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. Hello and welcome to the Life Group leader podcast. My name is Kirby Wood, your group's pastor here at Mariners Church, and I'm so glad to have a great conversation today with my dear friend Liz Powers.
Hi everybody, so glad to be here. Yes, we're so glad. And we're gonna have a great conversation today to help prepare you for this week's discussion. And so Liz, you are our content pastor, right?
Yes, you got it. Tell us a little bit about what that means and what you've been working on. Yeah, so I love my job. I love this role that I get to play a part of at Mariners.
We have an amazing senior pastor who is gifted as a teacher and leader. And one of those ways that he shows that is actually in how far out he can plan and prepare our team for what he will be teaching on weekend and week out. It's not uncommon for churches to be planning the week of for what their weekend experience will look like, but because of Eric and his discipline, we actually have the opportunity to think at times 12 months out for specific things. Yeah, so it's such a gift.
It's a gift to our church to all of our teams, specifically opportunities like this with life groups. We get to think about how we can resource you guys, the life group leaders way in advance, because we know what we'll be teaching on in March of 2023. So I get the privilege of getting into the little details of every piece of these series and from a content perspective, finding opportunities where Eric is gonna be teaching these principles and values and these scriptures on the weekend. And then my job is to make sure that that is cascaded through the rest of our church.
And so I'm really excited actually to be talking to the life group leaders today. Absolutely. You guys are a huge part of this. Well, we're so honored to have you here, truly Liz.
Like I know so much of the work that you and Eric put towards the weekend, we really get to reap the benefits of that as we prepare you guys, our leaders for that. So thanks so much for being here, Liz. I love it. Well, as we look into this week, I too am really excited to hear Eric and hear what God's put on his heart, as well as start to think through what this week's message is gonna be about.
So with week seven, for we're looking at He, Seals and Secures. That is such a comforting thing for, I feel like us to jump into as we look at the Holy Spirit and how he really speaks to us. In that really specific way of sealing and securing us. First and foremost, as always, we start off with a great leaning question that hopefully gets to really level set the group for you guys.
So when you do this, keep it light and fun. I know this question here. It says, can you remember a time when you didn't have the confidence to do something you wish you could have? It might feel a little heavy in some ways, but it's good to keep it fun with something like, I don't know, say like on audition or what else do you think and Liz?
Exactly. I mean, I look back. Maybe there were some times that somebody might say, I wish I wouldn't have been so confident and tried out for something. But I think about like looking back, wishing maybe you tried out for a sports team or something, thinking that you weren't good enough in high school to go for the soccer team or for that role in the school play, or maybe when you were graduating college, you set the bar a little low for yourself and you didn't go for the job that you really always dreamed about.
And even something like maybe you've never even had the confidence to have the dream. So it could go anyway. We hope that it's fun. We hope that you guys can laugh with it.
And also get to share a little bit about some ways that you have wished that you had had that confidence. Sure. You know what's super funny is this last week, I actually watched some home videos of myself doing a recital. Amazing.
Well, it was so funny because I remember so specifically thinking I shouldn't put my hand in the air, or little things like that, where I really, I look back and I was not as bad as it. And I was in theater if you're not surprised. I know. Yeah.
In personality, I know. But even looking back, I was not feeling like I was really stepping into my fullness of who I was. And I felt like I was holding myself back. And I looked back and think, dang, I wasn't as short as I could have been.
Because actually, I was kind of a good singer. Yeah. But you were worried about what everybody else was thinking about. You were worried about what your teacher or your peers might think about you.
Totally. Didn't want to come off a certain way, even who you were to throw your hand in the air. I know. Well, now you'll see me up in the front row of church.
Just kidding. But I hope that that kind of conversation comes out with your groups, right? Light-hearted, fun, silly. And maybe there are some ambitions.
I can even think of someone in my own group who wishes they would have gone after that harder role at job and sought out that promotion. But they were a little too intimidated. And that's going to be a really great, I think, segue to the next part of the conversation. You never want to be too weird.
And all of a sudden, be like, OK, now everybody open your Bibles. Well, try to help us draw why this question was a part of this. So as we think about confidence, let's look to our Bibles of where we can source our confidence from. So then we're going to have all of you.
If not, phones are fine. But I'd love to encourage you guys when we can about how the Bibles with you or everyone have your Bibles with you at Life Group. But then this question comes up really clear. It's pretty straightforward, but I love it.
It says, what do you learn about the significance of the Holy Spirit as it pertains to your salvation? What do you think of this question? It's good. I mean, it can feel, I told you with this wondering if it was too obvious.
But it's just so important that we understand this coming out of this past weekend sermon. And then as we deal with the text up close with our Life groups, it's so important that we walk away knowing what the Holy Spirit is with our salvation. Like what does it actually promise or does it promise something really is the question that we're asking. So it's such a good thing for you and your Life group to talk about together.
