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CONTROL FREAK | Week 1 | Sermon · Rewind

Rock Point Church

Pastor Bill Bush · Jul 21, 2024

Pastor Bill Bush · Jul 21, 2024 · 47 min watch · 2 min read

CONTROL FREAK | Week 1 | Sermon

Devotional days

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

Scripture in this message

Matthew 14
Matthew 14:13
Matthew 14:16
Matthew 14:17
Matthew 22
John 6:66

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Control issues are really trust issues — Quoting the message: where God guides, He provides, end quote., so we don't need to see His provision before we obey.

God isn't a God of subtraction trying to take from us, but a God of multiplication trying to give through us. When He asks us to trust Him with what He asks, what we have, and what He'll do — even before we see the outcome — He always provides for the very thing He guided us to.

Key points

1
1Control issues are really trust issues
Pastor Bill opens with a story of driving cross-country with a friend who insisted on controlling the wheel, and was fine trusting him until a torrential storm hit and the friend started steering with his elbows while looking at his phone. He notes he had no problem trusting his friend's control until it scared him — showing that we're comfortable trusting God when it's easy, but resist when He guides us into a storm.
2
2Where God guides, He provides — not the reverse
Pastor Bill states the big idea plainly: if God guides you somewhere, He will provide what you need to do what He wants. He contrasts this with how we naturally flip it — waiting for God to provide before we'll let Him guide — and calls that a control-freak posture rather than faith.
3
3Trust God with what He asks
Working through Matthew 14, Pastor Bill shows Jesus withdrawing after John the Baptist's death, being followed by crowds, and then telling the disciples to feed the 5,000-plus. The disciples' response — 'we only have five loaves and two fish' — is treated as the natural but faithless answer; Jesus always asks us to do something we don't have the resources for, on purpose, to grow our trust.
4
4Know, grow, and go — how we get to a place of trust
He sums up discipleship in three words: know Jesus (through public worship and private time in the Word), grow in community (circles, not rows, since we need others to see our blind spots), and go live intentionally with our time, talent, treasure, and testimony as stewards, not owners.
5
5The crowd's rejection shows what happens when we only want provision, not the King
Pastor Bill points to John 6, where the crowd wants to make Jesus king only because He fed them — they want 'Burger King,' not the King of Kings — and many disciples abandon Him once He talks about His coming death. Peter's reply, 'Where would we go? You have the words of life,' is held up as the posture of real trust.
6
6Trust God with what you have
Jesus tells the disciples 'bring them here' — He doesn't ask for everything, just what they have, and does something with it they couldn't do alone. Pastor Bill applies this to hidden habits, hang-ups, and addictions (naming porn and overspending) that keep people feeling too busy or too broke to obey, urging people to unchain themselves so they're free to give what's asked.
7
7Trust God with what He'll do
Jesus blesses the five loaves and two fish, and the crowd of thousands eats until full with 12 baskets left over — one for each disciple. Pastor Bill stresses this is the God of multiplication, not subtraction, and that trusting Him before seeing the outcome is what turns 'I can't' into 'I will trust.'

Application

Pastor Bill's challenge is to turn your can't into I will trust by bringing God what you have, starting with the scariest thing on your list.

Know Jesus through worship and the Word
Come to gather with the church to sing and pray, but also spend time privately in the Bible during the week so you know His love and character before you're asked to trust Him with something hard.
Grow in community, in circles not rows
Get into a group with people at different life stages who will actually challenge you, not just people like you, because we all have blind spots we can't see alone.
Deal with what's chaining you back
Identify the habit, hang-up, or addiction (Pastor Bill names things like pornography or living beyond your means) that's actually stealing the time or money you claim you don't have to give God.
Bring Him what you have
Stop waiting until it makes sense on paper. Give God your time, talent, treasure, and testimony now, trusting Him to do what you can't do with it on your own.
Pick the scariest one first
If you have a list of things you believe in God about but haven't yet believed Him for, start with the one that scares you most — trusting Him there makes trusting Him with the rest easier.

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
“And that's what we're gonna see today in Matthew chapter 14. And I think that the big idea we're gonna unpackage about this, that control issues are really trust issues”
From the transcript
“So what happens? Here we go. Verse 13. As soon as Jesus heard the news, John the Baptist died, he left in a boat to remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns”
From the transcript
“And they ask him that. And so he says in verse 16, that isn't necessary. You feed them. Like 10,000 people there”
From the transcript
“It says, verse 17, but we have only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered. We have five pita and a couple fish sticks”
From the transcript
“And then in Matthew 22, he says, love God with all your heart and love others. In other words, the gospel and the mission we have”
From the transcript
“it says in John six six six of all things. John six sixty six. It says, on that day, many of his disciples. He had more than just the 12”
From the transcript
“Verse 18, right after they said, but this is all we have, he says, bring them here. He said, bring them here. That's the living intentional part”
From the transcript
“look in verse 19 after they bring it to him, he says, then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took five loaves and two fish, looked up towards heaven, blessed them, And breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples who distribute it to the people”

