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. Right, this is the start of the podcast. Take three, ready to go.
This is the one. There are moments in life that are caused for great celebration. I think of birthdays. I think of anniversaries.
And I certainly think about moments in the life of a congregation where God does incredible things in the middle of which we are now sat with John over at North Irvine moments of celebration. Tell us what is going on with Mariners Church North Irvine. What's happening? Now two weeks strong into into Queen Lutheran High School.
I've heard of this. Yes, yes. Yes, yes. We've just got 20 new hall trucks and just made our move over there.
All part of you. It's been amazing. It's been great. There are a lot of people that are checking out the churches.
I don't know if it's a psychological thing, but when we say, hey, we're moving here. There's something about it that there's an excitement and momentum, a lot of word of mouth. And also from what I recently learned, Queen in their chapel they've also announced that Mary Church has started with us. So our youth, there's a lot more new visits for the youth.
The other one is really exciting. That's great. That's so good. And so yeah, guys do great, great things across all of our different congregations.
And if you were at any of our congregations this last weekend, you got to hear Eric just give some really exciting compelling updates to what's happening through our Multiply Campaign, through generosity of God's people and how that's helped us expand how we reach others with the goodness of Jesus and how what has guys already done just in a short span of time last couple of years of congregations. And then to know that there are more coming in the next year, we'll have two more. Seven will become nine. I think that's on my math work.
So so exciting. And yeah, Queen man, it's so cool to be able to say we're here at Queen because that's such a landmark in Orange County. And it's so close to where you guys met at. Yeah, not five minutes away.
Yeah, yeah. I already had a friend talking to who lives in the area. Oh, I didn't know. I know, great.
That's awesome. I'll go check that out. So incredible. The Rooted Sessions kicking off.
Yeah, it's going on. Great things are happening. Awesome. Yeah.
All right. Well, excited to jump into this week for Life Group Leaders. We know we got Life Group Leaders listening from all different congregations. But this is week five, our series, how to pray like Jesus.
And this weekend, Mary's Ritron, we've got our pastor, Marytas Kenan Bishore, who are his teaching. And then we've got live teachers over other congregations. I think you mentioned Steve Ainsley preaching over at North Irvine. So the questions this week are applicable no matter what congregation that you're at.
There is one of our questions that's a little more closely tied into Kenton's message where we're going to read from Exodus 34 as he kind of lands his message in that place. But it's an applicable question. It's still a matter of where you're at. So we jump into it.
Let's do it. All right. Lean in. We love Lean in.
We got two options here. You take whatever you want. Choose your adventure. Share about a time that you almost gave up, but didn't.
What happened? What is something that you didn't want to do, but ended up doing and it surprised you. You got anything? Yeah.
Yeah. What is something that you didn't want to do, but ended up surprising you? For me, this was piano lessons. I absolutely abhorred taking piano lessons.
I thought it was the most boring thing in the world ever. I didn't like the lessons. I didn't like the teacher. I didn't like the homework.
All that. But got into it. Almost was forced to do it. And finished it out.
And after that, I thought it was over. You know, ghetto is for boring people. It's not effective in any way. Just offended 70%.
Exactly. But what happened is in college, I got into this music production class. And all of that is done through a keyboard. Just through the computer.
That's when I was thinking about thinking about that for the basics of what I learned as a kid. So, yeah, something I didn't want to do, but ended up becoming such a great asset. And no chords. And where the keys are.
That's great. I was thinking about the inverse of that question. What's something that you started that you didn't do, that now you wish you would have completed. I think I have more of those stories.
Yeah. There's so many of them. So you could ask it either way. It has to fun with it.
As you were talking about lessons. The first thing that came into my mind was one night. My wife lived and I went on a date with some friends. We lived in the Bay Area to the Salsa Club in San Francisco.
Not like chips and salsa club. I'd be over that at all. But one of those were like give you lessons. Learn how to salsa dance.
