Ventures of Faith: Navigating The Unknown With God
Insights from the “Lead2Serve” Podcast
Season 5. Episode 5
Walking by Faith: A Journey of Trust and Obedience
The Foundation of Faith in Leadership
My role as the pastor of Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado, began in 1999, and it has been a testament to the power of God working through simple faith. Moving to Colorado was a glorious step into the unknown, a decision steeped in trust that God’s plan would unfold as it should. This reliance on faith has not only guided my decision-making process but has also been a cornerstone of my personal and professional growth. Feedback, both positive and negative, has been instrumental in this journey, shaping me into the leader I am today.
Pastor Bob brought his unique perspective to our conversation, emphasizing the importance of obedience to the Word of God. Walking by faith, as Bob eloquently put it, involves both turning away from sin and actively pursuing righteous actions, such as loving our enemies. He drew upon the rich tapestry of biblical narratives, like those found in Hebrews 11, to illustrate the centrality of faith in understanding and aligning with God’s will.
The Foggy Road of Faith
One of the most interesting analogies we discussed likened faith to driving through fog. When the road ahead is obscured, it’s faith that allows us to continue forward, trusting that clarity and direction will come from God. This analogy captures the essence of faith—vulnerability, dependence, and trust—even when the future is anything but clear.
The Transformative Power of Faith
Throughout our podcast, Bob and I delved into how faith has been a transformative force in our lives and ministries. We encouraged our listeners to adopt faith as a guiding principle, especially when faced with life’s inevitable uncertainties. The stories we shared from our own experiences served as a testament to the impact that faith can have on one’s character, leadership, and relationship with God.
Embracing the Unknown
I reflected on the continuous need to walk by faith, a principle that holds true regardless of one’s age or experience. The natural inclination is to walk by sight, to want to see the end from the beginning. However, walking by faith is about trusting God to arrange the details in His perfect timing and manner. It’s about embracing the unknown and the challenges that come with it, as part of our discipleship journey.
Bob shared his struggles with the pressure to figure everything out and the false sense of peace that comes from attempting to control situations. He acknowledged the difficulty of living by faith, especially in spiritual leadership, where the temptation to rely on human effort is ever-present. Bob stressed the importance of resisting the urge to control and instead finding peace through faith in God.
Ventures of Faith and Practical Steps
We also discussed the concept of ventures of faith, inspired by our pastor, Chuck Smith. The excitement and challenges of allowing God to work through our willingness to step out were central to this part of our conversation. We warned against presumption and the pitfalls of pouring energy into endeavors that may not be in line with God’s plans. Celebrating God’s leading in successful ventures and humbly retreating from those that don’t align with His will is crucial, without trying to force success through human effort.
Bob provided a tangible example of faith in action, recounting a mission trip to Siberia where individuals were encouraged to take incremental steps of commitment, trusting in God’s provision. The lesson was clear: take the first step without knowing the next, embracing the uncertainty and reliance on God’s guidance that comes with missionary work.
A Daily Practice of Faith
We concluded the episode with a powerful reminder that walking by faith is a daily practice. It’s not about resting on past achievements or dwelling in the “glory days.” Each day presents a new opportunity to step out in faith and trust in God’s leading.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Intro VO:
This is Lead2Serve with Ed Taylor, a leadership podcast.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
Hey, welcome again to another episode of the Lead2Serve podcast. My name is Ed Taylor. I’m a pastor here at Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado, coming up on 25 years serving the fellowship family here. Calvary Chapel started in 1999, the day after Christmas. And nobody told me, “you’re not supposed to plant a church and have a Sunday service the day after Christmas.” But people came, and we’re grateful for all that God has allowed us to be a part of. Just like for you listening in – all that God has allowed you to be a part of. Isn’t that amazing? I’m your host for Lead2Serve. This is Season 5, Episode 5. And you know our goal, it’s worth repeating. Our goal is to help you grow in your servant leadership so that you’ll glorify God in all that you do. And here’s the key, the better we know this. According to Mark 10:45, “Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” We want to be the greatest servants that we possibly can. Like, that’s where we want to grow. The better servant you are, the better leader you will become. And the better leader you’ll become, the more broader your servanthood will be. And these times together are designed to discuss important topics. And that’s the greatest, one of the greatest, pieces of feedback that we’ve received in the seasons of Lead2Serve is that folks really like, you guys really like the interaction in the discussion part. So we’ve changed. It used to be, and I still do episodes from time to time, where I’m just going to share some things But there’s discussions going on, and this is where I get the opportunity to once again welcome Pastor Bob Claycamp.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Good to be here again.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
