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Revelation | Week 3 · Rewind

Rock Point Church

72 min

Pastor Bill Bush · Mar 18, 2018 · 5 min read · 72 min listen

The big idea

If your goal is just to be good, you will miss God — but when God is the goal, good becomes the natural result.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 7A leader can do good things and still not be good
Point 2 of 7Revelation 13 describes a coming Antichrist who mimics Hitler's pattern on a global scale

Point 3 of 7Satan is a copycat who builds a false trinity to steal worship
Point 4 of 7What looks like freedom narrows into forced worship — the mark of the beast
Point 5 of 7This is the same tactic Satan used in Eden and still uses today
Point 6 of 7When good is the goal instead of God, good becomes relative and eventually becomes its own god
Point 7 of 7Jesus called the disciples to drop their nets first, before the freedom came
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Revelation 13
Revelation 13:1
Daniel 7
Revelation 13:3
Revelation 13:4
Revelation 13:7-8

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Pastor Bill Bush · Mar 18, 2018 · 72 min watch · 2 min read

Revelation | Week 3

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Revelation 13
Revelation 13:1
Daniel 7
Revelation 13:3
Revelation 13:4
Revelation 13:7-8

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

If your goal is just to be good, you will miss God — but when God is the goal, good becomes the natural result.

Revelation 13's Antichrist rises the same way Hitler did — by doing good things that make people worship him instead of God. Satan's tactic is always the same: offer freedom and good that slowly narrows into worship-or-die. When we chase "good" as our goal, we end up defining our own god; when we pursue God Himself, real, lasting good flows out of that relationship.

Key points

1
1A leader can do good things and still not be good
Pastor Bill plays a theoretical game where a president achieves every good outcome people want — economic growth, environmental protection, low unemployment, infrastructure, health and education reform, military and border strength — and asks who would vote for him. He reveals the answer is Adolf Hitler, showing that doing good is not the same as being good.
2
2Revelation 13 describes a coming Antichrist who mimics Hitler's pattern on a global scale
Working through Revelation 13:1-8, Pastor Bill explains the beast rising from the sea as a world leader who consolidates worldly, political, and military power, echoing Daniel's prophecy of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. This leader brings peace to Israel, appears to die and be resurrected, and the world worships him as a result.
3
3Satan is a copycat who builds a false trinity to steal worship
Pastor Bill shows that Satan wants God's job and imitates the true Trinity with a fake father (himself), a fake son (the Antichrist, who dies and is resurrected), and, in verse 11, a fake holy spirit — a false prophet who performs counterfeit miracles. The key difference: the real Trinity is selfless and sacrifices itself, while the Antichrist kills to save himself.
4
4What looks like freedom narrows into forced worship — the mark of the beast
Pastor Bill traces how the Antichrist moves from being welcomed as a hero to demanding worship or death, sealed by a mark on the hand or forehead without which no one can buy or sell. He explains the number 666 as the number of man's incomplete, best attempt at being God apart from God, not a hidden name to decode.
5
5This is the same tactic Satan used in Eden and still uses today
Pastor Bill connects the Antichrist's strategy to the serpent convincing Adam and Eve that there was good apart from God, which shifted their goal from relationship with God to pursuit of good itself. He warns this same pattern is why a road that seems wide and free is actually a narrowing funnel toward destruction, using the recreational-drug-use spiral as a modern picture.
6
6When good is the goal instead of God, good becomes relative and eventually becomes its own god
Pastor Bill contrasts two charts: when God is the goal, good flows from His unchanging, eternal nature; when good is the goal, good comes from self or culture and shifts with every generation, eventually defining and reshaping what people call God. He warns this is exactly how people end up rejecting parts of God's word that don't fit their own list of what's good.
7
7Jesus called the disciples to drop their nets first, before the freedom came
Pastor Bill recalls standing at Capernaum, where Jesus called Peter, Andrew, and James to drop their nets — their most valuable possession and their livelihood — before explaining anything else. What looked narrow and costly up front led to the freedom and love they were built to crave.

A story from life

A family conversation at the Bush household about 'theoretical mom' refusing to give a million dollars, used as a humorous lead-in to the theme of leadership

Application

Pastor Bill's charge comes down to one question he keeps asking: what is your goal — good, or God?

