Walk This Way with Pastor Clayton Tyner

Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast.

My name's Clayton.

I'm the pastor here at MetaChurch.

And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you.

I hope that you enjoy today's message.

I hope you guys had a very Merry Christmas.

Hope you had a great time celebrating the new year.

And of course, we see new years as these milestones that open up a world of possibility to us.

There's also this sneaking suspicion in the back of our mind that we're gonna set some resolutions that we'll follow for approximately three and a half days, and then we'll basically just cycle back into the same life that we've always lived.

I saw a meme that I'm almost sure you've seen by now that pointed out that 2022 could also be 2020.

But did anybody else feel like 2020 started in March of that year and is still going to this day?

It's like the longest, most awkward, frustrating, depressing year in all of human history.

If there was ever a time that we should be desperate to turn over a new leaf and really experience something new, it is right now, moving into a year.

How do we keep this year from being 2022?

From just repeating all of the frustration over again, repeating all of the same mistakes we keep making, repeating all of the problems in our relationships, repeating all the ways that we've been struggling at work.

As we open up a new year, I want to encounter a challenge with you in Scripture.

I have stolen my message title from the great Aerosmith.

My message today is walk this way.

Would you pray with me?

God, we love you and we thank you for loving us.

We thank you for a new year, and we recognize nothing magic happens on midnight, December 31st.

But at the same time, we understand that milestones are important.

And because you have come to make all things new, that every day is an opportunity for us to grab a hold of the promise and purpose that you have placed inside of us.

And I ask that you'd help us to take a step towards that today.

We love you.

We pray these things in Jesus' name, and everyone who's ready say amen.

We don't really get this in our current cultural context.

This is one of the things that we've lost as the West has developed.

But for basically all of human history, and still in the undeveloped parts of the world, walking is a huge part of the culture.

You know, you were kind of like a wealthy person if you had a horse or a donkey to ride, and especially if you had a cart with a team of animals that could pull you.

Most people walked everywhere they went for like all of human history, and many people still do that in the undeveloped parts of the world today.

And what that meant is that how you walked and who you walked with would not only determine who you were, but would shape and mold who you were becoming.

My mentor, Pastor John Whitdy, was a missionary in Africa for like 20 years.

And he went to some of the most rural parts, and he was able to make these inroads with the indigenous people in the different parts of Africa where he served in ways that many missionaries struggled to.

And people would be so curious about how do you get these deep connections and how are you creating these relationships?

And there was a lot of things that John Whitdy did right.

But one of the things that was very subtle is that even though he could afford a car and he could have driven everywhere he went, which most of the missionaries did, John Whitdy decided that since the people walked, he would walk.

And so every day he would walk for miles and miles and miles and miles, which equaled over the course of a week, hours and hours and hours.

And as he walked with the people that he was there to serve, they would shape his life and he would have the opportunity to shape and mold their lives with the gospel of Jesus.

Walking has always been a significant thing with humanity.

We are an automized culture.

We have vehicles.

We drive or we ride or we segue.

We go downtown.

We don't walk still.

That was the one place we walked.

Now we scooter downtown, right?

We drive.

We like to be on a vehicle.

But walking matters.

In scripture, walking matters.

At the very beginning, it said that the first humans, Adam and Eve, they walked with God.

This was a statement of deep, abiding relationship that mattered.

It made the pages of Scripture.

Israel, the promised people in the Old Testament, they walked in the desert for 40 years and taught us a lot about the path to getting to our promise.

When Joshua took over, Israel walked around the walls of Jericho 13 times until God delivered Jericho into their hands.

Walking matters.

And when we move to the Christian scriptures in the church age, we see the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Ephesus, and he shows that walking is not just a physical reality, but it is a spiritual reality as well.

In Ephesians 5, he says, pay careful attention then to how you walk.

Not as unwise people, but as wise.

Making the most of the time you have because the days are evil.

Pay careful attention to how you walk.

Making the most of your time.

And even though we are a culture who drives, we are all on a path.

And whether we are spending many hours walking physically or not, we all are headed somewhere.

And the question as we move into a new year is are you happy with how you are walking?

Are you happy with how your life is going in the direction that it is heading in?

Are you okay with the destinations that you keep ending up in, in your mental health, in your relationships, in your career, in your marriage, in your family, in your finances?

Be careful how you walk, not as the unwise people who are walking according to the ways and promises of the world.

