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. Life group leaders, we are excited to be back with you again, as we are starting a brand new series called From the Cross, where we are going to be looking at the words of Jesus. And I think it's always a fun practice when we're able to do it to hear from Eric Geiger, as our senior pastor and primary teacher.
He's the one who has created the vast majority of our weekend message content. And so without further ado, I want to just jump straight into a conversation that I had with Eric about this new series. And so let's get into that right now. Eric, thanks for joining us on the Life Group Leader podcast.
We are walking through this new series coming up called From the Cross, How You Doing Today? Man, I'm doing amazing. Thanks so much for having me on the podcast. I am so thankful for our group leaders.
So it's an honor to be able to spend a couple minutes speaking to them. So we're on our way to Easter. We're actually about what, six and seven weeks out right now, as we're on our way towards the most pivotal weekend in human history. That's right.
We get to celebrate. Just talk to us for a minute about what is the importance of going on a journey to Easter. And I know that we don't always have a weekend teaching series that is perfectly tied towards a journey towards Easter, but we have Ash Wednesday and a prayer guide. What's the reason behind that?
In the last couple of years, we actually did do a journey to Easter approach in our teaching. Right before the pandemic began, we started looking at the Seven Deadly Sins, which was going to help us repent of sin as we moved to Easter. Last year, we then were looking at some Saints from Jesus. What was in the series that is blanked?
Come on, group leader. Remember the name of the series. I don't remember. I'm so sorry.
No, it was like conversations with Jesus. Like Jesus on your doubts. That's right. It was just on politics.
It was just on all those things. So it was Jesus moving towards Easter. And then this year, we're going to look at the Seven Saints of Jesus from the cross, which really is profound. If you're a Bible nerd, you know, seven is completion.
So it really is amazing that the complete work of Jesus on the cross is accompanied with seven saints of Jesus. So you have the completion of his sacrifice, the finished work of Jesus on the cross, but you also have these amazing saints. And so that's what our teaching is going to be. But to answer your question, why is it important to go on a journey to Easter?
It's a time that Christians throughout church history, different traditions or tribes under the banner of the Christian faith have taken this season very seriously. In the Christian church calendar, there has been Christians throughout the centuries who have said, let's take this period of time to prepare our hearts, not only to celebrate Easter, but to refresh our hearts with the good news of the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus for us. It's the time in the Christian calendar when we focus our hearts on Jesus and what he's done for us. And so it's great for a group to say, hey, let's together think about what this season means for us as a group and for us as individuals.
I kind of think of it similar as if you're going on a family vacation and you just sort of hop on a plane and you arrive at vacation, it can take a couple of days, almost to fully immerse yourself into it, to shut off of work and then to be fully present with it. For some reason, when I go on road trips with my family, when I arrive after the drive to wherever we're going, I am ready much quicker. But you've had some thought. That's right.
You had some time to think about what you're gonna do when you get there. There was some buildup for the trip. Yeah, there is something to be said about the meditation, the reflection, the thoughtfulness of knowing. It's not just the date on the calendar in the future, but we're marching towards it.
Totally, and there's small things that I've done in my journey as a Christian that are not as significant as what we're doing this year, but that were still really helpful. I remember when I first became a Christian, I would read through the Passion Week of Jesus, in the scriptures, going towards his crucifixion and his resurrection. So even small steps like that, perhaps you group leader, you've done that, you've thought, hey, this is the week, going towards Good Friday and towards Easter. So I'm gonna read what his final week as God the Sun, living in this Earth was like, and that's always great.
Because this is, we are talking about the center of our faith. We're talking about without Jesus on the cross, without his resurrection from the dead, we do not have life. We have no message. Everything is futile.
We are completely without hope. So this is not just like, hey, let's find an important thing to talk about. It's not an important thing. Like Paul wrote in First Reading's 15, this is of chief importance.
So because it's of chief importance, it's really good for our hearts to spend some weeks not having Easter be just about pastels and a brunch after church on one day, but a season where my faith is refreshed. Yeah, I think that that's really well said. We don't just go on a journey to anything. It's not just a journey to the Sermon on the Mount, or anything like that.
We really are setting aside the importance of this event as the single most important thing. Of chief importance, yeah. So could you take a couple minutes and just walk us through these sayings or the overview of the weeks? And just what you're really hoping for us is we experience these words of Jesus.
Yeah, so the cross is central to our faith, the act of Jesus, dying for us on the cross without his death. We don't have life. But then it really is remarkable that he spoke from the cross. So we have the cross, but we also have him speaking from it.
And even if he didn't speak from it, it's profound and significant. But the fact that he spoke from the cross, these words matter a lot. I mean, you know that when a friend or a family member has someone who passes away, one of the first questions is, hey, did you get to say goodbye? Or what were the final words?
