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Home-Field Advantage | Week 1 | Bill Bush · Rewind

Rock Point Church

Pastor Bill Bush · Oct 3, 2021

Pastor Bill Bush · Oct 3, 2021 · 80 min watch · 3 min read

Home-Field Advantage | Week 1 | Bill Bush

Devotional days

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

Scripture in this message

Genesis 1
Genesis 1:27
Genesis 1:28
Genesis 2:18
Genesis 2:24
Proverbs 14:26

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Home field advantage in a family happens when everyone belongs and becomes — belongs to a marriage and family like nothing else in creation, and becomes who God created them to be through knowing Christ.

A home can be the place where you're cheered for instead of booed against — a safe place to belong and become who God made you to be. That only works when a family protects, plays, and builds real life skills, but none of it lasts unless each person actually knows Christ rather than just knowing the right answers about Him.

Key points

1
1Marriage and family are something God created like nothing else in all of creation.
Pastor Bill walks through Genesis 1 and 2, showing that God made humanity male and female in His own image, and that it takes both together to fully bear that image. Marriage becoming one flesh, and parents creating children who bear that image too, illustrates the relationship between Christ and His people, the bride of Christ.
2
2When the family unit breaks down, society and the church break down with it.
Pastor Bill cites sociologist Carl Zimmerman's 1947 study of declining civilizations, which found eight recurring patterns tied to the collapse of traditional marriage and family — things like loss of marriage's sacredness, rising divorce, and disrespect for authority. He argues the enemy attacks the family because it is the building block of both society and the church.
3
3God's design for marriage — one man, one woman, for life — is under cultural attack, and love does not mean agreeing with every redefinition of truth.
He addresses the cultural pressure to treat all self-defined truths as equally valid, arguing that biblical love means speaking truth in love, not affirming everything. He also challenges the idea that sexuality is a person's core identity, comparing it to other broken desires people are born with that scripture still calls wrong.
4
4Home should be a place of protection, play, and life skills.
Drawing on Proverbs 14:26, Pastor Bill says home should be the safest place physically, emotionally, and spiritually. From Ecclesiastes 9:9 and Psalm 127:3-5 he says home should also be a place of recreation and enjoying spouse and kids, not just management. He closes with life skills, especially learning to embrace hard things and manage conflict rather than avoiding discomfort, using his family motto "bushes do hard things."
5
5The family's mission is to become who God created them to be by loving God and loving others, not by pursuing happiness.
He connects the church's mission statement, drawn from Jesus' words in Mark 12 to love God and love others, to the mission of every home. He warns that marriage was created for holiness, not happiness, and that chasing happiness directly will destroy a marriage while pursuing holiness produces real joy.
6
6You can know all the right answers about God and still not know Him — and that changes everything.
Pastor Bill contrasts the religious teacher in Mark 12, who impressed Jesus with correct answers yet was told he was 'not far' from the kingdom, with the Roman official in John 4 who knew nothing of scripture but simply trusted Jesus for his dying son. When the boy was healed, the official's entire household believed, which Pastor Bill ties to research that when a father is first to turn to Jesus, the whole family is far more likely to follow.
7
7Real change in a home starts with surrendering to Christ's love, not managing symptoms.
He tells the story of his father breaking his hand catching a foul ball meant for his head at a childhood baseball game, using it as a picture of Jesus stretching out His arms and being wounded to save us. He says no parenting or marriage technique will fix a home at the source unless a person first receives the love of Christ.

Home field advantage happens when you belong and become

Application

Pastor Bill frames the whole series around belonging and becoming — a home built on protection, play, and life skills only works when it flows from knowing Christ rather than just knowing the right answers about Him.

Make your home a place of protection
Work toward your home being the safest place physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually for your spouse and kids, rather than a place where people are booed or torn down.
Play together as a family
Husbands and wives should date and have fun together, not just divide and conquer parenting tasks; parents should truly play with their kids rather than just watching or shuttling them around.
Teach real life skills, especially embracing hard things
Beyond school and activities, teach kids to face conflict and discomfort instead of rescuing them from every hard moment, so they grow into capable adults.
Examine whether you know the right answers or actually know Jesus
Ask honestly whether your faith is about performing for God's love or receiving it, since a right relationship with Christ, not just right answers, is what makes a family work.
Surrender to Christ
If you have never turned from sin and trusted Jesus as Lord, do that now, since this surrender is the source that everything else in a healthy home flows from.

