The Assignment - Steward What You Have Been Given // Aaron ShawThe Assignment - Steward What You Have Been Given // Aaron Shaw
Cedar Point Recovery - Weekly Messages
Pastor Aaron Shaw speaks to a recovery community about the God-given gifts already in their hands and challenges them to stop hiding and start serving. The message links fear, unused talent and dissatisfaction, urging people to use what they’ve been given, even when they feel unqualified.
47:26•11 Aug 2026
Steward Your Gifts Before They Go To Waste
Episode Overview
- Every believer, including those in recovery, has been given specific gifts and an assignment from God to serve others.
- Fear and a wrong view of God can lead people to hide their gifts, choosing to be "useless rather than exposed."
- God measures faithfulness by how gifts are used, not by the size or impressiveness of the gift itself.
- Spiritual gifts grow through regular use and small acts of service, not just planning or dreaming about future ministry.
- Identifying and actively using your gifts, even while scared or feeling unqualified, is part of both obedience and healing.
“Fear looks responsible right up until the day you have to explain the hole in the ground. Use what He gave you.”
What drives someone to seek a life without addiction and then stay stuck in the church chair? This message from Cedar Point Recovery zooms in on that gap between saying "yes" to Jesus and actually using what God has put in your hands. Pastor Aaron Shaw speaks to a recovery crowd that knows all about nets, safety and clinging to what’s familiar.
He reminds them of the disciples leaving their fishing nets and ending up with "empty hands" – then shows how God has already filled those hands with specific gifts and assignments. You’ll hear the story of the “Messiah” violin, kept in mint condition because it’s never been played, as Aaron bluntly calls it "what a waste" and compares it to unused spiritual gifts.
Drawing from Matthew 25, 1 Peter 4 and 2 Timothy 1, he makes it clear that "God gave it to be used, not protected" and that "every person in this room was handed something" to serve others, not to show off or hide. He addresses the recovery mindset head-on, pointing out how fear gets dressed up as humility and how "we would rather be useless than exposed", even if that means the people we were meant to help go unserved.
The tone is direct, funny and very real – think jokes about band clarinets and bad singing sitting alongside honest talk about grief, relapse in serving, and feeling disqualified. Practical challenges at the end push you to name your gifts, work them in small ways this week, and "do it scared" if fear has been talking you out of it.
If you’ve ever wondered whether your past, your addiction, or your insecurities mean God skipped you when handing out assignments, this message asks a simple but uncomfortable question: what has God given you that’s still buried, and who might be waiting on you to dig it up?
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