In-studio with us. He’s making the time to be here for all the episodes, and we’re grateful for that. And, of course, Kevin, our producer, the Lord is good, so we appreciate all the work behind the scenes that Kevin also does in producing our program. And then, Julia, she’s the voice, and we thank her for recording our intros and outros. She’s the voice that spent – invested – her time in recording that. So thank you, Julia, for your faithfulness unto the Lord. And together, it’s Lead2Serve, Season 5. It’s been something that was born in my heart. I believe the Lord gave it to me to bring you into discussions. That’s really what this is. These are the kind of discussions we have in our pastors’ meetings, these are the kind of discussions we have in my office. This is a real discussion. It is not scripted. And I think by now you know that it’s not scripted. We’ve got a few notes here to keep us on track, and we know the topics that we’re going to talk on, but it’s not…we’re not reading off a script. We’re just talking out loud. And sometimes we get stumped. It was like, “oh, I don’t….” And that’s okay. We get stumped. Sometimes we goof off. Sometimes we laugh. We probably cry on the way home. But it is real life and we want to help you. And so, remember, your feedback, your ideas for shows, any of that, you can text me – 720-608-0012 – that will hit my phone in my pocket. 720-608-0012, or you can email me – ed@edtaylor.org. Ed@edtaylor.org. And I think, Bob, your email is…
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Pastor Ed Taylor:
Either way, we will share emails related to, if you involve either one of us, related to Lead2Serve. So, email us. You have feedback? You have questions? You want to hear an episode? Tell us about it. What are you thinking? What would you like us to address? What would you like us to talk about? And remember, our perspective is pastoral ministry. We’re pastors. That’s what God’s called us to do. Between the two of us, 80 years of ministry experience, many of them pastoral, in our service unto the Lord. And I think I’m at 28 years pastoring, and you’re well over 40. I mean, all 54 of those years, would you say?
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
I mean, I was teaching Proverbs when I was 19 years old. What did I know at 19? I’m like one year old in the Lord and I’m teaching Proverbs as if I know what I’m doing.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
So I think you know this already, but for the sake of people listening, I was saved in 91. In 1992, I taught my first Bible study, that it was actually recorded. And as were doing one of the episodes, Matt, one of our team members here, converted it into an mp3 for me. And on the way home today, I’m going to listen to it later. And I’m just curious, because I was already teaching the Bible. Not very well, I mean, hopefully I’ve improved over the years, but not very well. But that God would let us step into, and just even though we probably were not very good at all.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Yeah, I’m sure!
Pastor Ed Taylor:
That’s what I’m expecting. He let us.
Bob Claycamp:
I’m talking about me.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
I’m talking about me. I’m talking about us. I agree with you, and you can agree with me. I know it’s true. And it’s no offense at all. I know that in, one sense, I had no business doing that. In another sense, God said, that is your business. This is going to be the rest of your life, Ed. And let’s just start now, and let’s learn. And I had a lot to learn. One quick story, and then we’ll get into our text. It kind of runs into the topic, because later on, Calvary Chapel Downey is where I was. I was invited by one of the pastors to teach a devotional at a men’s conference. Men’s retreat. Which was huge! Like, that was huge. Back then, we probably had, I don’t know, 200, 300 men there. And to be entrusted, like, oh, I couldn’t believe it. And then I found out, you know, devos at men’s retreats, there’s 300 guys there. Five people show up. But, hey, man, those are the five people that want to be there. And so…small crowd. Small group. I gave the devotion. I preached my heart out, and, you know, the guys went off to eat, take showers, whatever. It was not, I don’t know what the Lord did. I don’t remember any feedback or anything. But I do remember a man by the name of Gene. G-E-N-E, Gene. He was a genial, like, a real nice guy, really soft spoken and just very helpful. He came and had one of those conversations with me, “Hey, that was good. Good devotion.” I’m like, okay, some feedback, right? Some good. Puts his arm around me, goes and sits down with me, and he says all, you know, a couple of good things. And then he ends up saying, “but….” And hd he began to share some feedback with me that was really hard to receive because I felt like I hit