Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Welcome to the creative team talks podcast for Hillsong creative.
[00:00:18] Hey, Hillsong Creative. It's Annie Garrett here from our Hills campus. I have the incredible honor of leading and serving our Hillsong creative team, who are some of the greatest people that you will ever encounter. And today I just wanted to share a picture that God gave me on a weekend, a few Sundays back. Actually, I was just sitting in service, and it was in worship, and our team was leading. And oftentimes when God shows me a picture, I know it's for me, he's speaking to me, but usually it's for more than me. And I really felt that it was actually for us as a team. And so just wanted to share with you. So I saw this picture of this brown, kind of old looking wooden box, very plain, very ordinary, nothing really special. It was just a plain, square, brown box. And it was covered in, like, this really thick layer of dust, just covered in dust. And then suddenly, this big gust of wind came and just blew across the box in a moment, and all of that dust just blew up in the air and just began to circle around.
[00:01:28] And then I saw that what I first thought, what looked like just a plain, ordinary box was actually this really beautiful, intricate carved box with detail, and it was delicate and looked nothing like what I originally thought. And so I just started asking God, okay, what does this mean? What are you trying to show me? And was thinking about dust. Why do things collect dust? And if you think about your home, my kitchen is kind of like the heart of my home. It's never dusty. And it's purely because we use everything in the kitchen as part of our everyday life. Like, we make breakfast there, lunch, dinner. We sit and have meals in there. I mean, I make it. I say we. I wish it was we, but it's me. That's okay. But it's like the heart of the home. I use the coffee machine every day. I'm in the fridge every day. So everything in our kitchen is constantly in use. We're using it. It's a part of our everyday lives. And if you go into my living room, there is a little corner, and there's a small table. It's got a plant on it that I usually forget to water. It's got a couple coffee table books, and I never really pick them up and look at it.
[00:02:48] It's there for decoration. The table is not super functional, so it just sits there, and it is always covered in dust. I feel like no matter how many times I dust it, it's dusty again, because everything just sits there. I don't use any of that stuff. And God just impressed on my heart that some of us, myself included, we have gifts that are just sitting there and they're collecting dust simply because we're not using them. We haven't picked them up in a while. We're not making them a part of our ordinary, everyday life. And I knew exactly what he was putting his finger on in my own life. But for all of us, the Bible says that each one of us has been given a gift. One Peter four, verse ten says, God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
[00:03:41] Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies? Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him, forever and ever. Amen.
[00:04:05] And I think sometimes when we think of our gifts, the gifts that we have, we can limit them to natural gifting, like our skill, our talent, our craft. And those are absolutely God given gifts.
[00:04:19] But it's kind of like that box. That's the baseline. That's like what it appears to be. That's what we can see. We've got that. But then there are spiritual gifts that we've been given. The gift of encouragement, the gift of prophecy, teaching, healing, spiritual gifts. And it's interesting because as a creative pastor, so much of my week is geared towards Sunday. I'm thinking about services, how we're going to execute things, how to prepare, all for good reasons, because we want to be a blessing to our volunteers and our team and our church. So there are things that are helpful and important, but the most valuable thing that I can bring into each weekend is the spirit of God, the gift of God in me, using the gift he's given me. Yes, my leadership. But we bring our talent, we bring our skill. We serve with those things, and they are God given gifts, and they bring him honor. But there's this whole other layer of beauty that God wants to reveal and use. And so my encouragement to us is, let's remember to be spirit led and spirit filled. Our preparations, our rehearsals, our planning, they matter. They are important. And actually they become our worship, being excellent at our craft, skilled at lighting in front of house and with our musicianship, but all of those things matter. But you could actually go to most, like any concert or event, and a lot of those same things will happen. People will prepare. They'll rehearse. Someone's on lighting, someone's on front of house, there's a musician. And the thing that completely sets us apart is the measure of Christ in us. So, yes, be prepared and be ready for the weekend, but be prepared spiritually, not just practically. Maybe you're serving on lighting, but you have a prophetic gift on your life. Well, don't limit your service that morning to just the lighting. Like speak over someone, encourage someone, pick up your gift and use it. And I just believe that as you, as we ask God just to highlight whatever it is in our life, that maybe it's collecting dust. What is a gift that God has given us that we are kind of allowing to sit there and we need to pick up? God's going to show us because he gave them to us for a reason and he wants to use them to bring him glory. So let's dust off the gifts, put them into action and watch what God does. And as we head into our weekends, more than just being prepared, practically, let's be asking, what is God saying? What is God going to do? Who does God want me to encourage? Who does he want me to speak over? And I'm praying and believing for an incredible weekend across our entire church. And I just want to say thank you. Who you are and what you bring and all that you do to serve the body of Christ. You're incredible and we hugely appreciate you so much. Love and have a great Sunday, everybody.
