Welcome to the Mariners 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 Curvy Wood, the group's pastor and host for this discussion.
And today I have with me our community pastor and lawn John expert, John Thomas. That's me, lawn John expert. If you have no idea what Curvy is talking about, you're driving us like, what is that all about? Well, I get to host the wonderful outdoor venue.
That is the lawn. We can only get out here at Mariners Irvine. So that is my self-titled nickname, lawn John. So I mean, time to see me high-fiving.
I'll take it. I love it. Yes, and we love that. But John also helps support all of our ministries, engage in some really incredible courses.
And the one that we were able to just kick off was deep dive. How is deep dive been going, John? Yeah, amazing. The theology and the mission of God, that brand new deep dive course where we know that many of your life groups are attending, either live in person, some of you are doing that online and doing that at home with your life group.
It's really been amazing. It's a substantial course for us right now. We really believe that what we think about God informs everything about ourselves, how we see the world around us. So this is a great course, looking at the core doctrines of Christian faith.
And we've been so encouraged by many of you that are engaging in it. We have just over 1,100, which is incredible, across all the different avenues to go through this course that are learning more about who he is and impacting their worship. So God's doing great stuff. Yes, thanks so much, John.
We love hearing all about that. And so for you, life group leaders, I want to just help clarify for you the incredible curriculum and resources we are able to offer. And so if you are walking alongside us with this big problems bigger God, you are engaging in sermon-based content. And we love that.
We're at week six here coming to the end. But we also always have additional options. If you're not doing sermon-based content, you have tons of incredible courses, including Deep Dive. And so Deep Dive is actually now available on demand for you and your group.
If you would like to start, come the end of this big problem bigger God sermon-aligned content. So that's an option for you as you look to the future, or maybe come later in your group's own path and own rhythm. So but for this week, for those of you who aren't been following along, we're at the last week of this incredibly, incredibly relevant teaching series. John, how has the teaching series been landing with you?
Yeah, it's been so good. I mean, we're obviously addressing many of the issues that they're not just theoretical. They're issues that we all individually wrestle with and certainly are represented in your group. And so I just love the thoughtfulness of our teaching team, our senior pastor Eric Geiger.
We know you often talks about when we look at our sermon series planning that we're looking at three different avenues. We're looking at the text. We're looking at topical things. And we're looking at moments of theology.
And then of course, all those intersect around the text. And this one certainly does. We're looking at things that are topical, anxiety. What do we do when we feel overwhelmed?
And then what does the text say about that? How are we supposed to live in light of what scripture calls is too? So each week has been really relevant, accessible, and I think encouraging. And I'm hoping that it's fostered some good conversations within your groups.
So I think that's a really helpful one. Our topical series are really helpful when you're thinking about inviting a friend. I mean, I know we have another topical series coming up in January that I think will actually be really helpful as we think about inviting people. But of course, church is always a great invitation regardless of what we're studying and going off of.
But we have another series coming up that will get to share more coming end of this podcast. So hang with us until the very end. But let's go ahead and dive in to this live group discussion this week. So the sermon this weekend has been over the concept or the title.
I am bored, but God is thrilling. What are some of your first reactions as you think about that? Man, it's a great statement. And it's one that I think we have to dig into a little bit.
What does that mean? I mean, I think we understand what it means that God is thrilling, that he has an incredible adventure for us, that he doesn't just save us and seal us. And we hit the eject button and go to heaven. It's like, no, we have an adventure, his mission to live out in here and now.
And what an incredible mission. There's no greater thing that we can do our life to than advancing the kingdom in and through the ways that we live for him. But I am bored with God is thrilling. But what is that getting?
What is that getting at? If God is that feeling and he is, then why do we often experience maybe the sense of apathy or even boredom as we talked about this last week? And what's the birthplace of that? And how do we flush that out?
When we're called to live this adventurous life before the kingdom? So it's a great statement. It's one that I feel the tension in. I'm sure your grips are going to feel the tension in as well.