Because there's a lot of weight usually placed on someone's final words. Now we know these are not the final words of Jesus. They're his dying words, not his final words, because he walked out of the tomb three days later. So they're not his final words, but they aren't dying words.
And there's so much profound beauty in these words. So I mean, I'll give you a couple of them, but you could really say that so much of the Christian experience could be pinned on these words. There are just many different ways you can look at this. But for example, week one, it's the first phrase he said, five to forgive them.
They do not know what they're doing. So in his very first phrase, we see the importance of being forgiven and of forgiving. Then you have, woman behold your son. Well, then you see that he actually cares for Mary in the here and now.
So he cares about us having forgiveness. Wow. Father forgive them. But he also cares for, he's caring for Mary that she's going to have someone to feed her a meal the next day.
So he actually cares for our daily needs. Then week three, my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? Which is a fulfillment of Psalm 22. And it's the darkest moment in history as Jesus is becoming our sin.
Then you got this unbelievable statement where this one of the criminals on one side says, hey, can I, where are you going? Can I be with you? And Jesus says today you'll be with me in paradise. So I mean, just in those four, you have the doctrine of forgiveness, someone called that expiation, like our sins being cast from us.
The second week, you have the doctrine of presence that he is with us here now. Week three, you have the doctrine of propitiation. I know I'm getting all theological on you. But you're having Christ become our sin for us and the wrath of God poured out on Jesus in our place.
And then you have this incredible doctrine of eternal life that this guy who could do nothing good for Jesus gets to go. Then you see the commandment of Jesus. And the next week he actually says, I thirst. And then the last week we'll combine two phrases.
And one of his finished and father into your hands. And you see the perfection and the completion of the sacrifice. So there's volumes that could be written on each phrase. So I want to encourage the leaders not to think, ah, seven phrases, that's not that big of a deal.
I mean, each phrase has such magnitude and depth to it. Yeah, sometimes we think about, we're going to study this passage. Here's going to be this collection of verses. Well, this could feel easy.
Like, oh, it's just one sentence or just in some cases, three words. I thirst this too. There's a lot packed up into that. So as you start to think about our groups and the great people of our church that are going to spend time in biblical community, we're going to study God's word.
We're also going to put it into practice. And we're going to do some various things. I love that within our weekend services, just in these next several weeks, we're going to have, and I believe service, they'll be extended prayer. We'll take communion together.
But if you think about the group time, which usually happens sometime between the weekend and sometime in the midweek, we're going to have our group time, what are you hoping our groups will encounter or experience of Jesus as they get to marry both the weekend message to their group discussion? Hey, I think a group sitting around a table together, sitting around a fire together, and saying, what are we going to do with Father forgive them? They know not what they're doing. Knowing that Jesus taught so much about forgiveness and are needed to forgive other people.
What are we going to do with this phrase? Because the only way we can forgive others is if we have our hearts melted by how much you forgive us. That's right. So the reason that's important is on a journey to Easter, if you're filled with unforgiveness and bitterness, you're not going to enjoy the life that God has for you.
So that conversation could help people remove some bitterness from their life. A whole conversation on, what does it mean that Jesus thirst? Why is that important that Jesus thirst? That's really important because the scripture says that he was tempted in every way as we are, but without sin.
Wow, he thirsted. It also means that he felt the pain of being betrayed. He felt the joy of a celebration. He felt the sting of a funeral.
The humanity of Jesus is really important because not only is he able to suffer because he took on human flesh, but he also was able to identify with me and my suffering. So there's someone in your group, group leader, who is going through suffering, and Jesus saying I thirst from the cross reminds them that they do not have a distant God who doesn't know what it's like to thirst. You have a thirsty God? That's an amazing statement.
So there's so much conversations that I think group leaders can have during the most important time in church calendar around these incredible statements that Jesus gave us in the cross. Yeah, I'm so looking forward to seeing how our groups will go on this road together, a road that is leading up to not Good Friday, but leading up to Easter Sunday. And it's important right that we have both of those together, of course, right? And I hope that our groups will take advantage of Ash Wednesday service coming up on March 2nd, that we'll see people come out to Good Friday services together.
And then as we think about Easter that we make it this important thing that we practice this idea of, you know, we go to church, we're in our group, we serve the community. You know, we're active and we are. That the gospels act, that Easter is actually impacting how we live. That Easter is not just this thing we come to, but Easter is impacting how we live.
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Eric, I'd love to do something we haven't done before. Would you pray for our life group leaders?
Just take a moment and pray for them as they get ready to start this brand new series with us. Father, thank you for each leader who's listening to this now, whether in his or her office, the car, on a jog, you know exactly the needs of their group. You know each person, you care for each person and you and your goodness and your provenance have given that group this leader. So I pray that you will bless this leader, that you will fill this leader with your energy, your wisdom, your compassion for the group, your grace.