The people who are caught in the rat race, who are just simply going through the motions, who have clung on to the promise that a status quo life will bring you some kind of significance.

Walk like your life matters.

And you know this.

But at MetaCurch, we believe and we see in scripture that God created you on purpose.

And some of you come every week and you are this close to rolling your eyes the next time I say that.

Because every week we start with the same assumption.

It's so critical because you spend the other six days and 23 hours of your week in a world that by design doesn't actually care about you.

And if I get you for one hour, I'm gonna let you know God put you on earth on purpose.

It matters that you're here.

You're not here by accident.

It is not some just cosmic indifference that set you on planet Earth that is a is a God who has a design for your life.

You were created on purpose and you were created with purpose.

And our purpose is found in walking wisely.

Today, to help us take advantage of this milestone of a new year to ensure that this is the year that we begin to walk out our purpose, to make our time on earth count.

Today we are gonna learn from one of the most spectacular walks in all of Scripture.

In Matthew's historical account of Jesus' life, we often call this the Gospel of Matthew, we're gonna pick up right in chapter 14.

And Jesus had just gotten done doing this very famous miracle where he took just a few loaves of bread and a few small fish and fed 5,000 people.

We pick up the story in verse 22.

It says, immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

Now they're heading to their next destination and they're getting there by boat.

And Jesus does what, if you read the life of Jesus, he does often, which is to send the disciples a little bit ahead of him.

And this was critical in the life of Jesus because we believe he was 100% God, but also 100% man.

And so while he spent his time taking care of everyone else and feeding everyone else and teaching everyone else, even Jesus would set aside some time for himself to take care of himself, to be quiet, to connect and spend time alone with his heavenly father.

And I wonder how your life would change if in 2022 you would actually learn how to take care of yourself spiritually a little bit while you are pouring out and pouring out and pouring all of your life filtered through social media and pouring out all of your energy into the workplace and pouring out all of your worry into your family.

If you could take some time in a daily rhythm to set aside to be alone with you and God, I promise if Jesus needed it, you need it too.

He was doing something else here.

He would often send the disciples ahead to allow them to navigate circumstances without him for a while.

And this is part of how you grow and mature somebody.

This is what a good parent does.

They allow their kid opportunities to do things that are just beyond their capacity to do.

This is how someone grows.

They get into a situation where there is tension or pain, and they're able to develop through it.

And he sends them off into a sea that is known for splint second giant storms.

In verse 23, it says, after dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

Well into the night, he was there alone, and his location is gonna matter.

In verse 24, it says, Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land.

It was near the middle of the sea, battered by the waves because the wind was against them.

The storms that would develop in this particular sea were known to capsize ships regularly.

This wasn't like it was a little bit rocky and somebody might get seasick.

This was like life and death kind of storms.

And they are out on the storm, and Jesus is back on the shore.

And we already talked about how 2020 just kind of continued on into 2021.

It's just been this like two long years of tension and just being disconcerted and confused and completely unpredictable.

And it feels like right up till March 2020, as a culture, we kind of lived with this arrogance as if we could really predict the way the rest of our life was gonna go.

And March of 2020 came and shut that down.

It showed us if life is anything, it is unpredictable, and in this life you will suffer.

And in this life, there is pain.

In this life, we go through storm after storm after storm.

We go through the storms of relationships, the storms of uncertainty.

We lose confidence in ourselves.

We have the storms of insecurity, we have addictions and habits that take hold of our life and create chaos.

We often are blown about by the winds of worry that keep us up at night and cause us to question everything about our existence in this life.

You will have trouble, you will endure storms, and maybe you're a follower of Jesus.

You have put your faith in him, and often in the middle of your storms, you're wondering where exactly is he?

He let the disciples go ahead.

They are now in a life and death kind of storm and they can't see Jesus.

But it said that Jesus went up high on the mountain by himself, and when you look at the geography of where he had been teaching, he had been teaching right on the edge of the shore, and he went up to the peak right on the shore, which means that they couldn't see Jesus, but Jesus could see them.

Here's the truth: we don't get to say or command Jesus how to interact or interrupt in the storms of our life.

It requires faith to follow Jesus to believe that when things seem their darkest, and when we don't feel like we can see him, that he sees you, that he is watching and he is waiting, and as we're about to find out, no matter how difficult the storm of life that you are in, Jesus can get to you.

In the next verse, it says, Jesus came toward them walking on the sea very early in the morning.