And then you go and you go for it. And let's just say it did not go well. It was an interesting day for sure. I couldn't get it.
She was better than I was. I probably should have stuck with it. But hey, you know, I've worked in mysterious ways. I'm good at other things.
Yeah. Like eating salsa. Like that's obvious. But yeah, I think the question here, you know, this week we're talking about frame with perseverance.
And what have you learned about the value of perseverance in prayer? Like we see that in our own lives where there's things that we stuck through. We see the benefits. We see things that we've let go of that we wish we had it.
And it's an interesting thing to talk about in the arena of prayer. Like pray with perseverance about how our prayers are effective and how our prayers actually through God's sovereignty. Come alongside God's sovereignty to move the hand of God. We have a part to play in that.
There are seasons where that's easy to do. There are seasons where that's difficult to do. We're praying and we're not quote unquote seeing what we want through the show. And if anyone is like me, I've always struggled with the idea that if I'm praying something and God is all knowing and he already knows.
Why should I pray? And on top of that, there's a command to be persevere in prayer. And so to tie those two things together, even it talks about God already knows what you're praying, but the very following verse in Matthew, in the Lord's Prayer, is Jesus saying that. And then he says, this is how you should pray.
And so if you understand that when it comes to prayer, the perseverance even in prayer is not just a magical incantation. But it's part of being in a relationship with God and how that plays out in our lives. So the way that I love putting it is if someone told me or someone told someone, hey, God is watching. And if they don't have a relationship with him, then it's like the scary, hey, God is watching.
You better watch out. But if they have a relationship with him, then when they got his watching. Yeah, exactly. You better watch out.
But when someone has a relationship with God and you hear God is watching, then there's a level of, oh, he's with me. He's there. So when God says, hey, persevere in prayer, if there is no relationship there, then it becomes a chore. I guess I got to keep talking and asking.
And if there's a relationship, then that same phrase, it has a different, you know, a different. It's awesome. It's helpful. I really love it.
Eric said, I think it was a couple of weeks ago, kind of on this. How do we understand the nature of God's sovereignty? And he gives us the dignity of causality with our prayers. Like where does that intersection work?
And he talked about, you'd like me to talk to a newborn mother, if a child, where they have it, is going to cry out during the middle of the night and the mom knows, or the parent knows. I'm going to come and view it that baby. I'm going to rest you. I'm going to give them what they need.
But it's often in response to the cry. It's often in. So that's a lot of prayer. It's the ecosystem as relationship and God responds to the cries of those people.
Yeah, there's a beauty in that. Awesome. Shall we get into the passage? I got Luke 18, one through eight.
Yeah, just again, at your congregation, they may have some different passages that are interjected, but this would be really like the anchor text that automatically is going to be through all the messages this weekend. So I'll read it. The questions I want to interact with. What details of Jesus's parables stand out to you?
And then what ways is God like the judge and the parable? And which ways is he not like the judge? A little bit of compare and contrast. I can remember that exercise from school.
So what stands out to you in the compare and contrast God to the judge and the pastor. Do you mind reading the thing? I'm going to get some water. Yeah, verse 1, chapter 18 of Luke says this.
Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always not give up. There was a judge in a certain town who didn't fear God or respect people. And a widow in that town kept coming to him saying, give me justice against my adversary. For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, even though I don't fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice so that she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming.
Then the Lord said, listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice.
Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, he will find faith on earth. Awesome. The word of the Lord. Amen.
Go. All right. What stands out? Let's start there before becoming the judge.
Yeah. I think one thing that stands out is already, for me, it's someone with authority. In this passage, it starts with the judge. So, Jesus is already attacking, approaching this parable with, here's someone who could move people, move things, a person of authority, and here's how to react or respond or go to someone with authority.
That part stands out before all the comparing and contrasting. Yeah. I also just love it from the beginning. He tells him this parable of the life story.