I am convinced that you build disciples in community and you have set apart this leader to shepherd a group of people who are in community. So please use this leader to build your people, to encourage your people, to shepherd your people. And I know that then leading a group is one aspect of their life and there's so many other responsibilities and challenges that exist in their life. So I ask that you would bless them and provide for them and care for them and all of all of the struggles and all the challenges of regular life.
So you may my pray. Amen. Amen. Always good to have Eric on the podcast talking about his heart for you and the direction of the content.
And so Jeremy, why don't we dive straight into week one. What is it that we need to know as we get ready to start this new series together? Yeah. So this is a great place to start our new series.
We're going to start in the Gospel of Luke. We'll be looking at the different Gospels in the series and we start here with this picture in Luke where we see the words of Jesus Father forgives them. And on the cross, we'll see that Jesus not only declares forgiveness, but he actually achieves our forgiveness. And so as the innocent one crucified, sacrificed, laying down his life on our behalf, we see the truly innocent one laying down his life for the guilty and declaring and achieving our forgiveness.
And so as a group, this can feel like a heavy starting point for a brand new series, right? To already begin a series that's called From the Cross and it's got this real powerful imagery to it, but then to jump straight into our repentance, the freedom from stronghold kind of practice that can feel heavy, Jeremy. What would be some guiding principles for us to make sure that we do this well in our group? Like you said, this can feel heavy, but we've been together, groups have been together for a while.
This is the beginning of a new series, but this is not the beginning of your relationship with the people in your group. And so when we're talking about forgiveness and Jesus declares our forgiveness, part of that process is acknowledging where we need forgiveness. It's acknowledging the sin that's still in our lives, even as believers. It's easy a lot of times for us to think, well, asking for forgiveness is something that happens once and then I become a Christian and I'm forgiven and I move on with my life.
But this is a constant rhythm of remembering that there's still cinema life, even as one who's been redeemed by Christ. There are still things where I either willfully or kind of just get distracted and my attention and affections turn away from Christ where I have time to repent, to reorient my life. And as a group, you used to sermon as a leader, but take this time, not just to mention this, but to really set time aside, to really experience this as a group where, again, using discernment, you know, the people in your groups, but maybe split up into either into pairs or into smaller groups, something a little more manageable so you can have actual conversations. If your group includes both men and women, consider breaking up with the guys sharing with one another, ladies sharing with one another.
But allow that space for people to prayerfully share what's kind of going on in their hearts to confess that, to pray for one another. It's not a time to go into like deep counseling or whatever. That's not our jobs. Our jobs are to be open and honest with one another, to remind everyone that this is a space where we can do that freely and confidently knowing that we have the trust and love in these relationships.
And then just to pray for one another, that the spirit would move and set us free from the things that we've shared. Thank you so much for that explanation. I think that sometimes this idea of repentance, confession can feel very overwhelming. It can feel very exposing.
But at the core of it, you know, two comments. One would be, every one of us is fallen short of the glory of God. Every one of us has some element that is imperfect within us. And this is a chance for us to just say to Jesus, this is where I'm falling short.
And that in that moment we get to experience forgiveness. There's a depth of relationship that is forged between us and Jesus because of that. But then it's also similar to what we do in rooted when we talk about our strongholds. Our strongholds don't have to necessarily be a thing of active rebellion in sin that we are continuously choosing to engage in.
It might be that and you should probably share that. But if it is, it might just be an area of your life where it might be insecurity or a need for control or arrogance and pride. You know, it could be these kinds of things anger that when we acknowledge that those are areas of our life that still remain, we acknowledge those and we believe that God sees that and meets us in the midst of it. And for many of us, those strongholds are going to be a lifelong journey of sanctification where it may be present in us forever and so not forever, in this earthly life.
And so if that's the case, then it's okay to still acknowledge that and receive prayer from your group to help you continue to grow in it. The big learning is if it's a stronghold in your life, it should feel more manageable as time goes on, not worse. If it gets worse, we're heading kind of in that in that wrong direction. So I love that our groups are going to have a chance to open up God's word and to just dive straight in to sharing these things and a time that could be some very important prayer for one another.
Jeremy, is there anything else that we need to kind of discuss about week one? I would just just remind group leaders that as they're not expected to be counselors, that there are if anything comes up in any other groups, to remember that there are pastors, there are resources that you can point people to and reach out to that would love to help and walk with people on their journey towards Christ's likeness. Beautiful. Well done.
So like your leaders, we hope that you have a great week one discussion as we are now on this journey towards Easter over the next several weeks. We're going to be looking at these seven sayings of the cross and I hope that as we arrive at Easter together, our hearts are in a very holy and sacred place to acknowledge what happens on Good Friday and of course on Easter Sunday. And so as we are going through the teaching series on the weekend, you're having your group discussions, you know, know that we also have prayer guides that are available to you and to everyone in your group just to continue to be immersed in God's word as we make our way towards Easter. So we're praying for you.
We hope that you have a great week.