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To give now and partner with us, visit Mariner's Church.org.org or click the link in the show notes. Thank you for your generosity and God bless you. 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.
Hey, welcome back, Life Group leaders. My name is Dallas. I am going to be your host for today's podcast and with me, I'm Bester, our women's pastor. Hey, hey, hey, hey guys.
We are here and we have our magazines. Let me just... Oh, Chris. At Asmer, ASMR, right?
Oh, yeah. Yes. There it is. Wow, that's awesome.
We got our magazines using them, looking at it. Page 62 is where we are at. That is the passage. Yes.
We are in a bit of Genesis 21 and then page 64 is where our Life Group discussion guide. The questions are, and this first question is a fun one. And we're going to lean in. We're going to get everybody to talk.
We're going to have some fun. As tonight we're talking before this. I don't know if I should share my answer, but I'm going to. Do it.
I'll let you go first. Don't you do it. Have you ever had a nickname? Maybe from a family member or a teammate?
What was your nickname and how did it originate? All right, you want to go first? I'll go first. Okay.
When I was in middle school, I went to a private Christian middle school. That's where the halo comes from. Yeah, there we go. Okay.
Uniforms. All of it. Yes. Really more conservative.
I had an older brother, significantly older, who enjoyed listening to hip hop, rap music. Let's go. Yeah. So I enjoyed that music and I was the only one and I would know all the songs that they were trying to keep it clean, of course.
And one of my nicknames was White Chocolate. And at the same time, the And One Mixtape. Yes. White Chocolate was one of the I Play basketball.
Wow. It was like you throw it on there. It was not really four basketball because it wasn't that good. Yeah.
But because I enjoyed it. White Chocolate. That's amazing. It was like my nickname.
Someone made me make me make make make tapes and they put like white chocolate on me. Yes. I'm gonna be walking and I'll be like, hey, that's White Chocolate. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know if it's appropriate for people to say it outside of this.
This is exclusive to our Life group leaders. All right leaders. This is that was only for you. Just for you.
That's right. I'm gonna be like, oh, that's me. That's me at all. Yeah.
And then one person was like, it's one who wears type pants. Oh, okay. I could be guilty of that. I did.
I was called Pester because my youth group kids, it was Pastor Esther and they would take a P and the Esther and they would call me Pester. And thankfully, I just love them so much. And it bonded that sounds like they would just call me Pester. Pester.
Yeah, it worked. It worked. But nicknames are fun. Yeah.
Go around in your group. Yeah, that's super fun. Have some fun with it. Call people by their nicknames throughout the night and make it fun at the very night, maybe the next morning in the group chat.
Like throw the nickname out. Yes. And then after that, we look down. Yes, we get holier.
We get holier. We get holier. Yes. Genesis 15, one through five, God promises that despite Abrams, the lack of children, one day's offspring will be numerous.
So we're gonna read, I'm gonna read Genesis 15, I'm gonna read one through six because the second part is what is, what does it say? So Genesis 15, one through six. After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield.
Your reward will be very great. But Abrams said, Lord God, what can you give me since I am childless in the air of my house? The leisure of Damascus. Abram continued, look, you have given me no offspring.
So a slave born in my house will be my heir. Now the word of the Lord came to him. This one will not be your heir. Instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.
He took him outside and said, look at the sky and count the stars if you were able to count them. Then he said to him, your offspring will be that numerous. Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. So good.
Beautiful. Okay, so we're looking at that passage, unpacking it. What, especially Genesis 15 verse six, what does it say about Abram? What do we learn and read about Abram from Genesis 15?
Yeah. I mean, it says that his faith was credited as righteousness. The title for this week's sermon is the beginning of our faith. And so I can't think of a better person that displays faith than through Abraham and God kind of chosen to be the father of Abraham Isaac Jacob and through him Jesus.
So that's kind of a wild place to start. And this is before his name changes to Abram, not Abraham. So that might be something you guys might notice. That's cool.
Yeah. Abraham's faith is believing and then doing exactly what God says. That's what we do. We believe we do what God says and Abraham believed and then he was obedient to what God said and waited.
So there's so much to unpack in this and even maybe looking back a little bit if you are a life leader might be good to read the first couple chapters before again. Okay. What does this mean of my offspring? My era.
What does that mean? You will find that in the chapters before him just to kind of get an idea of it. But then we also have a Genesis 21 one through six. So do you mind reading those?