And he needs for them to pray always and to not give up. Which indicates what that Jesus acknowledges that. He acknowledges that sometimes the difficulty through prayer or through even, you know, in our finite perspective on answered prayer. And I love that he's encouraging them to keep praying, keep at it, because he knows it's cultivating, you know, relationship with the Father.
So, like I said, that's called out. Jesus takes time to teach us, to teach us in that way. Definitely. Yeah.
All right. Then, prepare to draft the judge a little bit. How do we see him? Like God, how do we see the judge?
God is your friend. You already called out the one thing. That's right. The one, I think, Jesus is making that contrast of he's unwilling.
He doesn't have the right intention, so to speak. But because of the persistence, he goes, oh, fine. I'll do it anyway. And he's going, how much more would a willing, well-intentioned, good Father, a good judge, to for you, if you're persistent in prayer.
It's kind of a very taught a couple weeks ago about the low and the high. You know, if you down here being evil, know how to get gifts to you. How much more? Yeah.
Way up here. It's a similar technique that's being taught in the middle. That's really good. Awesome, man.
All right. I want to move into the lookout section. It says, when was a time someone fought for something on your behalf? Yeah.
What's the question getting at there? It's acknowledging the connection with others, who, in this case, was able to move mountains on our behalf, making this for us. And that puts us in this healthy way, like a dependent relationship for someone to do for us, what we can't do for ourselves. Anything's dead out to you in that?
Yeah. And I think tying this with the idea of persistence, I kind of read into the question also. Not just one time someone fought for me, but you know, of time when someone fought for me consistently. I can think of when I was growing up, when my sister and I would get in trouble as the older sister, she would cover my sins and, you know, say that, okay, what John was doing was, and would cover me in that way.
And because of that, even if, you know, from the adult, my dad's perspective, parents perspective, he saw one thing. Because of my sister's persistence in saying, no, no, what he actually did. Yeah. You know, in breaking the TV was that he was not really happy.
Even if it was something serious, it was this kind of advocate to say, almost translating, hey, this is kind of what it is, or at least if it's real, then if it's true, what I did was wrong. And hey, can you give him a break? You know, just consistently. So, yeah, that's great.
And also love it. Right. Let's move it to look at section before we read this question. It's tied into X is 34, six, seven.
I think it's another question that you're going to naturally lead through here. If you're leading this, you're going to talk about perseverance and prayer. So for sure, you want to ask a question along the lines of, you know, when was the time that you participated in prayer? Were you currently persevering in prayer?
What have you learned through the exercise of persevering and prayer? And in your group, you may likely know that, but I'm going to call that out again because there's a lot of learnings along that way. I mean, there's so many things, right? Whether it's a longing for physical healing, you know, a relational longing, there's so many things that we pray and we don't immediately see again quote unquote what we want.
What the answer to the prayer is. And a lot of times, even expressing that, calling that out is beneficial to someone who may have not even realized they've given up for these to say, I guess I'm praying, I'm trying to be persistent, but at least to call it out, it could express, you know, it could even bring out some unwanted emotions. I mean, even bitterness of God, why aren't you answering? I think this passage just reminds us.
It sounds so cliche, you know, just don't give up, just hang in there. And a lot of times that may sound even harsh or unable to read the room, so to speak. But there is a element there where for Jesus, it's so natural. Of course, of course you're persistent prayer because this is how God hears your prayers.
He wants the best in your life. Yeah, and I would encourage you to share with vulnerability and honesty. I mean, again, a couple of weeks ago, sorry, I can't remember this this week or last. I think it was two weeks ago when Eric was talking about his dad and praying through ALS.
And I mean, in vulnerability, it really resonated with me and so many others. Well, he told me a parable about, you know, a good father down here, your heavily father all the way up here. And how for not getting what we would want, like he talked about that Tim Keller quote about, well, we're asking for a snake, you know. And that's so hard.