Check whether good or God is your real goal
Examine your own life, parenting, and priorities this week to see whether you're chasing good things or pursuing a relationship with God Himself, since good should be the result, not the goal.
Watch for Satan's narrowing tactic in your own life
Be alert to the pattern of something that starts out feeling free and good but slowly narrows into control, whether in culture, relationships, or personal habits.
Examine your motive for serving
If you already serve, ask whether it flows from knowing how much Jesus loves you or just because it feels good, since service not rooted in relationship with God will stop once it gets hard.
If you're not serving, find your way to start
Pastor Bill challenges every Christian who calls Rock Point home but isn't serving to be honest that the real reason is usually 'it's not good for me,' and to trust there is a way for them to serve if God has called them here.
Be willing to cast your nets aside
Like Peter, Andrew, and James at Capernaum, be willing to drop what feels most valuable and secure in order to follow Jesus, trusting that what looks narrow leads to real freedom.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“we're looking at a leader like Hitler. Only imagine a Hitler who was better and actually more successful. He actually does end up ruling the world. And he's known in this last book of the Bible as the Antichrist or the Beast. The Beast. And we're gonna read about him and take it apart. We're in Revelation 13 is what we're gonna go through here in a minute”
From the transcript
“So we're starting off. Let's read this. Lot of imagery and that's why I'm not gonna show all my work and you're gonna be yeah. Here we go. Verse one of chapter 13 says, then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea”
From the transcript
“The part about the leopards and the bear, that is a direct reference to a prophecy in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter seven, go read it. Don't have time to get into it, but it's literally, it's it's a prophecy about the the Babylon, Medo Persia, the the Greek, Macedonia, and the Roman”
From the transcript
“But he goes not just from a leader that's a hero, is is look what happens next. In verse three it says, I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery, but the fatal wound was healed, and the whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast”
From the transcript
“look what everybody does. Verse four. They worshipped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshipped the beast. Who is as great as the beast, they exclaimed. Who is able to fight against him”
From the transcript
“if you look skip down to verse seven and eight, it says, and the beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation”
From the transcript
“because it says in the end times that God removes the restrainer. The Bible says very clearly the restrainer is the Holy Spirit. And and you think our world's bad now. God allows free will. He allows evil to happen”
From the transcript
“And then if you look at verse 11, the the fake Holy Spirit shows up. Says, then I saw another beast come out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of the dragon”
From the transcript
“if you look down at the second half of verse 14, it says, he ordered the this false prophet, the fake Holy Spirit, orders the people to make a great statue of the first beast who was fatally wounded and then came back to life”
From the transcript
“And so what you have happened next is verse 16. He required everyone small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead, and no one could buy or sell anything without that mark”
From the transcript
“Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six six six”
From the transcript
“So the Bible says there's a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death. So if that's true, then why do I need to know this? What's the so what”
From the transcript
“it's interesting. Jesus said a parable about this. He has a story. He goes he talked about two roads. One leading to life, one leading to destruction. And what did he say about the road that leads to destruction? It is wide. What do you say about the road that leads to life? Narrow”
From the transcript
“we know Jesus walked right up to this area about as wide as this stage, and would have called them to say, hey, what did he say? Cast down your nets, drop your nets, and follow me. Right? You know what that meant”
From the transcript
“Does that mean it's always easy? No. Jesus said, take up your cross. But that's where our good should flow from who God is”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

There is something important to notice about how the Antichrist rises to power: he doesn't arrive as an obvious villain. He arrives with answers. Peace where there was conflict. Stability where there was chaos. Real, tangible goods that desperate people genuinely need. The sermon made this point clearly — deception almost never leads with what it truly is. It leads with something appealing, something you actually want. This is worth sitting with, because it reframes how we think about being deceived. We tend to imagine deception as obviously bad, something only the naive fall for. But Revelation 13 describes a system so convincing that nearly the whole world follows along in wonder. The question the sermon was quietly asking is: what makes something feel worth following? And the honest answer is usually that it seems to deliver good things. This isn't a reason to distrust every good gift in your life. It is a reason to ask a prior question before you ask 'is this good?' — and that question is 'where does this lead, and what does it ask of me in return?' The Antichrist's goods come with a cost that only becomes visible later. That pattern didn't begin in Revelation. It began in a garden. And it shows up in ordinary life more often than we might like to admit.

For reflection

Where in your life right now are you evaluating something primarily by whether it delivers good results — without asking what it's quietly asking of you in return?

Pray

Pray for eyes to see past what looks appealing to what something is truly asking of you.

