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. Hey, Life Group leaders. Welcome back to the weekly podcast.
This is Kim. I get to be your host today. And happy Thanksgiving. I hope you had a wonderful time with family, friends, giving thanks together and celebrating the amazing blessings that God has poured out in our lives.
We're so excited to step into the Christmas season with you. Today we have Anthony with us to bring his discipleship heart. And I'm so excited you're joining us again. Thanks.
Yeah, thanks for having me. It's always a pleasure to get to spend some time with Kim and learning a little bit more about what God's on up to in our life groups across all of our congregations. And so I'm excited for our conversation today. So good.
So good. The last message from James that went through so fast. So fast. Now we're here at the end of 2024.
Yeah, end of 2024. And the title is a life well lived for this week. And James, chapter four, a life well lived between Christmas, between Thanksgiving and Christmas talking about generosity, the posture of our heart. What a great way to start the Christmas season.
I really can't think of anything better. So we're going to jump in today. And I love some of the ideas Anthony's going to bring. We're going to jump in first to the lean in section.
And the question that is in our beautiful magazine, if you had a day, totally do yourself to do whatever you want. How would you fill it? I think ultimately this is such a great question for you leaders as you're starting the night or starting the morning, however you're leading. And especially for those of you who have just transitioned from rooted into a brand new life group, because as you're seeing God bring together this new community, you're going to continue to learn more about your members and those that are involved in this group, maybe new members that are joining your group.
And so I want you to think of this question less as a icebreaker and more as an opportunity to actually dig into what's giving life to those that are in your group. And so you use this obviously as a starting place, but I would even consider asking follow-up questions like, how can we make space for what recharges us spiritually? Like I think that this question, if you had a day, totally do yourself to do whatever you want. The things that excite people, the things that energize people.
I mean, I don't know about you, but I know for me, I would probably be at a baseball game or a Laker game just depending on the season. Outdoors of my family with my five-year-old and enjoying the Southern California weather and the beaches, probably some great food and local restaurants and just enjoying a balance of rest, play and activity. But leaders, I really encourage you using this as an opportunity to get to know those that are in your group as you're maybe been journeying with these people or aren't a brand new journey with so many people from rooted and new added members. What about you, Kim?
What would you say if you had a day to yourself? What would that look like? I love what you're saying about bringing out those things in people in our group because it might make your group richer. The things that they bring if they love to cook, right?
Bring it on, bring your food, bring your talent playing guitar or whatever you have that you really enjoy during the week. But my thing I would say for me always is getting outside. Like on Fridays, that's a day I usually try to decompress and spend some time on myself. And that time in the morning is usually outside for sure.
Many times walking, many times including music because I was a major college and it just ministers to my soul. And any genre but pointing to the Lord. It's so good. Yeah, it makes me renewed.
Yeah, and as Kim said too, you never know. I mean, maybe some of you have already experienced this with maybe hosting a friend's giving with your life group and discovering the many talents of people that can cook in your group. But you never know what the Lord can actually enlighten you in this question. So definitely lean into that as you guys start your discussions.
So good. So much fun. And then we look down at this passage. Make sure you read the passage together.
My favorite way is just to pass it around the circle. Everybody read a verse or two so that we're all very involved and have ownership in reading from God's word. And lean from that. Just enjoy jumping into the text that James has starting their verse one through six.
Let's focus on that a little bit today because I think one through six it's all so great. But as we step into the season that can carry a lot in spending money and buying the right present, the right present, whatever that is. And it can be it can put away on us. But when we put in perspective of being generous and I think the question in the book is about supporting money and riches, the difference between that and living a life of generosity and freedom, it's worth sitting in that space because it could be a wonderful gift to everybody in your group to have the space to start the season with this mindset.
So in verses one through six, James writes about the sin of hoarding money and riches. What does he want his readers to do? Yeah, I'm thinking about this question in light of our communities that we have here in Mariner's church. And I think a lot of us, this is a hard question.
I think this is a really tough question to wrestle with your groups. And I just encourage you as a leader to recognize the weightiness of this text because James, he's really coming in a little hot here and he's really trying to get to the heartbeat, which is don't let what you own own you. And that's really simplified in terms of what he's trying to get to because this really is a heart check for all of us. He's not anti money or anti, you know, idolatry in this essence, like he's not trying to antagonize money, but what he's really calling us to live is a life that has open hands, open hearts and open homes.
And so I wanted to say that again is because James, he's not emphasizing a hatred towards money. What he's actually asking is like, don't let what you own own you. You should be invited in this text to consider how can I live with open hands, open hearts and open homes. And so you've really got a great opportunity here to shift the conversation from guilt to growth.
And I'm going to say that again, as leaders, you have a great opportunity to shift the conversation from guilt to growth because you can ask your group what does generosity look like in your life right now? And then you can actually take it a step further and you can maybe ask the question, how can our group be known as that group, the one that shows up for people in our lives, in our communities. And I just wonder what would God do with a community in your life group that lives actively seeking? How can we be open hands, open hearts and open homes?
