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Courage | Part 5 · Rewind

Rock Point Church

64 min

Pastor Bill Bush · Aug 13, 2018 · 4 min read · 64 min listen

The big idea

Courage requires a personal commitment — a costly, sacrificial pledge to God's plan — because if you're not scared, it's not courage.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 7Courage is a condition of the heart, and today's condition is personal commitment.
Point 2 of 7Nehemiah surveyed the ruins privately before ever asking others to commit.

Point 3 of 7Nehemiah's concern was God's plan and God's glory, not merely safety.
Point 4 of 7Nehemiah modeled the commitment himself before asking others to make it.
Point 5 of 7Rock Point's leaders have already modeled sacrificial commitment ahead of asking the congregation.
Point 6 of 7Nehemiah chapter 3 shows ordinary, forgotten people faithfully doing their part, and it leaves a legacy.
Point 7 of 7Jesus modeled the death-to-self commitment courage ultimately requires.
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Nehemiah 2
Nehemiah 2:11
Nehemiah 2:13
Nehemiah 2:18
Nehemiah 2:19-20
Nehemiah 3

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 · Aug 13, 2018 · 64 min watch · 2 min read

Courage | Part 5

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Nehemiah 2
Nehemiah 2:11
Nehemiah 2:13
Nehemiah 2:18
Nehemiah 2:19-20
Nehemiah 3

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Courage requires a personal commitment — a costly, sacrificial pledge to God's plan — because if you're not scared, it's not courage.

There's something beautiful on the other side of courage, and it comes through personal commitment — a pledge that costs something. Like Nehemiah, who modeled sacrifice before asking others to rebuild the wall, we're called to die to self and follow through on what God built us to do, even when it's scary.

Key points

1
1Courage is a condition of the heart, and today's condition is personal commitment.
Pastor Bill reviews the series on Nehemiah: a dislocated heart, a broken spirit, radical faith, and a strategic plan all lead to this fifth condition — personal commitment. He defines it as a pledge or promise, a dedication to a course of action, relationship, project, or cost.
2
2Nehemiah surveyed the ruins privately before ever asking others to commit.
Working through Nehemiah 2:11-16, Pastor Bill shows how Nehemiah slipped out at night, inspected the broken walls and burned gates, and told no one until he understood the situation and had a plan.
3
3Nehemiah's concern was God's plan and God's glory, not merely safety.
When Nehemiah finally speaks to the leaders, he frames the broken walls as a disgrace to God's plan, not just a safety issue. Pastor Bill notes this is still how God works today — His plan, not our comfort, is the point.
4
4Nehemiah modeled the commitment himself before asking others to make it.
He shared his own story and how God's hand had been on him before calling the people to act, and when opposition came from Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, he stood against the fear that had paralyzed the people for years.
5
5Rock Point's leaders have already modeled sacrificial commitment ahead of asking the congregation.
Pastor Bill shares that about 3% of the church's core families, staff, and elders have already pledged over $3,400,000 — 68% of the $5,000,000 minimum goal — before asking the wider church to join through pledge cards and first fruits offerings.
6
6Nehemiah chapter 3 shows ordinary, forgotten people faithfully doing their part, and it leaves a legacy.
Pastor Bill highlights Jaden of Meronoth, a man remembered for 2,500 years for nothing but faithfully helping build the wall, and shares that he named his own son after him. A recently unearthed section of that very wall — the Broad Wall — shows the story is real, not a fairy tale.
7
7Jesus modeled the death-to-self commitment courage ultimately requires.
In John 12, facing His own death, Jesus wrestles honestly with fear, asking whether He should pray to be spared, then answers His own question: this is the very reason I came. Pastor Bill applies this to the congregation's financial sacrifice as their own death-to-self moment.

A story from life

Pastor's own experience joining his wife's Fitbit step challenge after initially refusing

Application

Pastor Bill's charge is that the beauty on the other side of courage requires a personal commitment that costs something.

