Kingdom Builders (Contemporary Worship 9/20/26)

Devotional

Day 1: Gifts Received, Not Earned

Each believer carries unique spiritual gifts entrusted by God, not achieved through merit. These gifts—teaching, serving, encouraging—are divine tools meant to build up others. Like a chef discovering his true calling beyond Michelin stars, our gifts find purpose when surrendered to God’s mission. The question isn’t whether we have gifts, but whether we’ll steward them boldly. Spiritual gifts are grace wrapped in action, meant to be unwrapped daily. [37:14]

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10, ESV)

Reflection: What specific gift has God placed in your hands that feels underused? How might today’s ordinary moments become opportunities to unwrap it?

Day 2: When Your Table Expands Beyond Comfort

God often redirects gifts from familiar spaces to unexpected hunger. A table set for the privileged becomes a feast for the desperate when stewardship aligns with divine urgency. Like a chef trading fine dining for disaster relief, our callings thrive when we stop counting seats and start counting needs. True stewardship stretches our capacity to love. [39:04]

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.’” (Matthew 25:21, ESV)

Reflection: Where is God asking you to “expand your table” beyond comfort? What practical step could you take this week to feed a hunger you’ve overlooked?

Day 3: Speaking Without Hands, Serving Without Limits

Weakness becomes a megaphone for divine strength. A man without limbs proves that carrying Bibles matters less than carrying Christ’s message. Our perceived lacks—time, skill, confidence—are God’s raw materials. When we steward our limitations as fiercely as our gifts, miracles multiply. [52:22]

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV)

Reflection: What limitation have you resented that God might want to transform into a platform for His power? How could you surrender it today?

Day 4: Stewardship Begins With What’s Missing

Gratitude for present gifts fuels faithfulness more than longing for absent ones. A teenager chose thankfulness for partial mobility over bitterness about missing limbs—and ignited global ministry. Our stewardship starts by inventorying what’s in our hands, not what’s beyond our reach. [53:30]

“Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” (John 9:3, ESV)

Reflection: What existing gift or resource have you undervalued because you’re fixated on what you lack? How might using it today reveal God’s work?

Day 5: Strength Flows Where Glory Goes

True stewardship redirects applause to heaven. Every act of service—whether cooking meals or preaching sermons—succeeds only through God’s sustaining power. Like a limbless evangelist crediting divine strength for his voice, we’re conduits, not sources. Our task is to point to the Giver, not the gift. [50:17]

“If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 4:11, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you subtly claimed ownership of a gift God gave? How could you intentionally redirect someone’s praise to Him this week?

Sermon Summary

The call to be kingdom builders reaches into daily life at home, at school, at work, in the community, and even in the places where people navigate government and business. The stewardship of time leads naturally into the stewardship of gifts, because every believer has received gifts from God to be used for his kingdom. Peter says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,” and that word leaves no believer outside the call.

God’s grace appears in various forms through gifts like teaching, serving, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy, discernment, and speaking God’s word. The question is not whether believers have gifts, but how they will steward what God has placed in their hands. José Andrés shows how a gift can remain the same while its stewardship changes. His ability to cook moved from preparing meals for a few comfortable people to feeding many desperate people in places of disaster. His table changed because God showed him a larger calling for the gift already in his life.

Jesus gives gifts not merely to bless the church inside its walls, but to send the church into the world as life givers. The church becomes a life saving station when gifts serve the hungry, the sick, the prisoner, the stranger, the lost, the broken, and the hurting. The kingdom brings God’s order and blessing into a world marked by darkness and chaos. The eternal hope of Jesus gives believers something real to offer when trials come.

God’s strength stands underneath every true act of service. Peter says that those who speak should speak as those speaking the very words of God, and those who serve should serve with the strength God provides. The glory belongs to God, not to the person receiving accolades, because God does not call the equipped but equips the called.

Nick Vujicic shows that weakness cannot cancel God’s purpose. His gratitude shifted from what he did not have to what God had given, and his prayers shifted from asking for a different body to asking that God would be glorified through his life. God gave him strength to speak his word, and millions have heard about Jesus through his witness. The call leaves little room for excuses: every believer has gifts, every gift is for serving others, and every act of service is for the glory of God.

