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. Welcome Life Group leaders to our Life Group leader podcast. We are excited to have you on this special episode as this is a series overview with looking at the book of Daniel, our new series, How to Survive in a Chaotic World with Mr.
Eric Geiger, a senior pastor, Eric Hanks for a time of this. I'm excited. I'm so excited about the series. I'm excited about what God's doing in life groups throughout our church and really thankful for the leaders who are listening today.
Yeah. I mean, we were talking to the leaders, you guys. We were talking about the front line of shepherding and care and we could not do what we see God doing in and through our church without you and the way that you're helping disciple others. And I know for both of us, you know, involved in life groups, we get to see that from the formal perspective of the transformation that could happen around community, looking at God's word.
And so this has got to be great. This is going to be a great series to help facilitate the life changes already happening. So the book of Daniel, really excited for this, a seven week series. I love that the subtitle gives us a lot of the direction of where we're going.
How to thrive in a chaotic world. We can talk a little bit about that, what we learned from the book of Daniel and how we can address the question that's in the subtitle of the series. Now, some of the people in our church feel how many of the people in your life group feel today is a microcosm of how Daniel and the other exiles for sure felt when they were brought from Jerusalem to Babylon. And that is the context for the book of Daniel.
Daniel being one of those who was dragged away into captivity. And then you have an account of his life and how he lived as this God worshiping God fearing young man, 15 years old when he's first dragged into captivity, but he's now living in a land where they worship Mardock, this foreign God, you know, not a real God, this little G God, where they are filled with decadence and showing off their wealth. And you have these earthly kings that think they are the ones who rule the world. And I mean, you just you have arrogance and pride in the Babylonian kingdom.
And you have horrific treatment of people happening in Babylon. And so you would think that when we have people in our lives, you say, I feel like everything's changed. I feel like I woke up and everything's different. Well, there's a there's a great book for you, the book of Daniel.
We have some of your life here who's like, I've been at the same company for 27 years. And all of a sudden I had to sign this statement about sexuality that is we've never had these statements before. What has happened? I feel like everything changed or you are a parent of a 15 year old and you used to have kids come to your house or you used to sit your son used to go visit a friend's house and they played football industry.
Then they did video games in the in the living room. Then they hung out in the back. Like I've been the last five, six years. And then your kid comes home and says he went to the party and there was a keg in the backyard in there, sophomores in high school.
Everything has changed. And so I give that all time. Everything's changed. I woke up and everything's different.
And I think sometimes I know those are very real life examples. Yes. The listeners you've experienced that we've experienced. And I think sometimes we can have this modern elitism when we look at culture and how much things have shifted and changed and we can be hopeless and think, man, it's never been then like this.
Things are only getting worse. Yeah. Seems like every year every news cycle. Yes.
But God's word has a lot to say about about these to not to minimize all those experiences. That's right. I totally see how it feels as if everything has changed, but real quickly, try to imagine Daniel. You're walking through the gates in Babylon and you are hearing your cap the people who captured you, your captors, your oppressors and say, thanks be to Mar doc for handing you over to us.
You now are going to work on this building project for us. The people who were dragged away were the professional class. They were it's kind of like if a company acquired another company and they want to retain the best talent. I mean, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon brought the best of the best and Daniel's this this very good looking smart young man who's brought into Babylon to help battle it.
They wanted to make him Babylonian. And so chapter one is they teach in the literature and they teach him the language of Babylon. They're trying to integrate him, assimilate him into their culture, which is always where this book's going to get so so proud with us is always the technique of the enemy. So in the Bible, you find that Babylon is a place.
It's a real place, but it's also a pattern. So you see in the book of Revelation that there's the spirit of Babylon, you see in the book of first Peter, Peter writes about the church in Babylon. He was referring to Rome. So we compared Rome to Babylon.
So throughout history, Babylonian thought is a pattern and it's the pattern to move the people of God away from God. So I'm listening, hey, listen, Babylonian thought is still coming after me and still coming after you. So how do we live in a world that feels very different in a world in which we are constantly provoked to assimilate away from Christ and into a culture that denies him? Yeah.
And how we respond is really important, not only for us or information, but how culture is paying attention to how does the church live and exist in a moment where we feel under attack and pressure, things are changing around us. What is our disposition? What is our response? Yeah.
So that's really what the series is. And you might be surprised that what Daniel told me. He actually, he loves the people in Babylon. He, he, he, one time with Helene Bekonesser in one of the passages, this dream I have interpreted for you that God gave you, it's going to be a bad ending for you.
But I wish it would be on your enemy. In other words, I don't, we don't want this for you, Nebekonesser. I actually love you. So you'll see Daniel, you'll see where he actually doesn't surrender to the culture, but, but embraces the culture around him.
He lets people call him by different name. Yeah. He's the food from the king. He reads their literature.
He studies in their school. So like, essentially he goes to the college, but yet he lives very distinct. So he goes to the university in Babylon, but he doesn't become that interesting. So how do you integrate with without going along the cultural values?