a grand slam. And in a very kind…he was very kind. Don’t misunderstand me. Gene Garcia. He was very kind. But he was basically saying, “you know, you fouled that one…you fouled that one off…that was not a grand slam.” And in his ministry, to me, though, he, I believe, was taking a step of faith, which is the topic of our conversation today. Walking by faith, you want to be more effective. You want to be more usable. You need to step out in faith. He shared his feedback with me, and he says, “if you’re interested, I’ve been going through these videos with a guy teaching you how to teach, and I think it’d be really good for you. And I’m willing to buy you the book, and I’ll let you borrow my VHS cassette tapes because I think it’ll be really good for you.” And I’m like, “okay.” Like, nobody has shared that with me. And that book, it’s titled “Seven Laws of the Learner,” by Bruce Wilkinson. That one book, and that one episode with Gene, which, by the way, I’m still in touch with Gene to this day. He has family in Pueblo, so every time he comes and visits, he stops by with his wife, Lee, and they come to service. It’s been a few years, but still in touch with him. But that one book by this brother, taking a step of faith to do something hard, doing the hard things, completely revolutionized my whole approach to teaching. That was the little bump that I needed at that season in my life…because my heart was there. I was eager. I wanted to better. I wanted you. I wasn’t going to take it personal. Although it hurt, it was a “faithful are the wounds of a friend,” right? It hurt because I poured my heart into that for those five people that woke up for that devo. Like, I was there, man, and I felt this was my life. This is what God has called me to do. And I, man, “I nailed it…I knocked it out of the park!” And basically, Gene goes, “Yeah, you know, I know you thought it went that way, but you actually…it went that way. At least I didn’t strike out, but in that one book. So he came, you know, and that…I still read that book. It’s part of our School of Ministry here, when anyone that takes the School of Ministry here, where he gives you all those practices. So, for the sake of those of you listening, you know, we’re talking about Bob…you go, “Ed, how did you get there?” Well, you know, pastors have a way of taking a circuitous route to where we’re going. But Pastor Bob just shared that 54 years, really, legitimately, he was in pastoral leadership. And, yeah, you’re like, “Do you really belong in pastoral leadership in the first year?” I mean, “yes and no.” If God put us there, then yes. Are we equipped? No.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
It was during the Jesus Revolution.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
That’s right.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
And so it was like, “You know, you’re available, let’s do this.”
Pastor Ed Taylor:
It’s interesting that God would entrust us. And so that led to me thinking, I taught my first Bible study. I’m going to listen to it. And then along the way, God has put people into our lives. And this brother Gene took a step of faith to tell me a hard thing, kind of fitting some of the episodes that we’ve looked at already. If you want to be effective and usable, you need to learn how to take steps of faith. What are your initial thoughts? Like, what do we mean? Bob, what comes to mind?
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Well, a step of faith is stepping into obedience to the counsels of the Word of God. That’s the first step of faith. When the Bible clearly points out something is like a behavior of sin, then a step of faith is saying, “OK, by faith, even though it’s been a habit of mine, even though it’s not merely behavior modification, it is obedience to God,” and there’s accountability. And so that first step of faith is saying, “I am not going to purpose going in that direction again.” But there’s also the steps of faith that are positive things, where you love your enemy. That’s a step of faith because it’s not based upon feeling or natural reaction. Because the natural reaction to an enemy that is hating you, an enemy that is despising you, an enemy that’s slandering you, the reaction is retaliation or sense of injustice, and all but the obedience to his counsels. “Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who do evil to you. Pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you so that you might be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:44-45). Because that’s what He has done with us. He pursued us when we had every behavior that appalled His holiness.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
