Welcome to the Mariner's Church Life Group Leader Podcast. This weekly conversation is designed to equip and resource you to build a healthy life group community that studies God's word, practices spiritual rhythms, and changes the world together. Hello and welcome to the Life Group Leader Podcast. My name is Kirby and I'm the group's pastor here at Mariner's Church.
And today we're going to be having a great conversation about this sermon series weekend as you prepare for your life group leader discussion. So with me, I have Dallas Viva, our single pastor, and young adult pastor. Yep, so glad you're here, Dallas. How are you doing and how are singles and young adults going?
It's good, it's fun. I'm doing great. I'm prepping to take a group of 20s 30s to Kenya. We have some incredible people from outreach leading a trip and we are so excited we've been planning this for like a year.
And it is finally here during the series Big Problems with your God. So exciting. I know I have some friends from my own life group actually that are going and us as a life group are praying together that she would experience God in some new and incredible ways as well as really get to see God on display in the global church. So I am so excited for that and for all of our 20s 30s that are joining you along for that.
And if you, Life Group leaders have the opportunity to spend some time in group this week praying for faith adventures praying for our 20s 30s as they go out and hear from God and also get to witness more of the global church. So if you're also interested in going on a faith adventure feel free to reach out to us as we can help connect you to our outreach team and you can learn all about the incredible faith adventures that are available to all of our Life Group leaders and as well as Life Group members. So with that being said friends we have an incredible life group discussion for you today. This is week four which wow Dallas I cannot believe it we're already week four.
I feel like we just started this. You started. I know but it's really been so incredible. What's something that you've been seeing out of this out of this study so far?
What have you really liked about the sermon series? I've loved how it's resonated with people as people are walking walking up talking afterwards like hey I'm lonely. So good. So they found a group.
Like the prayer extended prayer weekend the people coming up how honest and raw and walking away like I didn't think I had any addiction but the way Eric just crafted that message has been so so good for myself and just for people. So good. I totally agree. I've gotten to talk with many people even after I believe weekend as I was able to make some great calls just to folks who stood and said I believe and they were so to having that same resignation of like wow this is so applicable to my life and I love that that that's kind of what the hope and the goal of the sermon series is to meet people where they are.
And so actually kind of think about that as you as a life creator prepare and know that this sermon series is to help meet us where we are in the middle of our current everyday problems our current everyday anxieties and so specifically this week is I am anxious which I know all of us can relate to which I used to think it's so funny I used to say to myself I used to say I don't think I'm really an anxious person and then I've learned that anxiety comes in all kinds of different forms you know that but I am anxious but God is peace which I absolutely love this truth that we get to rest on. As we look to this our first question is lean in and it's really illuminated by a lot of the discussion guide description there so I love to look at this before I jump into lean in but our first question here with lean in is do you tend to plan things or go with the flow when has that worked and when has it not what do you love about this question Dallas? Oh you get you get a mix of different people like you're going to see who are the planners if I'm a life group leader in my groups anywhere I'm getting to know people I'm like okay this person loves to plan things out like how can I bring them in helping us plan this message out so good and then you got the people who are like I just show up and we make it happen like typically those are people that others are drawn to their high energy folks so how can you use some of those people like get the planners and those people working together that will plan right one person like have all the fun like hey you be the face bring everybody together so good I love that I love is you even look at questions like this it's not always just about exactly the discussion but we can also be thinking about you you were at week four and maybe you as a leader I was at facilitator because I got rooted on the brain for those of you that rooted has been killing it but you in a lot of ways are facilitators well but as a leader week four you might be feeling a little exhausted or a little worn out and let me tell you we are here for you so I love Dallas that you brought up that point of paying attention these are not just things that you're learning about people but they're also invitations for us to look more like Jesus to be a part of the disciple making journey together and the transformational process that God invites us into so when someone says and you learn wow this person's a planner you can say actually you know I'm not maybe right in that specific moment but at the end of the discussion hey I'd love for you to actually reach out and help us plan our next serve experience or be the venture or whatever whatever whatever and that could be a life-changing conversation for someone of hey I signed up for rooted I went through rooted yeah I'm in a group now and now you could pull them into another level of hey now you're serving you have another you have more ownership more skin in the game you're delegating roles you're investing into someone yeah there's so many there's so many things that could happen those are conversations as I look back on my life that changed the course of my life absolutely and I think how that ties really well into the sermon series here is we start to learn that some of our anxieties really rival with what God has for us in that could be peace and also that extends into the the fear concept of like what are we missing out on by allowing ourselves or by being overcome with anxiety or being overcome with fear so I love that you make that nod to that but I also