Yeah. So this is about the birth of Isaac. The Lord came to Sarah as he had said and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the appointment time God had told him.
Abraham named his son who was born to him, the one Sarah bore to him Isaac. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said God has made me laugh and everyone who hears will laugh with me.
Wow. That's amazing. So I mean there's so much there. Wow.
Shoot. I mean you could even just say hey what do you see? What do you see in that passage? What stands out to you?
Yeah. I mean you said it in the last one. Abraham and now here it's Abraham. Yeah.
There's an ancient. Yeah. How old was Abraham a hundred years old? Mm hmm.
She's imagine being a hundred years old with a newborn. Oh geez. His back cross. I don't know.
No way. Hi son. Hello, Craig. And then even the laugh.
And laughing like God you're crazy. I'll get this possibly. Yes. So you had a first laugh and then there's a second laugh.
Yes. God has made me laugh and everyone who hears will laugh with me. Yeah. So good.
But what happens? What's the difference between the first passage and the second passage? Mm hmm. And he's good on his promise.
Come on. He's faithful. Even though it may not always be our timing. Yeah.
The timing may not always be what we have in our head. But exactly what God said would happen. Genesis 15. Here we are in Genesis 21.
And it was just as God said. Just as God told him. Wow. That's amazing.
So a lot to kind of sit. You can sit here for a while and talk about that. But as we look out for us as we're walking through this we're only going to pick one. I don't think you need to feel the pressure to rush through this.
I think these first three questions you could probably spend a lot of time right there. And first we're going to pick one of the lookouts and one of the look in questions because I think it'll allow us more time to have conversation. Don't be afraid of quiet. Don't be afraid of it.
I'm still taking a rude group right now. And there's so many times when I feel like I need to say something. And then I just counted 10 and the conversation just starts again. That's amazing.
And I think that as you've led groups in the past, as you've led people, how do you feel that out of when to move, when to not? Yeah. I think you're right. I think sometimes as leaders there's a temptation to feel like you have to speak at every moment of transition.
But I mean God spoke to Elijah in the whisper. You know there's something about the silence in the whisper. And I think it actually gives us the opportunity to let the Holy Spirit kind of stir something in someone else too. So the silence is actually very spiritual and supernatural and welcoming God's presence.
And so yeah, don't be afraid. Yeah. That's really good. And I was a leader.
You will probably feel it more than the people in your group. Yeah, that's true. You're going to feel it so much more like what feels like 30 seconds in your head is probably realistically like eight seconds. Yeah.
You feel it more because you're feeling the weight and the pressure of leadership. Yeah. Okay. I love that.
Okay. That guy spoke to Elijah and the silence in whisper. Be okay with the silence. Yeah.
And even like taking off the I need to rescue this moment, you're not the rescuer. Jesus is, you know, I'm speaking to myself because I'm always talking. So, but yeah, like let Jesus rescue the moment and let him use somebody else. Yeah.
So good. I was telling our team like 30, 19, may we be nothing but freeway signs? Oh, wow. No one stops at a freeway sign, right?
And you're on your way on your drive. Drive home. The 405, let's just stop right here. Let's take a picture of this green sign.
No way. No one ever does it. But the sign is so important. Wow.
Because the sign points us to our final destination without the sign you would be lost. You'd be completely lost. Yeah. So even for us as leaders, like let's, let's not be the neon sign that, you know, welcome to Las Vegas or everybody stops.
Yeah. Wow. But let's be the sign that points people to their final destination. come on.
That's amazing. Just to wear a coat. We're looking out. Do you feel like people in our culture in our communities are more likely to be skeptical of one another or trust one another?
We lean towards skeptic or trust first. I think skeptical. I agree. Yeah.
But there's such a deep longing to trust. Yeah. But yeah, I think skepticism is probably the first response maybe because we've lived life and in life there's disappointment and sometimes betrayal and rejection and all those things. But then there's also laughter and enjoyment and relationship and community.
And so, but yeah, how about you? That also do you think? Yeah, I would agree with you leaning towards skeptical and I think it is because of life because maybe you can remember the times you've trusted people and you've been burned and you don't want that. Yeah.
You don't want, I mean, that's growing in some senses. It's certainly in the past. Yeah. I'm not going to do it again.
Right. But I think as a, I would always lean towards skepticism and I see it more in culture before we jump to trusting and we lean towards being skeptical. Yeah. Wow.
Yeah. So there's a difference between being wise and discerning versus skeptical. Yeah. Like a false form of protection.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think sometimes we can, and I think that's kind of where we're going is we do that with God too. Right.
