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To give now and partner with us, visit marinerschurch.org slash give or click the link in the show notes. Thanks for your generosity and God bless you. Welcome to the Mariners Church Life Group leader podcast. This week the 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, my group leaders, to week two of God with us. We are looking at our Christmas teaching series, reminding ourselves of the incredible truth that God is before all things, that He's for us, that He's with us, and that He is with us. And so today I've got our Mary Pastor Linda Vito here with me to unpack this week's questions. Yes, I'm here to unpack this week's questions, my dear.
Yes, you are. Thank you for being here. Unpacking. We just jump straight on in this morning to week two here.
Yes, let's jump in. Let's go for it. All right, we're going to start with our lean in question. There's a couple of questions here that you could interact with.
One of them says share about a time when you felt that you had to fend for yourself. What did that feel like? And that can go in all kinds of different places. Or there's a secondary question.
Sure about a time when someone stepped in to protect or defend you. What did that feel like? I have those questions sparked into the view of my there was a canceled flight in Dallas. That's one time I know always like note to self do not fly to Dallas, but it is a large hub.
My husband really is the guy who takes care of everything. And I was by myself and didn't have him. And it was so frustrating to try to figure out where to go. I could do it, but I'm used to really relying on him to just tell me where to go, where we need to go.
So that was that was really difficult to just try to fend for myself, find customer service, get on the phone, what number do I call. I did it. I could do it. It was absolutely Dallas.
I made it home. Yeah, shut up. Yeah, it's just it's frustrating. You panic.
It's anxiety filling. And depending on the circumstance, yeah, without going into too much retail, the first story that came to mind as we read in this right now was my summer year between eighth grade and ninth grade. I was skating around our neighborhood and I got jumped by like, wow, dudes, oh my goodness, oh, I only wanted to guys, but I legitimately got jumped and pushed out and they stole my wallet, which was attached to my to a key chain. So what are those wallet key?
Right. Right. So that people can't deal it. Yeah, that thing right off pushed me to the ground and one of the dudes like for really had a crowbar was getting ready to pounce on me and just right at that time, I was in a driveway and the guy, the homeowner drove up right at that time.
It turned out that he was a police officer. He was an off-to-be police officer. Wow, that's great. So these guys fled and drove away and there's a lot more to the story.
But a few weeks later down the road, the police contacted me and said, I think we've caught these guys and wow, that's going to back of a police car and great. They were lined up at the park and I identified. How scary. And to make the full story, even more full circle, it was like, oh, my wife, Linda, if you remember this much better than I do, but I mean, we were a few years into our marriage.
So we're talking my eighth grade year and now a few years into my marriage several, several years on. And I got a check from the police office station where we live the time of the Bay Area, $35 restored to be that was stolen. That was stolen. Wow.
So I'm still really not skating around my neighborhood. Like I'm really hoping you weren't on roller skates. I didn't say I was on roller skates and I did not say I was on roller skates. I was like, was he skateboarded like the roller blade?
It may have been rollerblading. Okay. It may have been at a time where roller hockey was a really a thing in my neighborhood. Okay.
Yeah, did I have a hockey stick? Yeah, I'd have more respect to the roller blades than if it was roller skates. I have a stick, but I was pushed down. They brought it.
Okay. Hey, there should be if I had more time podcasts to this conversation. Yes, there should be. There should be.
But clearly traumatized, but I survived just as you were in a longer Dallas. I no longer. Yeah. I've been stuck in the driveway.
You get beat up by six different guys. All right. Awesome. So we move on, but you can see I have a lot of fun with that question.
And it's just you want to get to this position for where you felt maybe overwhelmed or powerless and what was actually like and what did it look like for somebody to step in and come and defend you. I mean, for me, that was mass. I mean, all joking aside. That was just seconds in to me get pushed down and that altercation, like it could have been a whole lot worse.
Really, it could have been injured, you know, more dramatic, but then it was. And so when we're powerless and we feel like life is against us, when somebody comes in and helps us that that's massive relief. And we feel like, man, I could have done that by myself. That's always really felt built in that moment.
Well, that's the finish to my story too, is I just so happened to see a gentleman who goes to our church who I know who stepped in and took over and was like, all right, let's do this. Let's make it happen. Here we go. Let's go.
And he just really helped me get through that situation, talked to my husband on the phone, says like, I'll take care of it. And just, you know, how often do you bump into somebody at Dallas for their board? Yeah, I forgot that part. That's really cool.