think this question really does help illuminate where the conversation is going in the second half the question when has that worked and when has it not our hope here with that question is that this would really start to illuminate as I mentioned before that we all actually struggle with anxiety in different places and different spaces and so rather than creating an isolating conversation of like well that person clearly struggles with anxiety or so on and so forth that you really start to identify okay this is how anxiety shows up for me and this is when it's worked and this is when it's not and so that's just a subtle a subtle way we can begin that conversation wouldn't you agree to us absolutely love to see it okay as we look towards look down and we read this verse together what do we learn about the power of peace super important that we hone in on that there are a couple distracting elements I feel like in this verse questions that you might ask and those are great things you know as people have questions who is this person he has no power over me or who we talking about here all those kind of things are important to wrestle with but the focal question here is what does this say or what do we learn about the power of peace what do you think it does what do you think it yeah that's right at the beginning like peace is a gift my my peace I give to you and there's so many people who could be in your group longing for the peace of the Lord like that's their prayer each and every week is is the peace and and Jesus has given it to us so good I'd so see that as well and I think like that's what kind of balances I actually think i'm digger mentioned this in one of those previous sermons of like do not be afraid the command is like that kind of command actually like feels like challenging sometimes because you're like that's not really what you say to someone in the middle of in the middle of fear is like just don't be afraid you know but really how we remember it's coming alongside of this really loving spirit felt experience and so that's why I love that this verse really luminates it's like peace I leave with you like I was here I left this and peace I give to you this is a gift that I want for you that I graciously and like excitedly give to you and then that kind of really um yeah just then it jumps to the don't let your heart be troubled so where that command really steps in you really get to see is painted with compassion gift grace and and also just knowledge like I leave with you like god what like or Jesus himself walked this walk and knows what it's like to be in our seat so yeah the context of this passage is beautiful it's Jesus's final message to his disciples he's in the upper room he knows what's about to happen and he's here's I'm giving you this piece there's another coming it's only to hurt be troubled and I'm gonna tell you about how my body is gonna be broken my blood's gonna be shed but it's gonna be okay one of you is gonna be sure I mean there's so much happening and Jesus is kicking it off with yeah here's peace that I give you and don't be troubled so understanding all of it in this context is just beautiful so as a life creator yeah read read John 14 yeah that's good that's really beautiful I was gonna say I really love that you're pulling out the context I think that contents context does allow us to really see the compassion parts of this that like it's not just like he's saying don't be troubled as if he doesn't know or hasn't been through this you know he doesn't he's not absent from the situations or the experience the human experience so I totally agree definitely understand the context here and help to share that with the group so they can kind of see look where we are in the Bible here as we open up our Bibles where are we what's happening right now why is Jesus saying this you know all those kind of questions will really help illuminate the power of peace I was looking at some of these other other questions you know that what do you learn about the power of peace sometimes I know with my life group guys we can we can sometimes be like junior hires and like it's a gift and then we'll leave it that right encouraging people what I the one I love is describe a time you experience God's peace with something beyond your control you're getting into some story you're getting into a part of your life that some people might not be willing to to share because typically when you receive God's peace it's because your life was chaotic it was crazy that those are the areas of life we don't really want to admit or talk about but God came in and provided peace and peace for everybody might look a little different to a single mom it might be hey just a long time for a little bit to someone else it might look completely different so I really love that question how have you experienced God's peace because we experience the beauty of the Lord in different ways because we're all uniquely wired so I think that's just a beautiful question just to make sure you give yourself time and like hey tell me more tell me more about that this is beautiful keep going I'm really interested tell me more right yeah I like your point I like how some of these questions can have maybe shorter answers and that's one that you can spend some more time hearing and consulting yeah like what do people try to control but can't it might just be like this this this this great what causes you to be anxious well this work well this well this yeah I love that yeah coming up with examples and then you're like okay let's really dig in here describe a time you experience God's peace with someone beyond your control oh I love I love that as well and I think you really want to learn the kind of rhythms of these questions here of like when do we try to call out things to spark these ideas and spark these memories and then when do we really camp I think that's the word that I'm really hearing from me like hearing in that it's like when we really camp on a question and really loud okay that's everybody who really think about time and really describe it and share like an experience from our lives tell a story of how God really showed up in your life you know what was it like before what was the trend what was the catalyst experience and then what how was your life been after that's a quick little story right there that everyone can really engage in and hopefully maybe you can spend some time as you prepare as you have been like thinking through these things