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

Sign in to ask Rewind about this sermon

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“I'm gonna go into Genesis chapter one and two. We've looked at a few of these verses before in other sermons, but Pat looked at a couple of these verses, and I'm just gonna correct his heresy”
From the transcript
“So verse 27 of chapter one says this, so God created human beings in his own image. In his own image. In the image of God, he created them male and female he created them”
From the transcript
“And he says in verse 28, then God blessed them and he said, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Rain over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky”
From the transcript
“if you go into the chapter two here, look what he says in chapter two verse 18, he says, then the Lord God said, it's not good for the man to be alone. I'll make a helper who's just right for him”
From the transcript
“that's why verse 24 of chapter two says, this explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united into one until they move back in with their dad”
From the transcript
“Let me read Proverbs fourteen twenty six here. Those who fear the Lord are secure. He will be a refuge for their children. So if you're in a family when when you when you when you fear the Lord”
From the transcript
“Let me show you a couple verses. First Ecclesiastes nine:nine, look what Solomon writes. Live happily with the woman you love, oh, that's sweet, through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun”
From the transcript
“But then look at Psalms one twenty seven verse verse three through five here. Children are a gift from the Lord. Right now, children are a gift from the Lord”
From the transcript
“If you look over into the book of Mark chapter 12, I just wanna read this interaction. Jesus has this interaction with this group of religious people called the Sadducees”
From the transcript
“here's what happens in verse 20, it says one of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus answered him well, so he asked of all the commandments, which is the most important”
From the transcript
“That and Matthew 28, where Jesus, what he ascended to heaven, he gave us a charge as the people of God. Go make disciples”
From the transcript
“it says in John writes, we can love because he first loved us. So our ability to love God back and love others comes from our ability to surrender to the love of God in the first place”
From the transcript
“Mark chapter 12, let's finish the story of what this guy talked to Jesus. Verse 32, the teacher of religious law replied, well said teacher, you have spoken the truth by saying there's only one God and no other”
From the transcript
“Verse 32, the teacher of religious law replied, well said teacher, you have spoken the truth by saying there's only one God and no other. Didn't that sound a little arrogant”
From the transcript
“And if you look at verse 34, it says, realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God”
From the transcript
“If you go to John chapter four, there's a story in here, I gotta hurry here. There's a story in John chapter four where there was a Roman official, that means a Roman officer, that seeks out Jesus because his son is deathly ill”
From the transcript
“Starting in verse 46, it says, as Jesus traveled through Galilee, he came to Canaan where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick”

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 something remarkable about the way God chose to introduce humanity into the world. He didn't create a crowd — He created a couple. Male and female, together, bearing His image in a way that neither could do alone. Pastor Bill pointed to this passage as the foundation of everything the series will build on: marriage and family are not social inventions that culture can redefine at will. They are God's idea, and they carry something of His nature in them. What that means for you today is worth sitting with. If your home — however it currently looks — exists within God's design, then it is already connected to something larger than itself. The image of God is meant to be reflected and multiplied through family life. That's not pressure; it's purpose. You don't have to perform your way into meaning. You already belong to something that matters deeply to God. The enemy doesn't bother attacking things that don't matter. The fact that families face so much pressure is itself a kind of evidence that what happens inside a home carries eternal weight. Start the week simply by acknowledging that your family, with all its mess and beauty, is a place where God's image is meant to be seen.

For reflection

When you look honestly at your home, where do you see glimpses of God's image already showing up — and where do you sense His design is still being worked out?

Pray

Pray for fresh eyes to see your home as God designed it — image-bearing, purposeful, and worth protecting.

