Welcome to the Mariners Church Life Group leader podcast. This week the 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. All right, so is it the end of summer? I mean, that's the debate that we're having around the office, around the family this week.
It's we're doing this here, coming into the first week of August. Is it the end of summer? I don't know, is it? The weather doesn't say so.
No, it does not. But people are back. Some schools are already started, which is an atrocity. I can't believe that's the case.
Our start of August is an after-labor day. But in some sense, it feels like, yeah, man, summer's winding down. And there's loads of great things that are happening here. So if you haven't figured out, because on the other side of the microphone here, it's Esther Chung hanging out.
Hi, everyone. What's going on, Esther? Yeah, we were just talking about, you guys celebrating your nine-year anniversary, making the most of that. That's right.
Most of the summer months ending up here. Great things happening. And then, of course, talking about all the great things that are starting here very, very quickly. So in addition to how to pray like Jesus, we're going to look at week one, how to pray like Jesus, how to get away, and prayer Eric Geiger's back teaching that this weekend.
We're going to walk you through that. But in addition to that great series kicking off, there's so many other things that are going on. Why don't you give us a highlight of what's happening in women's ministry? Yeah, so much, so much.
We have, I mean, our women's night coming up, it's called Rise Up on the 1st of August. And we've had the most registration that we've seen this early on. And so just the expectation, and we even just sense a lot of expectation from the women that are signing up. And then we obviously have How to Study the Bible.
If you ladies and your life groups or your wives haven't done the course, it's a six week course with Keiger, and it starts on September 11th. Honestly, we're seeing so many women hungry for the simple skills to read God's word. And as a church, we're pressing into that. And we want to give every woman the tool to read the word together, but also on her own.
And so that's been a treat. So anybody who's willing to step into that, any life groups that want to, our life group did that last fall, which was really awesome. And we would love for you to join us. Yeah, that's so good.
Yeah, it's arranged around tables. So there's group discussion. You can get connected with others. I think it's gonna be the third time now that we've run up a couple times in the high school ministry.
Yeah, the feedback on it has just been great. It's just a little practical and impactful. So I love that. So women's night with Chris Kane, August 21st.
How to Study the Bible starts at timber 11th. We got a couple of other things, Life Reclters for you to note. The quip is coming up. You should have gotten an invite from that hitting your inbox or through your coach.
Equip is our night on August 14th, where we're gonna gather across all of our congregations here at Meridys Irvine to be reminded about the joy of service to get quipped further in the unique ministries that God has called us to. We're gonna have ministry breakouts. I'll be the one for those that, their singular role is leading a life group or a rotational facilitator. You've got one for women's ministry.
And so if you have an RCP for that, yeah, please do. And then right after that, we have rooted this year right around the corner, August 27th and 29th starting up this year. And so Life Rebleters, it's a great opportunity for those that might be in your group that are looking to step up in a new season of leadership. Maybe your group is having the conversation about, maybe it's time to invite other people in, or maybe we wanna start a new group from within our group.
And you've got some leaders that wanna go through that vetting process of becoming a rooted facilitator. We'd love to connect with them, get them trained up for the season ahead. Incredible. All right, we're gonna jump into that.
Really excited for the series. If you had a listen already to the series overview, but I did with Eric, make sure that you listen to that, gives a great overview of where we're going in this series. But I mean, I hope for all of our series that we do, obviously, I rooted deeply in the teaching of God's word. They're gonna be theologically depth and also practically applicable.
And I think that's the case with every certain series that we talk about with this series. And we talk about prayer. I think people bring questions to the table about prayer. How?
Am I doing it right? What's the rhythm of prayer? Or maybe why? Some theological questions of prayer.
What's the mode of prayer in line with God's sovereignty? If he's sovereign and is gonna do what he's going to do, then what's the effectiveness? What's the role of my prayer in moving the sovereignty of God? How does that work?
So it's gonna be a great look as we come into this. So we're gonna read the passage in a moment, a couple of passages where we're going through today. But why don't we start off here with our lean in? Lean in question.
It says this. All right, sure about one of your favorite ways to get away or find time by yourself. I'm sure you've got loads of opportunity to have time for yourself right now with two young kids. Yeah.
Brand new one here. For sure. I think though, my favorite is if I can, it's to get a massage. Come on.