Make a personal, specific commitment
Fill out a pledge card (or give online) toward the courage campaign's $5,000,000 goal, with pledges due August 19 and first fruits offerings by September 2.
Look for hidden resources to give
Examine your daily life, time, and spending the way Pastor Bill found thousands of hidden steps, to find money or margin you didn't know you had so you can sacrifice financially.
Have your own death-to-self moment
Like Jesus in John 12, stop asking God to spare you from the cost and instead say yes to what He built you for, even though it's scary.
Let fear not stop your faithfulness any longer
Whether or not you've been coming to church a long time, refuse to keep letting fear keep you from acting on what God is calling you to do now.

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
“So where we're at is we're in Nehemiah chapter two. He's already talked to the king. We talked about that the last couple weeks, put his life on the line”
From the transcript
“We're gonna see here starting verse 11. But one thing I just wanna add is as we look at this, it's is you're gonna see a consistent theme throughout scripture”
From the transcript
“Verse 13. After dark, I went out through the Valley gate past the Jackal's Well and over to the Dung Gate. That sounds beautiful”
From the transcript
“Verse 18. Then I told them about the gracious hand God had been God had been on me. But I just how the gracious hand of God had been on me”
From the transcript
“Well, sounded really easy, didn't it? He finally went and told them. But then verse nineteen and twenty happened. But when Senballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard of their plan”
From the transcript
“And that's what I love about Nehemiah chapter three. Because remember last week I ended with I said, hey, there's something beautiful on the other side of courage”
From the transcript
“I just want to read I can't read not read the whole chapter. I just want read two verses out of chapter three. It says this, next to them, because it's just lining up where people work on different stuff”
From the transcript
“And and in in chapter 12 of John, he was predicting his death which the disciples were a bit confused on because they thought God came to just always give us the stuff that makes us happy”
From the transcript
“And look what he says in verse 24. He says, I tell you the truth. Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone”

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

Before Nehemiah said a single word to the people of Jerusalem, he did something quietly courageous: he went out alone at night and looked honestly at the rubble. No fanfare, no announcement, just a man and a broken wall and the weight of what God had placed on his heart. There is something deeply human about that image. Most of us know what it feels like to sense a call and then sit with it for a while before we act — turning it over, counting the cost, wondering if we are really the right person. Nehemiah did not skip that step. He surveyed the damage first. He let the reality of the need sink in before he asked anyone else to carry it with him. That kind of honest, unhurried looking takes courage in its own right. It is easy to stay at a comfortable distance from the hard things God is asking us to engage. It is harder to ride around the rubble at midnight and let it break your heart the way it breaks His. If you are sensing a nudge toward something that costs you something, today's invitation is simple: do not look away. Let yourself see it clearly. God does not call us to act on a feeling we have never examined — He calls us to look honestly, then move faithfully.

For reflection

Is there a need, a calling, or a broken place in your life or community that you have been keeping at arm's length? What might it look like to survey it honestly this week?

Pray

Pray for the courage to look honestly at what God has placed on your heart, without rushing past the weight of it.

Day 2

After Nehemiah surveyed the walls alone, he gathered the people and told them what God had put on his heart — and something shifted in the room. 'Let us rebuild,' they said. Not 'let us think about it' or 'let us form a committee.' They were ready to begin. What changed? Nehemiah shared not only the vision but his own commitment to it. He did not recruit from a safe distance. He had already counted the cost privately, and now he was inviting others into something he was personally all in on. That is the pattern the sermon named: model the commitment first, then make the ask. There is a kind of leadership — and a kind of faith — that only becomes contagious when it is genuine. People can tell the difference between someone asking them to do what they themselves have not done and someone saying, 'I'm going. Come with me.' The same is true in the quieter spaces of our own lives. When we make a real, costly commitment to follow where God is leading — in our time, our relationships, our resources, our daily decisions — it has a way of drawing others along. Faithfulness is not just personal; it is formative for the people around us. You may not think of yourself as a leader, but your commitment has more influence than you know.

