Courage | Part 2 · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Jul 23, 2018 · 69 min watch · 3 min read

Courage | Part 2

Big Idea

A broken spirit — cultivated through prayer — is the essential heart condition that makes courageous obedience to God possible.

Before anyone can act with genuine courage, their heart must move beyond simply seeing the need to being broken before the God who can meet it. Pastor Bill traces Nehemiah's prayer to show that a broken spirit is both revealed and developed through how we pray: starting with a high view of God, leading to an honest view of ourselves, and culminating in a courageous commitment to God's agenda rather than our own. Without this step, even well-intentioned action risks being driven by pride or fear rather than faith.

Key points

1
1Courage is a condition of the heart, not of circumstances — we must stop waiting for circumstances to make bravery easy.
2
2A dislocated heart is the first condition of courage: your heart must move toward where God is calling before your body follows.
3
3A broken spirit is the second condition of courage: being overwhelmed by who God is, not just by the problem at hand.
4
4We must cultivate a high view of God — Nehemiah's prayer begins not with his need but with who God is, declaring His name, power, and unfailing love.
5
5A high view of God produces an accurate view of self — seeing the gap between who God is and who we are leads to honest confession and repentance.
6
6Seeing ourselves accurately frees us to turn boldly back to God's agenda — God promises to bring us back no matter how far we have strayed.
7
7Prayer that flows from a broken spirit ends with requests that are 100% about being resourced for God's will, not recruiting God to our own agenda.

Application

Pastor Bill calls the congregation to examine the quality of their prayer lives as a direct measure of their heart posture before God. The challenge is threefold: start prayer by declaring who God actually is rather than launching straight into personal requests; let that honest view of God expose where we have chosen our own wisdom over His; and then boldly turn back toward His agenda rather than asking Him to bless ours. Practically, this means praying persistently — as Nehemiah did for months — before acting, and trusting that where God guides, He provides. For Rock Point specifically, Pastor Bill invites the church to begin praying now about a coming building campaign, recognizing that courageous generosity and commitment only flow from a heart that is first broken and surrendered before God.

Take it into your week

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. 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.

Before Nehemiah did a single thing about the broken walls of Jerusalem, he sat down and wept. He mourned for days. He fasted. He prayed. It would have been easy — and very human — to jump straight into planning mode. The problem was obvious. The need was urgent. But Nehemiah didn't lead with a strategy; he led with grief. Pastor Bill made the point that courage is a condition of the heart, not of circumstances. That means waiting for the perfect moment when everything feels safe and clear is actually waiting for the wrong thing. Nehemiah's circumstances never got easier. What changed was his heart — and it changed in the place of prayer before it changed anywhere else. This is an important starting place for our week together. Before we get to what Nehemiah prayed or how boldly he eventually acted, we need to sit here for a moment — with the image of a man who let himself be genuinely undone by something that mattered to God. That kind of response doesn't come from willpower. It comes from a heart that is already oriented toward God and already paying attention to what breaks His heart. The week ahead is an invitation to examine where your own heart is positioned right now — not to produce guilt, but to open a door.

For reflection

When you encounter a need or a problem that seems too big, what is your first instinct — and what does that instinct reveal about where your heart is positioned?

Pray

Pray for honest awareness of where your heart actually is right now — not where you think it should be.

Related passage

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. 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

Nehemiah sat with devastating news for four months before he ever said a word or took a step — this message looks at what was happening in him during that silence, and why it mattered so much for everything that came after.

Discussion questions

1
In Nehemiah 1:5, Nehemiah opens his prayer not with his request but with a declaration of who God is — His greatness, His faithfulness, His unfailing love. Why do you think he starts there, and what difference might that starting point make to everything that follows in the prayer?
2
Pastor Bill described a 'broken spirit' as being overwhelmed by who God is, not just by the size of the problem. How is that different from simply feeling crushed or discouraged by hard news?
3
In Nehemiah 1:6–7, after fixing his eyes on God's character, Nehemiah moves immediately into honest confession — both his own and his people's. What seems to be the connection between seeing God clearly and being willing to see ourselves honestly?
4
By Nehemiah 1:10–11, the prayer has shifted from confession to a bold, specific request — not for Nehemiah's comfort, but for the resources to do what God was calling him to do. What does that shift tell us about how a broken spirit shapes the way people pray?
5
Pastor Bill challenged us to notice whether our prayers tend to ask God to bless what we have already decided, or to align us with what He is already doing. How might a community — a church, a small group, a family — pray differently if they took that distinction seriously?
6
Pastor Bill invited Rock Point to begin praying now about a coming building campaign, and he connected courageous generosity directly to this kind of broken, surrendered heart rather than to circumstances being favorable. What does it look like, practically, to let prayer come before action rather than after a plan is already set?

Pray together

Ask God to give your group the kind of high view of Him that produces honest hearts and courageous, surrendered prayer

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Sign in to save this message.

Go deeper

Continue the series

Courage

Week 2 · 6 messages

Where this passage is preached

Explore related topics

Broken Spirit Courage God's Agenda Heart Posture Prayer Life

Related sermons

True Grit | Week 2 | Full Service
Pastor Rocky High · Mar 2, 2026
Shares scripture
True Grit | Week 1 | Full Service
Pastor Bill Bush · Feb 26, 2026
Shares scripture
2022 New Year's Special Message
Pastor Daniel Goulding · Jan 1, 2022
Shares scripture
Courage | Part 1
Pastor Daniel Goulding · Jul 16, 2018
Shares scripture
Essentials | Week 4
Pastor Bill Bush · Aug 24, 2026
Same speaker
Essentials | Week 3
Pastor Bill Bush · Aug 16, 2026
Same speaker

Powered by Rewind · make your church's Rewind →