Welcome to the Mariners Church Life Group Leader podcast. This weekly conversation is designed to equip and resource you to build a healthy life group community that studies God's word, practices spiritual rhythms, and changes the world together. Welcome back to the Life Group Leader podcast. We are excited about week two of the You Are Series.
This is Jared Kirkwood, and joined with me today is Jeremy Maxfield. Jeremy, thanks for being here today. And I wanted to say thanks for the amount of work you put into these discussion questions. We have really enjoyed the direction that you've taken us, but also the amount of content that you've given us to just create healthy conversations in our life groups.
I have noticed though that as we look into this week, or I should say the You Are Series, there's a little, the content's a little bit different. We've taken out some leader notes, we put some more effort into these podcasts. What's the hope behind that? Give us some insights there.
Yeah, so first of all, thank you. It was very kind, but our desire is really to equip leaders to facilitate discussion. And so the leader guy is never intended to be, you know, a strict or rigid map. Like you've got to check all these boxes, ask all these questions.
They're really, as we look at the text, explore these ideas to provide in each section as they kind of introduce the idea, they look at the text, they apply it to their lives, they look kind of at the culture around them to kind of help point them in the right direction, provide some things that will hopefully stir up reflection and discussion. But really as a leader, we've gotten so much positive feedback after the summer with the Hope and Hope This Time Series and the magazine. Oh, that magazine was so good. It was so well done.
It was incredibly well done. So many talented volunteers, and I look forward to something similar to that happening again in the future. But even, I think just it being packaged so nicely, we got a lot of compliments about the curriculum and the questions, which ironically, they're the same as usual. The only difference being that there were no leader notes in it because they were going out to everybody.
So didn't want that to be a distraction. And so I've really tried to put fewer leader notes in each week's discussion and really try to use this time in the podcast to help answer some of those questions that may come up. So we'd love any feedback just to kind of see how that goes. But really want this to be an easy tool for leaders to be able to glance at, see some questions.
If they prepared beforehand, maybe they highlight or make some notes, like this would be a good question. And just trying to keep it as streamlined as possible. Yeah, I agree with the direction. I think it's going to be helpful for people.
And like our leaders, we hope that for you that you feel free to look at these questions that you can come prepared as Jeremy is saying, make some notes in the margins. Highlight the questions that you know are going to be really important for your group. We don't lead your groups, but instead what we hope to do is equip and resource you to be the best leader possible. And so oftentimes, what that means is that you take the guides and you pray through those questions and you figure out which ones are going to be the most impactful.
They are designed in a sequence by intent. There's a reason we do that. And largely it's because we want to open up and create a good conversation that gets people chatting. Then we get into God's word, we drive God's word deeper and deeper into our heart the further along we go.
And then eventually it's about life applications. So it's how do we live differently because now we have this particular passage driven deep into our heart through discussion and prayer and all of that kind of good stuff that happens in our groups. So with that in mind, Jeremy, you've prepared a great sequence of questions for us here. And what we want to do a little bit different in this series is because of the nature of it, you are the whole series is based off of one core passage for speed or two nine.
And then each week we have a supplemental passage. So Jeremy, why don't you share with us what the week two passage will be? Yeah, so again, I want to encourage leaders, memorize first Peter two nine and ask your group leaders or your people in your groups to be memorizing first Peter two nine. This week we're looking at a royal priesthood, that second phrase, and we're going to unpack that idea of being a royal priesthood with Romans 10, 19 through 22 that says this, therefore brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain, that is through his flesh.
And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. It's a beautiful passage about an interesting part of our identity, this idea of being a part of a priesthood, like that word is a tricky one, right? It's an interesting word because I know that many people from our church come from a background that this idea of a priest is probably connected to potentially some religious upbringing and various religions have the role of priests, right? No matter what background you come from, you have a conception of what a priest is.
And so Jeremy, how do we unpack that in our group in a healthy way that doesn't derail the conversation, but enhances the direction we're trying to go with this week's discussion? If groups want to open up with this kind of idea of what comes to mind when you think of priests, that role that kind of character is often caricatured in popular media, it's often used to either be the source of the joke or to use in kind of like a malevolent way, like this person's not living up to the role of what a priest should be, somehow there's some kind of nefarious intent, they're up to no good. But again, kind of like our discussion last week with sometimes family of origin, pain and the idea of being a child or a father can be hard for some people, it's because we know that there is something truer that should be the case, that should be our reality, but even our good examples fall short. The same is true for the idea of priests that biblically, priest represented the people to God and the God to the people.
And so we see here throughout the Old Testament that priests were considered to be devoted to the work of God and to helping other people know and relate to God. And so that's what we're looking at here, is the second part of our identity, building upon the fact that we are children of God, part of what that means is to be part of a family of priests. Well, and doesn't that just, as this series is intending to do, remind us of who we are, and scripturally, based off of the two passages, the first Peter passage and the Hebrews 10 passage, now we have a deeper look at our role in that paragraph that or that sentence you just kind of read there, that we're here to be considered people who are devoted to the work of God and helping others know and relate to God. That makes a ton of sense to me, and I think it will be enlightening and illuminating to many people in our church to go, right, okay, it's not about an official office in a high church, but instead, it's actually a part of my identity, that I am known as being someone devoted to the work of God, and I come alongside others helping them know and relate to God as well, right?