Absolutely. And I know even as I read through this, the overview here, even as you as leaders kind of refresh yourself before you head into that life group discussion, you'll remember the tension that is there. Boredom being a sin that's leading to other sins and patterns in our life. But God is thrilling.
He invites us on this journey. And so there's almost like this paradoxical approach as we are now stepping into new freedom, wanting to see that thrilling. But since the sin in our own hearts that's pulling us towards boredom and all kinds of things. Now you're going to talk about that.
You're going to save in your groups. Boredom is a sin. That's one that I have to read. Wow.
What does that mean? What does that look like? I've heard it often said that boredom is maybe the birthplace of sin, the whole idle hands, endlessly scrolling social media, giving yourself towards things that are meaningful often in those places is where sin can creep in. But to say that boredom is a sin is an interesting one.
And I'm thinking it, in some sense, it's a form of idolatry. Anything that takes our first place, anything that robs us away from the adventure of living for him is in effect a form of adultery. And boredom can be, in a sense, a form of idolatry. Where we're giving ourselves towards lesser things, whether that's just pleasure sinking, detachment, whatever it is that we're missing out on what God has for us.
And anytime that we miss out, that's what sin is, right? Missing out, missing the mark. Not here to get what God wants us to. Any time that we're missing that mark, that is, the place where the enemy comes in.
So kick around that conversation on your groups though and get different kind of thoughts and opinions about it. But wrestle through that well as we did this weekend. I was hearing this great message. Yeah, like our leaders, feel confident to wrestle with that just as JT was saying.
I totally agree. But as we jump into this first little question here that we want to, you know, hopefully you'll get to that tension there. Maybe you'll kind of re-remember the message as you guys start this conversation. So the first question being, who was the celebrity you would like to switch lives with?
Such a fun and silly question. Can we tell us? That's so, that's so, it's a tricky one. Because, you know, I hate to be like the Christianese answer.
But as I think through, like, it's like anyone I initially go to, I'm like, oh, well, but they don't know the Lord. So you're like, oh crap. But, you know, I will say I am a big Justin Bieber fan. So I could be his wife, who she does know the Lord.
I can't believe that would be really fun. But she's, I don't know, that's kind of where I go. It's like somewhere with, you know, silly, fun life. But what do you think the boy, this question is trying to get out of the group?
Yeah, I think it's getting us to think about the ways that we look outside of ourselves, the ways that we think, man, other people have great, adventurous lives. And we look around and that's a luxury to even do that in our western society, to look at the lives of others. Because sometimes we have time, we have space. And in those spaces, what can happen is we could be drawn towards thinking, other people have better things than me.
And if I was only this, them and there, then I would be this kind of a person. And so it's getting us to open up to this idea of how we feel that space and what are we wanting to feel that space with. Absolutely. Yeah, it really is.
And like we say, you might think these leading questions are silly, but they really are intentional with hoping to get people in the right head space as I think about the deeper questions that we'll jump into here in a little bit. So as we look down at God's Word and you'll read, hopefully, aloud Romans 1133 to 36 and you'll ask your group what stands out to you about the way this passage describes God. And let me tell you, I hope that those in your group just see straight up from some of these incredible adjectives here, unsearchable, untraceable, who is been his counselor? Just a lot of these more descriptive things about God that they will sense his boundlessness, his majesty, his incomprehensibleness.
And we really hope that you'll see that. What else do you kind of think that we hope we'll see groups will point out? Yeah, I think that's really good. I think that there's a sense of, man, returning to the wonder of what it means to be sealed and a follower of Jesus.
Like, you know, it's so easy that we can get in routine. We can take for granted the greatest story that's ever been told. The fact that Jesus embodies us by his Holy Spirit, that we've been commissioned by him. I mean, my goodness, there's nothing greater than that, but we can take that for granted.
We can become routine in the way that we follow him. And I will have love with this passage just calling out and that's like, man, look at the depths, look at the wisdom and knowledge and how unsearchable, how great and how grand he is. Yet he's near, he's with us. It says that he has been our counselor.
That's incredible. Like, we cannot know the mind of God, but he's our counselor. Like, we can understand all of who he is, yet he's within us and he's guiding us. That's amazing.