Amazing. So we're going to read now at a moment from Romans eight and you may be thinking, hang on, Romans eight, that's not like a traditional Christmas passage, but it is a beautiful passage for the truth that we're looking at today that God is for us. And in the message, Eric walks through particularly Luke chapter two and just does a fantastic job that impacting unpacking some of the historical implications of Jesus and Octavians, Caesar Augustus, and how David and Caesar Augustus had set itself up basically as a son of God, a son of divinity that he was rising to power and providence that he was bringing, you know, the Pax Ramada, clicking back to history class down the piece of Rome and he was rising to his providence in his, you know, mid thirties, Jesus's kingdom as he comes to the cross and resurrection is really inaugurated around that same age. And so I love how Eric does a lot of in-depth teaching, looking at the real historic implications that Jesus who stands outside of time, because we talked about that last week, he's before all things, yet he entered into time.
And the time in which he entered into is it's not of, it's not of no consequence, like it's intentional. And you could see why. Right. It's just so beautiful.
He makes a couple of jokes about, there was a TikTok meme a little while ago about how often men think about the Roman Empire out of his office. Oh, right. I did see that. Yeah.
Yeah. I put my heads up to that. Right. My husband did as well.
Yes. And a lot of times it's in thinking about, you know, the Christianity and the time in which, you know, Christ walk the earth and what that context is and how that makes the story of Jesus, the story of Christmas, even that much more rich and vivid. So he spends a lot of time unpacking that and then jumps into teaching on Luke, sorry, on Romans chapter eight. Right.
It's the deliberate, the word is deliberate. Yeah. I think that's it. Yeah.
Intentionality of God, right. And for the time of the season, it's just like we always say online, there's no coincidence. That's it. Yeah.
But then he comes into it. Romans eight, which a lot of theologians have called really the Mount Everest of Christian theology, Romans chapter eight, there's just the gospels all the way through there. One of the things that we look at is that God is for us. So what we read the passage here, we want to read up in the lens of this question.
What do we learn about the reality of a God who was for us? So another way to say that is, hey, from the passage, what does it mean that God is for us? Where do you see that? That God is for us.
What does the passage tell us about and God who was for us? So we'll read it. The one who racked a few things ago from it says just earlier on verse 31 of Romans eight, what then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who was against us?
He did not even spare his own son, but gave him up for us. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation? Accusation against God's God's elect.
God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more has been raised. He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who could separate us from the love of Christ?
Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sort as it is written because of you, we are being put to death all day long. We are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for I persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present or things to come nor powers nor heights nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
This is the word of the Lord. Claim that in Jesus name. It's beautiful, right? Yes.
So what do we learn? Let's see a theme that passage about God who is for us. I just, you know, as the disciples were so persecuted and understood the threat on their lives and yet still had zero doubt that God was for them, right? And even if we go back to the Old Testament and what they experienced, all the different trials and all the different things that all the great leaders of the faith went through, their faith was so rock solid for the most part, right?
They had doubts but that God was definitely on their side. Yeah. Yeah. That's just a good word that when we say God is for us, that doesn't mean the absence of difficulty in opposition.
Right. Because we need him for us so that we can pursue. Work through. Yes.
Yes. But there can be a temptation to think, well, God is on my side. So who could be against us? Like, no, but nothing's going to happen.
Everything's going to be fine. It's like, no, like people are against us. People are people. That's right.
People are people. People are evil. There's still an evil force. Satan is still doing his thing.
Yeah. Yeah. So that's all throughout the Bible, the reality of fame and suffering. But it's in that, you know, the verse doesn't say gift things for all circumstances.
It says, give things in all circumstances. It's in the first set day. I love it. That's great.
So that's great. Also, he's forced me to know that because the sun gave him for all of us, which means that he'll also grant us everything. I mean, that's an incredible statement. It's all that God has done in Christ is also been accredited to us.
So what God did in Jesus, he's also given to us. We are clothed in his righteousness. We take on forgiveness, the life, the life of Jesus. A couple other things.
Yeah, I could bring us an accusation. God is the one who justifies that there might be opposition and accusations that come, but God also injustifies us, that he stands in our defense. It says that he's at the right hand of God and he intercedes for us. That's amazing.
Imagine that reality. Don't imagine it's a reality that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding in our behalf right now. It is very moment. Incredible.
So much so much in this. So you want to go through the passage even more thoroughly than we are right now and want to encourage your group members to say, hey, tell them where you see that. What verse is that? Yeah, I would have each member take a section of it and read through, have them read it to themselves first and highlight things that stand out to them.