It still would have been dark outside, and Jesus comes actually walking on the water.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified.

It's a ghost, they said, and they cried out in fear, and things kind of go from bad to worse because they're already fighting the storm, they're already hoping that they don't capsize, and now all of a sudden, they see a ghost walking towards them on the water.

Now, here's the deal.

I don't know if any of the 12 disciples actually believed in ghosts or not.

Chances are they probably didn't as good Jewish men.

However, they had no frame of reference in their mind for a human being to be walking on the water.

And I'm telling you right now, if you're in the middle of Medina Lake and there is something walking on the water towards you, if you don't believe in ghosts, you're about to, okay?

They are freaking out.

They have to assume this is some kind of demonic entity coming.

It's all gonna be over.

They thought they were gonna die by the waves, but now they're gonna die by this ghost.

And immediately, in verse 27, Jesus spoke to them.

Have courage.

It is I do not be afraid.

I try to imagine being in that boat, the 12 guys fighting for their lives.

And surely at some point, they just watched Jesus take five loaves and two fish and divide it and divide it and divide it.

5,000 people ate their fill with 12 baskets of leftovers.

They've seen Jesus do miracle after miracle, giant vats of water poured out as the world's finest wine.

They know that he has some sense of control over nature, and at some point they had to be like, this is the time that Jesus decided to cut us loose.

This is the time he sends us in the boat.

When Jesus was in the boat, it was smooth sailing.

Who told him that he could go off by himself in their mind?

Jesus has left them.

And there is no way that he could show up.

It's not a possibility.

And one of the things that this story teaches us is that even in the most impossible seasons and situations in your life, Jesus can get to you.

When you can't see him, when you don't feel him, when you do not understand, and you can claim all day and recite the verse that all things work out for good for those who love Jesus and are called according to his purposes, it doesn't say you're going to understand in the midst of the pain what the good will be.

When you're in the midst of the storm, it's difficult to see the miracle.

When you're in the midst of the suffering, it's so, so difficult to see why it matters.

And yet, in the midst of the storm, Jesus can get to you.

And in the relationship that you feel like has no hope of ever being made whole again, Jesus can get to you.

And in the moments in your life where you can find no peace, Jesus' peace can find you.

And when you are feeling more hopeless than you've ever felt before, when you're in the thickest, darkest, windiest, craziest storms of your life, Jesus can get to you.

And even those of you who do not yet believe in Jesus.

Jesus can walk on the waters of your disbelief and get straight to the door of your heart.

What we do at Metachurch can be challenging on one hand because we're actively trying to tear down any traditions and bad theology that would keep people outside of the church, and that can be hard work.

But it's counterbalanced by something that makes our job, our job as the movement we call metachurch, so much of a lighter load.

So many churches act like it is up to them as human beings to go out and save people who don't know Jesus.

And the truth is we don't save anybody.

The famous author, C.S.

Lewis, said that being a Christian is like being one beggar who is just simply pointing out to the other beggars where the bread is located.

It's not like you're lost and we've got it all together, and so we will save you if you'll let us.

It's like I'm lost and you're lost.

I just happen to find the one who knows the way.

That's the power of it.

And so maybe you don't really believe all the claims of Christianity, and that's fine.

This is the place for you to be.

This is a place where you belong.

It's a place where you can get connected and get in community.

But I do need you to know that Jesus has this habit of walking right on top of the storms of your life.

And maybe you're even listening to this online or archived in the future someday, or maybe you're sitting here in one of these seats, and at some point in this message, you are going to feel Jesus begin to grip your heart, and it's like, bro, how did you get there?

How did you walk on the waters of 25 years of doubt, of 10 years of pain, of a lifetime of wondering why you didn't show up when I wanted you to show up?

You've watched all the YouTube videos, you have all your arguments against the existence of God, you have yourself convinced that Jesus is nothing but a historical figure, this whole nonsense about dying and coming back to life.

I'm telling you right now that when you least expect it, Jesus will walk right on top of the storm of disbelief in your life and begin knocking on the door of your heart, and it will be up to you when you want to let him in.

Jesus can get to you no matter how impossible the situation is that you find yourself in.

And here's where it gets interesting.

Jesus is walking on the waves, and yet we still haven't gotten to the most spectacular walk taken in scripture.

In verse 28, Peter answered and said, Lord, if it's you, command me to come on the water.

