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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. Welcome back, Life Group leaders. Welcome to the Life Group leader podcast. My name is Dallas.
I'm very young and old pastor and I'm joined by. What's up, guys? I'm Paul and I'm the care and recovery pastor. We got a fun episode for you today.
We have a new recording. I think they're all fun. They're all fun. But we're walking through the series, the book of Genesis.
It's been so good when I saw this on the teaching calendar. It's like, how are we going to get Genesis in eight weeks? And somehow we did it. How are we doing?
We're week seven. We're coming to the end. So many incredible stories, greatest after greatest hit. I've really been loving it.
I don't know what you pull, but I've been loving it. I've loved it. And my Life Group has really loved it. And in between the weeks, we've been encouraging each other to catch up on the chapters that we kind of like skip through.
So we've been enjoying Genesis a lot. I'm bummed. I'm missing my Life Group for the season because I'm still taking rooted. But rooted.
Rooted this session with Genesis has been insane. You're in terms of week one, too. Like, you guys, you have the rooted reading and you have the messages. And then week six of rooted is serving.
And then week six of the series was volunteer ex-sealing. So I told my guys like this. This has never happened. I don't know if it ever will happen again.
Come on, Jesus. You are very blessed. But we're going to jump into the questions. There is a lot of, there's a lot of Bible in here.
So we're not going to have people read Genesis 27 to 29, but maybe like what Paul's saying, you can text them out beforehand. Hey, it'd be really cool if you read these couple chapters before coming in and of course listening into that weekend message. Wherever you're at, traveling online or attending a service or congregation. We lean in.
The purpose of the lean in is just to get everybody talking. So we're going to answer lean in. We're going to have some fun. So here's a question.
Have you ever felt out of place like in a friend group or a workplace or something like that? Did you end up fitting in eventually or did it never feel right? So I feel like I kind of have a cop out answer because I say that one of my superpowers now is that I almost always feel comfortable in a room that I'm in. I think being on our global outreach team for six years here, like we kind of have to get used to being in rooms where there's people from different cultures and different languages and different backgrounds and just like immediately feel connected or have a conversation.
So I feel like I developed that. But as I was thinking about that, I think that's a result of God's grace in my life because definitely as a kid, I often felt out of place or loved out or excluded and I don't want to get too deep from the get go, but that's the nature of care and recovery. And I was reflecting on it. Like one of my major experiences was growing up the son of immigrants.
And so I know that when my friends would invite their parents to open house nights or parent teacher conferences, my parents could interact or talk to any of the other parents and I would kind of be their guide or translate for them to my teachers. And I remember that being a really like almost isolating experience as a kid and then growing up as a pastor's kid as a P.K. We were not the most well off with growing up in Aflo and Irvine. I always felt that there was a gap of like all the things that I could do or be a part of or participate in just even socioeconomically.
I always felt kind of left out in that sense. And then growing up with two sisters, I was not the most sporty guy. And so I definitely related to Jacob and what Baster Egg was saying about, hey, I know what you saw was out mountain biking maybe and Jacob was looking up restaurants and shopping, which is kind of what I do. Yeah, I'm fun.
I love that. For me, it's I used to be a worship pastor and there was always a, I just wanted to, I loved building strategies and teams and so I'd go to these worship leader, hang out, I lived in Michigan, there's co-arts and all that and just watching kind of how they all interacted. I mean, for those of you who don't know like inner church culture, the worship after the trendy people, super creatives, I'm just sitting here, what am I doing? What is this?
What are we talking about? Like there's just creative ideas, juices flowing, thinking of cool things and I'm sitting here. What am I getting myself into? I feel like a fish out of water.
Do I have a posture syndrome? Yeah, do I even have the same job as you? Wow. Is really kind of how I felt.
I've seen your mullet. You're pretty trendy. I can. I can show it on the outside.
But the inside, my brain doesn't function that way. Yeah. And yeah, I think I had a friend in my life who said you are a good leader who happens to know how to play music and that kind of changed the whole course of, oh, it's like an out. I knew I'd ever fit in there.
And it was really beautiful, which months later led me to getting a job at matters. Great. That's good. But yeah, also your addicted worship leader.
Oh, thank you. It's just I enjoy doing it. But I really enjoy people, teams, strategies more than more than I saw myself as this is what this is what God has made me do. Yeah.
Yeah. So yeah, go around the group. Talk about that. There might be some that are that could be funny.
Like, you know, I thought of a couple other funny ones where I feel out of place when I wear my New York Mets jersey. And so everybody here is Dodgers fans. You know, even as of right now, the Mets beat the Dodgers. I started putting it writing and I wore my Mets jersey and I gave DK a big hug.
I said big Dodgers fan. And then the Dodgers beat the Mets the next day and DK walked up to me with his Dodgers jersey today and gave me a big hug. Yeah. So some reconciliation happens at church guys.
