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Jonah Werner | A New Song · Rewind

Rock Point Church

69 min

Pastor Jonah Werner · Sep 23, 2018 · 4 min read · 69 min listen

The big idea

We were created to dive into the life Jesus offers instead of staying safe on the pier, trusting the great Rescuer to meet us in the hard, scary places.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 7Every person has a soundtrack to their life, a song of the heart, and it can change over time
Point 2 of 7Many people's picture of Jesus is skewed, but the real Jesus came to give life to the full

Point 3 of 7People can't rescue people; we can only lead each other to the feet of the great Rescuer
Point 4 of 7We were created to dive in and trust something bigger than ourselves, even when it's scary
Point 5 of 7It's okay to ask God the hard questions, and He answers with a resounding yes
Point 6 of 7Treasuring and calling out for God's wisdom leads to knowing Him
Point 7 of 7Love is the plan, modeled after Jesus, who calls us to love even those who don't love us back
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Proverbs 2:1-5
Psalm 40

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 Jonah Werner · Sep 23, 2018 · 69 min watch · 2 min read

Jonah Werner | A New Song

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Proverbs 2:1-5
Psalm 40

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

We were created to dive into the life Jesus offers instead of staying safe on the pier, trusting the great Rescuer to meet us in the hard, scary places.

Pastor Jonah shares that every life has a soundtrack, a song in the heart, and Jesus wants to meet us right where that song is one of sorrow, fear, or brokenness. People cannot rescue people; we can only lead each other to the feet of the one great Rescuer. When we dive in and trust Him, even when we're scared, He gives us a new song and leads us to life to the full.

Key points

1
1Every person has a soundtrack to their life, a song of the heart, and it can change over time
Pastor Jonah opens by comparing his own life to the song he performed, saying all of us have a theme song, whether it's peace and joy or sorrow, anxiety, and addiction. He says Jesus wants to meet people in whatever place that song describes.
2
2Many people's picture of Jesus is skewed, but the real Jesus came to give life to the full
He tells the story of his little brother calling Jesus Jebus and being freaked out by the picture on the church wall, admitting he felt the same disconnect as a boy. He says he later learned about the real Jesus, who came not just to be born and die but to rise again and give abundant life.
3
3People can't rescue people; we can only lead each other to the feet of the great Rescuer
Through his own story of chasing after girls and relationships hoping to be rescued from his broken home, Pastor Jonah realized human relationships couldn't fill the hole in his heart. He names this directly as something he didn't understand until later in life.
4
4We were created to dive in and trust something bigger than ourselves, even when it's scary
He tells the extended, comedic true story of hooking a huge fish off a North Carolina pier and being told by the pier master he'd have to swim out beyond the breakers in the dark to land it. Despite his fear, he dove in, followed the pier master's voice and light, and caught the record-size fish, which he uses as a picture of trusting God enough to jump into the deep, scary places of life.
5
5It's okay to ask God the hard questions, and He answers with a resounding yes
Pastor Jonah says God invites us to ask, what if I fall, will You catch me, what if I call, will You hear me, and that God wants to meet us in that hard place rather than turn away from the questions.
6
6Treasuring and calling out for God's wisdom leads to knowing Him
He reads from Proverbs, explaining that God tells His sons and daughters to receive His words, treasure His commandments, incline their hearts, and cry out for insight, and that doing so leads to finding the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God, something he says the world desperately needs right now.
7
7Love is the plan, modeled after Jesus, who calls us to love even those who don't love us back
Sharing a piece he wrote for his son about what makes a man, Pastor Jonah says Jesus taught him to be humble, take a stand, and love neighbors, enemies, and haters alike, because God is love, and that love is the answer to build a life on.

Application

Pastor Jonah's charge is to dive in, trusting the great Rescuer instead of staying safe on the pier.

Name the soundtrack of your heart
Take a look at your life this week and ask what the theme song of your heart really is right now, whether it's peace, sorrow, fear, or something else.
Share it with a friend or spouse
Start a conversation about that song with someone close to you this week and see where Jesus meets you in it.
Dive in rather than stay on the pier
Face the issue you've been avoiding, have the honest conversation, ask for forgiveness, or take the scary step, trusting God to meet you there.
Ask God the hard questions
Bring Him your what if I fall, will You catch me questions instead of hiding them, since He wants to meet you in that hard place.
Look to Jesus for a new song
Trust that Jesus will put a new song in your heart in place of the old one, and let that hope shape how you move forward this week.