Like, we could just sit in this passage and he moved to worship, just considering how great he is. And that's what this passage is pulling out in us. Like, God is thrilling. Look at what he is and all that he's done for us.
Amen. Amen. I love that. So true.
And I love it. You even think as we're looking to scripture, let's not, you know, try to make lesser or are not elevate what scripture can really be as it illuminates for people new things and new thoughts about who God is. And it hopefully inspires that wonder for us as we look to that word. But we turn then to direct the people in our group to look out and we start to think, how does this scripture, how does this new thought possibly or this, you know, reemphasize thought about God, change the way we live.
We also want to look out at our world and see how they're engaging with this outside of scripture, right? Outside of the norm or others in your life that may have been already experienced. So the questions we have here are, what are some traps that people fall into amidst their boredom? That's believers and non-believers alike, but apart from this incredible scripture and truth, where are people falling into traps and are all stuck in boredom?
I see it all the time right now. We have a 13 year old and she's great. She's amazing. But there are so many times where we get home from something or we've done something and what are we doing next?
We're going next. What's happening? What's happening next? What are we doing tonight?
Can I go to this person's house? Can I do this thing? What are we doing now? And I think there is this live with boredom that we feel like we've always got to feel it with another activity that the relief from our boredom is on the other end of some kind of other activity.
And so that if we keep going and doing the thing and pleasure seeking, then we're going to be fooled and we're going to be content. I think there's some traps in that we think, man, I'm bored. There's something wrong with me then. I think I'm going to go outside of myself, have an experience, do something or other people are doing things that I'm missing out on and it's in that place where the enemy can come and cast kind of lies and remove us from the greatest adventure which is in front of us.
Absolutely. So what I'm hearing you're saying is those traps might be just even patterns are like constantly feeding the monster. Right? And then I know we've kind of hit it a couple of times in this subject but gone to some of the more darker places.
If you haven't had the opportunity to invite those in your group that are wrestling with things like costly alcoholism or depression, we do have incredible care and recovery support groups and that doesn't mean that someone isn't in your life group anymore but you want to make sure that each person is pursuing their own health and attacking these specific issues that they have with the truth of God's word, with your community but also with enhanced and specialized care as we need it. So as certain traps may come up, that might feel like bigger than just things that you guys can tackle and pray for each other in the group. Know that we have additional resources for you as a leader to point them to. That's right.
Yeah. Next up in this lookout is really to help us understand, okay, where might we even be dealing with this and not recognize that there's a trap happening in our life. So the question says, how does culture affirm these seemingly thrilling things? What kind of jumps out at you, John?
Yeah, I mean, I think culture is always going to tell you do more, do the next thing, jump into the next thing and then doing this next thing is where you're going to find fulfillment and then we realize, oh man, that didn't do it. So what's the next thing that we're adventure seeking and that's a whole thing right now, right? Adventure seeking and we've all got this pent up kind of totally totally where it may be, we can't wait to get out and go do the stuff and we think that in doing the stuff that our satisfaction is on the end of that experience and we just know, we all know it to be true that after that experience, we're waiting for the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and culture is always affirming that and telling us to pursue that and it's an endless cycle that will never be content, never be content seeking after this thing. So true, I mean, social media, I feel like a such a good example of that, you know, you can hit viral one day and then yet you're, you feel deficient if you're not getting a viral video, I mean, I see at least influencers are all kinds of different people, they're constantly seeking after the next most viral club or the next light or whatever, you know, and that's just a small microcosm of a perpetual thing we see outside of social media in our own lives with one another.
I mean, it really is ever present. But of course, you know, these kind of conversations we're having, thinking about those in our lives, thinking about the culture constructs and we also don't want to take this and apply it to our own lives and help our group really reflect on God's word as well as what we've seen to apply it to ourselves. And so this might be a little bit more of a hard turn, but I still think you should press into this question moving from the thrilling things and how attractive they might seem onto how is God uniquely wired you to participate. So sometimes one of the best, what I've seen is especially as me and my own group talk about how we're struggling with certain things is often how can we employ ourselves in the way that God has made us as not, oh, well, I need more help.