I was thinking of Paul when he was writing to the churches in the Galatian region. He shared with them, “Are you so foolish that what is begun in the Spirit you’re going to perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3). And as I think through these topics, as it begins to develop a theme for this particular season, these are all areas where we start. We start in the Spirit. We start doing the hard things. We start well. And if we’re not careful, we won’t end well. And this walking by faith almost sounds simplistic. I wonder, and they’re not listening now because I’m thinking, I wonder how many people skip this episode because, I mean, come on. What? “I don’t need to talk about walking by faith; I already know I walk by faith.” But there’s an aspect of walking by faith, where, it’s God calling us back to the basics. Stepping by faith or walking by faith means that my whole trust is upon the Lord at least as much as I can. I don’t know that any of us can say we’re 100%. I’m never 100%, but I’m really wanting to put myself out there so that I’m vulnerable and I’m dependent and I’m trusting in God when I don’t see the future, like, I don’t know what the future is going to hold through this decision. I just believe God wants me to do it.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Right. And in Hebrews 11, it says, “now faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). “Substance,” means that you have something tangible, but your faith is considered tangible of “things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” And the very first example it says, “by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). By faith we understand. And so there is a decision that you make that the counsels and the Word of God are put there by the Holy Spirit and by faith. I hold them as my understanding, as my worldview.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
I was reminded of this passage as you were talking in. We often refer to it just quickly refer to we “walk by faith and not by sight,” (2 Cor 5:7). But the context is interesting. Paul puts this phrase in a very familiar context, even though we don’t always remember it. In verse 6, he says, “so we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith and not by sight. We are confident. Yes. Well pleased rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6-8). And what Paul sees right now is his body. What Paul sees is his difficulty. What Paul sees is his challenge. What Paul sees is his decaying body. But he lives by faith in the unseen, the absence from his body, the new body, the eternal state. And that is the greatest thing, to live by faith. And then when we live by faith and trusting God for our future, then it establishes us in our present condition, where even if we don’t see something, but we know it’s up ahead, like, God’s blessing. God’s affirmation. God’s confirmation. Today, the way that we get to that…this morning was a great example. This morning, I don’t know how it was up north, because you came in from up north. I come into the office from down south. But, when I woke up this morning – very foggy. Kind of reminds me of my Southern California days, where the marine layer would come in and every morning it would be foggy. I remember it actually brought memories of walking to school in the morning as a kid or walking elementary school in the fog. And in the fog it wasn’t so thick that I couldn’t see ahead. I could drive just fine, but it was thick enough where what normally was my sight when I drove in, I couldn’t see…it was…my view was blocked. And that’s how life is. We don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know what tomorrow brings, next week brings. We don’t know. We make a decision today. We don’t know what the future brings. But the gap between the decision today and the future is faith. And it’s not “faith in the future,” it’s faith in “God of the future.” Like I made the decision, I’m dependent upon the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t contradict the scriptures. I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. But I do believe I had to do it, or I had to make it, or I had to be there. I had to send that text, everything we’ve been talking about. Until I see the result, I live by faith. Not only that, I did what God called me to do, but I trust Him with whatever the outcome is going to be.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Every day, every week, every month, every year of your life as a believer, you are required to walk by faith, and the Lord will allow challenges to that because we have a tendency to want to walk by sight. Because that’s the opposite of walking by faith, is, you walk by sight or you’re just trying to figure it out and see the end result. But walking by faith is you’re trusting God to put the details in the place at the right time, in the right way, and He has no obligation to tell you the details until you need it. You know, I’m almost 73 now, and I’m required to walk by faith, still, and to take steps of faith, still, in my life. Not to prove anything, but because that’s just part of discipleship.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
Yeah, it’s part of our life. As I’m thinking through on walking by faith, the phrase that comes to mind, you used it. Where I know that I’m veering away from my trust in God is this pressure I feel to “figure it out.” There’s a peace, a “false peace,” that I’ve developed over the years and a bad habit, and I’m sure people listening in, especially pastors, elders, spiritual leaders, especially in the church, it’s hard enough in the world. But it’s super hard in the church to live this way because we have this false sense that if “I figured it out,” and I know it – kind of like a troubleshooter – then I can control it. And it’s not faith when you are controlling everything, you don’t know what they are. You don’t have every piece of information. I think one of the brothers here, Randy, one of the pastors here, he would always remind me of something his pastor taught him. He said, “if we only knew what God knew, we would only want what God wants.”
