Key points
- 1
1God meets ordinary, fearful people right where they are — hiding in a wine press — and calls them 'mighty warrior,' because He sees who they will become when they surrender to Him.
- 2
2When we feel abandoned by God in our hardest seasons, He is still present and calling us to take one step of obedience in the strength we already have.
Illustration
A painting class date night: the preacher's competitive attempt at the best painting ends with it in the trash, contrasted with a stunning piece found in Jerome that became the statement piece of his home — used to illustrate the difference the painter makes, not the brush
- 3
3God intentionally chooses ordinary people so that when extraordinary things happen, the only explanation is that God was with them.
“every stroke that you and I made was less. It was less than what God was painting for us”
“if it's you, if it's me, it's less, and I'll always be ordinary”
“is it possible that your greatest qualification is that you're ordinary, and that God says, can work with that because people will know it was me”
A story from life
Linn's childhood: his father left after multiple affairs, leaving his mother to raise four children including a severely autistic sister while working for $2.40 an hour — used to illustrate God using someone with no apparent advantages
- 4
4When you surrender the brush to God, expect it to get harder — God on purpose reduces Gideon's army from 32,000 to 300 to ensure no one can claim the victory for themselves.
“I wonder what God would whisper in your ear. I wonder if he'd say, oh woman of honor, oh man amongst men, O life changer. Because he can see what God would do with you if God had the brush”
- 5
5God always does His best work on the other side of harder — 300 men route hundreds of thousands, because the victory belongs to Him.
“God always does his best work on the other side of harder”
“on the other side of harder, lions refuse to eat. On the other side of harder, a young boy takes a sling and hurdles a rock, and it hits the exact spot and giants fall”
- 6
6Every stroke we make holding our own brush produces a life that is less than what God was painting for us; surrendering the brush is the only path to an extraordinary life.
Application
Pastor Linn closes with a concrete, daily practice: take the physical paintbrush home and place it somewhere you will see it every morning — on the bathroom sink or your car dashboard — and for the next 30 days let it prompt one simple question: 'Who is holding my brush today?' The answer shapes everything. If it is you, every stroke produces a smaller life than God intended. If it is God, you step into the extraordinary He already sees in you. That surrender looks like one obedient step at a time — saying what God would have you say, forgiving what He would have you release, and treating people the way He would treat them. Start there, and see what He does with ordinary you.