And we don't want anybody to walk out questioning what it really means for them that yes, upon belief, like the scripture says, when you believe you are sealed with the Spirit, what are you sealed for? That is salvation. That is eternal life in Jesus. I love that.
I hope that light bulb comes on for some people in your group. There might be people that don't know that. Right? It's not kind of, I remember, you know, when you kind of had that moment, I remember when I was a young Christian, I thought, like, do I, is this, do I need to like say the prayer again?
You know, in the I believe moment, like I can see it on some people's faces, they're like, should I say I believe again? Yeah, it's like, I know I did it last time, but yeah, no, it's the one time and it can't be taken and it's promised it's, this scripture in this version too, it calls it a down payment and it talks about redemption. Like what it looks like to redeem like a coupon or a word on your Chick-fil-A app. Like this coupon is on our coop.
Coop or queue? I think I said coupon. I think coupon is great. coupon is perfect.
But it's not a scripture. Back to the scripture. This idea of it being this Holy Spirit upon belief in him and then that it is a deposit, like the down payment, you know, it's the first taster of what it means to have life with him until our redemption when we get to redeem the whole thing in full when we experience it in eternity with God. Yeah, that's good.
It's exciting. You do it down payment. You get the house. Yeah, even though, you know, like I go too far with my four sometimes, but I love that.
You get it. That's a really good visual. No, you're exactly right. That's so good.
Okay, awesome. And then perfectly we can kind of start to turn people to think, okay, how does this thing that we just read about, even though it seems so simple, but also what's super applicable and practical through our lives and people turn to it in all kind of different ways. If they don't know, right, if people and their lives don't know about this ceiling and the securing that happens and they haven't had the opportunity to place their faith, what are the sources that people turn to to give them a sense of confidence? So that's our first lookout, our part one of our lookout and then secondly at what point do these fall short?
Yeah, that's great. You know, what I think about is the silliest decisions that I've made with friends because I had a cloud around me of people, just a peanut gallery, right, like egg and you wanted to do some stupid thing, like in, I don't know, college or something jumping off of high lines that I shouldn't have or a bridge or something into the water. I wouldn't have done that by myself. So I think about, and then now it just even, I think now it's kind of more like I look to, I could look to friends for confidence and just assurance that like, you know, I'm well liked or like that I'm successful, that I've got to going on and because look at all these people around me, you know, or in the most extreme cases, you might see somebody looking to like a substance to bring them confidence, you know, there, Kirby, you were, you know, I were just talking earlier, like a job, so easy to do.
There's so many things unfortunately. I actually love the bridge analogy because so often it's like you needed that confidence to do it, but there's a point where that same confidence that led you to something fun, but also your friends could peer pressure you into something bad, right? So like there's kind of this push and pull that we hope that you guys have with your group is the reason there's a second part that says at what point did these fall short is because at some point, some of these confidence has helped us do things. Like I think being confident in your job, maybe a lot of people will hopefully like turn to, oh well, I'm my source, you know, or I see sources of confidence of people, you know, being really successful or having lots of money or like, da da da da da da, right, some of that, like maybe actually positive, right, a lot of it and most of it, if not all of it, as it competes with, you know, with truly God's purpose for people is going to fall short.
Right, right, and like what happens whenever it's taken away? Like what happens whenever all my friends turn on me or I move away or what happens whenever I lose my job? Like where does my confidence come from? It's gonna be taken away too, if it was found in those things.
So good, but you can even hear in the way that Liz and I are talking now, you guys, that we are quick to try to think about ourselves. So keeping people in the camp, I think is helpful as you think about what sources do other people turn to. This allows an all play in the conversation, right? So this person says, you know, like friends and then this person says money and success and you know, like really, like I wouldn't hit the second part of that question until you're able to kind of rally everybody to give some answers.
I think too often we can get into our own soapbox moments of like, well, I think the people turn to the source of confidence is, you know, and they can say something that is true, but also we want to create a dynamic discussion. So maybe ask people what are sources in a one or two word answer from each of you? What are some sources that give people sense of confidence? And then when you hear someone give them good, when you say, okay, you, Liz, that was good, the friends won.
Say more, at what point does that fall short? No, that's how you really start to instigate a really dynamic discussion. That's good. So lastly, we, of course, do the look in and we already were going there and I think it's great because that's, that's what's natural.
That's what happens is we start to think, okay, where does this start to apply to my life? And this first question is we don't want to be too pointed to kind of mimic the look out, but we're hoping that we can kind of do a little spin and say what sources of confidence in your own life may be competing with the confidence the spirit provides. So I was, I love the example you mentioned about me. Like I talked a little bit like, I think my job is something I absolutely love.