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
“In Proverbs two:one-five, he says, My son, if you receive my words, my daughter, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“they wrote this song straight out of the Bible. It's the verse that I just shared with you, Psalm 40, and so we're going to sing that”

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

Every one of us is carrying something. Pastor Jonah called it a soundtrack — that theme song running beneath the surface of your daily life. For some people it sounds like peace and gratitude. For others it sounds like fear, or grief, or a quiet ache they can't quite name. Before anything can change, something honest has to happen: you have to listen to what's actually playing. David knew this. He didn't open Psalm 40 with a triumphant declaration — he opened it with waiting. He was in a pit, in mud, in miry clay. He didn't dress it up or explain it away. He simply cried out, and then he waited for God to answer. That's not weakness. That's the beginning of something real. Today is not a day to fix anything. It's a day to listen. What is the soundtrack of your heart right now? Not the one you perform for other people, and not the one you wish you were carrying — the actual one. Naming it honestly, even just to yourself, is the first step toward the very thing David experienced: a firm place to stand and a new song to sing. You don't have to clean yourself up before you bring it to God. The pit is exactly where He found David, and it's exactly where He meets us too.

For reflection

If you had to give your heart's current soundtrack a title, what would it be — and when did that song start playing?

Pray

Pray for the courage to be honest with God today about what is actually going on inside you.

Day 2

There's a quiet shift in the middle of Psalm 40 that's easy to miss. David moves from describing his rescue to describing his trust — and he ties those two things directly together. The person who is truly happy, he says, is the one who makes the Lord their trust and doesn't turn to proud, deceitful people for rescue instead. Pastor Jonah was straightforward about this: people cannot rescue people. We can love each other deeply, walk alongside each other faithfully, and point each other toward something better — but we were never built to be one another's ultimate source of rescue. When we put that weight on a person, we crush them and we shortchange ourselves. The friendship, the marriage, the community that actually holds together is the one where both people are leaning on the same Rescuer. That doesn't diminish relationships. If anything, it frees them. When you stop needing someone to be your savior, you can actually receive them as a friend. And when you stop trying to be someone else's savior, you can offer them something more honest and more lasting: your hand, pointing toward Jesus. Think about the people closest to you. Are you leaning on any of them for something only God can give? Are any of them leaning that hard on you?

For reflection

Is there a relationship in your life where you or the other person has been carrying a weight of rescue that belongs to God alone?

Pray

Pray for clarity about where you've been looking to a person for what only Jesus can provide.

Day 3

Proverbs 2 reads like a father leaning across a table, speaking plainly and urgently to someone he loves. The passage doesn't open with a command to perform — it opens with an invitation to receive. Receive my words. Treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom. That word 'treasure' is worth sitting with. You don't casually set aside something you treasure. You protect it, return to it, think about it. Treasuring God's Word is less about a daily checklist and more about an orientation of the heart — approaching Scripture the way you'd approach something genuinely valuable, expecting to find something worth keeping. Pastor Jonah called people to 'dive in,' and this is where the dive begins: not with a dramatic act, but with a daily, quiet willingness to receive. Before the hard conversation happens, before the honest prayer is prayed, there's a posture that makes all of it possible — a heart that is open to what God is actually saying, not just what we want to hear. If your Bible has felt more like an obligation than a treasure lately, that's worth noticing without shame. It may just mean your heart needs an honest reset — a moment of saying, 'I want to want this.' That's a prayer God has answered before, and He'll answer it again.

For reflection

What would it look like practically for you to treat God's Word as something you treasure this week, rather than something you check off a list?

Pray

Pray for a genuine hunger for Scripture — not just the habit of reading it, but a real desire to find God in it.

Day 4

The next two verses of Proverbs 2 have an intensity to them. Cry out for insight, the writer says. Shout for understanding. Search for it like silver, hunt for it like hidden treasure. This is not passive. This is not someone waiting calmly on a pier for wisdom to float by. Pastor Jonah was direct: there's a difference between standing on the pier and diving in. The pier is safe. It's comfortable. It lets you stay close to the water without getting wet. But the full life Jesus promises — the abundant life He came to bring — is not available on the pier. It's available in the water, to the person who actually jumps. Crying out to God for wisdom takes a kind of abandon. It means admitting you don't have the answer, that you've been trying to figure it out on your own, and that you're genuinely ready to hear something you might not have expected. That can feel vulnerable. It is vulnerable. But Proverbs doesn't frame this as reckless — it frames it as the only reasonable thing to do when something as valuable as wisdom is at stake. What hard question have you been circling but not asking? What honest conversation have you been putting off? Today might be the day to stop circling and start crying out.

For reflection

What is one thing you've been hesitant to bring honestly before God or a trusted person in your life — and what has kept you on the pier?

Pray

Pray for the willingness to ask God the hard questions you've been holding back, trusting He can handle them.

