Joshua Swanson: Who do you belong to? And what does identity in Christ actually mean? Welcome to The Walk, a devotionals podcast for worshipers. On today’s episode, we hear from artist, songwriter, and pastor Tyler Roberts of Red Rocks Worship, on the need to daily refocus on God’s purpose for our lives. Here we go.
Tyler Roberts: Hey, what’s going on, y’all? This is Tyler from Red Rocks Worship. I’m so excited to just be able to speak with you today, give a little bit of like insight on who I am, but more importantly, who God is and who God has been in my own life. Right now, I’m a worship leader at Red Rocks Church. Been here for 12 years and so, so thankful to be sitting under the leadership of Pastor Sean Johnson. Honestly, there’s no, no other church I’d rather ever be at because he is just the real deal. And um, man, God is just, I don’t know, he’s been so good to me and my wife while we’ve been here.
But today I’d love to talk about identity in Christ. Who you are, who you belong to, and how to actually live out that calling. The truth is, is I have gotten this wrong way more than I’ve ever gotten it right. I’m going to tell you a story in just a second, even of like something that happened yesterday. But the reality is, is that we can have Jesus in our heart. But sometimes, he’s not always the Lord of our mind, you know what I’m saying?
Like, we can love Jesus, and we can be all about Jesus in our heart, we can be saved, we can be going to heaven. But, sometimes the way we operate is like, identity less. Uh, we, we’re unstable, unsteady. We operate out of our flesh and not what the Holy Spirit says. Sometimes we operate out of fear and not confidence in Christ. And man, I have gotten that wrong way more than I’ve gotten it right. And so anyways, today I just want to talk with you about that.
So let me start off by just telling you a story. This actually happened yesterday, like for real yesterday. So it’s fresh off the press and honestly, super vulnerable moment. We had been praying. So. Our team is going on tour in a few months, and we’ve been praying and praying for a tour bus. But honestly, we’ve just had the hardest time getting one. Really, like, I don’t know why, but everybody’s on tour or something right now, so just, there are no buses available, or there’s not a bus that can do the week that we need, or whatever.
Anyways, I’m just like, oh my gosh, Lord, we need this bus, please, please, please. And so for probably the last six weeks, I’ve been so anxious about it, but it has been something that I have been praying about, asking everyone I know to pray about. Please Lord, would you send us a bus because it will be helpful for our team, it’ll be more cost effective, and we really need this to do the ministry that you have called us to do.
Well, six weeks of prayer, six weeks of like, God, please, where are you at? And finally, yesterday morning, we got a bus. Thank you, Jesus. A huge deal for us. And I texted the team right away. I was like, “Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.” So what should have been like the most amazing moment, it should have been a great day of celebration ended actually in a whole lot of self pity and like, where’s my worth God?
Because as soon as we found out we had a tour bus, then I met with our team and I had a bunch of phone calls with other people on our team and just a lot of things to sort through. And with all the changes that are happening at our church, we’re adding Saturday night services, like, it’s awesome, all of the changes, it just had me, like, having to try to make this person happy, trying to make that person happy.
And before you know it, after so many phone calls and so many, like, moments where my mind was spiraling, I just kind of got to a place where last night I was like, I just don’t want to do this no more. This is ridiculous. What is, what, why? What am I supposed to be doing? It kind of felt like my brain was mush.
And I, I just, it didn’t seem like there was an end in sight, you know? It should have been a great night of celebration because we finally got the one thing that we’ve been praying for, that was a tour bus, but instead, I went to bed mad, kind of made my wife mad, the whole thing. Like, what just happened?
Joshua Swanson: We’re going to take a quick break and we’ll be right back with more from Tyler. But first, we got to hang with Aaron Stewart, the co founder of Planning Center last week, and we asked him a question that a lot of our listeners consistently ask, which is, what’s next for the platform?
Aaron Stewart: Well, technology changes really fast and so, we’ve not tried to forecast too far out into the future, we like to build one thing at a time, release that to people, and see what they say, and see, does that change what they want next? We just, um, we’ve been working for a little while and we released a new, um, task management system. It’s pretty simple, the first version of it, because it’s like, well, rather than us decide what people are gonna want next, let’s release a really simple version of that and let’s see what feedback comes in. And the feedback is a little bit different than we were expecting it to be.
