Welcome to the Mariners Church Life Group leader podcast. This weekly conversation is designed to equip and resource youth to build a healthy, life group community that studies God's word, practices spiritual rhythms, and changes the world together. Here with Linda Vino, what's happening Linda? Great day.
Great day. You got big plans for you to tell me about after this podcast. What are you up to? We're going to LA for dinner.
Hey, how about that? Everybody tell everybody where you're going so they can meet you there. Jones? Jones.
In West Hollywood. What are the kids called that? WeHo. stands for West Hollywood.
For our son's birthday. One of our sons. We're just having a long conversation about is that Jones or is it Jones on third? Just by the Beverly Center.
No, it's okay. Great. All right. So you might wonder, like what do you guys talk about before you do podcasts?
And this is what we talk about. So have a great night. That's going to be awesome. What am I doing?
Thanks for asking. We're going with some friends that were destroying very farms. You know, the golf thing and we're going to sit on the patio and enjoy the outdoor weather and watch people golf and have some nachos. Great.
All right. Nachos are always a great idea. I think so. Well, now everybody knows what we're doing.
That's great. All right. Hey, welcome. I'm glad you're here.
All right. So this week, the title of the message is Speak to God about others and others about God. Speak to God about others and others about God. It's about prayer.
We speak to God in prayer. God speaks to us in prayer. And part of when we pray is we're also interceding. We're praying.
We're interceding for others in our life, bringing our prayers about them to God and then we're getting insights as we spend time in God's presence and then we're sharing with others. So we'll be here from that. And so it's a bit of like both of the relationship of prayer and then how prayer helps to feel mission of how we share God's word with others. Yeah.
And how we season our words with grace and salt. And so we're going to talk a little bit about that in the passage as well. All right. So why don't we get to it before we read the passage?
Why don't we start with this lean in. When's the last time you got some really good news? Oh, that one's easy. Oh, I know what yours is.
Go for it. We thought we had to move and found out we didn't have to. Hey, all right. That's really good news.
It's much better to unpack this issue. That's true. That's great. Yes.
That was really good news. Yeah. Yeah. We're praying for the same news because we also got the other news that our landlord is in a position of one to sell and we're waiting for the other part of that news to see what see what happens to that to go away.
Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Cool.
That's really good news. That was a good one. Is that all right? Oh, what about your tickets on Sunday?
When you're getting those? Oh, yes. Yeah. When Lindy said, yeah, go for it.
So we're going to, people don't care about these things. They don't, I guess. But there's a soccer team, otherwise known as football for the rest of the world that I follow called Arsenal. They're going to be in LA next week.
I'm going to go see them. That's very exciting. Excited for that. So if you want to come watch Arsenal Play, I'll be there.
Great. That's good. Okay. All right.
Hey, I'm not going to read the entire passage because it's 18 versus the second half of which Paul goes in and he starts talking about people that have shared in the mission, places of encouragement, and just to say about that list of names, it's really fascinating if you want to study on it. You list in people, five Gentiles, five Jews, and all over the place and their level of commitment and how they've encouraged Paul, some people who left Paul during his mission. Some of his names are hard to pronounce. Some of his names are hard to pronounce.
Some of whose names used to be Jesus, went by Jesus and now goes by justice because that's probably a good idea. Yes. You know, so, but you can learn a little bit about them and how God builds community through diversity and not through the perfection of his people, but around a shared mission. And he talks about, you know, being in chains and he ends the letter.
I do got to read the last part of it. I pull him writing this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Literally in prison, chains, not sure if he's going to get out again, going to be released, but encouraging them to like stay the core, stay on with the mission. And then up at the top of the final parts of his greeting, he says some really important things. So starting from verse two in chapter four, it says, a developer self-deprare, stay alert in it with Thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains, so that I may make it known as I should.
And then credible, like he's in chains. He's not praying for his chains to drop, but he's praying for the chains of the gospel to be released so he can go and reach everyone. And then credible. And then he says, act wisely towards outsiders, making the most of the time.
Let your speech always be gracious, season with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person. I love salt. That's right. I'm glad to hear that.
So talk to others, talk to God about others and to others about God. So you're learning how to communicate with God, hearing his voice, his heart for others, which fuels the mission of how we encourage and share the good news with others in a way that is gracious, season with salt, so that you would know how to answer each person. So let's talk about this passage here. What do you learn?
What do you learn about prayer? How should our prayers be focused? And then there's a question here about how our speech should be seasoned with salt. How would you describe that in your own words?
Where have you seen that? How have you experienced speech? Season with salt. So what do you learn about the nature of prayer and about sharing the good news with others in a gracious way?
What do you see? Well, I know that God loves to hear our prayers. Yeah. I think anytime we are going into any conversation, it's really wise to ask the Holy Spirit for the words to speak, to soften their hearts, to soften our hearts for what he wants us to share.
And it's a vital part of our faith and its a tenant of our faith is prayer and that God teaches us how to pray and he's very clear about before we do anything, always go into prayer with thanksgiving, thanking the Lord in advance for what he's going to do. That's it. I love that he's calling out the two words devotion, devote yourselves and stay alert, devote and stay alert. Why is that?
