40: What am I here for?

September 4, 2025

Message Listening Guide

Guiding Question: Are you doing what you were put on earth to do?

Your Primary Calling: Follow Jesus
  • From the very beginning, Jesus called disciples to leave everything and follow Him, to walk in His steps until they became like their Teacher (Luke 6:40).
  • Being a disciple means reshaping our whole lives around Him—learning His way, imitating His character, and living as those who belong to Him (Ephesians 4:1).
  • If Jesus calls you to a specific job, place, or ministry, do it with all your heart—for He is Lord.

Your Secondary Calling: Find the Intersection
Passion: Where your heart beats
God shapes our calling through the passions He places in us (Psalm 37:4).
Pain: Where the world aches
God calls us to notice where the world aches—from broken hearts to empty stomachs—and join Him in bringing healing and help (Genesis 2:15).
Proficiency: Where your hands fit
God calls us to steward the gifts, skills, and capacities He has entrusted to us—not just doing what we can, but leaning into where He’s given us the greatest potential to bear fruit (Matthew 25:14–30).
People: Where your friends cheer
God confirms and strengthens our calling through community—where others recognize our gifts and encourage our steps (Acts 13:2–3).

Application:
  • Which of these four areas have you focused on most? Which have you overlooked?
  • Are you in a season of searching for this intersection, or helping others find it?
  • Is there something God has been calling you to that you’ve been resisting?

Connection Group Conversation Guide

Pray: We’re going to begin our time by sharing prayer requests. What’s something on your heart or mind you’d like prayer for (ask your care leader—or a volunteer if you don’t have a care leader yet—to take notes so that they can follow up next week).

Get-to Know You Question: Share your name with the group and the answer to the question: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Opening Question: What is something that you are passionate about but, honestly, not very good at?

Review: Last Sunday's message focused on the idea of calling. First we looked at how the primary call of every Christian is to follow Jesus wherever He leads. Secondly, we looked at how God often gives us a lot of freedom when it comes to life, work, and career choices. Pastor Luke encouraged us to find the intersection of four areas: 1) Passion: where your heart beats, 2) Pain: where the world aches, 3) Proficiency: where your hands fit, and 4) People: where your friends cheer.

Discuss: Of the four intersections Luke explored, which have you tended to focus on the most? Which of the four have you tended to neglect?

Read: Matthew 25:14-19

Explain: This is the beginning of the parable of the talents. In the story, each servant is entrusted with a different amount—yet all are expected to be faithful with what they’ve been given. The emphasis isn’t on how much they received, but on what they did with it. If we begin to view our capacities, opportunities, and potential as gifts entrusted to us by the Lord, it can reshape how we think about calling, responsibility, and faithfulness.

Discuss: What’s one ability, relationship, or opportunity in your life right now that you might be underestimating or underutilizing? How might the Lord be inviting you to invest it more intentionally?

Discuss: In the message, Luke challenged us to consider if we are currently in a season of finding this intersection or helping others find it. Which season would you say you are in right now?

Discuss: If you could sit down with your younger self and offer a piece of advice related to discern calling on your life, what would it be?

Pray: Close with a short prayer asking God to guide our lives.