Maximizing your Leadership Potential

God wants to use all of us. Like the old jawbone of the donkey in the hand of Samson, the crooked stick in the hand of Moses, the broken vessel in the hand of Gideon, so the Lord takes the base things, the weak, the rejected, the youngest in the family the fishermen with a bad temper, the tax collector with a faulty character, the persecutor Saul, the harlot MAry MAgdalene and changes and uses them.We all may have been like that crooked stick,but now we are instruments of righteousness,used to do HIs mighty works. Yes, we all have a reat potential in Christ. There are no rejects, no impossible cases, no pat too bad, no fault too ruinous, no stain He can't remove. Yes, He can do this. Yes, we can receive this word of truth and face our generation with great confidence. So will you, with thousands of others say with me, "Yes...I can...become mighty in the hand of God. My past is buried with Christ, my future is resurrected with Christ, and my destiny is sealed by Christ."

Inroduction: IIKings 4:1-7.

Deep within every born-again Christian lies the golden holy storehouse of unlimited potential. God has deposited many great and wonderful seeds into our lives.all we need to do is to cultivate them. God earnestly wants you to maximize His plan for your life in Christ Jesus. Is your Godly leadership lying dormant? is is ony half-developed? do you feel there is a lot more in you, but you have not quite found the key to release it? I challenge you to take a serious look at your potential and commit yourself to a strategic plan of development.

Famous people with hidden potential:

1.Winston Churchill- He seemed so dull as a youth, that His father thought he might be incapable of earning a living in England.
2.Charles Darwin-He did so poorly in school, his father once told him, "You'll be a disgrace to yourself and all your family."
3.Thomas Edison-A teacher described him as "addled" and his father almost convinced him he was a dunce.
4.Einstein-His parents feared he was dull. He performed so badly in all his high school courses his teacher asked him to drop our, telling him, "You will never amount to anything, Einstein."
5.Walt Disney-He used to sketch, but when he tried to get a job for a newspaper they told him he should try something else because he had no touch for sketching. One man saw his sketch, gave him a dollar, and told him to keep trying.
6.Abraham Lincoln-He failed at least nine major times before he became President. He ran for Governor, Senator, and President and failed at all. They said he was too simple, yet he went on trying until he became one of America's greatest Presidents.

Defining the Believer's Potential:

Potential- from the Latin word meaning "something powerful lying within". That which has power or potency that can, but has not yet come into existence or into sight. something that is possible, unrealized, undeveloped, opposed to the actual. existing in possibility, but not in reality.

Natural Potential: That which a person has at the time of natural birth, which may be passed on through family inheritance. This natural potential or ability may be ceveloped by the individual during his life span. Each person is born with certain strengthes and abilities that vary in degree. This natural talent is not a spiritual gift given by the Holy spirit, but it may used by the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Potential: That which the believer has received at the time of his spiritual rebirth. This deposit of God given by the Holy Spirit may be described as a gift, ministry, deposit of God's grace, talent or function.

Benefits of Finding your Potential:

1. Finding your potential will give purpose and direction to your life.

2. Finding your potential will bring a realization to your life.

3.Finding your potential will turn routine tasks into enjoyable experiences.

4. Finding your potential will cause yu to use all your resources to their greatest efficiency.

5. Finding your potential will cause you to devote all your energies to a definite goal.

6.Fnding your potential will allow new areas of interest to surface.

7. Finding your potential will strengthen the many-membered Body of Christ.

8. Finding your potential will cause you to be a faithful steward of what God has given you.

Potential released by surrendering all

God takes little and makes it much! So being faithful in little is essential.

The Divine Principle of Little is much with God:

1. the truth is God can make something out of nothing.

2.the truth is God can take what is useless and make it profitable.

3.the truth is God can take our failures and weaknesses and use them for His glory.

4. the truth is God can use you now, today, right where you are at!

The Mystery of strength out of weakness: II Corinthians 12: 7-10.

1. The old jawbone of a donkey becomes a mighty weapon. Judges 15;14-17.

2. The old crooked stick becomes a miracle working stick. Exodus 4:2, 14;16.

3. The broken vessel becomes a message of victory. Judges 7: 16-23.