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 this week's episode, looking at Daniel, how to thrive in a chaotic world. We are looking at Daniel chapter four, excited to look at this text together with us and lead us through the group discussion questions.
And we have got the incredible, the one and only, but yokee, our disciples to pass our down on Oceanside. It's good to be here. It's easy to be kind with us, truly. And you are just leading in so many incredible ways down in Oceanside.
We are so grateful that you're leading the charge to roll things discipleship down there, caring for people incredibly well. Just give us a little bit of a snapshot. We've had you on here before, so people know your voice and what you're up to. But this is the first time for people hearing about Mary's Oceanside and your role down there.
Just give us a little bit of what you're excited for, what you see. Yeah, so Mary on Oceanside, we've been down there since Easter of 2022. I was one of the first staff that was hired there. It's been really fun, kind of an interesting ship from one church that was existed in a space and us coming in.
And not only refreshing the look, but really, I'm not to refresh the atmosphere there. We're seeing a lot of healing, a lot of peace that has come in people that have kind of been in the middle of church for a long time. But also seeing the community start rallying around this location again in a really amazing way. So just this week, we're going to be doing three or four community outreach events in our city.
And also one of that where the city is coming to us and kind of being that church in the community for the community, we're talking about secret good. It's really become kind of our brighter for this wall. So it's really fun. Yeah, we are in the middle of secret good.
And it's running through and sounds like you guys have got some great opportunities for your life groups down there to get active. Yeah. So our life groups are participating with our newest partner, which is Boys and Girls Club of Vista. They're serving an under-resourced area.
And so we're doing a process to help refresh their space as they get ready to bring in students for the fall season. But we also have our military connections that are going incredibly well. We're doing a turkey bash. We can cook some chickens and pull pork and serve them to Marines as they play type of ball in the field also.
And then we also have a warrior breakfast where we're serving them after a hike. And so so many opportunities to be relationally connected with these Marines. And what we're seeing is that they're actually coming to Mariners because of the relationships that are built there, which is, you know, we don't pray that that that is the main result, but we pray that God would draw people towards us in that way. And our life group serves our helping people engage with us in that way.
I know you shared a few weeks ago that one of our staff meetings about some opportunities are opening up there to really care for marriages. Great stuff that's coming to the future. So all of the times that we work with out of focus, I specifically have identified that marriages in the Marines are one of the areas that they want to focus on. And if the Marines have a higher than 100% divorce rate, which means that people are getting married multiple times and getting divorced multiple times.
And so what marriage matters does for families up in Orange County is amazing. And working with our marriage team here, we're going to bring marriage matters along that we are. That's fine. And the day has been determined January 19th, that's it.
That'd be incredible. So if you're a life group leader, you want to be a part of life change in our military and the really dynamic way. I encourage you to look out on the future. Yeah, our life group as a part of the good, we're serving down at the military barbecue on November 19th.
That's on the north side of Camp Pendleton. But that's one of so many opportunities happening over the course of Seek the Good. Life group leaders, we want to encourage you. Man, this is really an all-in.
We would say this is an all-play. This is what it means to be a life group at marriage that we don't just sit and study God's word, but we live it out. We apply it. We serve our communities of 11 Jesus in the same way that he has served us.
And so there has never been so many opportunities in the next few weeks, whether it's things that are going out with military and life groups come join us. There's room in our server on November 19th. Come on down. We've also got here at Irvine dancing without limits.
It's a massive event that we do for our special needs community. We've got our foster youth family serves. We have a refugee family Thanksgiving dinner happening on November 11th. There are so many opportunities for you to jump in and serve.
And so hopefully you were seeing those. If you're on our life group distribution email, you're seeing where you can sign up for that. If you get stuck and you're like, hey, keep going out with these serves. I don't know where to go.
I can't find it. Then just email us. Email lifegroups. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to jump in and to serve during Seek the Good.
All right, buddy. Should we jump in? I'm going to do it because there's so much. It's actually here.
We're not going to read it. It's so good. We're not going to read every single verse here. My series magazine is just give us what's a teaching summary on page 63.
So we know we're going with Daniel chapter four. It says this. Nebuchadnezzar ruled a powerful kingdom, one that nourished others as birds of the air nested in the tree of Babylon, the Babylonian kingdom. But his kingdom would not last and he was not the ultimate king.
Instead of living as a king under the rule of God, he lived as a king apart from God. Because of his pride, he lived as a senseless animal and God humbled him. When we put our hope in ourselves as our own kings, we become senseless too. When we are filled with pride, God is ready to cut us down as he did Nebuchadnezzar as he humbles those who exalt themselves.