Day 5

After all the receiving, treasuring, inclining, and crying out in the first four verses, Proverbs 2 lands on a promise: then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will find the knowledge of God. Not maybe. Not possibly. Then you will. That's a remarkable thing to say. The path is not guaranteed to be painless, and the timeline is not spelled out — but the destination is certain. If you pursue God with that kind of honesty and persistence, you will find Him. You will come to know Him. Pastor Jonah asked the questions out loud that a lot of people are afraid to ask: If I fall, will You catch me? If I'm drowning, will You save me? And his answer, grounded in Scripture, was clear: yes. God does not invite you to cry out for wisdom and then leave you unanswered. He does not invite you to dive in and then let you sink. The knowledge of God in this verse isn't just theological information — it's personal experience of who He is. It's the kind of knowing that only comes from actually trusting Him through something hard. That knowing changes the soundtrack. It can't not. When you've cried out and been answered, when you've fallen and been caught, the song you carry is different afterward.

For reflection

Has there been a moment in your life when you cried out to God and found Him faithful — and how has that shaped the song you carry now?

Pray

Pray for a deeper personal knowledge of God — not just facts about Him, but real, lived experience of who He is.

Day 6

Once David's feet were on solid ground and a new song was in his mouth, he didn't keep it to himself. 'I have told all your people of your saving acts,' he writes. 'I have not kept this good news hidden in my heart.' He told it in the great assembly. He didn't hide the faithfulness, the salvation, the unfailing love. This is where the sermon's invitation becomes outward-facing. Pastor Jonah didn't just call people to an internal reckoning — he called them to share their soundtrack with a trusted friend or spouse, to let that honest conversation become a doorway. That's exactly what David modeled: the rescue you've received is not meant to be hoarded. Your story, including the hard parts that came before the new song, is exactly the kind of testimony that can lead another person to the feet of the Rescuer. You don't have to have everything figured out to share what God has done. You don't need a polished testimony or a perfectly resolved story arc. You just need to be honest about where you were, what you cried out, and what God did. That kind of honesty — not performance, not pretense — is what gives other people permission to bring their own soundtrack into the light. Your story has weight. Don't keep it hidden.

For reflection

Is there someone in your life who might need to hear what God has done for you — and what has kept you from telling them?

Pray

Pray for the courage to share your story honestly with someone who needs to hear it this week.

Day 7

Read Psalm 40 all the way through today, slowly, as a way of gathering everything the week has stirred up. This psalm holds the whole arc of what Pastor Jonah described: the pit, the waiting, the rescue, the new song, the testimony, and the continued need for God's help even after the rescue. David doesn't pretend that the new song means trouble is permanently gone — he still asks for God's help by the end of the psalm. That honesty is part of what makes it so enduring. You may be at different places in that arc right now. Maybe this week cracked something open. Maybe you had a conversation you'd been avoiding, or prayed a prayer you'd been afraid to pray. Maybe you're still on the pier, and that's okay — the invitation is still open. What Pastor Jonah offered wasn't a technique or a program. It was a Person. Jesus came for the broken, the lost, and the counted out — not to fix you from a distance, but to climb into the pit, set your feet on solid ground, and put a new song in your mouth. The path of Proverbs 2 — receive, treasure, incline, cry out — leads to the knowledge of God. And the God you find at the end of that path is the one who has been writing a better soundtrack for you all along. Dive in. He'll catch you.

For reflection

Looking back over this week, what is one honest thing you heard from God — and what is one step you want to take in response?

Pray

Pray over the whole arc of this week — what God stirred, what you're still carrying, and what new song you're asking Him to place in your heart.

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

Think about a song that has been stuck in your head lately — not a spiritual one, just any song. This message uses that everyday experience as a window into something much deeper about what's actually playing in the heart.

Discussion questions

1
Pastor Jonah described every person carrying a kind of 'soundtrack' in their heart — a theme song shaped by their circumstances. What does that image capture about the inner life that a more straightforward description might miss?
2
In Psalm 40, the writer describes being lifted out of a pit and given a new song to sing. What do you notice about the sequence there — what has to happen before the new song arrives?
3
Pastor Jonah made the point that people cannot ultimately rescue one another — we can only lead each other to the one great Rescuer. How does that reframe what it actually looks like to be a good friend or community to someone who is hurting?
4
Proverbs 2:1-5 lays out a path: receive His Word, treasure His commands, incline your heart, and cry out for wisdom — and the promise is finding the knowledge of God. What stands out to you about the way that path is described, and what does it suggest about how God meets people who are searching?
5
Pastor Jonah used the image of standing on a pier versus diving in — staying where it feels safe versus fully trusting God and stepping into the hard thing. What tends to keep people on the pier, and what might it look like for a community like ours to encourage one another toward that dive?
6
Pastor Jonah invited listeners to name the song actually playing in their heart this week and share it with a trusted person, letting that conversation become a doorway to where Jesus wants to meet them. As a group, how can we be the kind of community where that kind of honest conversation feels possible?

Pray together

Asking God to give us ears to hear what is really playing in our hearts, and courage to bring it honestly to Him and to one another

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

Where these passages are preached

Proverbs 2 Psalm 40

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