It's, it's, I mean, there's so much beauty in the, in the Bible and how it gets together. Yeah. It's why when Peter writes to people who were in Rome's empire, he's really harking back to the time in Babylon for the Jewish people. And he says, Hey, live holy lives among the pagans.
So basically you have to live distinct, different, but yet not removed from the culture. So you live within the culture, yet you live a distinct life. And it works for Daniel. I mean, what you find is really rare.
Daniel serves under five different kings. Like that never happens. You know, imagine if you're the, the COO at a company and you have five different CEOs in your tenure and they all keep you. They all keep you because you at, usually there's turnover there, but the CEO keeps you because you have such a value.
So Daniel, this God fearing Jewish man, the Babylonians believe in him. And he never compromised. He doesn't compromise. He doesn't bow down before the statue of Nebuchadnezzar.
He doesn't eat the king's food. His friends, Shadrach and He should have been a go. They don't bow down. They are willing to tell the king the truth about dreams that God gives.
So they have conviction, but they also have compassion, which that will be the first. That's the first week. I love that. I love that title and the title straight from what's happening in chapter one, conviction and compassion, those things living together to compliment one another, the point towards the king that lasts through Jesus is there's so much learning that's applicable for us in everyday lives through here.
Anything else you want to hit on in the seven weeks, we don't have to go the week by week in here. I mean, here's what's going to be fun for you as a life-care leader is there's really a bunch of famous stories in the book of in the book about one. So you know, chapter one, which will be week one, it's where Daniel and his friends, they don't want to eat the king's food. They, hey, let us, can we just eat vegetables?
Can we just test this? And it's really not about a diet. It's about not ultimately receiving food from an earthly king because you're trusting the heavenly king to to prosper you. You have in this book at Daniel, you have the famous story of Shadrach and Benago and the fiery furnace.
You have the famous story of Daniel and the lions, Dan. You have the famous story of you. You've heard the phrase, the handwriting is on the wall. That comes from Daniel, chapter five, which will be week five.
So I mean, right there, you know, only eating vegetables, fiery furnace, lions, Dan, right on the wall. I mean, that's four famous stories in the first five chapters of Daniel. And there's incredible lessons for us on how do we live in battle? Yeah.
So good. That's great. That's going to be our central focus of that. How do we live in Babylon?
And by the way, that was not here anymore. The kingdom has fallen, but its values are still present in different. Because it's not only places of pattern. It's right.
That kingdom has fallen, it's not. And well, it's actually was prophesied in the book of Daniel. It's like this kingdom's not going to last yet. It's multiple times prophesied.
It's the statue that crumbles. It's the tree that's cut down. But there is a kingdom that is started, that Daniel predicted would start. That doesn't fade.
It's the kingdom that lasts forever. And it's the kingdom that we're part of. That's right. So this is going to be so great and applicable for us.
A lot of growth and development through this whole series. We've got, I believe, happening, roots celebrations happening during the series. We're going to be running out against Thanksgiving. So many great things that are happening.
I also just want to shout out to we have our series magazines. Oh, man, I look amazing. Yeah. And I think I've heard this is about the fifth time that we've done with this.
And the great thing about this, these are volunteers who are investing in developing. Creatives, artists, our church who are using their gifts for God's glory and serving us. They're really serving us well. I'd say, like your bleeder, this is the third book that we studied.
The book book this year. So there's 66 books in the Bible. We studied Jude. We studied Philippians and we studied Daniel.
I think it would be really awesome for your group to know that you love to study a book that you're excited to. I'm so excited to study this book. This is going to be awesome. There's 66 different books.
If we do three a year, it's kind of my dream. I would be here 22 years and I could have talked through the whole Bible. So I've been here five. I've got a special amount of go.
But let's go. Let's study the book at Daniel. So I love that so much. I love what you said to my life group leaders.
We set the tone of the value for that of me. We want to be there with our series magazines taking notes, not just relying upon the group questions that are in here. Those are great and helpful tool for you, but take your observations and things that you want to bring to your interview. We love that.
We see it every time we have these series magazines. Life group leaders will lead the charge with that. Yeah, totally. You're the group sees you having the note section all marked up.
You're your your your Bible, you know, open, you tap in that that that matters. Yeah, it does also. Great. So I love that you get the opportunity to do that.
And then we'll go to the show a bit to this guy. Thanks for these leaders. I pray you give them wisdom as they walk through this incredible book. I pray you speak to them that they would meet with you in the pages of scripture and that the challenges that they haven't in their lives just like I have in mind.
JT has as we navigate life in Bowlin under the pattern of the thinking of this world. Lord, renew our minds, Lord, give us courage and compassion, courage to hold the convictions that we have, but compassion to love people well. I pray that for the group leaders that you speak to them and encourage them in this incredible book and you're my friend. Amen.
Amen. Thank you for watching this and thank you for the next episode.