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Into the Fire | Week 4 | Sermon · Rewind

Rock Point Church

54 min

Pastor Bill Bush · Jan 28, 2024 · 4 min read · 54 min listen

The big idea

Quoting the message: Be humble, or get humbled, end quote. — either way, God will get the remote, and He's after your heart when He does it.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 7We are all more like Nebuchadnezzar than we'd like to admit
Point 2 of 7We practice a modern version of monolatry, chasing sub-gods while claiming God is supreme

Point 3 of 7Pride and humility are not what we assume they are
Point 4 of 7Choosing humility means admitting when I'm wrong and confessing honestly
Point 5 of 7Choosing humility means surrendering my plans to God's purpose, not the other way around
Point 6 of 7Praying the Lord's Prayer trains us into humility, line by line
Point 7 of 7The enemy hands us a fake remote to keep us from trusting the God who holds the real one
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

James 4:10
Matthew 6:9
Matthew 6:10
Matthew 6:11
Matthew 6:12
Matthew 6:13

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 Bill Bush · Jan 28, 2024 · 54 min watch · 2 min read

Into the Fire | Week 4 | Sermon

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

James 4:10
Matthew 6:9
Matthew 6:10
Matthew 6:11
Matthew 6:12
Matthew 6:13

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Quoting the message: Be humble, or get humbled, end quote. — either way, God will get the remote, and He's after your heart when He does it.

God loves us enough to humble us so we'll finally see how deeply He loves us. Like King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, we all chase sub-gods of power, pleasure, and comfort while insisting God is in charge — but real trust only grows through the daily choice to admit we're wrong and surrender our plans to His purpose.

Key points

1
1We are all more like Nebuchadnezzar than we'd like to admit
Pastor Bill reads through all of Daniel 4, the king's own proclamation of his dream of the great tree cut down, Daniel's warning to repent, and the humbling that followed when Nebuchadnezzar boasted over Babylon and was driven to live like an animal for seven periods of time. The chapter shows God patiently reaching a pagan king to teach him that heaven rules over every kingdom.
2
2We practice a modern version of monolatry, chasing sub-gods while claiming God is supreme
Pastor Bill explains the ancient idea of many gods under one supreme god, and how people sacrificed to whichever god matched their desire — pleasure, love, victory. He says we do the same with power, pleasure, prestige, and comfort, calling God supreme on Sunday while running to other 'gods' the rest of the week and then complaining to Him when it doesn't work out.
3
3Pride and humility are not what we assume they are
Pride isn't just arrogance — it's living out of fear, insecurity, and self-trust instead of trusting God, making even insecure people prideful. Humility, quoting Tim Keller, is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less, and it's a choice made moment by moment, not a fixed personality trait.
4
4Choosing humility means admitting when I'm wrong and confessing honestly
Pastor Bill says many Christians stop at admitting they're broken without ever repenting — a full 180-degree turn. Without seeing ourselves as sinners through the gospel, we'll never grasp how deep God's love is, and we'll keep chasing comfort instead of trusting Him.
5
5Choosing humility means surrendering my plans to God's purpose, not the other way around
He warns that many of us serve, give, and do the right things while secretly expecting God to bless our plans in return, illustrated by the story of baseball player Ralph Kiner asking for a raise after leading the league in home runs while his team finished last. God doesn't need our service, money, or time — He wants us, not something from us.
6
6Praying the Lord's Prayer trains us into humility, line by line
Pastor Bill walks through the Lord's Prayer in the King James wording, showing how each line reorients us from 'mine' to 'thine' — God's name, God's kingdom, God's provision, forgiveness given freely, and deliverance from the enemy's temptation. He shares his own story of losing his sermon notes to a wind gust at a camp, learning that God's power, not his own preparation, is what actually moves hearts.
7
7The enemy hands us a fake remote to keep us from trusting the God who holds the real one
Using his grandson's toy 'dummy remote,' Pastor Bill pictures Satan offering counterfeit control — permission to chase what we want instead of trusting God's plan. He closes with a story about pushing his own daughter through a hard homework season, showing that God humbles us not to hurt us but because He can see how our story ends.

Application

Be humble or get humbled — it's a daily choice, not a personality trait.

Admit when you're wrong
Move past just acknowledging you're broken into actual confession and repentance — a full 180-degree turn, not just stopping the old direction.
Surrender your plans to God's purpose
Check whether your giving, serving, and time come with hidden expectations of a return from God, and instead align your life with His mission rather than asking Him to bless your agenda.
Pray through the Lord's Prayer line by line
Use each phrase — God's name, His kingdom, daily bread, forgiveness, deliverance — to reorient your heart from 'mine' to 'thine' in your own daily quiet time.
Let go of the fake remote
Recognize when you're grabbing for counterfeit control over your life — money, relationships, comfort — instead of trusting the God who actually holds the real one.