Key Takeaways

1. Every believer has kingdom gifts
God gives gifts to every believer, not merely to the visible or highly gifted. Spiritual gifts may look ordinary in daily life, but God uses them to carry grace into real needs. Faithfulness begins by receiving God’s generosity with humility rather than denying what he has entrusted. [43:29]
2. The stewardship can change the table
José Andrés did not need a new gift before his life changed. God enlarged the purpose of the gift he already had, moving his table from the comfortable to the desperate. A believer’s calling may begin with seeing familiar abilities through the eyes of kingdom need. [41:51]
3. Gifts exist for the world
The church is not meant to become an institution turned inward on itself. God gives gifts so that his people can become life givers in places marked by pain, confusion, and spiritual darkness. Service inside the church matters, but it must also overflow beyond its walls. [49:16]
4. God’s strength meets human weakness
Nick’s life shows that weakness does not disqualify a person from kingdom work. God’s power is not dependent on outward ability, personal polish, or ideal circumstances. A surrendered weakness can become a place where Christ is seen more clearly. [57:12]
5. There are no excuses for stewardship
The question is not whether a believer has enough to offer, but whether that believer will use what God has given. Needs are present inside the church and all around it, among people who are lost, broken, and hurting. God calls his people to let no one miss hearing the name of Jesus and what he has done. [58:19]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[35:52] - Kingdom Builders and Daily Stewardship
[37:14] - Peter’s Call to Use Every Gift
[39:04] - José Andrés and a Changed Table
[43:29] - Every Believer Receives Gifts
[45:49] - Gifts Are Given to Serve Others
[48:15] - Gifts for the Church and the World
[50:17] - Serving Through God’s Strength
[51:54] - Nick Vujicic and Strength in Weakness
[57:30] - The Mystery of Stewardship
[58:19] - No Excuses for Kingdom Service
[1:00:02] - Prayer and Response

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

1 Peter 4:10-11
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” [37:14]

Romans 12:6-8
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” [44:32]

Matthew 25:35-36
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” [47:30]

John 9:3
“Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” [54:30]

Observation questions

According to 1 Peter 4:10-11, what has each believer received, who is meant to benefit from it, and what is the final purpose of using it?
What different kinds of gifts are named in Romans 12:6-8, and what attitudes are connected with giving, leading, and showing mercy? [44:32]
In Matthew 25:35-36, what specific people and needs does Jesus identify as opportunities for ministry?
What changed for José Andrés after he responded to the earthquake in Haiti: his ability to cook, or the people and needs toward which he used that ability? [41:43]

Interpretation questions

What does it mean for believers to be “good stewards” of God’s varied grace rather than owners of their gifts? How might that change the way a person thinks about ordinary skills, resources, and opportunities?
Peter says that those who serve should do so with the strength God provides. How does this truth guard a believer from both pride when service goes well and discouragement when serving feels difficult? [50:08]
Jesus connects caring for hungry, sick, imprisoned, and overlooked people with serving him. What kinds of needs in a community today might require gifts of hospitality, mercy, teaching, generosity, or leadership? [47:30]
John 9:3 shows that hardship is not always a punishment or evidence of failure. How can a believer’s weakness, limitation, or painful circumstance become a place where God’s work is displayed? [57:30]

Application questions

Which gift or ability has God placed in your life—such as listening, encouraging, teaching, hospitality, practical service, generosity, leadership, or mercy—that you may have treated as ordinary? Where could you begin using it more intentionally for someone else’s good? [45:01]
José Andrés’s gift did not change, but his “table” changed from serving the comfortable to serving the desperate. Who might be outside your usual circle—at home, work, school, church, or in the community—whom God may be placing before you? [41:51]
God gives gifts to the church for the sake of the world, not simply to keep the church focused inward. What is one need beyond the church walls that especially moves your heart, and what small, practical step could you take toward that need this week? [49:09]
Where do you most often feel inadequate, too busy, unqualified, or weak for serving God? How might you ask God to supply his strength in that specific place rather than allowing it to become an excuse? [57:34]
When others notice or appreciate something you have done, what helps you give God the credit without pretending that the gift does not exist? [51:54]
Is there someone in your life who may be hungry, lonely, sick, grieving, new to the community, imprisoned, or spiritually lost? What would faithful care for that person look like in the next seven days? [58:30]

Sermon Clips

37s

#ChurchForTheWorld

“Now, we do all those things inside the walls. But the gifts exist. They are given to the church for the world. Churches are not to be institutions in and of themselves. They're important, and I talked about the importance of church membership. But churches exist to make a difference in the world. They exist to expand God's kingdom. They they exist to be a life saving station where to be life givers. We are life givers.”

35s

#KingdomHope

“In a world of darkness, in a world of chaos, bring the order of God's kingdom. We bring the blessing of God's kingdom. We bring the eternal message of God's kingdom that no matter what we face in these days and what trials, there are better days ahead, not only now, but for all eternity. Amen? Thanks be to our God in Jesus Christ for that. And so so important for that.”

41s

#StewardYourGifts

“Because in the first gift in Hoses, we know that all of us have gifts. And and the question is not, is how we're gonna use them? Not do we have them, but will we steward those gifts for the kingdom? A big question we need to answer today. And we need to process this week and in the days ahead. So many needs at Asbury, so many needs outside these walls. People we encounter who are lost, who are broken, who are hurting, who need to know the life saving power of Jesus,”

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Asbury Church Raleigh NC This sermon · AI assistant

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