Yeah, I love getting away, getting a massage and feeling rejuvenated and just receiving, experiencing the kindness of God through someone else's. Yeah, so David, if you're listening to H2U again, it doesn't have to be about as Dave's birthday or anniversary. It's always a good idea. That is true.
That's true. How about you, D.T.? That's awesome. Yeah, you know, running, that, you know, you'll look at me and be like, that guy doesn't run.
I'm not the fittest person in the world, but I do enjoy like the habit of running. That's awesome. It's a time to get away and be by yourself. I remember a couple of years ago during the Journey to Easter, what's the church, it's traditionally called the Lenten season during Lent.
I gave up listening to music and podcasts on my rent. Oh. Yeah, it wasn't fun. At least for the worship music, I was going to do those kinds of things.
But it wasn't like I'm not going to totally unplug during this time. That was really good. It was really good. Being alone, worshiping as I run, praying as I run, we'll talk a little bit about that.
But it's that time where you're, you know, I'll buy yourself. I enjoy that. Yeah. Very good.
And I enjoy your massage every now and then. I go, I go, I go, I go, I go, I go for that. All right. Great.
So get your good talking about that. The habit of getting away where you find the enjoyment in that. As a bonus, a bonus question to your, the leading question to Eric and his message, he opens talking about different podcasts, the discipline of podcast. That's a good one.
And so you could throw another question in there about, hey, what's the podcast you're listening to? Or if you were a podcast host, who would your guests be? Mine's obviously, Esther, John. You know, I have a conversation about podcast listening to.
You know, something like that. We saw that in the message this weekend. So you might want to incorporate that. All right.
Great. Let's move into the look down sections here. Couple of questions here. What do you learn about Jesus' example about when and where and how to pray?
And then what stands out to you about how Jesus prayed? What do you learn about his example to pray? And what stands out to you? And, you know, phenomenal, right?
That of all the things that the disciples could have asked Jesus about, this is one of the principal questions that they asked him to teach us how to pray, which tells us that there was something deeply compelling about the prayer life of Jesus that they wanted for themselves. And if the disciples are asking this question, they walked with God and flesh and body, you know, Christ, the Son of the Lord, then we should also be asking that question. Yeah. And then also that Jesus himself had to have it in dependency through the Father in prayer.
So this is something for us to learn about. So what do you learn about the when and how and how and what stands out? I'll read a couple of passages here. Luke 5, 15 for 16, and then Matthew 6, 5 through 8, and then we'll interact with it here a bit.
Says this and Luke, but the news about him is ready for more. And large crowds would come together and hear him to be healed of their sickness. Yet he often withdrew to a deserted place and prayed. And then Matthew, whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites because they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people.
Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, don't babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they'll be heard for their many words.
That's a good word for us sometimes in our group. More words doesn't make it more spiritual. Don't be like them because your Father knows the things that you need before you ask him. All right, so what stands out?
We learned about the example of prayer. What do we learned about prayer here? Yeah, I think I immediately noticed that whenever Jesus, there's a particular location. Yeah.
And when he prays, and it's either a deserted place, a secret place, or a private room. So it's kind of interesting that there is a space and environment and location that he kind of pursues in order to have that intimate time with the Lord, to not only speak to him, but to hear from him. So that's something that stands out to me. Yeah.
Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I think in Luke, when it talks about he often withdrew to a deserted place as in prayed, he's talking not just about that time, but other times. We see that note throughout the gospel, that this wasn't an isolated incident that often Jesus withdraws in his communion with his Father in that way, which to me, it talks about the priority of prayer, that everything really flows out of, because prayer is what, prayer is principally in this relationship with God, right? So everything that we do flows out of relationship.
And so, I mean, it's incredible when you think about Jesus, who can find himself, his earthly ministry to three years, and he got away at an end, like the priority of prayer. He could have non-stop interacting with people, answering the quite non-stop, could have done it through that. But he knew that everything flew out of relationship with his Father, and what his prayer, it's communion with our Father. So there's something in here that I'm struck about the priority of prayer, a letter you're talking about, the place of prayer to you.
And even that Jesus, it's an interesting statement to make of Jesus needed to pray, that might mess with your theology a little bit, right? God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three persons in one. But there was something in that desire to commune with his Father. Like, is there a talk about in his message that he prayed before he went to the cross, he prayed before he chose the disciples.