And Jesus said, Come.

And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water.

And Peter came towards Jesus.

Now, Jesus has already demonstrated like some really, really legitimate power.

He's actually already shown that he can manipulate matter itself.

So Jesus walking on water, unbelievable.

But Peter walking on water, I don't know if you've read much of the Bible, but Peter is the screw up of the 12 disciples.

Peter always puts his foot in his mouth.

Peter's the guy who, like the night before Jesus dies, sits at the table and like, bro, all these other people they may turn their back on you and they may deny you, but I'll never deny you.

Man, I will go to the cross with you.

If they're gonna kill you, they're gonna have to kill me first.

Ten minutes later, he's like, Don't know the guy, never met him, never seen him before.

That's Peter over and over again.

I thank God for Peter.

Because it's like a disciple I can relate to.

You know, you look at all these great heroes of scripture, and if you don't really investigate, you get this idea that they're these like special, extraordinary people who are like the spiritual elite or something like that.

Peter dismisses all of those ideas.

Peter walks on the water.

Jesus says, Come, and Peter walks on the waves.

He has the faith to get out of the boat.

Peter, when Jesus met him and called him, was a fisherman by trade.

He grew up on the water.

That's an expression for when someone spends a lot of time out on a boat.

It doesn't mean you actually were on the water.

But here's the thing having the faith to get out of the boat is a lifestyle.

It's a decision you make that when Jesus calls, you will answer.

It's a decision that we're not just gonna be a movement who believes in.

In Jesus and waits for heaven, we're gonna be a movement that follows Jesus and by doing so brings these little glimpses of heaven right here to the earth.

You see, Peter was a successful fisherman.

He was in the tilapia industry and it was very lucrative.

He had a good life.

And Jesus said, Come and follow me.

You are a fisherman, I will make you a fisher of man.

And what did Peter do?

He got out of the boat.

You see, we read about Peter walking on water, and in our minds, it's his first step of faith.

But before he could even get positioned in the boat on the sea as one of the 12 disciples, years earlier, he had to step out of his first boat, step out of his career, step out of his livelihood, step out of his ability to make money, step out of the life that he had known and the relationships he has formed.

See, walking on water wasn't a one-time event for Peter, even though he only physically walked on water once.

He was the kind of person who had the faith to follow after Jesus, even when following after Jesus seemed all but impossible.

Peter teaches us that outside of the boat is where you want to live.

Outside of the boat is where you were created to be.

Inside of the boat feels comfortable.

Inside of the boat is what we've known.

Inside of the boat is the rat race where you settle in for the status quo and you try to position and jockey yourself and pick the right filters on the right pictures and get enough people on your side to kind of climb the ladder and be the best on the boat.

That's life.

That's the way that the current of culture is flowing, and you are called as children of God to do something different, to a countercultural, water walking way of life that flies in the face of all common knowledge and makes an uncommon impact on the world around you.

You are called to think differently and live differently, to love in new ways and set new hopes and new expectations for your life.

Peter had the faith to get out of the boat, and because of that, he walked on water.

But it didn't take long for him to realize that his success was not based on his own strength.

In verse 30, when Peter saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid.

And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me.

His attention shifted and his fear heightened.

He took his eyes off of Jesus, and as his faith began to shrink, it seemed like the waves began to grow.

Following Jesus, living this courageous life where you're willing and ready to get out of the boat, to get out of what is comfortable, to get out of what you've always known, to pursue your calling, to define success, not by how much you can get in this life, but by how much you can give away for the benefit of others, to leave an actual legacy and lineage behind you, to unlock the purpose that is lived dormant inside of you as you have given into the lies of the world.

It isn't an easy path.

The waves are very real, the wind is very strong.

And sometimes we think about the great heroes of scripture and we think about the spiritual life as it's so often been defined by the church culture.

And we think it is someone who walks steadfastly, who never second guesses, who never falters, who never fails.

A bad word doesn't come out of their mouth when they stud their toe.

Like nothing goes wrong for these people.

And the truth is, God calls ordinary people to follow him imperfectly.

He calls people who no doubt will shift their attention back to the storms of life.

And yet, in verse 31, it says, immediately, Lord, save me immediately.

Jesus reached out his hand.

Immediately he caught hold of Peter and said to him, You of little faith, why?

You doubt.

When Peter began to drown immediately, before all the words had left his lips, Lord, save me.