And so it was like, Oh, well, good. I’m glad we got this feedback because now we know we’re going to build this thing next that we’re probably going to build a little bit later this year, but we’re going to prioritize that instead. So we don’t know too far out, but I know at least the next, like, six months or so, and one of the big things that we’re working on right now, um, are more ways for team members and for the church to just be in communication.
There’s so much of, that people want to do, like, texting, but texting is kind of hard, and, and true texting from a, software actually costs money. And so we’re building a whole chat system into planning center services so that you’ll be able to just chat back and forth and control all that kind of thing.
So, we’re hoping to release, um, a first version of that. Um, hopefully by the end of this year.
Joshua Swanson: Planning center, for those of you who don’t know, is a set of software tools to help you organize information, coordinate events, communicate with your team and connect with your congregation. You can find out more about it at planning center. com.
Okay, back to Tyler Roberts to close us out.
Tyler Roberts: Let’s talk about why that happened and also what to do in the future. Okay, the reason that happened is because I forgot who I was. I forgot what I was supposed to be doing. I lost my identity in the moment and instead of being child of God, um, called by the Lord to lead this team and, and someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit.
I became the person that was full of fear. My brain was functioning in a, in like a pleasing mode. Let me please everybody to make everyone happy so that if I can just keep everybody happy then everything would be stable, right? So I started giving concessions here and concessions there. I didn’t even ask the Lord what he wanted. I didn’t. I truly just went into function mode and function out of fear mode. That gets you in trouble every single time. Every single time.
So, three things. Who do you belong to? Number one, we belong to the Lord. The one Who created the heavens, the one who created the earth. Uh, it says, you know, I look to, do I look to the hills or no, I look to the maker of the heaven and the earth, Lord of heaven and earth, that’s who I look to for my help.
You know, God is so big. He is somehow still, he is in the beginning, right? When he, when he caused light to happen and he formed the earth and he is already somehow in the end when Jesus returns. I don’t know how that happens. It’s a complete mystery, but that is who this God is, okay? And so I want you to know that but then think of this when he’s in Psalm 139:113-14 He says the psalmist says, “For you created me you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother’s womb I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful. I know that full well.”
I love how it ends there, your works are wonderful. I know that full well. The Lord, the one who made the heavens and the earth, also made you. And His works are wonderful. You know that. I know that full well. And so if what the Lord makes is wonderful and He made you, that means that you too are wonderful.
Um, everything he makes is good. So just know you belong to the creator of the universe. You are a creation of his. Almost like I heard a Pastor Doug say this the other day at church. We are like the cinnamon roll. When you put the cinnamon rolls in the oven, like we do that with my family on Saturday mornings.
Um, as silly as that is, we are like the cinnamon roll. I have no idea how we grow and how we have all this purpose, but man, the Lord does. And so you are that cinnamon roll just growing and God’s creating a perfect and very, very, very good thing.
So then who you are, you are God’s creation. You are born in His image with purpose. Absolute purpose. So in those moments where things aren’t going your way and you’re wondering, well, what am I? So, so where do I turn and what am I supposed to do? Um, who am I again? I have been born by the Lord, a wonderful creation of his. I have been born in his image and purpose, and therefore he has very good plans for me.
That’s what you can rest on. You can absolutely rest on that.
And so, well then, tell me more, tell me more, because that has been something like, that feels really cliche and churchy, to be real honest. To hear like, yeah, I’m the Lord’s, and he knitted me together, and um, everything he makes is good, and I’m born in his image. Like, all of those things are true. But man, some days you just need more.
You need to know more. Like what, what really, what does that mean? And so for me, last night and early this morning, actually, I had to get to a place where I’m like, Lord, remind me who I am. I know all of those things, but like, tell me who I am today. Tell me the purpose you have for today. The book of James says that the word of God is like a mirror.
When you read the word of God, it’s like the word of God is reading your mail. He is talking back to you and he is showing you exactly who you are supposed to be. That is, Um, blameless and righteous, pure, um, um, more like Jesus, filled with purpose and, and power. Um, filled with a sound mind, right? And so if you really want to know who you’re supposed to be and you want to find that identity, like, God, what is my purpose today?
Then you have to get into the Word of God. You just absolutely have to. I was reminded here in, uh, Psalm 143:8, the psalmist says, “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”
The psalmist is saying, hey, this morning, God, again, I need you to show me your way. I need you to show me your purpose. I need you to show me the next step. I put all of my trust in you. And then even in Romans, you know, Romans talks about how When we put our eyes on the flesh, it leads to death every single time. So going back to that story yesterday, I lost my way. I put my eyes on all of the surrounding, um, circumstances.