Well, because if we're honest, I know this is true for my life, probably not true for your life, but yeah, I have to be intentional about devoting myself to prayer, that I don't have a natural sort of drift towards like consistency and faithfulness in my prayer. Like it actually I have to devote myself to it. I got to stay alert. I got to plan it.
I got to be intentional with it. And then he also says with thanksgiving. So I got some really key that he says that too. So it's not a, oh man, I got to be super intentional.
Let me make this thing happen. Let me do the checklist and let me be more or less taken away than I approached that. But actually when I approach it with thanksgiving, recognizing all that God has done, the joy of his presence, that's not a task, but it's a relationship to enjoy that devotion flows from, flows from thanksgiving. So I love that he's highlighting that with us.
And then of course then as we're spending time in God's presence and prayer, we're speaking to God, he's speaking to us. We're speaking to him about others, then we're being fueled to how we share with others. And so just talk to us about that. What do you see about our speech that's gracious and season with salt?
What do you think we're learning that? I don't think that we make any difference in a conversation when we're bold and accusatory and direct in certain circumstances. But when we are kind and compassionate and we are good listeners and you know, overuse of salt cannot be great. Yeah, that's right.
So it does use the word seasoned. That when we season something, we're adding to it to make it better. Right. But we're not overpowering it.
You've had things that are too hot or too spicy or too salty or. And so there's a way to over season or to overuse. Yep. But I love the way how it's just a seasoned result.
Right. Yeah. And I like that he also calls out, know how you should answer each person, which implies what? People are asking you questions, which implies what?
That we need to know. There's something compelling about the way that your life is being lived because you've devoted yourself to prayer and spending time in God's presence that it's changing the way that you act and relate to others that causes them to say, hold on a second. Right. I've got a question about you.
I know you're going through things. But you seem to handle that in ways different from other people. Hey, the way that you show up at work, you're not always posturing positioning to make yourself look better, but it seems like you're there to actually serve others and make others look better. Like what is that?
What is that all about? I think that's what the through line of the passage is getting at spending time in God's presence being changed by him as we do that that it informs the way that we live in such a way that people are like, hang on, let me ask a question. We ask a question here. And being ready to answer those questions as it says to outsiders in a way that's gracious and sees them assault.
And through our study of God's word, if we will be equipped to give the answer. That's right. We're going to be prepared that that always the only spirit will give us the answers that we need. Very good.
All right. Let's move on to the lookout section. Then it says a couple of questions here. What are some of the different means of communication that we have available to us?
How can we make sure these means of communication are sees of assault? And then what does it look like for us to act wisely towards people outside of the faith? How would you interact with those questions? Well, we know that we can communicate through emails, through texts, through I just started letter writing again.
You were just saying that. Yeah. What is going on? I just feel compelled to let her write.
I love that. We don't usually say emails or texts, but we have a tendency to save a letter, right? We can be able to read it. We can communicate through calling, through interaction one on one.
And some of those communication tactics could open yourself up to say things that you didn't mean or for people to take things incorrectly, right? Yeah. Yeah. I also think about the season that we're in.
This is an election season. It's a volatile season. I mean, we are recording this at a time or just last weekend where there was a assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Yes.
And we look at that with horror and we condemn evil in all of its forms. But it has been interesting to see some of the reaction online. And of course, lots of incredible, well-thoughtful prayers and petitions and just a call for personal holiness within our own lives. Like what does it say about us?
What does it say about the state of affairs of our nation? How do we turn to God again and humility and prayer? But there are some volatile conversations that come online too and a lot of finger pointing and condemning and adding towards the further polarization of our nation, which we don't want that. We don't want that.
And so we have a way to show up as Christians in volatile times to offer a different way, which is the way of Jesus, which is truth, it's grace, it's showing up with a listening ear and compassion as well. So I think about that, how we show up particularly online during the season. It's really easy to get caught in rants and be passionate. I think very few arguments have been won in a fiery exchange online.
It's the relationship that we show up with. And the ones that look like for us to show up and act wisely towards the people of faith. That's a great question. And I think it's not shouting the answers.
It's not coming with a bent towards condemnation. It's showing up on Jesus showed up to serve and love and humility pointing to the truth of his. Yeah, being curious about other people. That's really good.
I'm listening to them here in their story. Right. Yeah, that's good. And we're really going to be in that place of being aware and being unhurried and being able to listen to people's stories with compassion as we spend time with Jesus ourselves, right?
And having being in his presence and being aware of that too. That's why I rooted is so great because it sets the stage for all of the things that we talk about, storytelling and listening and not reacting and allowing people to talk. Right. That's good.
That's a look in section and you're going to see your series magazine The Rhythm Reminder this week is about prayer, spiritual rhythm of prayer. So I have a conversation about prayer, but also spend more time intentionally in your group in prayer. So questions here about your current commitment to prayer, what are your current habits around prayer, developments around prayer, what are some things that you've done to help you stay alert in prayer. And then there's a question here about who are the people that you find difficult to pray for?