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
“James four ten says this, humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up in honor. Meaning, it's okay to have ambition. It's okay to go after this”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“In the old King James, verse nine, the first thing you pray. After this manner, therefore, pray. Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”
From the transcript
“Then it goes to the the next verse says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in this heaven. This is what I love about the King James, thy. It's about thy, not mine”
From the transcript
“And then he goes to the next line. Give us this day our daily bread. This is now give me what I need. Not for what I want, what I need one day at a time to do what you've asked me to do”
From the transcript
“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. This isn't about being in, like, finance. Like, this is talking about sins. And notice how it's relational”
From the transcript
“And then you move to the last verse, which is kinda sums it all up. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the time for thine, not mine, is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever”

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.

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Day 1

Related passage

Nebuchadnezzar had every reason, by the world's measure, to feel secure. He had built the most powerful empire on earth, and he stood on his rooftop surveying it all with satisfaction. Then, in the space of a moment, everything changed. What strikes most readers is the speed of it — the same voice that warned him was the voice that brought the humbling. God did not abandon Nebuchadnezzar; He pursued him. Pastor Bill made this point plainly: God's humbling of Nebuchadnezzar was not punishment — it was love in action. That reframe matters. When life strips away something we have built our confidence around, the first question is rarely 'how is God loving me right now?' But that is exactly the question worth sitting with. The kingdoms we build — the careers, the reputations, the carefully managed images — are not evil in themselves. The danger is when they quietly move from gift to throne. Nebuchadnezzar's story is not a cautionary tale about an ancient tyrant. It is a mirror. We are more like him than we want to admit, and the same God who pursued him is pursuing us — not to break us, but to bring us back to the only foundation that holds.

For reflection

Is there something in your life right now that you have been building your security or identity around more than God? What would it look like to hold that thing more loosely?

Pray

Pray for honest eyes to see where you have placed your confidence this week — and for the courage to trust God with what you find.

Day 2

Related passage

After seven years of living like an animal in a field, Nebuchadnezzar looked up. That is the detail worth pausing on — he looked up. And the moment he did, his reason returned. Pastor Bill pointed out that Daniel 4 ends with Nebuchadnezzar praising God and acknowledging that the Most High does what He pleases among the armies of heaven and among the people of earth. This is not a man who simply learned a lesson. This is a man who finally stopped fighting for a throne that was never his to hold. The phrase Pastor Bill used — 'God holds the remote' — captures something important here. Nebuchadnezzar spent years convinced he controlled the story. When he finally let go of that illusion, he did not lose his dignity. He found it. True humility, as the sermon described it, is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less. Nebuchadnezzar's restored praise in verse 37 comes from a man whose identity is no longer tangled up in his own greatness. That is a freedom available to any of us — not at the end of a seven-year breaking, but in the quiet daily choice to look up before life forces us to.

For reflection

Where in your life are you still reaching for a remote that was never meant to be yours? What would 'looking up' look like for you today?

Pray

Pray for the willingness to release control in one specific area and to trust that God's purposes are better than your own plans.

Day 3

Pastor Bill drew on James 4:10 directly, and the broader passage around it is worth sitting with. James writes that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble — and then, just a few verses later, tells us to humble ourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. There is a sequence here that mirrors everything in Daniel 4. Pride is not just a personality flaw or a bad habit. James frames it as a posture toward God — one that puts us in the position of an opponent rather than a recipient of grace. That is a serious thing. But notice that James does not leave us there. He immediately follows the warning with a pathway: draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Wash your hands. Grieve your wandering. The language is strong, but the direction is clear — God is not running from you. He is waiting for you to close the distance. Pastor Bill described confession as seeing yourself accurately through the gospel — loved and broken, both at once. That is exactly what James is pointing toward. Not self-loathing, and not self-justification. Just honesty before a God who already knows everything and still calls you near.

For reflection

When you think about 'humbling yourself' before God, does it feel like loss or like relief? What does your honest answer reveal about how you see Him?

Pray

Pray for a heart that draws near to God today — that chooses honesty over self-protection and trust over the need to appear put-together.

Day 4

Pastor Bill walked through the Lord's Prayer as a daily practice for humility, and he started at the beginning — 'hallowed be Thy name.' That is not a warm-up line. It is a reorientation. Before you bring your requests, your worries, or your plans to God, you are asked to begin by acknowledging who He is. Holy. Set apart. Worthy of honor above everything else. Then, 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' These two lines do the same work that Nebuchadnezzar had to learn the hard way: they acknowledge that this is God's story, not yours. Pastor Bill made a clear distinction between two kinds of prayer. One kind asks God to bless your agenda. The other kind surrenders your agenda to God's purpose. The Lord's Prayer is designed to do the second. When you begin with 'hallowed be Thy name,' you are resetting the posture of your heart before anything else happens. You are saying: Your glory matters more than my comfort. Your kingdom matters more than my kingdom. That is not a small thing to say. Said honestly, it changes the shape of everything that follows in your day.

For reflection

When you pray, do you usually begin by centering on who God is — or do you go straight to what you need? What might change if you started with 'hallowed be Thy name' and meant it?

Pray

Pray through just these two lines slowly today — 'hallowed be Thy name' and 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done' — pausing to respond honestly to each one before moving on.