Day 2

The False Prophet in Revelation 13 is described as looking like a lamb but speaking like a dragon. That image is jarring precisely because a lamb is the symbol of Jesus. The counterfeit is designed to be close — not obviously wrong, but subtly off. The sermon pointed out that Satan's strategy across Revelation 13 is not random; it mirrors the structure of the true Trinity. A false father. A false son who dies and appears to rise again. A false spirit who points everyone toward worship of the false son. The reason this matters for everyday life is that counterfeits only work when they resemble the real thing. A convincing forgery isn't sloppy. It's careful. And the sermon's implication was that if Satan is willing to construct an entire counterfeit of the Trinity to draw worship away from God, he is certainly willing to construct smaller, quieter versions of the same deception in your daily life — versions that look spiritual, feel meaningful, and even use the right vocabulary. The test the Bible keeps returning to isn't 'does this look right?' but 'where does this point?' The False Prophet's entire function is to redirect worship. Anything in your life that consistently redirects your heart away from God — no matter how lamb-like it appears — deserves a second, honest look.

For reflection

Is there something in your life that looks and even feels spiritual but has been quietly redirecting your heart away from genuine relationship with God?

Pray

Pray for the discernment to recognize what is genuinely pointing you toward God versus what is merely wearing the right appearance.

Day 3

Six hundred sixty-six. The sermon offered a reading of this number that is worth returning to slowly. Seven is the number of completeness in Scripture — God's number, the number of wholeness. Six falls short. And 666 isn't chaos or obvious evil; it is man's highest achievement repeated three times. Complete, impressive, the best humanity can produce — and still one short of whole. That's the symbol of allegiance to the world's best attempt at good without God. It isn't branded on people who are doing terrible things. In Revelation 13, it marks those who are simply operating within the system — buying, selling, participating in normal economic life under the Antichrist's order. The mark represents where your allegiance has settled, what system you've chosen to belong to. The sermon's point was that 666 represents something spiritually real right now, not just in a future tribulation. When we build our lives around the best version of human flourishing we can imagine — and leave God out of the definition of what flourishing actually means — we are operating by the same logic. Impressive. Functional. Even admirable. And still one short of whole. The invitation isn't to despise human effort or achievement. It's to recognize that human effort, at its very best, still needs something it cannot generate from within itself.

For reflection

In what area of your life are you settling for humanity's best — including your own best effort — when what you actually need is God's definition of wholeness?

Pray

Pray for honesty about where you've been measuring 'enough' by human standards rather than letting God define what wholeness looks like.

Day 4

Related passage

The sermon drew a direct line from Revelation 13 all the way back to Eden, and that connection is worth exploring on its own terms. The serpent's question in the garden wasn't 'do you want to do something evil?' It was 'are you sure God is holding out on you?' The temptation was framed entirely around good — the fruit was beautiful, it seemed wise, it appeared to offer something real. The lie wasn't that the fruit offered nothing. The lie was that good could be had apart from God, and that pursuing it independently was actually smarter than trusting Him. This is Satan's core tactic, the sermon said — not to make evil look attractive, but to make good look available on your own terms. Adam and Eve didn't fall because they wanted something wicked. They fell because they wanted something good through a route that bypassed God. And the moment the goal shifted from God Himself to the goods He provides, everything unraveled. That same reordering happens quietly in everyday life. It doesn't usually feel like rebellion. It feels like wisdom, like responsibility, like taking care of what matters. But if the goal has shifted from knowing God to securing good outcomes — for your family, your finances, your future — the same ancient logic is running underneath it. The antidote the sermon named is reordering: pursue God, and let good flow out of that.

For reflection

When you trace the deepest goal underneath your daily decisions right now, does it lead back to God — or to a version of good you've defined on your own terms?

Pray

Pray for the courage to name honestly what your deepest goal actually is, and ask God to reorder it where it needs to be reordered.

Day 5

The sermon revisited Jesus's parable of the two roads and offered a reading that lands differently than the usual summary. We typically hear 'narrow road, few find it' as a warning about numbers. But the sermon's point was about the nature of each path. The wide road doesn't start wide because it's obviously bad. It starts wide because it keeps expanding to include more good things. It's accommodating. It makes room. And precisely because it keeps making room, it funnels — gradually, almost imperceptibly — toward a place that was never freedom at all. The narrow road works in reverse. It seems restrictive at the entrance. It asks you to leave things behind. It doesn't promise that the journey will be easy or that you'll look successful by the standards of the road next to it. But it opens. The further you go, the more freedom you find — because it's freedom that is actually true, ordered around what is real rather than what is merely comfortable. Proverbs puts it plainly: there is a way that seems right to a person, but in the end it leads to death. Seeming right is not the same as being right. And the sermon's honest question to every person listening was: which road are you actually on — not which road do you intend to be on, but which one are your daily decisions, your daily loyalties, and your daily goals reflect?