Immediately, he pulls him out of the water.

The boat had been in the middle rocking and rocking for a minute.

The boat had been in trouble for a while.

And Jesus was on the mountain just watching.

He took his time, he walked there, he got there eventually, but it wasn't the same sense of urgency as Peter in the water.

And I don't know about you, but in my quest to follow Jesus with my life, there have been seasons where it feels like I keep meeting these ordinary people, people like me, and it's like they are just encountering Jesus everywhere they turn.

It's like they're just hearing from God all the time, they're seeing miracles all the time, they pray, boom, it happens.

And it can get frustrating when I just feel like I'm on the boat and it's rocking and things are fine, but the storm's here and I'm navigating it okay, but like, where is the immediate reaction?

Here's what's crazy.

Jesus will allow you to put your hope in your boat.

And everyone has a boat.

It is the thing you turn to when life gets hard.

It is the place where you feel comfortable.

You have your boat.

It's what helps you escape the pain of life.

And we all encounter pain in our life.

And for some of us, our boat is the boat of pride, right?

And we have this in our mind that if we just demonstrate enough arrogance that we will convince everyone that we are on top of things, and this facade of arrogance will keep people from seeing through it to the vulnerable side of us because we actually are scared to death of what's going on in our lives.

For some of us, we've made our money boat, you know?

And it's like you don't actually have the money to buy what you buy, but you just keep swiping and keep swiping.

Because if you can convince everyone that you've got stacks on stacks on stacks, maybe they won't know that your life's falling apart and your marriage is barely hanging on and you're underwater completely financially, drowning in debt.

For some of us, we go to habits or addictions.

It's our boat.

When we can't deal with the storms of life, we just escape it or we numb it, we deny it, we just take a few more hits, a few more shots, we scroll, look at a few more videos.

This is what's tough is we all have a boat.

These are the things that when life gets hard, we turn to, which means in the storms of life, it's what we are putting our faith in.

And it's difficult because we're now at the point where we all carry a boat with us.

And life gets like a little bit uncomfortable, and we just go to the phone.

And not only is it time wasters and something that we can tune the world out and kind of numb ourselves for a little bit, it also can be used to access all of the addictions that we used to have to work so hard for.

We have storms in life, it's inevitable.

You live long enough, you learn that life is a lot of suffering and a lot of pain.

So, where do you turn in the seasons of storms?

The truth is, any boats that we are setting ourselves in, trying to protect ourselves from the pain in the world, will be insufficient because boats are made out of the same world that is sending the storm.

Jesus isn't calling us to hunker down and ignore the storm or escape the storm or deny the storm or try to just get through the storm.

He's calling us to overcome it.

He's not trying to just spare us from the waves.

Our God is so good, he's calling us to walk on top of them.

This is the opportunity you have attaching your life to something that's bigger than the storm.

Jesus says, I'm not afraid of the water, I'm the one who made it.

And so we go to things in this world to try to save us from the pain of the world.

And if we want actual hope, we have to place it in something that is greater than this world.

Jesus showed us that by walking on the water and inviting us to do the same.

He said, Peter, you of little faith.

Seems kind of harsh, right?

Like he did just get out of the boat in the middle of a storm.

If I'm Peter, I know myself.

If I'm Peter, I'm like, right, bro, but they had no faith, right?

Like, I'll take little faith.

I walked up here for a minute.

And what's hard is a lot of us have had really difficult religious experiences.

I've shared some of those through the years.

And it's difficult for us to not project onto Jesus the pain of some of our past spiritual leaders.

And so we hear Jesus like, you have little faith.

Like he's chastising him, giving it to him, disappointed in him.

Jesus is the ultimate leader.

And so, yes, he's having a conversation with Peter.

Why did you lose faith?

You were literally walking on the water.

What is it that caused you to doubt?

What happened that made you desire the comfort of the boat that you had already stepped out of?

Yes.

Jesus corrects us and he guides us.

And yes, Peter lost faith.

But Jesus came immediately.

And he picked him up.

And together, they walked back on the water.

And following Jesus and getting out of the boat and escaping the things that you actually put your faith in.

And if you want to know what you put your faith in, just think when life gets hard, what do I do?

Are you looking to Jesus who is calling you to walk on the water, who's calling you to overcome the storm?

Or are you just trying to survive it by turning to the things of this world?

And when you fail, and we all will fail, Jesus will be there because we're walking with him.