Read it again as a group, let it soak in and then go see those highlighted portions. This is a good way to get those people who don't necessarily share or talk to actually have a voice just by reading some things and sharing one thing that stood out to them. That's right. We're going to skip down but it's going to take a time and a minute to look in.
But just when you get to the lookout question, there's a few different questions that are listed here and really you can summarize those questions in a couple of ways. You could say something to the effect of. What are the things, the circumstances, the beliefs that cause people to doubt that God is for them? Yeah.
And so that's where you're looking out. So you're thinking about stories, examples, even just be concepts of things that you see out in the world where people would say, okay, Jesus, Father, you say God is for you, but what about X, Y, X, Y, and Z? Yeah. So you want to talk about that, have a dialogue with those things.
And in the same vein, it says, what created things have you seen people look to for security? Right. So what do people use instead of relying on God, the creator of all things, right? Great.
Yeah. And so you can have a really full conversation, I look out section on those two questions. Really good. And then look, you want to bring it into the group there, right?
So this is where you're, okay, what's the challenge encouragement for us, for me? One of the questions is what circumstances in your life do you need to be reminded of the truth that God is for you? And then what created things have you looked to for security? So they're really good to the same questions as a lookout.
Look out, you're thinking about stories, examples, you need to think about the world and then now it's those two questions for you personally. Right. Yes. And you can spend loads of those sections.
Right. Anything that you would respond to or any leaderships you might have for the lookout or any ways you would respond to those questions yourself? Well, I think so often our circumstances dictate our strength of faith, right? Because there are things that we experience and have questioned really God.
If you're for me, why would you allow this to happen or why does this happen in my life? We do not know the end from the beginning. God does know the end from the beginning. He sees all things.
He's working with humans who are very inflexible. So it's just a good reminder for me personally. It says in what circumstances in your own life do you need to be reminded of the truth that God is for you? My husband is doing a procedure today for some neck pain that has been chronic, which has really rocked our family.
And you just wonder why? Why does this have to happen? If you're for me, I know you are God who heals. I believe that.
I trust in that. But we also have to realize that not everything, God doesn't tie a pretty bow on everything, right? And our circumstances are used to build character, to build our faith. And that sounds terrible to some people because we don't want to have to experience trials in order to grow our faith or our dependency on him.
But yet we know that's best for us. And we just have to constantly remind ourselves of Romans 38 that nothing will separate us from the love of God that he wants the very best for us. That's good. So that if we had wartime, I would ask you as a life we're going to say, knowing that circumstance that you guys were facing, what is the truth?
And if you look at Romans eight and if you were going to like bulletin board, one of those phrases, one of the verses in there, what would be the one that you need to clean onto two of the season and you would encourage you to do that with every person that has a real life situation that they're facing. It's like, great, what is it? Let's go back to the verse. One verse that you need to be reminded from a Roman say, what is that truth?
What would it look like for you to meditate on that? On that truth this week to pray it, to believe it, to memorize it. That's our best defense against the enemy is scripture and to memorize it and to ask the Holy Spirit to continue to remind you of those truths. Right.
Because God's word drives that deep anchor into our souls that God is for us, that there's nothing extra that we have to do to make him for us, that he's not waiting for some more work to be done on our behalf for him to say, okay, great, glad you did that. Now I'm going to step in and give you peace and comfort and hope is like, no, that's what the Christmas message reminds us that he came to the undeserving. He came to the doubting. He came to those that were far and wandering and he entered it.
He entered the story and he gives us his peace, his peace is available that he said he's for us no matter what we face. And I love what you said at the beginning, the reality of God being for us doesn't negate the reality of pain and suffering, but it does give us hope through it. And that's what the Christmas season is about. So yeah, there's so much, so much deep riches to talk about this week in your group.
So with hope that helps you just think about how you might lead it this week and we're praying for you as you enter into that conversation. And as your life group makes those plans for the Christmas season, this is lots and lots of great things. We want to remind you to invite others to join in to experience Christmas here at Mariners. We want to encourage your life group to serve at one of our Christmas weekend services.
There's just so many opportunities to get involved. Yeah, pray for each other. I know sometimes prayer requests can get a little lengthy. My recommendation is to have everybody fill out a card with a prayer request, mix them up and then hand them back out so they're praying for one person for now and until Christmas.
That's a great thought. Yeah, be intentional about it. Be intentional. They may be listening to the verse of what it is.
It's great. Write that down. Write that down. You know what?
I'm going to pray for you and I'm going to pray this verse again. Yes, yes, yes. So you're going to this year. I'm going to present this to you on that.
That's great. That's great. Have a great rest of your weekend. I will see you on here next week.