For reflection

What does the 'narrow road' ask you to leave behind right now — and what has made you hesitant to leave it?

Pray

Pray for the willingness to stay on the narrow road even when the wide one looks more reasonable, more comfortable, or more productive.

Day 6

The sermon landed on Peter and Andrew dropping their nets as the picture of what genuine discipleship looks like when the goal gets reordered. Nets were their livelihood — their security, their identity, the thing they were good at, the thing that defined them in their community. Jesus didn't say the nets were evil. He didn't say fishing was wrong. He said: follow Me. And they left the nets. The sermon's application pushed into places that are genuinely personal — how you parent, how you serve, how you hold the things that currently define your sense of stability. The question wasn't whether good things are bad. The question was whether those good things have become the point. Are you parenting toward a good kid, or toward a kid who knows how to pursue God? Are you serving because it fits your schedule and feels productive, or because you've been undone by what Jesus gave and you can't help but give back? Those are different engines, and over time they produce different lives. Dropping nets is not a one-time dramatic moment for most people. It's a daily decision to hold loosely the things that feel like security and to keep your hands open toward God. It's choosing, again and again, to let the relationship be the goal — and to trust that what flows out of that will be more than enough.

For reflection

What are your 'nets' right now — the thing that defines your security or identity — and what would it look like to hold them more loosely before God?

Pray

Pray for the specific willingness to loosen your grip on whatever you've been holding tightly, and ask God to show you what following Him actually looks like in that area.

Day 7

Coming back to the whole chapter after a week of close reflection, something becomes clearer: Revelation 13 is not primarily a roadmap of future events to decode. It is a portrait of a logic — the logic of substitution. Replace the true God with a counterfeit. Replace true worship with performed allegiance. Replace true good with a polished imitation that delivers just enough to keep people from asking harder questions. The sermon's final charge was a single clarifying question: What is your real goal? Not your stated goal. Not your Sunday answer. Your real goal — the one your time, energy, attention, and treasure are quietly organized around. If the honest answer is a good life, good outcomes, good standing — even good things done in the name of faith — then the same logic that deceives the world in the last days is already running in ordinary life right now. The antidote is not guilt. It is reorientation. Pursue God through His Word. Pursue Him in worship that is honest rather than performed. Pursue Him in genuine community where people actually know you. Let good be the overflow, not the objective. This week was an invitation to examine the foundation, not to condemn the building. If something needs to shift, God is not waiting for you to have it all figured out before He meets you. He meets you right where the reorientation begins.

For reflection

Looking back over this week, what is the one honest shift God has been inviting you to make — and what is your next concrete step toward it?

Pray

Pray with gratitude for whatever God has clarified this week, and ask Him for the courage and consistency to live from that clarity going forward.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message digs into one of the stranger chapters in the Bible — Revelation 13 — and lands on a question that is anything but strange: What is the real goal driving the way you live?

Discussion questions

1
In Revelation 13, the Antichrist rises to global power by delivering real things people actually want — peace, order, prosperity. What does that tell us about how deception tends to work, and why a counterfeit that offers genuine goods might be harder to resist than one that is obviously bad?
2
The message describes Satan's strategy as a counterfeit of the true Trinity — a fake father, a fake son, a fake spirit — each mimicking something real. Why do you think the goal of that imitation is worship specifically, rather than just obedience or control?
3
The sermon traces a single tactic from the Garden of Eden all the way through the rise of the Antichrist: the idea that good can be found apart from God. Where do you think people today — including people in church — are most likely to encounter that same shift without recognizing it as deception?
4
Jesus describes two roads — one wide, one narrow — and the sermon suggested the wide road does not shrink options at first; it actually expands with good things, and only later narrows into enslavement. How does that reframe the way we might typically picture what a 'dangerous' path looks like?
5
The message drew a contrast between serving or parenting that flows from a real relationship with God versus doing the same things simply because they produce good outcomes. What is the practical difference between those two starting points, and how might the two look identical from the outside while leading somewhere very different?
6
Peter and Andrew left their nets — the thing that defined their security and livelihood — when Jesus called them. The sermon held that image up as a picture of what reordering our goal actually requires. What makes that kind of relinquishment feel costly, and what does the message say we are trading it for?

Pray together

Asking God to reorder our goals — that we would pursue Him first and let good flow from that, rather than making good itself what we are after

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Go deeper

Continue the series

Revelation

Week 3 · 4 messages

Where these passages are preached

Revelation 13 Daniel 7 2 Thessalonians 2 Proverbs 14

Explore related topics

Counterfeit Deception God vs. Goods Satan's Tactics Spiritual Compromise The Two Roads

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