Peter was learning and growing, and this was another important moment in Peter's life who would go on to be one of the premier leaders of starting the movement we call church, the same movement that we are a part of all these thousands of years later.

My message today is simple.

This is the year to get out of the boat.

This is the year to do something new.

And that might mean a lot of things.

The first time Peter stepped out of the boat, it was stepping out of a career.

And maybe that is you, but you know, sometimes I do these sermons and people come up and are like, I heard you loud and clear, man.

Quit my job.

On Monday, I'm like, that might not have been God, all right?

Like, we're gonna exercise some discernment here.

I'm also gonna say, some of you may have been denying a call on your life to do something new in your career for long enough.

Maybe for you, it is finally starting to treat your spouse with the kind of love that you know they actually deserve.

And it's scary, right?

Because you didn't have that modeled for you, you didn't see that in your own home.

The waves of vulnerability are incredibly intimidating.

For you, maybe there is a habit that it's finally time to deal with.

It is time to get out of the boat to stop using that addiction as your lifeline that is actually taking your life.

Getting out of the boat could be finally admitting that you actually have a problem.

It could be seeking Christian counseling, going to AA, getting some real accountability around you of people who really love you.

Maybe it's time to make that life move that you always can find an excuse for.

You've been living together for nine years and you've convinced yourself there is no reason to go through all the hassle of actually going to the altar and saying, I do.

It's time to get out of the boat.

It's time to quit playing it safe.

Dude, the church, the people of God have played it safe for too long now.

It is time to start living uncomfortable lives where we have the audacious faith to believe that with our God we could actually walk on the waters of this life.

Stay in the boat and you'll experience 202.

You'll be sitting here January of 23, having the same thoughts, the same longings, desperately wishing something could change in your life.

If you want to make waves with your life, you have to get out of the boat.

If you're willing and ready to make real changes, to see real growth, to take the risk of sinking in order to walk with Jesus.

This will be the year that you'll look back on and see as the moment your life began to change.

One of my favorite speeches is from Teddy Roosevelt.

You may have heard it, it's called the Man in the Arena.

He said, It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles are where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.

But who actually does strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spins himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

In other words, the life worth living, the life you're longing for, is not found in the boat.

It is found walking with Jesus on the waves.

You know, I get to the end of these messages and I try to give some application.

And so the hope is that you will take this and apply it, and that I'll take this and apply it into our real lives, that you'll get in community with people and challenge each other and really do something about the truth of scripture.

Today I have a really incredible opportunity because there is someone right here at MetaCurch who is in the middle of a transition where they are choosing to get out of the boat.

Last summer, you guys know Pastor Bobby.

He came to me and let me know that God had been placing something unique on his heart.

In this time period, Bobby was going through the greatest storm of his life.

For four years, he had been watching his mom battle stage four cancer, and just recently she had lost her battle.

Out of this season, God gave Pastor Bobby some incredible clarity, and he wrestled with God of exactly what he was telling him, but God had woken him up and told him clearly he needed to get ready to get out of the boat.

And Bobby knows Matthew 14, he knows something of what that means.

It took some time, but Bobby realized that he has some gifts and some skill sets that he needed to fully put to use, and that his experience, 20 years working in the church, uniquely positioned him to offer these gifts to the world.

Bobby told me that the word God had given him was transition, that he had to step out of what was comfortable and known, and neither of us knew exactly what that meant.

And it was really interesting because for years Bobby had a vision, and he would share it with me frequently.

And the vision was to put on a hard hat, which was a bit of a metaphor, and to build out a permanent place that MetaCurch could own.

We talked about this for years, and what you don't know, because you've never had the privilege of working on a project with Bobby, is this guy has more skill sets and areas of expertise than you could possibly imagine.

He knows all about audio, all about visual, all about space management, all about infrastructure, all about Wi-Fi, all about electricity.

It's unbelievable the things that he can do.

We walked in to a bingo hall, and he knew instinctively how to turn it into what you're sitting in today.

But when God told him to get out of the boat, this building was not even on the market yet.

And so there were two visions that seemed like they were in contradiction to put on the hard hat and go to work, building something out, and to get out of the boat and transition into a new season.

And so we wrestled with it.

And I'll be honest, as we looked at the storms in the world around us, some of the waves were very intimidating.

But when this building came and when we actually were able to purchase it, it was like an answer to the cohesion of those visions.