I put my eyes on all the things I felt like I needed to fix or… I don’t know, be for for everyone to be happy. I leaned into my fear and I thought for a second, for a second, the truth is I thought, if I can make everybody here happy, then we’ll be good. If I can make sure that every decision I make is the perfect decision, then we’ll be good.
But anything short of that, it’s not good enough. Well, let me tell you, that is a very pitiful And hopeless place to be. And that’s where I found myself yesterday. I found myself trying to essentially, in some way, be God, and Figure it out on my own. That’s what happened. I essentially said I don’t trust you Lord So let me just take this into my own hands.
I’ve done that too many times to count unfortunately, and I would bet that you who are listening have probably experienced, you’ve probably experienced that at some point in your life also But Romans says when you put your eyes on the Spirit There is life and everything you do will have life and be fruitful. Romans 8. And so go look it up.
If you want to live a life full of purpose, you’ve got to know whose you are, who you belong to. You’ve got to know who you are, and you’ve got to be in the word of God to find that out. And then you’ve got to put your eyes on the spirit and walk in tandem with the spirit as you move forward. Because the Spirit of God will provide for you everything you need for each moment.
That sounds so good and cliche and everything. I get it. Especially if you’ve been around the church for a long time, like, I don’t know, that can sound a little too good to be true or whatever. But I’m telling you, as someone who’s living proof of it even this morning, this morning I had to repent to the Lord for taking it into my own hands.
I had to repent to the Lord for missing out on, oh my gosh, the one thing we’ve been praying for. It’s been like my priority number one was the tour bus. I missed it. I didn’t even say thank you because instead I was so worried about all these other, other things. I had to repent for that. And so man, I just encourage you today, no matter what you’re going through, tomorrow has enough worries for tomorrow.
But for today, be present for this moment, know who you belong to, know who you are, and then put your eyes on the Spirit. Follow the Spirit of God. Ask Him to help you. Jesus said that, hey, it’s better for me to go because I’m going to send my Holy Spirit to help you, the great advocate, the great counselor, the great healer.
The great one. If that’s true, then man, we should probably tap into the Spirit of God. You know what I’m saying? You know what I’m saying? So, hey, today, put your eyes on the Spirit. Lift your hands, open your eyes, look to the Lord, give glory to God, and just breathe. God is in every single moment. He will give you exactly what you need.
There’s no need to go to bed upset, worried, or fearful. He has not given you a spirit of fear, but that of power, love, and a sound mind. He is equipping you even right now to live out every single thing that you have in front of you.
So let’s pray. Father, I just say, thank you so much for this podcast. And I say, thank you so much for this time. Um, God to, to build up the body of Christ. We all need it. No matter how long you’ve been a Christ follower, the truth is, is that we’re only human. And we need to renew our minds every single day. And so Lord, I thank you for this platform that we get to, to utilize to help transform us and transform our minds.
But Lord Jesus, the only way that that actually happens is if your Holy Spirit comes in and equips us to do so. So Father, for every listener right now, God, I pray Lord that you would, show them exactly who you are. God, I pray that you would show them exactly who they are. God, and I ask the Lord that you would, um, send your Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them, provide for them every step of the way for today.
No worrying about tomorrow, but for today. God, we, I thank you, Lord, that we can come before you boldly every single moment. And even if we got it wrong five minutes ago, Um, the beauty of it is, is we can approach your throne boldly. You said that. And so we take it to heart. And so, Father, would you just be with us today? God, would you help us who are Christ followers actually live with the identity in Christ. No one else. Nowhere else. Just you. We love you. In Jesus name. Amen.
Joshua Swanson: Thank you, Tyler, for sharing your great devotional with us. We’re going to play out this episode with a song that Tyler sings on the latest Red Rocks Worship album. The song is called, There’s No Way.
As Always, special thanks to Matt McCartie for producing and editing today’s episode, Jacob Fairclough produced our theme song. The Walk is brought to you by Worship Leader. I also want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership. If you go to life audio.com, you’ll find a collection of faith centered podcasts about health and wellness, parenting current cultural events, Bible teachings, and more. So, check ’em out lifeaudio.com. I’m Joshua Swanson. Here’s, There’s No Way.
