Thesis
Drawing from Colossians 1:24–2:8, Pastor Bill challenges Rock Point to stop stretching their lives in multiple directions and instead go all in on the calling God has given every believer: to point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. Living intentionally means asking five honest heart-check questions — about our attitude toward suffering, our reason for serving, our heart for people, our source of strength, and our willingness to build our lives on Christ — and then directing our time, spiritual gifts, treasure, and testimony toward that singular mission.
Key points
- 1
A healthy attitude toward suffering is essential for intentional living — the realist can rejoice in sacrificial suffering for the cause of Christ and His church.
- 2
Every believer — not just pastors — is commissioned by God to share the love of Christ and point people to Jesus.
- 3
We must cultivate a genuine heart for people, resisting the temptation to turn inward, become overwhelmed, and do nothing.
- 4
Our source of strength is Christ's mighty power — accessed not by adding more to our plate, but by aligning our lives with what God is calling us to do.
- 5
Living intentionally means rooting our lives in Christ and directing our time, spiritual gifts, treasure, and testimony toward His mission.
- 6
We must reject the cultural lie that we can love Jesus while remaining disconnected from His church, because the church is the body through which God accomplishes His mission.
Outline
Introduction — Stretching in Two Directions
Pastor Bill uses a humorous birthday hamstring-cramp illustration to set up the sermon's central tension: many of us are trying to stretch our lives toward God and toward the world simultaneously, and it simply does not work.
Series Context — We Are Rock Point
Pastor Bill recaps the 'We Are Rock Point' series — knowing Jesus and growing in community — and introduces today's third movement: going and living intentionally as the church God has called us to be.
Introduction to Colossians and Five Heart-Check Questions
Paul's letter to Colossae is introduced as the scriptural lens for the message; Pastor Bill frames five heart-check questions drawn from Colossians 1:24–2:8 that reveal whether our hearts are oriented toward intentional living.
Question 1 — What Is My Attitude Toward Suffering?
Using Colossians 1:24, Pastor Bill contrasts the masochist, the escapist, and the realist, arguing that biblical intentional living requires a willingness to suffer sacrificially for the body of Christ, just as Jesus did.
Question 2 — What Is My Reason for Serving?
From Colossians 1:25-27, Pastor Bill challenges the idea that only clergy are called to ministry, insisting every believer is commissioned to share the love of Christ and cannot simply live like the world with 'a little bit of spiritual Jesus sprinkled on top.'
Question 3 — What Is My Heart for People?
Drawing on Colossians 1:28-29 and the call to reach 'everyone,' Pastor Bill addresses compassion fatigue and the lie that we can love Jesus while rejecting the local church, urging the congregation to start with their immediate community rather than being paralyzed by the scale of the world's need.
Question 4 — What Is My Source of Strength?
Pastor Bill explains that Christ's mighty power is accessed not by finding more personal energy to add onto an already full life, but by asking what God wants and aligning everything to that — directing time, spiritual gifts, treasure, and testimony toward His mission.
Question 5 — Am I Building My Life on Christ?
From Colossians 2:6-8, Pastor Bill closes the teaching by calling the church to let their roots grow down into Jesus, warning against the high-sounding nonsense of cafeteria-style philosophy, and promising that obedience leads to overflow with thankfulness.
Halftime Locker-Room Celebration
Pastor Bill pivots to a passionate 'halftime speech,' celebrating Rock Point's first-half ministry fruit — foster care, missions, outreach, kids and student ministry, young adults — as evidence of what intentional, all-in living produces.
Memorable moments
the point, the mission of our church here, which is right out of the Bible, but it's the way we word it is to point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus
If I choose to do Jesus's work his way, I get his power
where God guides, he provides
There's one thing God's asked us to live intentional about in our life right now that has a shelf life and an expiration date, and that is bring people to Jesus
Paraphrase
We have a life from the pit of hell in our culture that says I can love Jesus but not the church. You can't because the church is the body of Christ that God intended and he died for us.
Let your roots grow down into him. Let your lives be built on him. That's living intentionally. Build your lives around Jesus
Application
Pastor Bill calls every believer to stop stretching their lives in two directions and instead go all in on the one mission God has given His church: point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. Practically, that means taking an honest heart-check — am I willing to get uncomfortable for the body of Christ? Do I understand that I, not just the pastor, am commissioned to share this message? Do I have a genuine heart for people? Am I drawing on Christ's power rather than my own? The tangible next step is to direct your time, spiritual gifts, treasure, and testimony toward that calling — starting with your local church — and trust that on the other side of sacrificial obedience is the thankfulness and joy God has always intended for you.