He prayed often with what's wrong, like he said a side time for the priority of the relationship of prayer. So I'm struck by that message. I love that because Jesus doesn't have any need. And I think sometimes we associate prayer with you.
That's right. That's good. So him entering into that space of communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And then I love Eric mentions that the words withdrew and prayed are continual verbs.
And I'm sure he was always praying at all times as descriptions do it for us in the New Testament. But there is a consecrated time that's also necessary in the mischievousness. And I think that was at the illusion who once said, I am too busy not to pray. That's right.
That's Martin Luther, I think. I think so. I think you're representing this message. I think it's so.
Yeah. Like again, it's continual prayer, but consecrated set apart time that's intentional to get away, to listen to communion. Yeah, it's beautiful. So good.
I like all the pastor. I like everything. It's God's word. I like it all.
Whether I enjoy it in a moment or not. I like the sport. I like it all. I need it all.
Whenever you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. So what's he talking about there? And the temptation that is there. And it's a prayer, prayer, show, prayer, as pretense, prayer for the approval of others.
God's just not interested in that. That's so good. For us, even though we might be drawn towards it. Yeah.
I think something that the Life Group leader could potentially ask is sometimes I think hypocrites here, they pray so they could be heard. But I think I've noticed a lot in our church context. A lot of people don't want to pray because they don't want to be heard. And I think there's also the other extreme of pride where we're afraid of what people are going to think.
And so it's not to be flattered. But it's the fear of maybe I'm not eloquent with my words. So maybe even Life Group leader, some of you guys can open up. It could even be like, how many of you guys are afraid to pray out loud and just raise your hand?
Or I've kind of noticed that a lot. Yeah. I think you're right. And of course, it's one of the things that we've learned through rooted in the prayer experience where we have that dedicated two, three hours of time where we're learning to hear God's voice and we're learning to voice that out loud of what we hear.
And I think you're right. For a lot of folks, it's the first time that they break the sound barrier in front of other people praying. Am I doing it right? Am I doing it wrong?
Or man, this person's prayers are so much better than mine. That's my effort. It's like, man, there's no such thing as a perfect prayer. I'm looking for a perfect prayer.
I'm looking for an honest prayer. Like, as it is with our kids, right? You got two kids. I just love when they come to me.
When they come to me in need or when they want a relationship, I just love that as their father. It's like, man, there's nothing more than that. Even when you're upset, even when you're angry, even when you're in a desperate situation that you would come to me and voice that. Your frustration is like, I love that.
How much more are father? He's not looking for perfection. He's abiding into relationship. And so yeah, so much in your own.
Oh, man, it's going to be a good series. It's going to be amazing. Let's do it. All right, look out.
So what do Christians miss out when they don't get away to pray? What can be gained by getting away to pray? So it's just kind of like the power of prayer. Obviously, what do you miss out on?
You miss out on hearing God's voice. I love your hearing, telling the story about becoming the senior pastor. Yeah, no. And first saying yes.
And then saying no. Backing out. Yeah, yeah. Having time, like you said, consecrated time up for you.
And I feel like, no, this is what God is saying. Like, how many of those moments might we miss? Because we're not listening. Yeah.
It's so funny. How he even mentioned that it was the last two days of his trip. Yeah. And with our rooted experience, our prayer experience, my first 30 minutes, I just kind of was like looking around.
And then the last 30 minutes, it kind of, I wonder if we even need our time for our souls to quiet. Right. To kind of detox from all the things that we've been consuming, or slow down from the pace that we've been running. But yeah.
So I love Eric's story about, and it's so cool because it's like he's coming back from study break. And we're being refreshed of how God led our senior pastor to our church, and his own wrestling and his own kind of prayer. Yeah, so good. Yeah.
Yeah, I love that. There are so many things like in our natural inclination that we might talk ourselves out of or try to justify whatever. Yes. But how often have we missed that?
That's still silent. That's the compelling voice of the Holy Spirit within us. I love that you, that we're consecrated. We pray continually.
But times where men being diligent, I've set this pattern, it's had the thing in my life where, man, word from his spirit, which is never contradictory to what the Bible says. We've got to have wise counsel from others. I mean, all these things. He speaks in line with his word.