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 a detail at the start of this story that is easy to skip past. Jesus has just received devastating news — the death of John the Baptist — and He withdraws by boat to a quiet place. He is grieving. And the crowds follow anyway. What strikes Pastor Bill, and what should strike us, is that Jesus does not send them away in His grief. He sees them, has compassion on them, and begins to heal the sick. The story of the feeding of the five thousand begins not with a miracle but with a choice Jesus makes while He is hurting: to show up for people anyway. This is the God we are being invited to trust. Not a distant manager who shows up when conditions are ideal, but a Savior who meets crowds in His own sorrow and still gives. If you find yourself in a hard season — tired, stretched, maybe even grieving something — this is the entry point into the passage. God's compassion toward you is not contingent on your circumstances being resolved first. He is already present, already moving, already inclined toward you. The trust that Pastor Bill is calling us to is not blind optimism. It is a response to a God whose character we can actually see here in the opening verses.

For reflection

What circumstance in your life right now makes it hardest to believe God is present and already at work?

Pray

Pray for eyes to see where God's compassion is already showing up in your current season.

Day 2

The disciples had a perfectly reasonable plan: send the crowd away so they can buy food in the villages. It was logical, responsible, and entirely focused on what was available. Jesus responded with something that must have sounded almost absurd — 'You feed them.' Not 'watch Me feed them.' Not 'find a way to feed them.' You. Pastor Bill named this moment as the thesis of the whole passage: where God guides, He provides — but He consistently asks us to step out before provision appears. The disciples were being taught something about what it means to be the church. They were not meant to be logistics managers who point people somewhere else when the need gets too big. They were meant to be the ones who stay, engage, and bring what they have. That is still the invitation. When Jesus says 'you feed them,' He is not setting the disciples up to fail. He is setting them up to see what He can do through people who say yes before they know how it will work. The discomfort of that gap — between the command and the resources — is not a design flaw. It is precisely where trust is formed. You do not learn to trust a God who only asks you to do things you already have the capacity for.

For reflection

Where in your life is Jesus saying 'you do something about it,' and what has your response been so far?

Pray

Pray for the willingness to say yes to what God is asking before you can see how it will come together.

Day 3

Five loaves. Two fish. The disciples did not bury their inadequacy — they named it out loud. 'We have only five loaves of bread and two fish.' There is something honest and even faithful about that statement. They brought what they had and were transparent about how far short it fell. Pastor Bill pointed out that God always asks us to do something we do not have the full resources for, because He wants to do something through us that we simply cannot do on our own. If we could do it on our own, it would be our story. God is after something bigger. That means the gap between what you have and what is needed is not an obstacle to faith — it is the very space where faith lives. This is also where Pastor Bill's challenge about time, talent, treasure, and testimony begins to take shape. Most of us have done a quiet inventory and decided our five loaves and two fish are not worth offering. They are too ordinary, too small, too unremarkable. But the disciples did not improve the offering before bringing it. They brought it as it was. The transformation happened after the act of trust, not before. What you have — however modest it feels — is a real starting point. The question is not whether it is enough. It never is. The question is whether you will bring it.

For reflection

What is the 'five loaves and two fish' in your own life that you have been hesitant to bring to Jesus because it feels too small?

Pray

Pray for the courage to offer what you actually have rather than waiting until you feel like it is enough.

Day 4

Jesus said three words that reframe the whole problem: 'Bring them here.' He did not say go get more. He did not redesign the plan. He asked for what was already in the disciples' hands. Pastor Bill's application lands right here — trust God with what you have. Time, talent, treasure, testimony. These are not abstract categories. They are the actual inventory of your life. Your schedule, your skills, the resources you steward, and the story of what God has already done in you. All of it is fair game for God to multiply. The word 'bring' is worth sitting with. It implies movement. You have to cross the space between where you are standing and where Jesus is. That movement — small as it sounds — is the act of trust. It means releasing control of the thing before you know the outcome. Pastor Bill was direct about this: most of us reverse the order of faith. We want to see the multiplication happen before we let go of the loaves. But that is not the order Jesus uses. He asks for the resource, blesses it, breaks it, and then it multiplies. That sequence requires you to hand it over first. Whatever God has been asking you to bring — your margin, your gift, your finances, your story — the invitation today is simply to take one step across that space.

For reflection

Of the four areas — time, talent, treasure, and testimony — which one feels most difficult to hand over, and why?

Pray

Pray for a specific, concrete willingness to bring one of those areas to Jesus this week.

