Thesis
Pastor Bill Bush opens the 'Home Field Advantage' series by arguing that God designed marriage and family to be the foundational building block of both society and the church — a place where people belong to something uniquely image-bearing and become who God created them to be. Because the family unit is so central to God's purposes, it is also the prime target of the enemy. True home field advantage — a home marked by protection, play, life skills, and love — can only be sustained when its members move from merely knowing the right answers to actually surrendering to the love of Christ.
Key points
- 1
Home field advantage means the home is a place where people cheer for one another, not boo against each other.
- 2
Marriage and family are unlike anything else in creation — God made male and female as image bearers who together reflect and multiply His image.
- 3
The family is the foundational building block of both society and the church; when the family breaks down, both crumble.
- 4
Home should be a place of protection — the safest place emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually that a person knows.
- 5
Home should be a place of play and recreation — spouses must keep dating and parents must genuinely play with their kids.
- 6
Home should be a place where life skills are taught — including how to embrace hard things, manage conflict, and not avoid discomfort.
- 7
The mission of the family is to love God and love others — and that begins with surrendering to Christ's love, not just knowing the right answers.
Outline
Introduction — What Is Home Field Advantage?
Pastor Bill uses the analogy of sports home field advantage — fans cheering for you rather than against you — to frame the sermon's core question: what would it look like for our homes to be places where people are cheered for, not booed?
Belong — Created for Something Like Nothing Else
Drawing from Genesis 1–2, Pastor Bill shows that male and female together are image bearers — God's masterpiece — and that marriage and family are God's unique design to reflect His image, illustrate His love, and serve as the building block of society and the church.
The Enemy's Playbook Against the Family
Using sociologist Carl Zimmerman's 1947 research, Pastor Bill demonstrates that the decline of the traditional family has historically preceded the collapse of great civilizations, and argues that distorting marriage and family is the enemy's most effective strategy against both society and the church.
Three Marks of Home Field Advantage
Pastor Bill outlines three things a home with home field advantage provides: protection (a safe refuge), play (recreation and genuine enjoyment together), and life skills (including teaching children to embrace hard things and manage conflict).
Become — The Mission of the Family
Turning to Mark 12, Pastor Bill explains that the family's mission statement is to love God and love others, and that this requires moving beyond head knowledge — like the teacher of the law who was 'not far' — to a genuine, surrendered relationship with Jesus.
The Roman Official — Living From God's Love
Through the story of the Roman official in John 4, Pastor Bill illustrates that a humble, desperate faith in Jesus — not religious knowledge — transforms not just an individual but an entire family, and calls men especially to lead by turning to Christ first.
The Baseball Illustration and the Gospel Call
Pastor Bill closes with a personal story of his father catching a line drive and breaking his hand to protect him, using it as a picture of Christ stretching out His arms on the cross — and calls everyone to surrender to that love as the only true foundation for home field advantage.
Memorable moments
Home field advantage happens when you belong and become
Marriage wasn't created for us to be happy, it was created for us to be holy
We need to not live for God's love, we need to live from God's love
He had all the right answers, but he didn't have the right relationship
he stretched his arm and he got his hands messed up when some nails went through him and through his feet. And he hung on that cross, and he died in our place, in your place
the question is, do you have the right answers but the wrong relationship
Application
Pastor Bill's call to action is straightforward: before any marriage tip or parenting strategy can truly take root, you have to settle the foundation. That means moving from knowing about Jesus to actually surrendering to Him — confessing your sin, trusting what He did on the cross, and learning to live from His love rather than striving to earn it. For families, that looks like asking honestly whether your home is a place of protection, genuine play, and life skills that matter. For individuals, it means taking your own next step — whether that's trusting Christ for the first time, re-engaging with Him after getting distracted, or committing to lead your family toward Him rather than waiting for someone else to go first.