Right. It does. But getting everybody to talk and connect and then we're going to look down and the look down is different. It's only focusing on a small portion of the passage, but it also points us back to Genesis 15.
So the whole point here is get like, I know people hopefully have a Reddit beforehand. Hopefully they've been to church. They've watched the message. But if not, we have to get into God's word.
So make sure you read Genesis 28, 13 to 15. So I have, I have my series guide open. You can hear it right there. It's a mark.
A smart page 88. I'm going to read Genesis 28, 13 through 15. So says the Lord is standing there beside him saying, I and the Lord, the God of your father, Abraham and the God of Isaac, I will give you in your offspring the land in which you were lying. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth and you'll spread out toward the west, the east, the north and the south.
All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. And I will give you a moment.
It is fun seeing kind of the same theme in multiple weeks in a row of just that promise. But maybe we can help them give the leaders a summary. What's the summary of this passage? What's it saying?
Yeah, I mean, I think a couple things stand out for me. One is that idea of we are blessed to be a blessing. So that verse stands out for me. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
And that's something we say a lot of Mirrors, right? Is that we are blessed by God and it's not just a rest to hold onto. It's to be a blessing to others. And then I love just this idea that God promises to go with.
Like he is watching over. He will never leave you. So just until that promise comes true and we know that our faithful God is going to follow through on his promises to people watch over. He will be with you will lead.
Yeah. And it's fascinating because you just you see God do it for generation and generation and he's saying the same thing for generation and generation. You know, you throw it back to Genesis 15, God's promise to Abram and such as the same thing and then God reaffirms his promise to Isaac. Then God meets Jacob's generation to generation, God reaffirming his promise.
Sometimes we need to be reaffirmed constantly in our life. Like I know I'm switching gears, but it's just seeing that in Scripture. It really highlights God just any state true to his promise. It's not like changing because of this generation has promised change.
So you kind of see that and I guess the question is how does this interaction compare the promise God made in Genesis 15? So having someone else, they're going to need to grab their magazine or if they have a Bible, go back to Genesis 15 one through five. But kind of what anything standing out there, if you could help a leader, like guide them through this, like, you know, how can they help their group out? Yeah, so if you guys remember, we covered Genesis 15 back on page 62 in our books.
I too have my book open. Yeah, a lot of that too. Wow. Yeah.
And so, yeah, I think a lot of it is pretty parallel back to Dallas's point of this consistent God that his promises are faithful and true and consistent. And we see, you know, in 15 Genesis 15, God promising Abram that his offering would be as countless as a stars, which I was going to do a quick chat GPT like how many stars are in it? I did it, but I think it's a lot. It's a lot.
And then later in our verse today in 28 Genesis 28, we see him saying that your offering will be like the dust, which again, I was going to chat GPT like how much dust do you think is in the earth? I don't know. So much. I don't know.
But it's a lot. It's a lot. And so, yeah, I think even loving how poetic God is and his word is and beautiful. And you see that parallel where it's supposed to call back to that reference, right?
Like as you're hearing God's word, it's supposed to like alert you. Oh, yeah, that was the promise that God made back, you know, back to the room. Even like the tone too. So where was Abram at and where was Jacob at?
So seeing even seeing some of those. So Jacob is on the run. Yeah. And he's on the run and his tone with Jacob, it's more about reassurance.
So yeah, I'm with you. It's a little bit more personal. I will watch over you. I'm not going to leave you.
I think God makes the same promise, but it's really like what Jacob needed to hear that way, right? Like that's such a big thing. I'm seeing God, you're such a good father the way you spoke to Abraham. Yeah.
And you're such a good father the way that you spoke to Jacob. Like with Abraham, it's really belief coming in like I'm going to provide a child like you're going to have a kid and then Jacob because of what he's going through the reassurance. Like just such a good father. And going back to the context of 15 to the like that strong covenant language is in the midst of kind of an easy time for Abram to be doubting, right?
Because it's been 25 years since I promised an offspring and it's kind of just like doubling down of like, I know you've been waiting, but like I'm going to do it. Yeah. So that's good. I love that.
Yeah. So I think I really think you could spend a lot of time here and for a leader, you need to do the research and you do the reading. Look at the differences. Like look at what's going on.
Context is so important. What's happening around this, which is why reading all those chapters are great. But I think you could have a really great conversation. A lot of times when I'm in these moments, when I'm reading rooted right now, I think of my answer of what I want to say.
Like here's a statement I want to make, but I start going backwards. Okay. How can I ask that in a question to get someone to think and make that statement themselves? So I'll be thinking through like, you know, a question could be, okay, what was going on?
Like where was Jacob when he heard this? Where was Abraham when he heard this? So you're getting them to jump to those and helping them see and look at text really shine. Okay.