All of those things. But we won't miss those moments. We can miss those moments. We can go throughout our day a whole while.
God longing to speak to us, and either we're too busy, or we're just saying things to him and not listening to him. So it might be a good opportunity in your group, even to talk about man, what was the time where you experienced God's voice like that? Yeah. That's good.
Like, hey, I'm very sure that story. What about for you? When was the last time? What was it?
Yeah. That's awesome. Right. Or where do you need that today?
There's lots of different places where you can go with that. That's good. And then the look and section we get into the area talks about the habit of prayer, right? So if you want to make this something that becomes like a discipline, the power of the power of habit, we shouldn't be afraid of that.
Our habits don't cause us to grow, but our habits create an environment for growth to be possible. It's going to be intentional about that. So a couple of things he says here in the questions. When and where were you praying?
Describe a time and a place. Maybe what's your habit right now? Where are you being challenged to step into more? And then what changes in your schedule or choices?
What did it take to begin a daily rhythm of prayer? So recognize people are in lots of different places. New moms and dads, work schedules, everything else. It's in some seasons, it's going to be easier than others.
But I'm sure to be curious from you, like, how have you learned, adjusted in the seasons that you've been in that you currently have? Yeah. No, I know. You know, for those of you who don't know, we have a six-month-old baby boy that was welcome into our lives.
And as a mom and as somebody who generally has a rhythm of spending time in God's Word and prayer, this time it was really hard. And I actually had to open up to some of my life group wives. And I just had to share with them, hey, and I felt embarrassed because I'm a pastor. And maybe I'm a maternity leave, but I'm always a daughter of God, a believer.
Christian. So I opened up to them and said, hey, you guys in the season, I am having a hard time spending time with the Lord. I'm having a hard time approaching him. Do you want to go on a Bible reading plan together?
And so we started reading God's Word together like a chapter a day. And then one person would take a day. So I took like Thursday and I only share in our group chat on Thursdays, like, hey, here's what's this, like the context. Here's what, you know, the scriptures are saying.
This is what is revealed about the attributes of God. And then I would say how God spoke to me. And everybody took a certain day. And not everybody had to participate.
And we had some people who did that. And actually, during the summer, we tried doing Colossians with the series. It did not work out. Yeah.
Yeah. So actually, Katie Thomas, who's one of our- No relation, B2W to John Thomas. Oh, yes, that's true. It turned out there are many Thomas.
There are far. So many. We're known for English muffins. I just was going to say.
I know. I could tell. You were going to go in. But she texted us a couple of days ago and was like, hey, do we want to bring it back?
And so yeah, I think it could be alone. I think you'd have paired up with something you enjoy so with me too, like my morning coffee. That's right. But it could also be experienced communally, whether it's with God's Word and then being paired up with that.
Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. That's so good.
Yeah. And the thing about it is it's like it's not moralistic or just ritualistic. It's there's a discipline to it. Like, we know that in every area of our lives where we want experience growth, we got to be intentional with creating those habits.
Right. And I think people get a little worried sometimes about, well, I don't want to be too rigid. I want to be too friendly with things. But no, like having a time, having a place and having a plan are really, really important.
So you just talked about all of that. You talked about the time of, we're going to, on Thursdays, we're going to interact a place. You talk about it in the morning, during your cup of coffee, whatever it is. We have a plan.
We have a reading plan that we're going to read together and we're going to pray through together. Those three things, like have a time, have a plan and have a place. It can be really, really helpful. And then of course, like flexibility, seasons of life, everything else, you know, beat yourself up.
But yeah, growth comes through God's spirit. When we create environments of tensionality, we cultivate that environment for growth to happen. And that's what you use it to. That's right.
And I was like a specific environment that he pursued. That's how that time is. That's awesome. Beautiful.
Thanks, Esther. Always so many great insights. We love having you on. And thanks for shouting out all the great things coming up.
Yes. But tonight, August 21st, how to study the Bible, September 11th. That's right. The quip, August 14th.
Rooted August 27th, the 29th and then this weekend. Our secret passion, our gaggart is back. We want of this new series, how to study the Bible, we can't wait to see across all of our congregations. Enjoy your weekend.
We'll see you on the weekend at matters. We'll see you on the weekend at matters.