Day 5

The middle of the Lord's Prayer moves from God's glory to our genuine need — and that movement is intentional. 'Give us this day our daily bread' is a request for provision, but it is a humble one. It asks for today, not a year's supply. It is the prayer of someone who has stopped white-knuckling the future and is willing to receive what they need one day at a time. Then comes the harder line: 'Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.' Pastor Bill connected confession to seeing yourself accurately through the gospel — loved and broken at the same time. This line of the prayer asks you to hold both truths simultaneously. You are someone who needs forgiveness, and you are someone capable of extending it. Neither half works without the other. Receiving forgiveness you haven't earned reshapes how you hold the wrongs others have done to you. And choosing to forgive others is one of the most concrete, daily ways we practice thinking of ourselves less. This is humility made visible — not in a grand gesture, but in the quiet choice to let go of a grievance, to ask for help you don't deserve, and to trust that God's supply for today is genuinely enough.

For reflection

Is there a debt you are still holding — something someone owes you emotionally, relationally, or otherwise — that you have not fully released? What would it cost you to let it go?

Pray

Pray for the grace to receive forgiveness freely today, and for the willingness to extend it to someone specific who has wronged you.

Day 6

The Lord's Prayer closes with a request that is easy to rush past: 'Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' Pastor Bill's sermon unpacked a picture of temptation that is worth sitting with here. He described how the enemy offers a false remote — the illusion of control, counterfeit wins that occasionally come through just enough to keep you trusting the wrong source. That pattern is exactly what this line of the prayer guards against. It is not just a request to avoid obviously bad choices. It is a request to stay oriented toward the right source of guidance altogether. Then the prayer ends where it began — with God's glory: 'For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.' That closing doxology is not a liturgical formality. It is a second reorientation. You started the prayer by centering on who God is. You end the same way. Everything in between — the provision, the forgiveness, the protection — is held inside the frame of His kingdom, not yours. Pastor Bill put it plainly: God holds the real remote. This prayer, said honestly and repeatedly, is how you practice giving it back to Him every single day.

For reflection

Where are you most tempted to reach for the false remote — to take back control rather than trust God's lead? What does that pattern usually cost you?

Pray

Pray for alertness to the places where counterfeits are most convincing in your life, and for the courage to keep handing the remote back to God.

Day 7

Looking back across the week, the thread running through every day is the same one Pastor Bill wove through Daniel 4: God is the sovereign ruler, and our deepest freedom comes not from holding power but from releasing it. Nebuchadnezzar had to learn that the hard way. The Lord's Prayer exists so we don't have to. It is a daily practice of choosing humility before life forces the lesson on us. Pastor Bill named two foundational choices that are meant to be made daily and repeatedly: admit when you are wrong, and surrender your plans to God's purpose. Those are not one-time decisions. They are the shape of a humble life, practiced line by line, morning by morning. The God Pastor Bill described is not a distant sovereign watching to see whether you fail. He is a God who pursued Nebuchadnezzar through seven disorienting years, who put a prayer on Jesus's lips so we would know how to begin each day, and who, as Pastor Bill said, wants you — not because He needs you, but because He loves you. That is the posture worth returning to every morning: not earning anything, not managing anything, just looking up — and finding that He was already there.

For reflection

As you reflect on this week, which day's truth landed most personally for you? What one concrete choice can you make this week to live that truth out?

Pray

Pray through the Lord's Prayer slowly one more time — this time responding personally to each line — and ask God to make humility less of an effort and more of a way of life.

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 follows one of history's most powerful kings through a dramatic fall — and an even more surprising restoration. Before we dig in, what's one word that comes to mind when you hear the name Nebuchadnezzar?

Discussion questions

1
In Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar spends years building the greatest empire the ancient world had seen — and then loses everything in a single moment. What does his story reveal about the relationship between human pride and the sovereignty of God?
Related passage
2
Pastor Bill said we are more like ancient idolaters than we realize — that people today run after sub-gods of pleasure, prestige, and comfort while still calling themselves followers of God. What makes those kinds of 'lesser gods' so easy to miss in our own lives?
3
Pastor Bill defined humility not as thinking less of yourself, but as thinking of yourself less — and described it as a daily choice rather than a personality trait. How does that distinction change the way we might think about what humility actually looks like in practice?
4
Pastor Bill pointed to the Lord's Prayer as a daily framework for humility, beginning with 'hallowed be Thy name' and 'Thy kingdom come' before any personal request is made. What does that ordering suggest about the posture God is inviting us into?
5
Pastor Bill drew a distinction between confession and repentance — saying confession is only half the battle, and that true humility requires a 180-degree turn that surrenders our plans to God's purpose rather than asking God to bless our agenda. How might that difference show up in the way people actually pray?
6
Pastor Bill closed with this image: God holds the remote, knows how your story was built to end, and is asking you to trust Him — not because He needs you, but because He wants you. What does that invitation mean in light of everything Nebuchadnezzar's story showed us about how God responds to pride?
Related passage

Pray together

Trusting the God who holds the remote — surrendering our plans to His purpose and asking for the humility to mean it

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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Into the Fire

Week 4 · 7 messages

Where these passages are preached

James 4 Matthew 6

Explore related topics

Confession and Repentance God's Sovereignty Pride and Humility Surrender and Trust

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