It's so hard to reach that place because I love what he talked about. I didn't feel like it was. I was asking for something good. And I was asking for the, I get it.
I get that my dad is now all the way healed, you know, with Jesus restore all of that. I wanted that. And I wanted that now. And I think I love that we're a church that we acknowledge that and we call that out and that's modeled and you shouldn't be afraid to do that same thing.
The same level of building sharing with your groups and with others share with you. Like don't feel the need to come in and rescue and offer the platitudes. And it is true that all things work together to those that love them that are called according to us, but all of that is true. But often just sitting in the perplexing and the pain of that and knowing that God is faithful and he's able all of that can be true at the same time and is true at the same time.
So how would any tips you give for folks that are leading through that? Yeah, I think one thing when it comes to what John Tom said, one of the beautiful things of leading groups and being in a group together is being able to sit together with unanswered prayer. And what I mean by that is it sounds discouraging at first, but there's an element of, hey, I know what you're going through. I do know what I'm going through and not having to have a solution or answer to it, but just to look at each other and go, hey, we're in this together.
We're helping each other, praying for each other, and there's a beauty in just even that community. Just a little word picture illustration that has helped my prayer life is whenever I look forward to what I want to see, it's hard to miss. Maybe God wanted something else. And then only way down the line in hindsight, okay, God wanted this direction or answered my prayer this way.
One way I've heard it, but it was prayer is putting up the sails on a boat on a sailboat and catching the wind of wherever God wants to go. If your part is putting up the sail, but if you don't put up the sail, the wind is already, we're not causing and creating the wind, but what we're doing in prayer is to catch what God is going. In that way, we're not looking for the ultimate, oh, the answer of the prayer, but it's the process of saying, God, your will, not mind me done. And hopefully by doing that and making prayer consistent habit and consistent in it, even before you get to that wrong conclusion person, you can go, okay, God, I feel like you're leading me in the group and others in this way.
You're almost prepping yourself to the answer that normally without prayer, you might have been discouraged, but with prayer, you go, what? Maybe God is good. Yeah, I didn't even remind him the way that God was not like the judge, right? So yes, he has authority, but he's not bothered by it.
We're not pestering, he's kind, he's gracious, he's compassionate. He sees all these things. And nor we like the widow, you know, widow who didn't have a whole lot of rights, would have been on their own, didn't have standing in the community, and even in the sort of religious institution, right? Like needed somebody to stand for that.
Like, well, we have that. We're adopted. We're sons and daughters. And so we have full access in relationship with the father because of what Christ has done through the spirit.
We have all of that. So that's really good. Now I'm going to read this and pick it apart now, but this helps us understand like, right? So this is how God is not like the judge.
And you might want to read this in the last thing. And then from access 3467, and then when you think about persistence and prayer, what are the qualities that you need to hold on to as you see God described in the past? It says the Lord passed in front of Moses and calling out YHWH, the Lord, the God of compassion and mercy. I'm slow to anger, filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
And I will lavish an unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive an inequity, rebellion and sin, but I do not excuse the guilty. So all those things that's who God is, unfailing in his love, unfailing in his faithfulness, he's compassionate, he's mercy. Like what are the qualities of God that you need to hold on to the reminder of as you persevere through prayer?
Leave that in the prayer. And say that in your groups as you close up this week. This week, okay man, well, this is week five. So this is the final week.
And we've got our new series that comes on after this called Overwhelmed. Excited for that. Like how do we navigate life decisions, regrets, all of these things. Holding on to the King who's overcome when life is overwhelming is going to be a really great series, very practical.
As always biblical, we still be surprised by that. So life to be encouraged to jump on and give team on the server discussion questions. We've got these for you a week in and week out. All right, Mr.
John, anything else for you to say? Do you want to sing us out? What do you got? Yeah, I'm good.
All right, guys have a good week. And we'll see you this weekend at one of our congregations. Congratulations.