Trusting God

Faith isn't a mental power we muster up to change our circumstances — it's simply trusting God enough to do what He says. Doubt and fear can coexist with real faith, but disobedience can't, and Jesus never called us to more faith, just a mustard seed's worth, paired with obedience.

God's love is wide enough for everyone, long enough to never stop, high enough to change your identity, and deep enough to have died for you even though you didn't deserve it. When we truly grasp and trust that love in our hearts, it fills us to overflowing, and everything we do flows naturally from that fullness rather than from striving to earn His favor.

Jesus has already prepared a plentiful harvest and the victory is already His — our only job is to show up and do our part. Following Jesus is hard, but not following Him is hard too, so Pastor Bill calls Rock Point to choose the hard that leads to victory: showing up with sacrifice, service, and generosity for the next phase of the church's building campaign.

Matthew opens the story of Jesus with the good news that God did not just watch us from a distance — He joined us as Emmanuel, God with us. Because He got in the game with us as wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, we can trust Him even when His plans feel scary or make no sense, and simply believe Him.

God's plan for our lives leads to real life, even when it starts hard, while sin's path feels good at first but ends in destruction. Through the story of Lot, Pastor Bill traces how small, seemingly reasonable steps away from God — flirting, rationalizing, being transformed, and finally being destroyed — can lead someone into ruin they never intended, and shows that confession and drawing close to God can still restore what's been broken.

Worry is like fog — a small concern that, left unchecked, fills our whole mind and paralyzes us. Psalm 23 offers a simple hope: God is our Shepherd who provides, protects, guides, and corrects, and He can be trusted to take care of us, even through death itself.

Giving isn't a demand God squeezes out of us — it's a gift He made us for, like a father inviting a scared kid down a water slide because he knows the joy on the other side. When we let go and trust God with our money, He catches us at the bottom, and what looked like drowning turns into closeness with Him and victory in areas we never expected.