And we were so fortunate that a couple of months ago, we were able to begin a transition with Pastor Bobby, and we honestly became his first client as he came in and created what you're sitting in right now.

Bobby is starting his own company called Crimson Management Company.

He's not gonna get away from me that easily because we've got a lot of work that he can do in a different capacity with us, but he is stepping off of our staff and he is stepping out of vocational ministry.

I'm gonna introduce him in a minute as Pastor Bobby because his job here does not give him that title.

Who he is gives him that title.

He is a pastor, he is a minister, and he has skill sets, unique skill sets and gifts that he is going to be able to offer not just to Metachurch, but to the world all around us.

Bobby is a person who steps out of the boat.

Twenty years ago, he stepped out of the boat to go into full-time ministry.

About 10 years ago, he stepped out of the boat to start a church on the west side of San Antonio at a time I was there when very few people actually believed in that vision.

It didn't matter.

He went all in.

A couple of years later, he stepped out of the boat, believing that if Jesus is in it and has called you to it, he will see you through, even if what he's calling you is to have church in a bar.

God's asked him to step out of the boat again, and that's what Bobby does.

And so I've asked him if he would come up and close us out, if I could ask him a few questions and give him an opportunity to share some of what's on his heart.

And so please, MetaCurch, show some love for Pastor Bobby.

So we have people who have been here for 10 years, people who've been here for two weeks.

Um it was 10 years ago that City Church West first opened on the west side of town.

It was a couple years before that, it was just an idea.

We went from the nunnery, we went to the bar, and now God has brought us here, uh, which you know intimately well because you spent about a month up in the ceiling putting all of this stuff in here.

Um what has that been like?

Just seeing it go from here and now moving into a new season in your life.

Um, what's your perspective like on that?

I mean, what do you take away from it?

Oh man, it's been the greatest ride of my life.

Um, you know, I think about all the stories, uh, all the faces.

Uh, there's so many of you here today that were there that very first day.

I think of my friends the Fullers and just so many people who were there for them.

Very beginning.

And we knew it was 2012 when God kind of began to say, hey, let's move out to the west side of San Antonio.

There wasn't a target at 1604 in Calabra.

There was no Alamo Ranch.

There was nothing out Petrenko Road.

150,000 homes have been built since the day God gave us that vision to come out here.

Thank God we did.

Because there are no churches that I know of on this side of town, and especially back then, there were no churches that were willing to do whatever it takes to bring people to Jesus.

And that's what this church was about.

This church was about meeting people right where they are, letting them know that no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, God loves you just the way you are.

He sees you, he knows you, he loves you.

And you are welcome in this place.

And so that's what I think about.

I think about the stories, I think about the faces, I think about the people.

You know, there were a few people that uh really helped drive that early on.

Uh, Pastor John Pyle and I, you know, we kind of launched this thing together.

Uh, and you're right, there were a lot of times that we wanted to give up.

There were a lot of times that uh it was not working.

I remember growing a church from 714 people down to 83 people uh one time.

Uh and that was, you know, kind of crazy.

Um, but God just said, keep moving, keep getting out of the boat, keep trying new things.

That's when we ended up getting to the bar and uh, you know, getting to have the relationship that we had for eight years with the bar owners.

Uh, you know, Brent Satoff came over around that time, the relationship I got to have with him.

Um, you, you know, when I got to begin to spend time with you and Katie and your family, um, you know, y'all know Clayton is just a phenomenal speaker.

Uh, some of you who know him a little bit closer know that uh he's an incredibly caring person.

Um, but he's a great father.

He is a phenomenal husband.

He loves deeply.

What y'all don't know is this guy spends day in and day out thinking about how he can see and reach the one.

Just that one person who is feeling lost and hopeless, and he does that day in and day out.

And I've never met anyone with the tenacity that you have for that uh and your love for the gospel.

Um, and so man, it's been an awesome ride.

My family, uh Amanda, Christian, Faith.

Um I I just couldn't do this without you guys.

And I love you guys so much.

Um, sacrifice, there was a lot of sacrifice, um, and they bear the weight of a lot of that sacrifice over the years.

Um, but uh I'm just so thankful for y'all's encouragement, for y'all's love.

Um, you know, y'all have been amazing and y'all are a part of this.

We get to sit here today because y'all allowed me to do this and y'all did this with me.

Yeah, man, it's uh it's been such an encouragement.