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Yeah.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
I think the brother that taught that is Pastor Rick Ferguson, who’s also gone home to be with the Lord. But, if we knew what God knew, then we would only want what God wanted. And we don’t always know. We don’t know all that God knows. And yet if we figure it out, we come to the false conclusion that somehow we do know and we’re trying to figure out faith. And I don’t know. This may not resonate with everyone, but some people will resonate. I have a tendency in my own personal walk with the Lord to feel more comfortable when I have the answer to things than I do depending upon the Lord. Like, I would just rather know, “if I make this decision, then I’m always looking at my contingencies,” and I’m always…it’s probably my training in the corporate world a little bit. It’s probably my personality, probably my flesh, that instead of the peace that God promises, even as we were in devos today, the peace that God promises, that by faith in him, I would rather have a false peace that, “oh, I’ve got all figured out, and I know this person’s going to do this and this person can do that.” And I really don’t know anything.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
No.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
Truly.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
And it’s all just…people will fail you. And walking by faith is…it’s not that it’s wrong to have seasons where, “Wow, look what the Lord did.” And you can see it and you look back and it all makes sense. And then we have this way of saying, “Oh, yeah, I knew God was going to work it out.” Come on, “liar, liar.”You didn’t know what was going on, and yet God did it. And you look back and you go, that made so much sense. Thank you for being faithful, and thank you for not telling me ahead of time, because I know what I would have done if You had told me ahead of time.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
Yeah, one of the things, we only have a few minutes left, ten minutes or so that we can spend some time on this. But walking by faith includes taking steps of faith. And I don’t believe an episode talking about this would be complete unless we factor in our own pastor, Pastor Chuck Smith, and the phrase that helped us remember this, taking “ventures of faith.” Let me read to you a quote from him, and we can just briefly talk about it, because here’s the word. Here’s what I think is happening. You’re listening to me right now. You made it this far, and here’s the word of the Lord to you, “you haven’t taken a step of faith in a long time,” and that’s what you need to do. You might be walking by faith and daily trusting Him and the best that you can and yielding to him, but here’s where it’s been lacking and why things are stagnant and why perhaps you’re upset and frustrated and why you feel like you have no help, and why all of that could be dissipated or lessened if you just take a step of faith. So here’s what Pastor Chuck Smith says, and I quote,
It’s always an exciting thing to give God a chance to work. God wants you to be a part of what He’s doing. God doesn’t want to stop working, so it’s important for us to discover what He wants to do. I have found that the way we discover how God wants to work is to venture out in faith. We need to step out and see what the Lord might do. But as we step out in faith, there has to be a guard against presumption. A lot of people who test the waters to see what God might want to do make a serious mistake by falling back on human effort when God’s hand is obviously not in it. Sometimes we can get so committed to something that our reputation seems to be on the line. Then we start pumping out extra energy and extra effort into a program that wasn’t from God to begin with. I ventured out,
he says,
Many times, only to discover that God wasn’t in it. What do you do then? You retreat. What gets us into trouble is when we proudly say, ‘We’re going to make this thing succeed.’ We find ourselves spending all of our energy trying to create something that God isn’t a part of, and it can just rip you up. When I step out in faith, if it succeeds, I rejoice and say, ‘Great, the Lord led me.’ If it doesn’t succeed, I step back and say, ‘I thought it was a good idea, but it sure fell on its nose.’ So I think that there are certain precautions that one must take in any venture of faith.
What are your thoughts, Bob?
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Perfect.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
Perfect.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Yeah. That’s exactly right. And when things work out, you know, it’s exciting. When things don’t work out, boy, it brings up all kinds of questions, and you can even doubt your ability to even hear the Lord. But if you start there, boy, it all comes unraveling. So, you know, you have to take step one. “Step of faith,” means you take step one, and you don’t know what the next step is. All you know is that I’m supposed to take this initial step, and then we’ll see what happens. And when we put together short-term teams for going on missions, we help them to do that step-by-step. And we went, in the 90s, we took a team to Siberia to see Russian…to minister to Russian youth prisons. And so we took a team from our church, and so we had them, those that were interested in being part of this team, “I want you to…if your way was completely paid and money wasn’t an issue, do you feel like God wants you to go?” And so they say, you know, I want to do that. I said, okay, if after you’ve prayed about it and there’s this sense of rightness that “I would like to be involved in that,” then your first step of faith is putting down a non refundable deposit. And so we’ll take it, step one, and so that first deposit is your commitment, saying, “God, I feel this strong enough that I want to make an initial commitment, and maybe it doesn’t work out, but, you know, I’m going to let go of this, and I’m not getting it back.”And so it was a…it wasn’t like a large amount, but it was a step of faith. And then the next step of faith is okay, in this cost, we divide it into thirds. There’s one-third, and that date is due. I want you to pray between now and that time. And at that time, your next step of faith is, “okay, I’m going to send this $1,000 to help cover the tickets.” And then also during the time we talked about what the whole vision was and what would be some of the logistics of it all and some of the unknowns that would be there. But then there were, like, steps of faith. And so we ended up taking this team, including my wife, which, she almost got left behind.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
Your left your wife in Siberia?
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
In the middle of Siberia! We almost lost her! Yeah, that’s another story.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
This is a different podcast altogether.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Yeah, yeah, right. But, “step by step.” And my whole life, looking back, it’s always been that initial step, and then seeing what’s next. Because, I don’t know. I mean, it’s the “land of ‘I don’t know.’” Being a missionary is “the land of ‘I don’t know.’”
