worth.

But these inanimate objects cannot give you the worth that only comes from your creator.

And we're in the talent trap, and it's a vicious cycle.

Because the harder you try to find your identity and your talent, the less satisfying it will be, and the harder you must try, but the harder you try, the less satisfying it will be.

And so you have to double down and triple down and keep working, and one Philistine wife didn't work.

You know, a key sign that you are stuck in the talent trap, finding your identity and things that aren't God, is you keep making the same critical mistakes over and over again.

You are searching for something that you cannot find in a world that is out of your control, the heroic journey.

The path of purpose finds its strength in a God who is unmovable, unshakable, unchanging, all-powerful, all-loving, always just, always getting it right, always on time, always has a plan, holds your future in his hand, and loves you enough to lay his life down for you.

It wasn't until all of his talent was gone that Samson began to realize the true core of his identity.

His strength was gone.

And even if his strength came back, his vision was gone.

They gouged out his eyes.

And what good is all the strength in the world if you can't see where to use it?

The very thing, the very talent he's relied on his whole life is no longer an option to him.

And the truth sets in that his purpose was given to him before his strength.

His identity was given to him before his strength.

And his purpose and his identity are still there after his strength.

And it's only when Samson can no longer fulfill his own desires that he can finally begin living for his destiny.

And so they would take him out from time to time, and he was public enemy number one, and they would chain him up, and they'd get thousands of Philistines together to mock him, spit on him, shame him, and embarrass him.

In verse 29, it says that Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple, the very pillars that he was chained to, and he leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left.

And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.

And he pushed with all of his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it.

And those he killed at his death were more than those he killed in all of his life.

Samson did not with his strength, but God's strength, more than he could ever do with his own.

His purpose was to begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.

He fulfilled his purpose, even when the talents he had relied on his whole life were no longer there.

Many of us fall into the talent trap, living like Samson, using our God-given gifts for our own means.

Using our gifts for greed.

And our talents are important, but your greatest strength is usually one intention away from becoming your greatest weakness.

Samson's strength given to him by God for God's purpose was transformed through negative intentions into his greatest weakness by delivering himself into the hands of the enemy.

The same is true for us.

And there's actually a quite simple test to see whether or not you are in fact stuck in the talent trap.

It starts with acknowledging your talent, acknowledging your gift.

And sometimes, this is for like the people who you've known God for a while, you've followed Jesus for a while.

What I see a lot is we fall into this false humility where we can never admit we're good at anything.

It's like, oh bro, that was so good.

Not me, just God, not me.

It wasn't me.

No, really, no, really.

I mean, I know I was doing it, but no, it wasn't really like it was God, you know?

And you're just fishing for more compliments.

It's false humility.

You know what humility is?

Humility is the most accurate assessment of yourself that you can possibly make.

It is okay to be talented.

It is okay to have gifts.

You first have to acknowledge your gifts, and then with each one of them, ask a simple question: Am I using this gift for God?

If your gifts are being used for God, then you are being used as a tool.

Your talents are tools for God's purposes.

And if you can be brutally honest and say, this gift, my charisma, my charm, my communication skills, my likability, my leadership, my mind, my money-making ability, if you can say, I'm using this ultimately to circle back around to me, you are in the talent trap.

Give it some time, and you will see just how unsatisfying it is.

I'm here today to tell you that God is calling you to the heroic life.

He has given you tools, and God is asking, What are you going to build with him?

You were created on purpose and you were created with purpose.

Yesterday was 20 years since the attacks on 9-11.

On 9-12, it seemed like our country was going to come together and stay together in harmony forever.

And 20 years later, we're exponentially more divided than we were then.

The world is desperate for a movement of people living heroic lives.

God has given you talents to pull it off.

But if you replace your purpose with your talent, you will stay trapped.

You can choose the heroic journey today.

Your talent does not define you.

Your identity is not in what you can do.

Your purpose is not in your power.

Your purpose and your identity is found in a God who loves you, who has placed you here, and who has a plan for your life.

Would you pray with me?

Father, we love you and we thank you for Samson's example.

He is in the list of heroes.

He wasted almost his entire life, but he turned it around at the end.

God, it is never too late.

I pray we would cling to that.

God, I have made so many mistakes and continue to struggle.

Every one of us in here is jacked up at some level.

We all need you.

God, I pray we would no longer allow the things that we do to define who we are.

We would keep our eyes on you.

We'd keep our faith in you.

That we would not only escape the temptation trap, but that we would escape the talent trap as well.

We love you.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks so much for listening to the message today.

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Man, I love you guys, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.