Because here's the nature of it is that I believe is that in this text, we're reminded of this beautiful truth is that we are not called to hoard blessings, we're called to multiply them. That's so good. That is so good. I love that.
And having a whole different posture because greed can blind us from being able to see the people around us and the beauty around us. We don't want to miss. I also work down during from this section, Jesus is the treasure and he gives us every treasure that we have comes from him. He is the treasure.
We don't have a longing for anything past Jesus. He is the longing of our heart. So the freedom of that this season to give with generous hearts, that might even look like serving at one of your Mariners campuses. It might be as you serve at your congregation with your group, the beauty that can come from that as you serve together and grow together could change your whole Christmas season.
Yeah. And even a practical way that I'm just thinking of is we just launched our seek the good campaign through our series in the book of James. And I know we're right at the tail end of that and we've seen God do incredible things already. But I would invite you as your life group is looking for ways to practically live out the streets of having open hands and open hearts and open homes.
What would it look like for you to get on the tail end of our Christmas tree lots because this ends December 8th, this coming weekend. So what would it look like for you as a group to say, we're not going to miss this chance. We're not going to miss this opportunity. We're actually going to go on the tail end.
We're going to grab a couple of tags as a maybe as a family as a group. We're going to go shopping together, make this an event, but make it centered around being open handed and open-hearted with open homes. That is so good. There's a challenge right there.
That's beautiful. Let's take a minute and jump over to look in. The others are just as important looking out at the community around you with eyes wide open and hearts wide open and your homes wide open. The challenge to look in sometimes it's hard to step into, but it is always faithful in that moment when we take the step.
So the first question there, in what ways are you tempted to live for yourself instead of living for others? I think this question, it's such a good question. You're asking, it says in what ways are you tempted to live for yourself? I think this is something that hits home for everyone, including leaders, including us as pastors.
I just imagine that in this question, it's so deep and it's so revelatory and I just encourage you as the leader of your group, would you be the first to share? Would you step in and lead into this question? Be the first to share. Maybe openly and vulnerably into saying, and I've struggled to prioritize people in my life and just watch how God will use your vulnerability to send a trickle effect to those in your group.
I've seen it time after time when we realize that, hey, we're all a work in progress, but the goal is always progress, not perfection. So even as a leader, I can acknowledge in this way, man, maybe I'm tempted to live for myself with my finances. Maybe I'm tempted to live for myself with my time. Maybe there's that friend or that family member that I know God is putting them on my heart for a reason and I'm neglecting reaching out to them with a phone call or a text.
Maybe you can use this opportunity to share those opportunities that you actually have had as a leader and maybe struggled with. Maybe this is a great invitation for vulnerability as a leader group. That's such good ideas there because trust is built when we demonstrate it. It opens the door wide for others to share as well.
Follow that up then. How can we as a group help each other become more like Christ? When I first read that, I think it takes more than just the one hour we call together as a group. There's a relationship beyond that.
It takes maybe texting each other a prayer or verse or remembering a conversation. I was thinking about how you shared this was a struggle for you right now and I want you to know I'm praying for you this morning. But being in each other's lives more than just life group time, the consistency of the relationship and the support is there as we run towards Jesus together. Yeah.
And I think leaders, this is always a great opportunity. I know for me and my personal life group that I get to be a part of and be able to lead. Something that we do is we don't meet weekly. We meet every other week.
But something that we make sure to do is every single week, we highlight the needs that were presented in prayer time where we have prayer requests and we take an intentional moment. There's each person is assigned a prayer request and it's their responsibility to not only pray for that person but reach out to that person before the next gathering. So I would just encourage you maybe that's what this looks like for you. Maybe you have to intentionally step out and assign people, maybe a prayer request or maybe a person to reach out to and encourage throughout that week.
But what is really centering our hearts around this idea is that we don't just gather to talk about Jesus, we gather to become like Him. And so Jesus, He didn't just meet with His disciples for one hour a week or one hour every other week. He spent time with them. He didn't life with them.
I love you that are listening right now with busy jobs, busy lives, busy family life. And I know you're maybe feeling the weight and the tension of not being able to have the capacity to lean in more. Would you just pray for God to give you a divine opportunity to meet with even one person in your group before your next session? So good.
You're challenging us so well today. We're not together just to talk about Jesus. We're together to be more like Jesus. That's a great goal from today.
What does that look like this season for you as a group? What does that look like for you this season individually for you personally? What does that look like to be like Jesus? That's worth contemplating.
Yeah. And as we get into the new season, as we're closing up the book of James and entering and preparing to enter in to our Christmas series and our Christmas season, I just encourage you that there is so many people in this season that need intentional touch points, intentional accountability. Would you be the pace that are for your own group to be intentional with reaching out to those in your group? Amen.
Amen. We are praying for you and with you like your leaders. I love you guys are so thankful for what you're doing. God bless you this week in His Rich Grace.