When Nebuchadnezzar walked in humility, God restored him to the throne. When we humbled ourselves, God restores us too. His restoration reminded God's people that they would be restored too. Now we have Jesus as the better king who's never in the kingdom welcomes people to nest in its branches and receive real lives.
So you kind of get the thesis of Daniel chapter four from that summary in your series guide. A couple of questions that pull out from the sermon, which are in the sermon discussion questions here as well. What happens when you make something that is not supposed to be the king of your life, the king of your life, a question that's posed in the sermon. Are you living with you as the king apart from the king or with Jesus as your king?
And so Daniel chapter four is really that. If you look at the construct of it, there's Nebuchadnezzar has another dream. Daniel interprets the dream and really the summary of the interpretation of the dream is you're going to be cut down unless you acknowledge the truth, the true king of heaven. And there's a warning there.
That Nebuchadnezzar doesn't heed. And so then there comes like a discipline really of not responding to God's word within the dream. Nebuchadnezzar is sent out. He's wandered.
He loses his kingdom. He comes to his sense and sense and sense. He's not the true king. And then there's a segment of worship at the id of Daniel chapter four.
So his pride comes before fall. He's humbled and he's restored. And so that's kind of the flow of Daniel chapter four. But yeah, spend time reading the full passage within your group.
We're not going to read the entirety of it now, but we're going to jump in and leave through the questions here. All right. So a couple of lead in questions here. Share a humbling experience that you have had in life.
Oh, this is vulnerable. We're going to be joking whether profound or impacting or just funny. I mean, the question is like, you know, what's the time, basically it's the time that you were humbled. The time that you were, you didn't give us a prize.
Don't we all have so many of those? Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure if you're going to be a fan of the science. It was incredibly troubling for me.
And I tell this story often because it's just really, if you don't laugh at yourself, do something, you work hard because life is funny. But I really like this girl in high school. And but I was really afraid of all of the coasters or anything that I do stuff. Yeah.
But I really like this girl. So I tried to be that really macho like let's go on this ride kind of person and we jumped on that ride. And boy was I, I shouldn't have stepped into the truth that I had that this was not for me. Totally.
Totally. So yeah, that rest of the day I spent shaking underneath canopy with friends playing risk while she had all the fun because that moment was just through in my incredible. Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure.
So I will share. So you're not after. Okay. Yeah.
No, I got so many. I got so many. I mean, the one that pops into my recently is we brought a family vacation. I think I've shared this before.
We were in London. I think there are a bunch of times and felt pretty comfortable with it. And it was like, okay, my wife Lindy, you know, you, you drive and I'm going to navigate because when you're driving on the wrong side of the road. Yeah.
And then we're all the wrong side of the road and I'm from the other place. You want somebody to navigate. And so I'm like, you know, I got this. I was just here not that long ago and telling her where to go.
And we just get stuck. So I'm like, I'm out of the key for area. Like what is going on? And it turned out that I had my Apple Maps set to walk and not drive.
And so we were going up all these wrong streets. I'm like, no, this isn't where I trust me. He's like, no, we're circling on the wrong thing. And I just had to eat it as like, yeah, this is my dad.
I totally mess up the guy. But that was a moment where like my pride of I've been here a bunch of times. I got it. Don't worry about it.
You know, we can make this work. And I had to acknowledge that. Wow. I really miss that one.
So there you go. Great. So that's where the question is designed to get you thinking about a time where you, you know, you were a little proud of, there was probably a little pride that was involved there and you were humbled and what that situation applied. All right.
Let's get into our look down. And we're not going to read it again, but then you'll probably got your passage in front of you. If we look at Daniel for four, if you're 27, there's a couple of questions related to this portion of scripture that says, how was the king's pride at work even before the dream was described? So what do you see?
What do you learn about Nebuchadnezzar's pride even before the dream is described? I think in what you see in Nebuchadnezzar as an individual who rolled over such a powerful nation is that it really, I mean, so many of us statements that even as he was describing himself at the very beginning, very much I statement. That's right. And a prideful person will often speak from the eye before they speak from the lens of God revealed this or God then this or so immediately by the way you see Nebuchadnezzar describing what he's encountering, it's very much about him.
Like first of all, is there's either I had a dream and a frightened me. So I issued the creed and like, you hear that I, I, I, I, and the response to that is very much about him rather than perhaps what God is trying to reveal to him. I think somebody starts from God gave me a dream. That language is very different.
It doesn't put you as a precipice of right. That's good. That's a really good observation. That's really great.