For reflection

Where in your life is God inviting you to model commitment before you invite anyone else to join you? What would that actually look like?

Pray

Pray for the integrity to align your actions with what you say you believe, and for the people in your life who are watching.

Day 3

The moment Nehemiah went public with the vision, opposition showed up. Sanballat and Tobiah did not wait long — they mocked the project and questioned Nehemiah's authority before the first stone was lifted. And Nehemiah's response is worth sitting with: he did not defend himself, argue the logistics, or try to neutralize the critics. He simply named where his confidence came from. 'The God of heaven will help us succeed.' That is not naivety — Nehemiah had done the hard work of preparation and planning. But he knew the mission was not his to protect. It belonged to God. The sermon reminded us that courage is not the absence of fear; it is choosing to act faithfully in spite of it. Opposition, doubt, and discouragement are not signs that you have misread God's call. They are almost a given. What matters is where you anchor yourself when they come. Nehemiah anchored himself in the character and faithfulness of God, not in the absence of obstacles. That same anchor is available to you. Whatever resistance you are facing — internal or external — the question is not whether it will show up. It will. The question is what you will say, quietly in your own heart, when it does.

For reflection

What form does opposition or discouragement most often take when you step toward something God is calling you to? How have you responded in the past, and how do you want to respond going forward?

Pray

Pray for a settled confidence in God's faithfulness when opposition or doubt tries to stall what He has called you to.

Day 4

Nehemiah 3 is easy to skim. It reads like a list — names, family connections, sections of wall, gates repaired. But the sermon made a striking point about this chapter: every single person named there was an ordinary individual. Priests, merchants, goldsmiths, district officials, and their daughters — none of them were famous. None of them had credentials that made them uniquely qualified to rebuild a wall. What they had was a willingness to show up and do their part. And here we are, more than 2,500 years later, still reading their names. That is not an accident. Scripture preserved them because their faithfulness mattered — not just to the project, but to God. It is worth asking what that means for us. We tend to wait until we feel significant enough, prepared enough, or spiritually mature enough to make a real commitment. But the people of Nehemiah 3 did not wait for any of that. They picked up a shovel and built the section in front of them. Your part in what God is doing does not have to be large to be lasting. Faithfulness in the ordinary, unglamorous middle of a commitment — that is the stuff of legacy. You have the same God, and the same opportunity, that they did.

For reflection

What is the 'section of wall' directly in front of you right now — the place where your specific time, talent, or presence is needed? What has kept you from fully committing to it?

Pray

Pray for a willingness to do your part faithfully, even when it feels small or unrecognized.

Day 5

Jesus used an image from the earth to describe what His mission would cost Him: a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies. It is a quiet, almost unremarkable metaphor — until you sit with what it is actually describing. The seed does not produce fruit by staying intact. It produces fruit by giving up everything it is in its current form. Jesus was not speaking abstractly. He was describing Himself, and He was describing the path He was inviting His followers to walk. The sermon named this 'death to self' — the willingness to release our grip on self-preservation in order to participate in something larger than ourselves. That is not a comfortable invitation, and it is not meant to be. But notice what Jesus promises on the other side of it: much fruit. Not a little fruit. Not modest, manageable results. The yield of a life surrendered to God's purposes is described in terms of abundance. The death is real. So is the life that follows. Whatever courageous commitment God has been pressing on your heart — in your relationships, your vocation, your finances, your daily rhythms — the invitation today is to hold it loosely enough to let it fall into the ground. Not because you are unafraid, but because you trust the One who tends the soil.

For reflection

What does 'death to self' look like in the specific area of life where you feel God pressing you toward commitment? What are you being asked to release?

Pray

Pray for the grace to trust God with what you are being asked to surrender, and for faith in what He promises on the other side.

