We Are Rock Point | Part 1

The big idea

Life is about the journey, not the destination — and that journey is knowing Christ in a personal relationship because God alone has taken care of both ends of the deal.

God doesn't call us to chase destinations but to walk a lifelong journey of knowing Him. Like Abraham, we get fearful and impatient when promises seem far off, but God alone passed through the covenant sacrifice, showing He alone is faithful. We're saved not by earning it, but simply by believing Him, the way Jesus later paid for both sides of that covenant on the cross.

Point 1 of 7

Pastor Bill opens with a story of a 3,500-mile road trip where he had to fight his own urge to rush to the destination and instead learn to stop and notice things along the way, like the bubblegum wall in Seattle and Idaho Falls. He connects this to how believers often treat their walk with God as a race to the next milestone instead of a relationship to be lived out moment by moment.

Point 2 of 7

Pastor Bill reads Genesis 12, where God calls a 75-year-old, childless Abram to leave everything for a land and a promise of descendants, and Abram departs in obedience.

Point 3 of 7

By Genesis 15, years have passed and Abram still has no child. God tells him not to be afraid, and Abram voices his doubt, complaining he has no heir. Pastor Bill compares this to a child in the backseat convinced the trip will never end, showing that God's promises don't always move at the pace we expect.

Point 4 of 7

God responds by promising descendants as numerous as the stars, and Abram believes Him. Pastor Bill highlights that this simple belief, not any accomplishment, is what made Abram right with God — though only one verse later Abram is doubting again, showing how human and inconsistent faith really is.

Point 5 of 7

Pastor Bill walks through the strange covenant ceremony with the animals cut in half, explaining the ancient custom meant both covenant parties would walk through the blood, pledging their own death if they broke the agreement. But in the vision, only God — appearing as smoke and fire — passes through the pieces, meaning God alone bore the responsibility and the penalty, even for Abram's future failures.

Point 6 of 7

Pastor Bill connects God passing through alone to Jesus going to the cross alone, bearing the penalty for humanity's failure to keep the covenant. He shares his own testimony of trying to earn his way onto 'God's team' through good behavior and Bible reading as a 14-year-old, until he understood the gospel through a friend's invitation and an intern's explanation that no one can make the team through their own effort — Jesus already paid both sides of the deal.

Point 7 of 7

Pastor Bill explains that baptism, like the covenant ceremony with Abraham, is a moment God gives us to look back on, not a requirement God needs to love us or a mark of spiritual maturity. It identifies believers with Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection so that when they fail later, they can remember the moment they declared belief and run back to God instead of away from Him.

Take it into your week

Pastor Bill's charge is to stop treating faith like a deal you have to earn and simply believe God, the way Abraham did.