And it's like, at some point, like if that's my everything, that's going to, that's going to fall short. And I have a great job. Clearly. Hello.
Hello. I love it. But truly, like that's, that's where you start to, that will help people identify not just, you know, random things that aren't super unapplicable, but something really practical to their day to day. It's good.
Yeah. And lastly, how does knowing you are sealed by the spirit change the way you live? I love this question. Yeah.
We're hoping that we'll pull out of this list. Yeah. I mean, for me, it's going to be just, I had a total lens shift whenever I discovered and had this revelation that, oh my gosh, like the confidence is inside of me. Like Eric Eric, when he preached on this, he, he talked about the fact that it's the Holy Spirit is the counselor who is with you, like within you.
And I actually can't change that. Like I can do nothing to change that. So I have a totally different perspective now that I'm not looking to the world to give me my confidence. I'm not looking to my job.
I'm not looking to my friends. I'm not looking to these other things to give me confidence because it is within me. Every single thing that I need is within me. And it's not going away.
So that means that I actually, I'm a lot freer. I'm a lot lighter. I'm able to, you know, I don't, I don't look into what I can consume from every space that I'm in, but it's, then I'm actually able to give. I'm able, I'm able to be a source of life for other people.
Like the people who are insecure, like you can tell it's like a leech in a group, you know, like they are just taking the life out of it from everybody else. Whereas when we, all of us are walking in the confidence of the Holy Spirit that is within us, we're a source of life for the people around us. So that's my answer. I was kind of caught into a lot.
No, that's perfect. Well, and I, you know, what was coming up, what was sticking out to me is so much is, you know, that, that's a really good example of maybe this is an opportunity to really illuminate some people in your group that are really confident in this rather than, you know, like there might be someone in your group or maybe a couple of people in your group who might be really wrestling with this. And that is, this is a great time to pray and worship is, is this spiritual practice here? And I think, you know, worshiping can sometimes reignite or remind us of who we are.
And in the same way that we remind ourselves, you might want to allow some of the people who have been changed by this, who really do sense a strong sense of security by their salvation to be able to share a little bit. How did this change your life? How does it look different now? Now allowing people, you know, like Liz or others to share, okay, like this is, this has changed the way I show up in this place or in that spot.
We'll really hopefully call up faith in the, in your group members. So I would really try to point out people in your group who are going to answer this question with a lot of confidence and to really help it be more a worshipful experience rather than some of the harder conversations we've had in previous weeks that are very important, you know, as we repent and as we confess and as we start to think intentionally about, you know, the grieving of the Holy Spirit, there might have been so hard of things that came up. And this, this week is true. If things come up, it's really helpful to, to dissect maybe some of those, but also one of the best ways, and you Liz are actually the one who encouraged me.
That's one of the best ways that we can really trust and hear from God on who we are is by worshiping people for who he is. Yes, it's good. This one, this one feels so good this week. I mean, even at the very end of the scripture that it's to the praise of his glory, like all of these things, we hear all these things are true, like that we, it's a promised seal.
We are his forever. And then we would, that it would end with to the praise of his glory. So it might, it might feel funny what for your group, just in a living room or in a coffee shop, wherever you guys are meeting, but take time. I mean, it, you don't have to do the full on prayer experience, but just sometimes to remind myself of who God is, I'll just recite back attributes to him and just feel free right now with your group.
I mean, just go to him and say thank you that you sent your Holy Spirit as the promised seal that is my inheritance. Like, and that's just pleasing to him. Just know that that I mean, for you collectively as a group, it blesses his heart to see his kids coming to him like that. So yeah, or maybe it's a, I don't know, play a worship song.
That's what I was gonna say. If somebody's got a musical gift or just a speaker, like. Be creative. Yeah.
Be creative with how you want to express worship. It just feels like the natural flow here. So whether that's like Liz was saying, you're praying and it's like, hey, let's all call out something that we, we sense God is sticking out to who he is and who that makes us. So let's go around everybody say a word in the midst of prayer or you have a great person in your group who wants to leave worship, text him ahead of time, give him a little text right now, bring your guitar, we're gonna end in worship or, you know, or, or like some people I know a lot of really great women's groups love to start out their time with a little worship song and with a little worship song.
You just playing it on your phone. So no shame. Yeah. That is a great practice and it's, it sometimes is, it might feel cheesy at first, but by the second verse, everybody's in.
Yeah. Everybody's in. I was closed. We're all stoked.
We're in the air. Yeah. We're all be grateful. So definitely find a way in your group.
This is your chance as a leader to be a little creative if you want or just take a couple of of weeks of worship this week. So no, we are praying for you guys and we hope that you guys have a rich, meaningful and deep conversation this week as you talk about how the Holy Spirit has sealed and secured us as His children. Amen. Talk to you guys soon.
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