It's like, no, let's get outside of ourselves and break the selfish hob habit so much of boredom revolves around a selfish thinking mindset in participating in what God has called me to, by serving others, serving the poor, serving the marginalized and helping out someone outside of myself. Yeah, I think that's a great question. We talk about participating in his purposes. I think it's both it's an inward wiring.
So your personal gifts, passions, experiences, and it's also an external awareness, right? So it's about this inward wiring, but also where have you been placed? Like what are the things that are surrounding you right now that you think are a source of boredom are meant to be the greatest source of mission and worship? Are you bored at work?
What if actually you turn that into man? God, how can I serve you? How are you going to show up where I'm placed right now in your family, in your relationships, the things that might seem mundane and everyday routine that you might be bored of? What if that's the place where the end-breaking of the kingdom is designed to work?
So his purpose is both internally, the way that you're wired, but externally where you've been placed. Like what if we were to view those as an atmosphere of worship? Yeah, I think that's actually perfectly tied into the next question as well. How are you cultivating a passion for God in his mission?
You're like, I was being prayerful and seeing these opportunities in your lives as truly opportunities are seeing these moments of boredom, seeing these moments of weakness as being those things that God is inviting you to welcome him into and step into his mission. So good. I think the question is cheesy with the family that they call yesterday, Jennifer Gardner. I don't know.
But it's all about the parents. They kind of give up with the kids and they're tired of telling them no at the time. So you know what? We're going to have a yesterday.
Whatever you want to do. And of course, as the movie goes on, they realize that they can't take it. But I do wonder often in our walk with the word, like, what if we woke up and say, you know what? This is a yesterday.
Wherever you want me to go, whatever you're calling me to, whatever that nudge is, whatever I sense your spirit leading, wherever I might be bored, what if I showed up and said, okay, the first thing on my mind when I wake up is saying yes to him, where he leads, where his purposes are calling you to. And I'm telling you, man, like if we live with that kind of posture, impossible to be bored, impossible. If we say yes, I miss what Jesus did. I only do what I see my father doing.
I only say yes to where he's moving and where he's working. I think for us the same posture, man, of God, were you moving? Were you working? Let me go after that.
And let me say yes. That's where we hope for the past and for God's mission in our life is that place of yes. Place of yes. Amen.
Really bring a word today, John. I love it. I so appreciate it. So as we think about how do we say yes to the things in our lives, we also want intentionally position arguably our groups, you as a life group leader towards serving together in our community, the perfect and easy yes for your group to step into God's purposes that he's already working at our church.
So we have shared with you this in our weekly life group leader email already, but we hope that we have an exclusive opportunity for our life group leaders as well as your serve champion to sign up your group ahead of time before this next outreach campaign kicks off. And so next weekend, we'll begin a two part series. So there'll be two different sermon life group discussion guides that will follow along with the four the good series. It's all about how we as a church are built to care and serve and love the city that we are in.
We want to be engaging as groups in incredible serve opportunities that our outreach team has lined up for us. So please work with your group this week, determining what's the best time and availability that you're able to step into one of our amazing outreach opportunities. But John, what are you really excited for as we look towards for the good series? I just love it.
I mean, Mariners, for those of you that are maybe newer, we have a lot of new folks. We have a lot of new life group leaders, which is incredible. So thankful for you. It is a long history and heritage of Mariners to be a church that is, you know, in the community for the community that we serve others because we've been served by Jesus.
And it's we see that time and time again that the groups that have some of the most vitality, long lasting are groups that don't just huddle together, but the groups that go out and scatter and live it out for others. So, man, you want to see vitality and health in your group and impact serve others. And so we've got really practical, great ways for you to jump in and do that. And we look forward to seeing you do that.
And also encouraging and hearing the stories of how God works with you as you serve others for the good. So great. We guys were praying for you and we hope to see you at church in the coming weekends and serving with your groups. We love you.
Amen.