The ownership statements, he says this multiple times. I just sing it right now in verse 18. My, my kingdom, I hired these wise men that can interpret it of my, my kingdom. So it's like this possessive.
This is all mine. It's all about me. I'm at the center of everything. That's, that's right.
And then you'll see that throughout throughout the passage about how he's amassed as well that his empire and it's very much like I'm taking credit for everything that's been built around me has been built because built because of me. And so you could say, right, his identity is fully wrapped up in it. If it's a possessive in the nature of what actually God is entrusted to him and we believe that God placed, he's sovereign, it plays to give it to him. He sees himself as a center of it.
There's an older spirit. There's an older spirit. The kingdom is knee. I am the kingdom.
Yeah. That's good. A couple more questions here. What did Nebuchadnezzar see?
Why was he so afraid of the vision that he saw? So you can work through that in your, in your group. He describes a tree that's, that's at, at the center and he, that dangles it. That's like your kingdom.
You put yourself at the center of the tree is, is chopped off and unless you acknowledge who, who God is, that you're going to be banished, you're going to basically set out for your kingdom for a period, period of time. So you can work through the descriptive parts in the dream and just know your observations. What do you learn? What do you see?
What's the dream? How does it respond? Let's move down. Yeah.
Please, if there's, if there's this line here, which I think is really interesting about Nebuchadnezzar is that in a dream, he was able to identify the person who cut it down was the only one. Yeah. You can even lean into the fact like his spirit came from the fact that he saw somebody cut out a tree that was like, holy, like pretty much the picture of holiness will look in your mind. And that's probably very different than what Nebuchadnezzar's character is.
Right. I think that's what probably it's endured the fear of it because the holy one came with confidence to chop down the tree. He didn't ask anybody else to just abandon it. Let that tree beep.
That's right. Yeah. Like in an instant. Like you hold it, you think you control it, but you're not the one.
That's really good. Great observation. Why don't we move down into the lookout and into the look in section? So I want to encourage you leaders.
There is a lot of text here, right? It's like, you know, from all of chapter four. So read it in turn, work through the different questions that are there and you're going to spend probably more time than you normally would and look out, look down sections and that's great. Spend your time there.
But we're going to move to the lookout. So give reminding ourselves that a bit of this is about pride. It's about where we put ourselves at the center. We don't acknowledge that all things come from God.
It's about worship. It's about identity. It's about selfishness. What's the life looked like when it's driven by pride?
Where have you seen it? What does the life look like when it's driven by humility? Where have you seen it? So it's kind of that both hands.
What stands out to you? What do you? I was actually teaching the youth about relationship between what happens whenever you become somebody that is humble mentee. And in that I asked them in the very beginning, who are the people that you want to be like in life?
And a lot of people said, you know the rich ones. I said, Okay, but who's actually written in our history? The people that we often remember in our history books, they're like, I want to be like the person other people that live within the city. That's right.
Because pride actually. I feel like pride is buried with you with a grave. money is gone, your kingdom is gone, all that kind of stuff, it leaves you, but humility leaves a lasting atmosphere around you beyond your life, as long as God allows this verse to continue. And I think that's what you see as the very end.
You want to be the person where the pride, all the things that I'm associated with it are being buried, or maybe the humble person that your legacy lives on through your character, how you stepped into other people. That's a really good man. I love that. Like you, I just threw him out of memorials.
And as you were talking, that just got me thinking about the one that I just recently did, and this is somebody who had a considerable amount of achievements and accomplishments and things that he did throughout his life. Those weren't the stories that were being shared. The stories were being shared were about a legacy of service and how he loved his family, how he cared for his family, how he stepped in. It was a mixed marriage and multiple kids on each side and how he came in to really just be a dad to that family.
And his legacy, his life was one of service of humility. And just hearing the stories shared was like another sober reminder of like, yeah, that's who I want to be. That's who we all want to be. We don't want to be people that hold tightly to our achievements and accomplishments because they're all fleeting and they don't last.
But life is best lived when it's lived for the sake of others, right? Because that's what Jesus mumbles for us. And so that's great. And in so many ways, I think that is what brings the Christian culture and the antithesis of the world's culture.
Yeah. And told us something enough how the world responds to the truly humble person. That's right. In a way like that, actually what we want, but we don't have to achieve that part of our quest.
Yeah. Right. And when we don't live that way, we operate from scarcity, we push people out of the way. We're not generous.
We're protecting our own name, we're building our own empire. Often those people are some of the most isolated and anxious people that you'll meet because they're constantly worrying about this pressure to achieve and hold on to everything that I've built. And it does not lead to a fruitful abundant life that Jesus invites us into. Right?