Day 6

One of the most honest moments in all of the Gospels is tucked into these two verses. Jesus, fully aware of what was coming, said plainly: 'Now my soul is deeply troubled.' He did not pretend the cost was easy. He did not perform a peace He did not feel. He named the weight of it. And then He said something that reorients everything: 'This is the very reason I came.' He did not ask the Father to remove the hard thing. He asked the Father to be glorified through it. The sermon made this point clearly — courage is not the absence of fear. Jesus Himself felt the weight of His mission and moved forward anyway. That means when you feel afraid, uncertain, or overwhelmed by what God is asking of you, you are in good company. You are not failing spiritually. You are being human, just as Jesus was fully human in that moment. The question is not whether the fear is real. It is. The question is what you do with it. Jesus turned His troubled soul toward the Father's glory rather than toward His own relief. That reorientation — from 'get me out of this' to 'let Your purposes be fulfilled through this' — is one of the most courageous prayers a person can pray.

For reflection

Is there a place in your life right now where you are waiting for the fear to go away before you act? What would it look like to act faithfully in spite of it?

Pray

Pray for the courage to move toward what God is calling you to, even when your soul is troubled — asking for His glory, not just your relief.

Day 7

Looking back over this week, a thread runs through every day: the people God uses are not the ones who had it all figured out. They are the ones who said yes anyway. Nehemiah rode out at night into rubble. The wall-builders picked up tools for a project that had seemed impossible. Jesus pressed through genuine anguish to fulfill the mission the Father had given Him. None of them waited until it felt safe. None of them were free of doubt, opposition, or cost. What they shared was a personal commitment — a decision, made in the will before it was fully felt in the emotions, to align their lives with what God was doing. The sermon asked one clarifying question that is worth carrying with you beyond this week: What did God build you to do? Not in the abstract, but specifically — with your actual time, your particular talents, your real resources, and the story only you can tell. A commitment is not a feeling. It is a direction. It is picking up the shovel, planting the seed, repairing the section of wall in front of you. The beauty on the other side is not a building or a program. It is people shaped, lives changed, and a legacy of faithfulness that outlasts all of us. That kind of fruit is worth the death of the seed. You have the same God. The invitation is still open.

For reflection

What is the one courageous, concrete commitment you sense God asking you to make this week — and what is the first small step you can take today?

Pray

Pray for clarity about what God built you to do, and for the courage to commit to it — not when the fear is gone, but right now, in the middle of 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

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message looked at what it actually takes to move from good intentions to real commitment — and how ordinary people, from Nehemiah's wall-builders to Jesus Himself, show us what that looks like.

Discussion questions

1
In Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah surveyed the broken walls quietly before he said a word to anyone, and then he modeled commitment himself before he made a specific ask of the people. What do you think made that sequence — 'I'll go first' before 'will you join me?' — so important to how the work actually got started?
2
Nehemiah 3 lists the names of ordinary men and women, most of them unknown to history apart from this single moment — they showed up and built their section of the wall. What does it say about God that He preserved those names for 2,500 years?
3
In John 12, Jesus says, 'Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels' — and then, just verses later, He says, 'This is the very reason I came.' What do you think Jesus means by connecting His own death to that image of a seed?
4
The message made the case that courage is not the absence of fear — it's choosing to act faithfully in spite of it. How does Jesus' own wrestling with the cost of His mission in John 12 shape the way we understand what it means to follow Him courageously?
5
The message kept returning to one question: What did God build you to do? What gets in the way — for people in general — of moving from knowing the answer to that question and actually picking up the shovel?
6
The pastor challenged us to think about what it looks like, in every area of life, to stop waiting for the fear to go away before we act. What might it look like, practically, for a community like ours to encourage one another toward that kind of courageous commitment?

Pray together

Courage to move from good intentions to faithful commitment — whatever that looks like for each person in the room

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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Go deeper

Continue the series

Courage

Week 5 · 6 messages

Where these passages are preached

Nehemiah 2 Nehemiah 3 John 12

Explore related topics

Courage and Fear God's Purpose Legacy of Faithfulness Personal Commitment Sacrifice and Surrender

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