Pastor Ed Taylor:
You reminded me of that passage, and I want to end here because stepping out in faith is so important. And I was reminded of Jeremiah when he’s talking about the “not being poured from vessel to vessel,” and how important it is that we are in a place where we don’t want to be at ease, like Moab. In Jeremiah 48:11, it says, “Moab has been at ease from his youth. He settled in on his dregs and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore, his taste has remained in him, and his scent has not changed.” He’s basically rotted because he has not been poured from vessel to vessel. Of course, Moab is not connected to the covenant God, like, he’s outside of the covenant of God. And because of that, he hasn’t had the kind of experience. That’s why judgment is coming. But here it is in the New Living , it says, “from his earliest history, Moab has lived in peace, never going into exile. He’s like wine that’s been allowed to settle. He’s not been poured from flask to flask, and now he is now fragrant and smooth,” and so poured from vessel to vessel, settled on his dregs, not been poured. He’s been allowed to settle. And that’s a sad place to be. I don’t want to be allowed to settle. Now, that’s the Spirit is speaking. But I know circumstances happen where I do want to settle. I mean, there are days where I wake up, and I don’t want to deal with another problem, or I get “decision fatigue.” I noticed this in my own life on our trips to Israel, when we take tours to Israel, that so many, even with a team, you know, we have a worship leader, we have an administrative team, my assistant comes. We run the trip to best that we can to make it the best for everyone that goes, but sometimes much earlier, but usually about halfway through and all the way to the end, I get “decision fatigue.” Like, there are so many decisions to be made. They’re not bad. And it’s not. It’s not anyone’s fault. It is just one of those trips. You’re taking care of people. You’re in a foreign country, and “is this ice cream okay?” And “is this okay?” And “what about this?” And it’s just normal stuff. Nothing bad. But so many decisions. So many decisions. I find that it takes a little bit longer back here, but I find the same thing where there’ll be days I wake up. I just want to settle. I just want peace. I want to be able to rest. But there’s a danger, it’s like…so, you know, I don’t want to be misunderstood because we’re at the end of the episode, like, rest is good. You need to take rest. I don’t mean that. But I do mean, and when it comes to taking steps of faith, I never want to be in a place where I’m so settled that I don’t take steps of faith. I don’t venture out anymore. I “phone it in,” as, like, we talked about in a previous episode. So this is another episode. Lead2Serve. You have a final thought. So Bob’s got one final thought.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
Yeah. The final thought is in the past, you’ve taken steps of faith, and now you’re not doing it because you’re just always thinking back on what you used to do and how glorious it was. And you’ve stopped. You’ve stopped going forward because you think that you’ve “paid your dues.” Well, that’s not how it works. You’re supposed to take steps of faith, every day, until the Lord takes you home.
Pastor Ed Taylor:
Right? And that is a danger in everyone’s life, but especially in our own family of churches, where all we hear about is what happened 40 years ago and 50 years ago. I know things have happened since then, but “those were the glory days.” And what we need to learn is the “glory days,” are every day. “Today is the day the Lord has made” (Ps 118:24). And while we are excited about what, I mean, because I could do the same thing, although I wasn’t there 54 years ago, I was there 30 years ago. And I can look back because it’s very meaningful to me. But it was an episode, and I’m not living an episode. I’m living a life.
Pastor Bob Claycamp:
That’s right.
Pastor Ed Taylor
And I want that. So thanks again for tuning in to another episode of Lead2Serve. Remember, you can text us directly. Text me directly – 720-608-0012. 720-608-0012 – that hits my phone. You can also email me ed@edtaylor.org. That’s E-D-at-E-D-T-A-Y-L-O-R dot org. It has to be dot org. We’re open to suggestions and feedback. And, you know, leave a good review, Spotify, you know, Apple podcasts. However, you get your podcast, Google podcasts, because it helps put it before more eyes. And it also helps people when they’re looking for a leadership podcast that they’re looking to grow and they want to be more effective in ministry. These also get re-aired on radio stations around the country, or at least here in Colorado. And I know that people pick up through the podcast around the country, so I want to welcome you on that. This is the Lead2Serve podcast. We’ll be back next time with another compelling topic in Season 5. So I guess the word that we leave you with today is “take a step of faith.” Just go for it and trust the Lord. “Walk by faith and not by sight.”
Outro VO:
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Lead2Serve with Pastor Ed Taylor, a leadership podcast from Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado. If you have a leadership question you want to hear answered on a future Lead2Serve podcast, please email it to pastored@calvaryco.church
And if you like our podcast, please subscribe, rate or review us on iTunes and share us with your friends on social media. Thanks again for joining us and we’ll see you next time right here on the Lead2Serve podcast.