Yeah, and I love the way you emphasize, I am known as someone who seeks to help others relate to God. And one other thing I guess I'd point out is that, so often, even, even biblically in the Old Testament, practice of priests and the temple and tabernacle, there was this idea of separation, which the book of Hebrews references, that there was kind of always this separation between God and man, and so a priest was needed to kind of mediate between the people. But here, the differences, as we're all priests, as we all have the Holy Spirit and dwelling within us, that that separation, Christ has removed that separation, and we all have access to God, and so we personally have access to God, and we want to help usher other people into that type of relationship through Jesus, to where, like, look, you have access to God too. If that makes sense.
Absolutely, absolutely. If anything, my hope for this week's discussion is that for every person in a life group, that they recognize that in their neighborhood, in their family, in their workplace, in their social settings, that we are never not his priest. Yeah. That we might be able to put on a new sense of identity that says wherever we are, God has us there, for the purpose of being known for our devotion to him, and helping others know and relate to him.
That changes the way I think about a lot of aspects of my life, and I hope it does for our groups as well. Jeremy, anything that you want to help us steer away from any pitfalls that we want to be careful to avoid, or perhaps even any best practices or wisdom you want to share with us to make the best of this conversation? Yeah, I think one thing I'd like to emphasize is that you've already mentioned that we can avoid the idea that being a priest is some official role, or status, or office, but it's part of our identity. Wherever we go, this is who we are.
And what I'd like to emphasize is this idea, as we begin to look at, so what does this mean in my life, is first, that first part of what does it mean for me to have direct access to God, to be able to boldly enter into his presence? What are some of those things that I'm doing as a group leader, that I'm encouraging my family, that the people in my small group are, like what are we encouraging, and what are we practicing, to deepen that relationship with God, and that personal conversation? And so in the guide, I guess maybe the leader note for this week is to point out things like the seven rhythms of rooted, refer people back to their rooted workbooks, and remind them of things like the annual read, and the daily podcast that is there going through the annual read, and obviously our worship gatherings, and then the fact that there are prayer experiences that we can have together as a group. And these are all ways to kind of foster that awareness of the fact that we are constantly living in the presence of God.
It's a really simple thing, and yet a lot of us don't do it, which is just simply following Jesus and saying I'm gonna go to church, I'm gonna be in a group, I'm gonna practice these things that the church has been doing for thousands of years. It doesn't have to be overly complicated, and yet we do have a drift towards complexity, and so I'm grateful that this week we have an opportunity to re-center on some fundamental things about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and isn't the fall the best time to do that? It just seems like everybody's resetting right now, kids are going back to school, the Bible reading plan you've abandoned, get back on board, the eating plan that you abandoned, let's get going again, you know, like everybody's resetting, let's do it here too. So the prayer experience is one thing that you mentioned in this reference to your end this leader note, this is a great week to close out our time with some extended prayer.
It's the role of a priest, a priest prays, right? It's one of the things that everyone would agree. And so as a collection of priests, our identity proclaimed by Jesus, let's pray, and you've given us some specific bullet points in here. And what I love about what you have done here Jeremy, is this is not just simply a list of prayer requests, and treating God like a cosmic vending machine, you know, where we put in a thing and we expect something to come back, but instead we acknowledge his goodness, and we pray for hearts and minds and souls.
And it's a beautiful thing when we really do, try to grasp the will of God and to pray in such a way that joins God in his kingdom come efforts onto earth, you know? Yeah, so for group leaders to really provide space this week, we'd be like, discuss for a little bit, obviously look at the text, but then use that text as a springboard into an extended time of prayer, whatever that looks like for your group, it could mean 15 minutes, it could be 30 minutes, you may be able to have an hour, I don't know, but just to take that time and really let the text kind of guide, those bullet points, some of those come just straight out of the text that we look at about Jesus sacrifice on the cross and the fact that we can now be bold and entering into the presence of God and living in the presence of God. And then just not just focusing on our own personal relationship, really foster that, but then like you pointed out at the beginning, the second half of that idea of being a priest is not only do I relate to God, but I want to help others do the same. And so be sure to take time to pray for each one another and then also your extended circles of influence, like what do you see, what's happening in your lives, kind of outside and in the workplace and schools and your neighborhoods, maybe just kind of in our communities and really take some specific time to pray, not just general prayers, but to be as specific as we can, just seeking God's will and how He might want to use us to be His hands and feet in those different situations.
It's beautiful, thank you Jeremy. Well, like your leaders, we're grateful for you and we hope that this week's discussion will be a good one, one that is centered on God's word, but also lifts our eyes above the things that we tend to live most of the time, which is about our own stuff and things going on in life, but let's be reminded that God is on mission and He invites us to join in His mission. And so we're grateful for you. If you need anything from us, let us know.
Have a good week. We'll see you next week.