Day 2

"It is not good for man to be alone." That's God speaking, before sin ever entered the story. Loneliness is not a consequence of the fall — it's a condition God recognized and moved to address. He designed us for connection, for belonging to someone, for the kind of union that Genesis 2:24 describes as two people becoming one flesh. Pastor Bill's opening image of a home field advantage starts here: a home should be a place where people cheer for one another rather than work against each other. That kind of culture doesn't happen automatically. It requires intentionality, and more than that, it requires the kind of love that isn't self-generated. We can know the right words about marriage and still bring our worst selves through the front door every evening. Genesis 2 is a good place to return to when marriage feels more like a transaction than a union. The "leaving and cleaving" God describes here is a whole-life reorientation — not just a ceremony. It's a daily choice to prioritize the person you chose and to build something together that neither of you could build alone. That commitment is worth renewing, even if it's been years since you first made it.

For reflection

In what practical way could you cheer for your spouse, a family member, or a close friend this week — someone who may not realize you're in their corner?

Pray

Pray for the grace to be genuinely for the people in your home, even on the days when it costs you something.

Day 3

"Those who fear the Lord are secure; He will be a refuge for their children." That word — refuge — is not a passive word. A refuge is a place you run to when something is coming after you. Pastor Bill described protection as one of the four marks of a home with real home field advantage, and he was specific about what that means: the safest place emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually that a person knows. That's a high bar. And it's worth asking honestly whether your home currently meets it — not to produce guilt, but to locate where the work is. For some people, home was never a refuge growing up, which makes building one feel unfamiliar. For others, the home is physically safe but emotionally unpredictable. Fear is real and hard circumstances are real, and Proverbs doesn't gloss over that. What Proverbs 14:26 adds is this: the foundation of a safe home is not just good parenting technique or conflict management skills. It is a life rooted in the fear of the Lord — a reverent trust in God that becomes the atmosphere the whole household breathes. You can't manufacture that culture through rules alone. It grows from a heart that has genuinely submitted to God, and it becomes a shelter that extends to the next generation.

For reflection

What would it look like for your home to be emotionally and spiritually safer than it is right now — and what is one small step you could take toward that?

Pray

Pray for wisdom to know where your home needs to become a truer refuge, and for courage to begin there.

Day 4

"Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun." The Preacher in Ecclesiastes doesn't romanticize life — he's honest that much of it feels fleeting and hard. And right in the middle of that realism, he says: enjoy your spouse. Keep pursuing each other. Don't let the dailiness of life crowd out delight. Pastor Bill was direct on this point: spouses need to keep dating, and parents need to genuinely play with their kids. Not as a program or a chore, but as something that flows from actually caring about the people in your home. Play is not a luxury you earn after the work is done — it is part of the work. Recreation literally means re-creation. There is something life-giving about laughter, leisure, and genuine presence that no amount of productivity can replace. If this feels like something your home has lost — or never had — that's worth noticing. The busyness that crowds out play rarely announces itself as a threat. It just slowly replaces delight with duty until the people you love most start to feel like responsibilities rather than gifts. Ecclesiastes is an invitation to push back against that drift, today, in small and ordinary ways.

For reflection

When did you last genuinely play — with your spouse, your kids, or even just in a way that refreshed your soul? What keeps getting in the way?

Pray

Pray for the freedom to enjoy the people God has placed in your home, and for wisdom about what is crowding that out.

Day 5

Children, the Psalmist says, are a heritage from the Lord — literally, a reward. That framing matters because it shapes everything about how we approach the work of raising them. If children are a gift entrusted to us by God, then the home is not just a household to manage but a place of formation. What gets passed on inside those walls — values, habits, the ability to handle hard things — is some of the most significant work any person will ever do. Pastor Bill described life skills as one of the marks of a home with real home field advantage. That includes obvious things like managing money and doing laundry, but it also includes harder things: how to embrace discomfort, how to navigate conflict without running from it, how to fail and get back up. Those aren't skills you can download. They're caught more than taught, mostly by watching the adults in a home actually live them out. The arrow imagery in Psalm 127 is striking — children are arrows meant to be sent, not just stored. That means our goal isn't to keep them close and comfortable forever; it's to shape them well enough that they can go where God sends them and land with purpose. That kind of parenting requires parents who are themselves still growing, still learning, still surrendered.

For reflection

What is one life skill — a way of handling hard things, relating to others, or trusting God — that you want to intentionally pass on to the next generation in your life?

Pray

Pray for discernment about what your home is currently forming in the people who live there, and for courage to make any needed changes.

