Rewind — the teaching platform built on your church’s own preaching

The big idea

We were made by Jesus, for Jesus, and through Jesus — worship starts when we see the gap between His majesty and our smallness, and see that He closed it anyway.

God's majesty is so far beyond us that the real wonder isn't who we are, but that He would care about us at all. Worship begins when we stop shrinking that gap to make ourselves comfortable, and instead let Jesus — who made everything and died to bring us into His presence — hold first place in every part of our lives.

Point 1 of 6

Everyone worships something — the question is what and how.

Pastor Bill opens by claiming that every person on the planet worships, whether or not they know God. He uses sports fandom (including a Jordan jersey tattoo) and his own memory of loving baseball as evidence that people naturally give worshipful devotion to something.

The question is not if, it's what and how

— Pastor Bill Bush

Point 2 of 6

Seeing the vastness of creation exposes the gap between God's majesty and our smallness — and that gap is where worship begins.

He tells the story of his family's car breaking down in Northern Arizona as a kid, lying under a meteor shower and realizing how small he was under a sky full of more stars than black space. He connects this to Psalm 8, where David asks why God would even think about mere mortals, showing that the wonder of worship starts with seeing how big God is compared to us.

Who are we? And by extension, who am I that you would even think about me and care about me

— Pastor Bill Bush

my worship is gonna be as big as the gap

— Pastor Bill Bush

A story from life

Preacher recalls his first visit to Dodger Stadium as a child and his awe at a major-league ballpark

A story from life

Preacher recalls a family car breakdown in Northern Arizona and watching a meteor shower under an unpolluted night sky, which stirred early awareness of God

Point 3 of 6

We were made BY God, but many of us never embrace that we were also made FOR God.

Turning to Colossians 1:15-17, Pastor Bill shows that Jesus is supreme over all creation and that everything was created through Him and for Him. He argues most Christians accept being made by Jesus but quietly resist being made for Jesus, keeping themselves as the point of their own life instead of Him.

I was made by God, for God

— Pastor Bill Bush

Everything was created through him and for him

— Pastor Bill Bush

Illustration

US flags manufactured in China — an object made by one party whose existence represents values entirely different from its maker — used to illustrate the incongruity of being made by God while living for something else

Point 4 of 6

The lie of 'made by God for good' turns us into the judge of what's good, and leads to legalism and running from God when life doesn't feel good.

He unpacks how quietly adding an 'o' to make it 'made for good' turns worship into a transaction we control, so that when things go wrong we conclude either we or God must be at fault. He illustrates with the American-flag-made-in-China story: our lives can carry God's stamp of origin while flying colors that represent something else entirely.

Point 5 of 6

Because God in Christ reconciled us and made us holy and blameless, we don't have to run from Him — we can run to Him.

Reading Colossians 1:19-22, he shows that God was pleased to reconcile everything to Himself through Christ's blood, bringing even those who were once far away into His presence, holy and blameless. He stresses that the answer to David's question 'who am I' is not about us at all — it's about who He is and what He did.

Point 6 of 6

Job shows that God doesn't answer our suffering with answers, but with Himself.

He retells Job's story — his friends blaming Job, his wife telling him to curse God, and Job's demand that God owes him an explanation. When God finally responds with a barrage of questions about creation, Job doesn't get answers, he gets the answer: he says, 'I had only heard about you before, but now I've seen you with my own eyes,' and repents in worship.

I had only heard about you before, but now I've seen you with my own eyes

— Pastor Bill Bush

Take it into your week

Pastor Bill frames the charge as minding the gap — embracing that we were made by Jesus, for Jesus, and through Jesus, in every part of life, not just on Sunday.

Application

Name what you've made worship's object
Fill in the blank honestly — job, spouse, sexuality, comfort, achievement — and recognize that whatever you were made for besides Jesus will never pay off the way you hope.
Stop treating worship as an event
Recognize that worship isn't just singing on Sunday; it's an all-of-life posture of ascribing worth to God in everything you do.
Run to God instead of away from Him
When life feels wrecked or confusing, resist the urge to hide in shame or demand answers, and instead bring your mess directly to Him.
Make Jesus first in the thing you're wrestling with
Identify whatever you're struggling to trust Him with — time, money, family, work — and treat that as the holy ground where your worship actually happens this week.
Continue to believe and stand firmly in it
Don't just check off belief; prepare to build habits of public and private worship in the coming weeks that help you stand firm in the truth that you are made holy and blameless in Christ.

Keep going

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