as we as Dallas and I are talking but you can kind of set the example here right think through those three stages what was it like before what was the catalyst that I empowered or I experienced the power of peace and then what how is my life look different and you can kind of model that sweet story time of describing that experience lastly as we look at how will embracing God's peace impact those around you I think this is one of the the questions that can really um what's the word just take the take the discussion to the next level wouldn't you agree yeah you look around in our world and the craziness the chaos that's happening and you see someone who's living in God's peace everybody's like I want that I want what they have so it's it's something that our culture longs for like how are you so peaceful in this it's like Jesus on the boat with the crazy waves like how is he sleeping how is he so calm in the midst of chaos like imagine if we could be that for our world for our community for our people as bears of peace like hey I have found the peace of God and here's how I found it here's my story I love that I think honestly I think about some parts of my own story where I was really I mean one one just comes I might as thinking about family so many of us like struggle with like challenges in our family and dynamics and I remember when I really felt like I embraced the power of peace in my life and how first off I was like well but I'm not the one who's making the mistakes like my you know family is the one who you know like they need to change they need to grow and when I really embraced peace that's what my family was able to say oh wow like there's something different about Kirby there's something different the way she's showing up and it wasn't instantaneous but like after time my family actually was the ones that started to change and mold because they recognize the self-control and the peace that I had and they're like oh wait that's available to her maybe that's available to me too and now I feel like my family over years and years of the beautiful journey is at a completely different place and we're all so close so sweet and so many of our relationships are so much richer and sweeter because of it and that's the power of peace so good so good lastly friends we have an incredible rhythm reminder for you I say incredible because to me I feel like we don't spend a lot of time on this one in our groups but it is one you want to probably approach you know with intentionality I would say we don't often talk about sacrificial generosity in a group setting but it was a core week at in your rooted experience and so we want to encourage you especially as we think about anxiety I mean what is the greatest source of anxiety that we all share money money money money money it's true me and Deltar both of them are shifting but truly I think if you know if there's anybody in your group that says you know I don't know an anxious person you know money will probably be the one thing in their life that will run down about finances yeah just just bring up the money conversation say how the anxiety just rises in the group but we the reason we make jokes about that is not to is not to invalidate it's truly to say that we know we have experiences ourselves too and we recognize that all of us have made an idol out of money in our lives and we want to embrace God's peace and believe that God is the giver and that we get the joy of stewarding our resources so in that frame of mind I would really think and pray on how you can approach this subject maybe at the end of your week just saying hey guys I want to encourage you guys as we think about generosity as one of the ways we can engage and participate in God's kingdom and purposes and I know that that gift of being a part of his purposes really allows us to find peace in the right places rather than in financial security or and allowing financial instability to kind of rule and reign over us is anything else you kind of think of when you think about us it's just a touchy subject for so many people sure and know that we have resources available so true is a really great resource yeah we have our new fb I think rebranded into like thrive I believe and I'm helping people with different whether you you know struggle with mountains of debt or you struggle with just you want to get things more on track and be a better budgeter that that resource is available through the church we have of course coming up pretty soon actually yeah that's so true is there any way that you would kind of you think as you think creatively about how to approach the subject with a group how you might bring it up or what kind of questions kind of come to mind what do you think about us yeah sometimes I like letting other people be the bad guy you know in a sense of like as a leader like oh I got to talk about generosity it's it's hey as we're looking at our book that you know this is giving this sacrificial generosity and I just want to have a moment a moment to talk about it like what does that look like how can we how can we what's the next step God's calling you one one thing I'm always hearing this is straight from rooted week eight is everybody has a next step in their generosity journey so what that means there's outreach weekend coming up there's so many different ways that you can take it next step with generosity what does it look like to if you're a on the percentage I'm very type a percentage giver what does it look like to add a percentage on that and look at the budget I don't think we can do this and say okay well I think we can trust God so helping people it could be a great like let's start the conversation and let's revisit it next week here's how we can pray for one another but don't feel like you have to be the bad guy like hey Mariners is prompting us to have a conversation and this is super important for us absolutely I totally agree you're welcome to make us the bad guy quote unquote bad guy no I know exactly what you mean I know you as life understand where we're coming from and think through what that looks like for you guys so don't don't be afraid to approach the subject but also know that we're here to support you guys as you engage in those conversations and so forth so as we're coming to the end here you guys know that we are praying for you we love you so much and we hope you guys have a rich experience and rich life group discussion this week have a good one and we'll talk with you very soon