Day 6

When the scribe asked Jesus to name the greatest commandment, Jesus didn't give him a family tip or a social strategy. He said: love God with everything you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. Everything else, He said, hangs on these two. Pastor Bill closed his sermon here because no parenting approach, no marriage communication technique, and no family rhythm will hold unless it is rooted in this. The scribe's response is worth noticing. He didn't argue with Jesus — he agreed and added that loving God and neighbor is worth more than any religious performance. And Jesus said something remarkable back to him: "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." Not yet in — but close. Knowing the right answer is not the same as surrendering to the One the answer points to. That is the heart of Pastor Bill's call this week. You can know everything in this devotional, every scripture, every principle — and still be living from your own effort rather than from Christ's love working through you. The mission of the family is to love God and love others. But that kind of love is not self-generated. It begins with honestly asking where you are: Do I know about Jesus, or have I actually surrendered to Him? Both questions deserve a real answer.

For reflection

Be honest with yourself: is there a gap between the answers you know and the life you are actually living — and what would it look like to close that gap today?

Pray

Pray for the honesty to see where head knowledge has not yet become heart surrender, and for the courage to take that next step toward Jesus.

Day 7

In John 4, a royal official travels to find Jesus because his son is dying. He has probably tried everything else first. When he finally stands in front of Jesus, he begs Him to come and heal his child. Jesus doesn't go — He speaks, and the boy is healed at that very hour. The man believed, and so did his whole household. This story sits quietly in the background of everything this week has been about. A father, desperate for his family, brought his need to Jesus. He didn't have a strategy or a five-step plan. He had a crisis, a direction to walk, and a willingness to take Jesus at His word. And what happened in that family changed because of what that one man chose to do. Pastor Bill's invitation this week has been the same one. Before the tips, before the techniques, before the next series in this series — settle the foundation. Move from knowing to surrendering. Whether that means trusting Christ for the first time, re-engaging after drifting, or deciding today that you will lead your home toward Him rather than waiting for someone else to go first — that step is available to you right now. If you're not sure what your next step looks like, reach out to someone at Rock Point. You don't have to figure that out alone.

For reflection

Looking back over this week, what is the one thing God seems to be inviting you to act on — and who could walk with you as you take that step?

Pray

Pray for the faith to take Jesus at His word and the humility to let someone in your life or church community walk alongside you.

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

Pastor Bill Bush kicked off the 'Home Field Advantage' series by painting a picture of what a home could be — a place where people are genuinely cheered for, protected, and helped to grow. Before we dig in, take a moment to think about what the phrase 'home field advantage' brings to mind for you.

Discussion questions

1
In Genesis 1:27-28, God creates male and female as image bearers and calls them to be fruitful and multiply. What does it tell us about God's intention for the family that He rooted it so directly in His own image?
2
Pastor Bill described the home as ideally being a place of protection — emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. What would it look like in practice for a home to be the safest place a person knows in all four of those dimensions?
3
Pastor Bill pointed to Ecclesiastes 9:9 and made the case that play and genuine enjoyment — spouses continuing to date, parents actually playing with their kids — belongs inside a healthy home. Why do you think that kind of intentional joy tends to get crowded out, and what might it cost a family when it does?
4
One of the marks of a home with 'home field advantage' that Pastor Bill described is that it teaches life skills — including how to embrace hard things, manage conflict, and sit with discomfort rather than avoid it. What makes those particular skills so difficult to pass on, and why might the home be the right place to learn them?
5
In Mark 12:28-34, Jesus names loving God and loving others as the two greatest commands. Pastor Bill argued that the mission of the family flows from those commands — and that it starts not with strategies or tips but with surrendering to Christ's love. What's the difference between knowing that answer and actually living from it?
6
Pastor Bill framed this series by saying that because the family is so central to God's purposes, it is also the prime target of the enemy. How might that perspective change the way people approach the ordinary pressures and conflicts that show up in family life?

Pray together

Ask God to make our homes places of genuine protection, joy, and growth — and to move us from knowing the right answers to actually surrendering to the love of Christ that makes any of it possible.

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

Building a Godly Home Family as Foundation Marriage and Family Surrendering to Christ

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