In our own lives, so we look in, do you struggle to trust God sometimes? Do you lean towards God? Or are you like, hey, because he said it because I believe he's like, I'm just going to jump, jump all the way in. Yeah.
Where do we, where do we like, do we struggle to trust God sometimes? Yeah. And I think even as a, as a pastor, as a leader, I struggle to trust God all the time. Same.
It's, I'm not exempt because I'm in ministry. Wow. And maybe even more so. Wow.
Like just how much I struggle to trust God? Like are you really going to rescue me? Yeah. And then I think that's the next week's topic of the Lord will provide the story of Abraham and Isaac.
Wow. Wow. Like Abraham was so obedient to bring his son up there. And you're kind of like giving away the story, but you haven't read by now.
I'm not really spoiling anything. Like, but yeah, I do struggle with trusting which trust God. Yeah. And I think most of the time it's because I get in the way.
Wow. Yeah. And I think about how if you look at the magazine, it goes from chapter 15 to 21. There's six chapters.
And I don't like that that it goes from 15 to 21 because the reality is, there's that waiting period. Yeah. And even in the waiting, somebody, I heard somebody say that waiting is a part of the human experience. Yeah.
And the trust that is built with God in relationship before the promises there so that you would fall in love with God and not just the fulfillment of a promise. Yeah. But I think, yeah, you guys can share in your group, vulnerably and openly, you know, what is an area where you're struggling to trust the Lord right now? Is it believing for God to bring someone into your life?
And you have a deep desire? I can think about someone who has a deep desire to get married and have kids. And God hasn't answered that yet or somebody who's like lost a job and they're like, God, how are you going to show up? I think it could be a beautiful, like the rhythm reminder is prayer as well.
And maybe if somebody after everybody shares, if God kind of highlights someone more specifically, that you feel like, if you guys feel like, kind of has a weight on their shoulder, then you can lay hands and pray for them too. And instead of just praying that they would find answers, pray that their heart would increase in greater trust, you know? Yeah. Because that's what I want to break.
I'll give them the answer, you know, instead of coming them resilient and make them, yeah, any thoughts for you, Dallas? That's beautiful. I think those are, there's some really great moments. I'm just reminded of the rooted experience and how that brings people together.
A time of recording last night with strongholds and just watching these guys, when I told them what we were going to do, and I'm like, what? We're really going to say that out loud. Wow. And then all it takes is one person.
It really does. You're still right. And then one guy, I mean, he couldn't even get through it. And it was beautiful.
At the end of the night, we put him in the middle. Yes. I mean, just lay hands and the whole demeanor of the group shifted that night. Come on.
That's not what I'm watching, how they all came together. No, I was the first one to leave like 20 minutes. Wow. They just watch out everything.
When you're vulnerable, the enemy wants to tell you, like, if you share this, you're group will lean back. You feel beautiful community. Wow. So sharing where you are struggling to trust God and maybe for you as a leader, you have to leave that way.
Yeah. That every time I've seen it in the setting, people lean in in the beauty of prayer and life change that comes from that. That's so good. That's so good.
Yeah. And vulnerability leads intimacy. And if we really want our life groups to do life together, it's going to be, it's going to require more than just like, oh, I had a stressful week this week. I mean, to be honest, I think sometimes our life groups can turn into like, yeah, my boss was, my boss was annoying.
And that's it. And I mean, those are sincere updates, but kind of getting to the root of, wait, how did your boss make you feel? Like, oh, I felt rejected. Okay.
Yeah, I think that was your right. Like, if you guys went through RIDD together, then as a life group leader, you can bring it up and get, hey, guys, remember, you know, and it'll kind of maybe spiritually kind of put us back into that space of like, hey, was worth it on the other side of the vulnerability and encourage that space. That'd be amazing, man. I pray that for all of our life groups, really.
Wow. That's beautiful. Yeah. There's nowhere else to go besides.
Like, I hope that you guys get to experience that in your groups this week and leaders use at the tone. Yeah. Go for it. We're praying for you.
We're so thankful for you. Yeah. We can't leave those moments only you can. That's right.
So thank you for your as leaders and we can't wait to see you this weekend. Come say hi to us on the patio. You know our nicknames now. Oh, no.
We're talking. Yeah. So come say hi to us. Pastor White Chocolate.
The Dallas is the best. Yeah, best. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
So thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time. Bye, guys.