And then we have the look out, the look in, looking out, looking out, looking out when we want people to see it in their life. So maybe in some compare or contrast. I have some very good questions there. And then looking in, this is where we want people to look into their own life.
And I think this would be fun just for us. You know, anytime I start to teach last Thursday and when people come up to me, like, I'm so great to hear a little bit about your life as if we're, as pastors, like, you know, exempts from bad things happening in our life. Like, no, like we are human just like you and we have a reliance upon God and God pursues us just like he pursues you. So maybe we can share a little bit like how I was God pursued you in your life, even at times it maybe didn't have any interest in him or maybe in a season where's God pursued you both.
Yeah. And as I was looking at that question, just for leaders, like, this is such a great week or a great opportunity to remind each other of your story. Like, I know for those of you guys who did root it together, it's probably been a while since maybe you talked about that kind of, I believe moment or that I was blind, but now I see moment because that's where I took it. I took it to, you know, back before I had any interest in God and then that moment where he pursued me.
And so for me, as I was reflecting, I was in college, I was not living for Jesus at all. It was partying, it was drugs, alcohol, all of it. And my pursuit or Jesus has pursued in my life happened in me falling on my face at a party and breaking my teeth. Like truly I was running from my own sin.
I was not, you know, confessing to my family of what I was doing. I was living a lie and God, it took this like literally breaking of my face to be confronted and convicted of my own sin. And like, I had to confess, I had to confess to my parents what was happening. And in that moment, I was expecting my parents to disown me, to cut me off financially, to pull me out of school, whatever.
But instead, they met me with such love and grace and mercy and forgiveness of like, we're just so glad you're alive. Like thank God that he protected you and you're alive. And I had this like audible voice, God moment at that time where he was like, Hey, if you're earthly imperfect human parents can meet you with this type of love and grace and forgiveness, like how much greater do you think is mine for you? And so yeah, I related immediately to my kind of come to Jesus moment.
I think for our groups, like what a beautiful opportunity to remind each other of that moment where, you know, God pursued you in a time when you felt really far from now. And like, I want to encourage you guys, practice radical vulnerability and experiencing your groups because that will bring your group together. Like that's when you teach your groups together. I like that because even even sharing your story, like you can think, oh, they know my story.
Well, if that was the case for me in my life, my story of how God pursued me has actually happened since I've shared my story with the root. And so the example that I have is it was out, it was post like all everybody hearing my story. So it's like within the last year, I can think of an example of God you pursued me in my life. And it was actually the launch of Thursday nights and trying to tell, I mean, I was telling leaders, I remember I told John Thomas us and I can never forget the look on his face.
And I don't think I'm the right guy for this, but you know, as a placeholder, I'll be here until we can figure out what the best person is. You know, I'm not the good guy on stage. You know, we'll find we'll find the right person. I just remember John Thomas's face looking at me like, what are you?
What are you talking about? And then he just encouraged me spoke life over me and I was running away from it. Like this is not, I mapped out my life. God, like six months ago, and this was not part of it.
I'm sticking to my plan and God pursued me. There were random people that I didn't know that would come and say, Hey, are you Dallas? I have a message like I was telling me to share this with you. People I've never met before.
That God really pursued me and it allowed me to just be comfortable in who I am. So that would be a part that I would share that my I grew up. I heard my story, but God continues to write our story and God continues to pursue us. Even before we found Jesus after we found Jesus.
So a really great time to spend time in that. Yeah, the right for what we were talking about rhythms. You know, one of the rhythms is worship. You were like, Hey, I think I want to encourage them and it is different.
Is this the one like sharing your story? Yeah, sharing story. Yeah. I think that's a beautiful thing that we get to continue to do in community is because at the end of the day, you're all of our stories are a reflection of the gospel.
Yeah. And so even that reminder to keep the awe of the gospel alive in your life is to remember, yeah, that moment when Jesus pursued you and jumped you out of the darkness into light. So yeah, beautiful opportunity. Yeah.
Sure. So worship together. Of course, but also, yeah, this could be a really great time. Like in this last season, or since we've been through rooted, like I always got continued to pursue and it's really that helps me.
I've viewed the question that way. God's always going to be pursuing me. He's always going to be writing the story. He's not finished with me.
He's never going to stop pursuing me. He's never going to stop calling me to something greater. And maybe those are words of truth that you need to speak over the people in your group. Yes.
Like God's not done pursuing you. God's not done with your story. Like as a leader, you get to speak life in your words, hold weight in a group that you eat. Yeah, that's very real, right?
That there could be people in your group who maybe haven't surrendered or given their lives. Yes. You know, so this could be a really beautiful way to encourage them. It's not just up close.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's I think it's gonna be a great conversation for you all. Look at God's word, some really great powerful questions, interactions from your group.
But we're praying for you. We're thankful for you. Life your players fall. Thank you for taking the time.
Thank you for joining us on the Life your Peter podcast. Yeah, man. Happy to be here.