What is that difficulty reveal about your own heart? How would you leave people to lead their groups through this and how would you respond to these questions yourself? Well, Jesus, pray for all the people. And if we're looking at if you are living your life as a Christ follower, then you will see he prayed.
He prayed for the man on the cross. He prayed for people who were against him and spinning on him. And so that's what God's asking us to do. How do we say I can't do that?
Right. And I think another thing too is when you're committed to prayer, you are covering all the basis of prayer where we're asking, we're also praising the Lord, thanking him, we're in confession of our sins and what we're bringing to him. It's not just a check box of things I need to ask for. That's right.
But also who can I lift up in prayer? Who can I spend time praying for? Right. It's good.
Yeah. I love the centuries of Abilah once said, you know, prayer is nothing short but being on terms of friendship with God. That's what it is. It's friendship with God that prayer is primarily about relationship.
Hearing God's voice, bringing my prayers of thanksgiving and my longings, longings to him, not a laundry list of, you know, just my needs. Look, God loves that. God, well, people often ask like, how do I pray? What's the perfect prayer?
There is no perfect prayer. The only prayer that he's looking for is an honest prayer. That's lament, anguish, confusion, joy, celebration, thanksgiving, all of it. God welcomes all of that because it fosters relationship and, you know, in a couple of weeks time, we're actually beginning, right?
We're bringing a new series on how to pray like Jesus. I love that. It's going to be very practical too. Okay.
What are the barriers to prayer? How do we set time as sort of prayer? How do we begin in prayer? How do I pray consistent?
Yeah. It's so good. I love that we're starting out kind of this new term, if you will, this ministry year with that. It's going to be really, really good.
But let me just forget what talking to me just about some of your kind of habits with prayer and how have you cultivated that in your own life. Yeah. And I think that's a very important thing. It's very important to me.
Just the other day my son looked at it and he's like, oh my God, I think it's a rag. I'm like, I will never show this. That's awesome. I love that.
I think because it's important for us to know what prayers have, all of our prayers are answered. Yeah. And the way in which God answers them and to keep a record of that. But also making rhythms of fasting and prayer because it's biblical and it just really causes a very deep, deep dependency of the Lord and on the Holy Spirit for that time.
And another thing is just making sure that we integrate praise. I like to use attributes of God. It's just a good reminder of who he is that he's all created at all. He's Lord overall that there's a fear of the Lord in his majesty and might.
There's also like you talked about the relationship and the friendship with Jesus. Right. Yeah. That's great.
I love that. I love that. And I think it should be like an encouragement to people to know like God has uniquely designed you. And for some like you have maybe more of a disposition towards.
Yeah. Silence and solitude. That's my thing. Some might have more of this bent towards like exuberant forms of prayer and loud and worship and celebration.
Some more reflective with journal and maybe enjoying God's creation. And that's awesome. And God has wired you in such a way. And I think the joy of like our own development is finding those those space like kind of a tune on the piano like this resonates.
This is something God is in developing that without forsaking the other ones. It's not like I'm not wired for silence and solitude. So I'm not going to do it. It's like no.
That one might take a little bit more intentionality for me to grow and develop in that way. But God is wider so differently and it's finding what those things are. And there's a book called Jerry Thomas is called The Sacred Pathways. We do this in our disciples team.
It talks about the nine different ways that we generally connect with God. I'm teaching Thursday night. I'm going to use that as a resource. And if you want to you can find a different you can find them like a sample survey on that nine ways that I connect with God.
And some of those are like exuberant worship or traditional. Nature. Liturgical nature. Intercession acts of service.
It's just kind of fine. I wonder how I've wired and you can use that as a tool to help you. And I found for me it kind of varies in whatever the season whatever the season is. There's moments where yeah I've got more time to sit in God's word and then do that or I'm just lamenting.
I'm just being a student lament. Totally. It's not that I have more time. It's that I make more time.
We all have time. It's time that we make. We're here right now. It's like it's running.
Run prayers. That's my favorite. I'm the lunatic in the neighborhood with my arms out of high-jared worship. That is I have in several years not taken any music with me on my hands and walks.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I left it and it's time to hear from God through the activity and pray for others.
You've probably been on the receiving end of one of these yet but I'll talk to Siri on my watch and send prayers to other people and I'm out of breath and they come out all crazy. That's hilarious ones. I certainly am. But in the season that's a space of enjoyment for me.
So it's like what is the season? What's the discipline that God's calling into without forsaking the other ones? And then how do you grow in your enjoyment of God's presence through prayer so that it fuels the way that you're able to communicate and live out his presence with others? Great.
Hey, that's it. End of Colossians. Can you believe it? End of Colossians.
Incredible. What a series. So next week we will be talking about our church verse for the upcoming year and there's going to be a message on that live teachers across our congregations and then after that our senior pastor Eric Iger is back and we launch our new series on how to pray like Jesus. Awesome.
Alright guys, well thanks for your time. Hope you're enjoying your summer. We will see you all soon.