I know in my life, um, it feels like God has placed people who are willing to get out of the boat.

And it's it's encouraging, it's inspiring, it's convicting for the moments I'm unwilling uh to get out and really show that faith.

Um it's such a blessing for people to see a real moment.

I mean, your last official day on staff was December 31st.

He's two steps out of the boat right now, you know?

I mean, this is fresh.

Um, but it's it's it's real.

We'll talk about that afterwards.

Um for your family to see it.

And you know, I I guess what I want to ask is what's the hardest part of getting out of the boat um and what's the what's the reward?

And what makes it worth it in the end?

Yeah, I would say that fear.

Uh fear is the hardest part, you know, knowing where finances are gonna come from, and uh, you know, how do you make this decision to tell people?

Um I also think um, you know, feeling that I'm not enough, I think that can come in a lot of times is that you know it's like Peter, man.

I mean, that dude was a mess up, and man, Jesus called him out of the boat.

And I feel like Peter a lot of the times uh in my life I have felt like Peter.

And um the reality is God gives us everything we need when we need it.

Uh, if we'll bring everything that we have, God will do the rest, right?

We say that all the time, and that's not just financially.

Um, it's in relationships, it's in, you know, uh opportunities that show up.

Uh it's been absolutely amazing just to see how those things are happening.

Um, you know, I guess the encouraging part of all this is that the same God who speaks to Clayton and the same God who speaks to me is the same God uh who speaks to you.

Um He is your God.

Uh, and He has given you all of those great things.

You have been beautifully and wonderfully made, you've been created in His image, and you've been given a purposeful and powerful life.

And it's just now time for all of us to figure out what that means, how we take that opportunity uh and go forth in the world.

Good.

Well, as we kind of wind this down, um we all have our boat.

All of us, we have the things that we turn to.

Uh we have people wanting something new in this new year.

And so, what is your final encouragement for people?

Um, you know, you put a mic in Bobby's hand, he proves to you he's a pastor.

What what what words do you have for us to just encourage us to take that step of faith?

You can do it.

You're good enough.

You were created with a purpose.

God loves you.

God loves you.

He wants what's best for you.

He hears your cry.

He didn't bring you here to let you know.

And he's not.

Get out of the boat.

What is your boat?

This year is the year that you get to define that thing.

And I'm asking you, because you know, I can do whatever I want at this point, because he can't fire me, but I'm literally asking you this week to figure out what is my boat.

And man, just take that step.

You can't follow Jesus if you're not taking the first step.

And man, that's what this mission is all about.

This mission, God has changed the world.

2,000 years ago, Jesus came to this earth and he changed the world.

All you have to do is believe that.

But the next biggest part in that is just taking that first step of faith.

We all put our faith in something.

This year it's time to figure out what you're putting your faith in.

Because I guarantee you, all the things of this world will not satisfy.

But Jesus will.

And so I'm gonna be your representative by putting my recently sanitized hand here on Bobby.

And uh, if you're comfortable, I'm gonna ask you to just reach a handout as well, showing that you affirm this move that God is doing in Bobby's life, the new season that he's walking into, and let's pray for him.

God, I thank you for Bobby, I thank you for Amanda and Christian and Faith.

God, I thank you for the love that they have for you, for your movement, for the people around them.

I thank you for the countless hours and the countless lives that Bobby has sat in rooms with and counseled and pastored and loved.

I thank you for the work he has done and the work you've done through him.

Some of it we've seen through baptisms and attendance and things, but God, only scratching the surface of what Bobby will get to see someday in eternity, the work you've actually done through him, the generational changes.

God, we pray for a new season.

I pray for just an abundance of wisdom.

God, I pray for confidence.

I pray for open doors and that Bobby would be faithful to step through every one of them that you present to him.

God, there will be other boats to step out of.

And I thank you for a life and a legacy of being willing to step out of that boat.

I pray that we would learn from Bobby and his family's example here today.

God, we love Bobby and we pray blessing on him and his family, and we love you, and we thank you that Bobby is going out from Metachurch to be a part of this movement in an even bigger way.

We love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks so much for listening to the message today.

If this was helpful to you and you want to help us get the word out, you can subscribe to this podcast.

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If you want to get connected further with what MetaCurch is doing, you can go online to metachurch.tv.

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You can learn where our different venues are at if you ever wanted to visit, and you can also give financially to help push this movement forward.

Man, I love you guys, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.