Oh, it's good. Very good. All right. Let's go into our look down section.
There's a few different questions here. Let's navigate them. One of them says, where does pride creep into your own life and heart the most? What are the unexpected white ways that pride comes to the surface?
So it's getting you to talk about where do you wrestle with pride? What do maybe the root causes for that? And then how is the Lord humbled you in these areas? How have you seen God bring correction to you in these areas?
How those experiences deepen your faith and fueled your worship? And then where are you currently taking pride in your own kingdom, your work, your family, your social standing, and what needs to change? All right. Any of those questions, Miyoke, how would you navigate them?
How you answer them or how might you instruct our leaders to lead through those? For those of you that still have your rooted guy, this is a really interesting in the small fold section. Some people might be not going the depths of what pride actually looks like, and in there, there is a line of pride. I don't need to be something that people don't think about are the root of pride.
So there's jealousy and envy and all those things. And so it may be worth it to bring people back into that experience. And just going like, Hey, remember in a rooted week before, we talked about how pride could be a stronghold. And these are some of the areas that there is and kind of remind them of how pride can so be evident.
Yeah, the things that we, yeah, this could, that's good. Yeah. And then those identity cards that get passed out that that we too. Yeah, there's some great stuff in there for sure.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm being humble all the time. All the time to be honest with you. There's just so much that I am continually learning and growing. I think about being a parent of two girls and one of the teenage girl and beautiful.
We love both of our kids so much, but there are so many moments where I'm like, yeah, I don't know how to navigate the situation by myself. Like I need, of course, the resources of God and to be able to trust in his leading that he loves my kids even more than I do, which is crazy to acknowledge that. And then I can't control every situation. I need the wise counsel of other people.
Like when I try to hold too tightly to, okay, I want, I want to make all the decisions for her. I want her to, you know, get everything right. Like it says something more about me and my lack of trust. And so I feel like there's a lot of humbling that goes on to parenting.
You know, it's the first year that I think of which increases our reliance upon, okay, we need your wisdom. We need to be led by you. We need to be led by the spirit now we navigate these situations. That's kind of where I went.
Yeah, I need to win from you. Yeah, I need to win from you. Yeah, I need to win from you. I mean, it's, I'm a whole daughter.
Yeah, there's probably a lot of things that I could pick up from you on the way. Yeah, yeah, totally. We need that in our lives, right? We need people that are years ahead of us and equally years behind us so that we can, it's not just, you know, learning from others, but it's also applying learning from others.
That's discipleship, right? Of doing that. Yeah, but yeah, I think one of the things that also humbles you and pride is when you realize that everything is good. It's good.
Like humility and gratitude or kind of head and hand, right? And in that, it's the command for God was not for you to be a king but a steward. Right? And I think that the steward is somebody that still has the things around them.
Yeah, still is working, still is creating, still might have wealth, but they understand the very end of the day. There was only a gift to them. Like Lord, give it and we'll take it away. To live from that standpoint, pride becomes less and less of focus or a running gear in your life.
Yeah. Yeah. How many times have we seen it in our lives or the lives of others where people hit a point where they just can't bear the weight anymore. There's a sticking point.
Something happens. Like we read the passage of the Nebuchadnezzar. There's a point where it's like you're going to be humbled. God's going to bring you low.
Those are moments where I've been with people, whether it's devastating low, but God turns that and he uses that and he redeems that situation. And I love what the point of the message is God, by God's grace, the low point can become a turning point. And here near the end, Eric says something to the effect of, you know, if you keep thinking that you're the king, God will humble you too. Not because he's wanting to ruin you, but because he's wanting to restore you.
He wants to restore you, not ruin you. And he says that God placed Nebuchadnezzar back in his role and he was the king again, but this time it was better. More greatness came to him. God was not out to destroy him for his pride, but to deliver him from his pride.
It's a great distinction. It's not there to destroy you for your pride to root, but he's there to deliver you from your pride because he knows what's best for us. He's not not to destroy you, but to deliver you. The low point became this turning point.
There's a great learning, a great lesson for us there. Amazing. Anything else you want to share as we close out this week? Fantastic conversation.
This is such a rich passage of scripture. I hope it blesses you. Yeah, awesome, you guys. And again, the encouragement to seek the good.
Let's do that leaders. We're going to leave. We're going to lead our group really well for that. And again, if you get stuck, man, where do I find the opportunities, how do I sign up?
Just email us, liferipps.reenerstretch.org. We can't wait to see how God is going to use your group, the stories that we're going to share as we serve together with the love and grace of Jesus. All right, guys, great to be with you. We'll see you on here next week.