ICEBREAKERS
Make sure to start off with prayer. Then choose one or more questions to open up with.
- What did you want to be when you were growing up?
- Who have you encouraged lately?
- If you were stranded on a remote island, what is the one item that you would want to have with you?
Message Review
Main points and scriptures from this week's message.
This weekend, Pastor Kevin encouraged us to seize the moment so that we could release our potential. The story of Esther provided a great illustration of what it looks like when it's your time and it's your turn.
Esther had began her life as an orphan. Her mother and father died when she was young. She was raised by her older cousin, Mordecai. But she was not just an orphan, she was a young Jewish woman living in exile in Persia when her poise and beauty caught the attention of those on assignment to find a queen for the king.
For one year, Esther went through a preparation stage, and then it was her turn to meet the King.
Esther 2:15 (NIV)
When the turn came for Esther . . . to go to the king . . .
Shortly after that, a corrupt leader on the king’s cabinet decided it was time to kill off the Jewish people that lived in the provinces of Persia and started the process of an all-out genocide. That’s when Mordecai said these words to Esther:
Esther 4:14 (NIV)
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?
In the beginning of this new year, we want to remind you that:
POINT 1: YOU ARE CURRENTLY LIVING IN THE TIME OF YOUR GREATEST POTENTIAL.
You can’t do anything about the past. But you can do something about the future, and now is the time.
POINT 2: DON’T LIVE IN THE SOMEDAY OF YOUR POTENTIAL, BUT TAKE YOUR TURN RIGHT NOW TO LIVE IN YOUR POTENTIAL.
Esther 2:15 (NIV)
When the turn came for Esther . . . to go to the king . . .
It was her turn to meet the King, but before that, it was her turn to prepare to meet the King, and after that, it was her turn to persuade the King.
POINT 3: RECOGNIZE THAT YOU HAVE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL.
God created everything with potential. Your potential is what is not yet but can be.
POINT 4: YOU DON’T DECIDE YOUR POTENTIAL. YOU DISCOVER IT.
God is the source of our potential. He saw you and approved of you before you were born!
Psalms 139:13–14,16 (NIV)
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made . . . Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
POINT 5: CULTIVATE YOUR POTENTIAL.
You could say that Esther was preparing for a year to meet the King, OR you could say she was being prepared her whole life to meet the King.
TALK-IT-OUT
The following questions will help guide your discussions and give your group some opportunities to open up and share.
- Esther was dealt some bad cards in life. What are some of the difficult circumstances that you were born into or experienced?
- Someone recognized Esther's potential. Who is someone that recognized your potential? How did it make you feel?
- Who in your world has great potential? Do you affirm them in their potential?
- Esther went through a preparation stage before she could meet the King. What kind of preparation stage are you in right now?
- Esther was realized that she was born "for such a time as this." Why were you born? (What purpose does God have for you?)
WRITE-It-Out
Encourage your group to start writing things down. In a journal or on paper, do the following exercises.
- On paper, draw two circles. In the first circle, write out what potential God has given you. In the second circle, write out the things you need to do to cultivate that potential.
- Write out a prayer thanking God for the potential he has given you, and ask him for help in cultivating that potential.
Live-It-Out
Encourage your group to start doing. Commit to a step and live it out this week.
- Do the things you listed in the second circle under the write-it-out section.
- If you have not already been baptized, you have the opportunity this weekend. RSVP HERE.
- Complete Growth Track. Every Sunday at all of our campuses. Bellevue 9:45am & Tacoma 11:30am.
- Serve together as a group. To view serving opportunities with Champions Foundation, click HERE.
Closing Thoughts
- Finish group with prayer requests and praise reports.
- More resources always available here: Group Resources