Day 5

Here is what actually happened: Jesus took the bread, looked up to heaven, blessed it, broke it, gave it to the disciples, and they distributed it to the crowd. Five thousand men, plus women and children, ate until they were satisfied. Twelve baskets of leftovers. Pastor Bill was clear: God is not a God of subtraction but of multiplication. The disciples did not end up with less than they started with. They ended up with more — and so did everyone around them. This is the pattern that faith in a multiplying God produces. When you trust Him with what you have, the outcome is not depletion. It is abundance that overflows to others. That detail about twelve baskets is not decorative. There were twelve disciples. Each one walked away with a basket full of evidence. God has a way of making sure the people who trusted Him can see with their own hands what He did with their 'yes.' Pastor Bill also noted that this is how trust compounds. Once you see God come through in the scary place, the next step of faith comes a little easier. You are not starting from zero — you are starting from a basket of evidence. That is why he challenged us not to start with the easiest thing on our list. Start where the trust is hardest, and let what God does there become the foundation for everything else.

For reflection

Can you recall a moment when you stepped out in trust and saw God multiply what you brought? How did that shape your next step of faith?

Pray

Pray for the courage to start with the scariest area of trust on your list, and for faith to believe God will meet you there.

Day 6

Pastor Bill situated the feeding of the five thousand inside a larger purpose: the disciples were being taught how to be the church — to point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. That mission has a shape, and Jesus gave it its clearest form when He said to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. These two commands are not separate tracks. They are the whole thing. The feeding of the five thousand is love in action — love for a hungry crowd, expressed through the hands of ordinary people who brought what they had. Control issues, as Pastor Bill named them, are ultimately trust issues with God. But they are also love issues with the people around us. When we hold back our time, our gifts, our story, or our resources, the people who might have been fed go hungry. The mission is not abstract. There are real people in your neighborhood, your workplace, your family, and your community who need what God might do through your 'five loaves and two fish.' The adventure of faith that Pastor Bill described is not a private spiritual experience. It is public, relational, and outward-facing. Loving people like Jesus loved them — practically, presently, without waiting for perfect conditions — is the lived-out form of trusting God with what you have.

For reflection

Who is one specific person in your life who might be 'fed' if you brought more of yourself — your time, your gifts, or your story — to them?

Pray

Pray for a heart that is as concerned with the people around you as it is with your own comfort and certainty.

Day 7

Read the whole passage again today with fresh eyes. A crowd in need. A compassionate Jesus. Disciples who have almost nothing. A command to act before the provision is visible. Five loaves and two fish, handed over. Twelve baskets left when it was done. This is the shape of the life Pastor Bill was describing all week. Not a life of cautious holding back until certainty arrives, but a life of bringing what you actually have and watching God do what only He can do. He closed with a phrase that deserves one more day of weight: 'It's third period. Don't take it to your grave.' The time you have, the gifts you carry, the story God has written in you, the resources you steward — they are not meant to accumulate quietly. They are meant to be brought, blessed, broken, and multiplied into something that feeds people and points them to Jesus. The goal of this week was never to make you feel guilty for what you have not done. It was to remind you that Jesus is not asking you for something. He is inviting you into something. Something larger than what you could manage alone, something that actually matters, something you were built for. The adventure of faith begins with one honest 'yes.' Wherever you are starting from today, that is enough to begin.

For reflection

Looking back at the week, what is the one thing you sense God most clearly inviting you to bring to Him — and what would it look like to take that step this week?

Pray

Pray for the courage and conviction to take the next step of trust in the specific area God has been speaking to you about this 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

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message centers on a simple but unsettling idea: what we call control issues are really trust issues — and God has a pattern of asking us to move before He shows us the supply.

Discussion questions

1
In Matthew 14:16, Jesus tells the disciples, 'You feed them' — a crowd of thousands, with no obvious resources in sight. What do you think the disciples expected Jesus to say or do in that moment, and why might His response have caught them off guard?
2
Pastor Bill drew a distinction between trusting God when life is comfortable versus trusting Him when He leads us somewhere we don't feel equipped to go. What do you think makes the second kind of trust so much harder?
3
In Matthew 14:17-18, the disciples point out that they only have five loaves and two fish — and Jesus says, 'Bring them here to me.' What does it suggest about how God works that He starts with what seems completely insufficient?
4
Pastor Bill described God as 'not a God of subtraction but of multiplication.' Looking at what happens in Matthew 14:19-21, where does multiplication actually show up in the story — and what had to happen before it did?
5
Pastor Bill challenged the group to think about areas where we believe in God but haven't yet believed Him — and suggested starting with the scariest one rather than the easiest. What might make that order of approach different from the way people usually handle uncertainty?
6
Pastor Bill said Jesus wants something for us, not from us — that every ask He makes is an invitation into something greater than what we could manage on our own. How might that reframe the way we as a community think about what it looks like to bring our time, gifts, or story to Him?

Pray together

Trust where you've been holding back — and the courage to bring what little you have to Jesus first

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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Topics

God Multiplies Our Gift God's Provision Step Out in Faith Surrender and Control Trust Issues

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