Esther Week 4- COMMUNITY

RECAP: 

The people that we surround ourselves with can be one of the most important decisions we make. God places people in our path to either impact us or give us the opportunity to impact them; sometimes it’s both! In the book of Esther, we can see how the community of the main characters directly impacts how the story unfolds for better or for worse.

ICEBREAKER:

1- What is the most fun day trip/vacation you’ve ever taken with friends?

2- What are the top 3 characteristics that you look for in friends?  What does it take to be your friend?

Transition: The people we surround ourselves with can be the catalyst for our best days and the cause of our worst. Sometimes we choose our community- like who we spend free time with, and other times our community is chosen for us- like co-workers. 

STUDY:

3- What is an example from your past where you chose your own community? What about one where your community was chosen for you?

4- How do you think God used both of those situations (choosing yourself and chosen for you) to accomplish His purposes in your life? 

The book of Esther provides great insight into how our friends can influence all the aspects of our life (marriage, professional, finance, parenting, etc.). Let’s focus in on the spiritual part of our life and the friends we need to succeed.

The Encourager: This person will always be the person who brings out the very best in you.

5- Do you have someone in your life that brings out the best in you? Who is it and what is it they do to bring out the best in you? 

6- If you don’t have an encourager in your life, why not? Is there someone who could be that friend for you if you invested more relational equity in them? 

The Mentor: This person mentors us in various areas of our lives by modeling how to live. 

7- A mentor is a model for areas of our lives. Who have you selected to mentor your relationship with Jesus? (Leader Note: Jesus is a good answer, and certainly the best possible mentor, but try to get your group to think about people who we are more likely to be able to model our lives after. Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. We are merely 100% man. Doing the same things He did is our goal, but we know that is unattainable this side of heaven).

8- Why do you think having a mentor in your spiritual walk important?  Do you have those people in your life?

The Disturber: This person shakes up our status quo with difficult questions that force us to consider our motives and intentions.

9- Disturbers are often people who are different than us. Is your tendency to surround yourself with people who are different than you or similar to you? Why?  Do you have those people in your life?

10- What are some positives that can come from having a friend who challenges your spiritual status quo and asks difficult questions? Do you have those people in your life?

The Discerner: This person brings spiritual insight into your life that includes challenging you, calling you out, and speaking the truth in love. 

11- How has having a friend who can give spiritual insight been a blessing to your relationship with Jesus?  Do you have a spiritual discerner in your life?

NEXT STEPS:

12- If you don’t have one or more of these types of friends to deepen your relationship with Jesus, identify someone you know that could help fill that gap and start to build the relationship.

13- You be an encourager, mentor, disturber, or discerner to your friends. Look for ways to earn that credibility and help them move forward in that way.

ADDITIONAL STUDY:
Read Acts 2:42-47. Emphasize the effective evangelism we see at the end of verse 47. “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” The Lord added daily. Not every now and then. He added daily. How cool would it be if we could say this about our daily walk with Jesus? This is the church community of the first Christians. At Revo, we strive for church community like this.

14- What are a few things that you notice in verses 42-46 that helped contribute to their effectiveness? 

15- Which of these things that were just named do you lack the most? How can you use the community around you to fix that lack? 

• Leader Note: If you need to give a few suggestions to get the conversation going think of a couple of these examples:
• “Devoted to the apostle’s teaching”: Maybe it’s hard for you to listen during sermons or care about reading God’s Word during the week. Ask someone to be your accountability partner in reading the Bible daily.
• “Prayer”: It’s tough for me to remember to pray. Or maybe it’s tough to set aside time spent in good prayer. Learn from a mentor the importance of a prayer life.
• “Every day they met together in the temple courts…”: Maybe it’s the act of getting out of bed to go to church. The most effective Christians in history were meeting everyday. Couldn’t we do once a week? Be encouraged by a friend who has found incredible blessing in the body of Christ.