Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 18. We'll read verses 19 through 33. Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, let me run now and take the news to the king how the Lord has avenged him of his enemies. And Joab said to him, you shall not take the news this day for you shall take the news another day. But today you shall take no news because the king's son is dead. Then Joab said to the Cushite, go, tell the king what you have seen. So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran. And Ahimaz, the son of Zadok, said again to Joab, But whatever happens, please let me run after the Kushite. So Joab said, why will you run, my son, since you have no news ready? But whatever happens, he said, let me run. So he said to him, run. Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Kushite. Now David was sitting between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate to the wall, lifted his eyes, and looked, and there was a man running alone. Then the watchman cried out and told the king. And the king said, if he's alone, there is news in his mouth. And he came rapidly and drew near. Then the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, there is another man running alone. And the king said, he also brings news. So the watchman said, I think the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, he's a good man and comes with good news. So Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, all is well. Then he bowed down with his face to the earth before the king and said, blessed be the Lord, your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my Lord, the king. The king said, is the young man Absalom safe? Ahimaaz answered, when Joab sent the king's servant and me, your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about. And the king said, turn aside and stand here. So he turned aside and stood still. Just then the Cushite came and the Cushite said, there is good news, my Lord, the king for the Lord has avenged you this day of all those who rose against you. And the king said, the Cushite is the young man Absalom safe. So the Cushite answered, may the enemies of my Lord, the king and all who rise against you to do harm be like that young man. Then the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said thus, oh, my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, if only I had died in your place. Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. Father God, we thank you for your word and we pray that you would help us to understand it. and to be driven to the throne of grace as we understand its implications. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. My guess is that when you first got saved, you could hardly wait to tell your family and your friends and the whole wide world about the most important thing that had happened in your life. But sadly, what happens is that many Christians lose their excitement about talking about Jesus when they get shot down and the proverbial door gets slammed in their face enough times. And this is really true in almost every area of life. I remember when I first became Reformed, I was so excited about the doctrines of the Reformed faith. that I was an aggressive salesman. I was out there trying to convince everybody to believe these doctrines, probably a little bit too, you know, un-nuanced in my approach on this, and probably should have been a little bit more tempered. But I couldn't contain myself. These were exciting things. I just had to share them with everybody. And after getting shot down and people getting angry with me a few hundred times, I got a little bit more cagey about sharing this good news. Someone once said, the gap between enthusiasm and indifference is filled with failures. Now there's truth in that. I would try to phrase it a little bit differently, that the gap between enthusiasm and indifference is filled with how many wet blankets have been dumped on your enthusiasm in the meantime. And it's really easy for us old codgers who think we're wiser to put a damper on the idealistic enthusiasm of youth, hoping to protect them from disappointment. And I think that's exactly what Joab was trying to do. He was trying to protect Ahimaaz. Now I'm here to tell you that God is the author of enthusiasm, at least the kind that we're going to be looking at later on in the sermon, and that Jesus is the exemplar of a man who is eaten up with holy zeal and burning with fervent desire. And he is the exemplar of a man who could not have that enthusiasm beaten out of him. You read through the book of 2 Peter and you'll see other examples, but there are three very, very bold examples of Peter telling us that every Christian should be driven with excitement, enthusiasm over the doctrines, over the Christian life, over expanding the kingdom of God. It's the Greek word spoudazo. And there are other related Greek and Hebrew words. that show that we really ought to have enthusiasm in every part of our doctrine and of our Christian life. When you look at all of the word groups in the Hebrew and in the Greek, there are words like zeal, eagerness, vehement desire, burning desire. When you study the context of those words and how they're used, you realize pretty quickly that God does not want us to be apathetic Christians. He wants us to be burning with zeal for Him. And we need to be on guard that the realists in our midst do not totally rob us of the joyful exuberance that Ahimaaz had. Look at verse 19. Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, let me run now and take the news to the king how the Lord has avenged him of his enemies. There's really something to be excited about. And Ahimaaz wanted to share that good news despite the hard, long run that it was going to be to be able to bring this news. After all, this was a miraculous win, was it not? When you remember from the previous sermon, David had a maximum of about 20,000 soldiers up against over a million soldiers on the side of Absalom. Overwhelming, staggering odds that were against them. So it's no wonder he's pretty excited to share this news. But you know what? Ahimaaz had this enthusiasm long before the battle was won. Even back when it looked like David was going to be destroyed, he still sided with David and was excited to be a part of the team. He And a friend went down in a well to hide from the Gestapo of Absalom. And that started kind of a young Indiana Jones adventure for this guy. This pastor's son shared his dad's faith in God, his commitment to God's law, and his dad's willingness to lay down his life for the cause of the kingdom. Now his dad was not able to fight. David had told him to go back into the city, but Ahimaz was able to do so. And he trusted God completely as he sought to advance his kingdom through the battle that went on earlier in this chapter. And when they won the battle, it was glorious news. It was news that he was excited to share, and it was not self-centered. It was a God-centered message he wanted to give. It says, let me run now and take the news to the king how the Lord has avenged him of his enemy. So I think that the idealism of youth is very beautifully captured in this passage here. Someone once said, duty without enthusiasm becomes laborious. Duty with enthusiasm becomes glorious. And it is so true. When we are motivated by a God-given enthusiasm, it is fun to make sacrifices. And people wonder, why do these people so enthusiastically make all of these sacrifices? It is fun when you have that motivation. The Greek word spoudazo means to do something with intense motivation and effort. And the other Greek and the Hebrew words that surround this concept show that it is really a wonderful motivation in our lives. It's a wonderful thing. Now, this is not to speak against your doing your duty while plotting along. I probably have had many more times of plotting faithfulness than I have of energetic enthusiasm. There is a good place for plotting, okay? But those of us who trudge through duty should not try to kill the enthusiasm of others. Now I'll have to admit that Joab had good reasons for trying to shut down the enthusiasm of Ahimaaz. If you take a look at verse 20, And Joab said to him, You shall not take the news this day, for you shall take the news another day. But today you shall take no news because the king's son is dead. Now you can see here that Joab's not really opposed to enthusiasm in his soldiers. He likes this young man. He says, you shall take the news another day. I trust you. I like your enthusiasm. I'm going to use you in the future, but you can't go right now. And commentators generally believe that Joab was trying to protect Ahimaaz from potential fallout from David. He doesn't tell Ahimaz the whole reason for why he can't go. He figures it ought to be sufficient for him to say, for the king's son is dead. This is not going to be as exciting of a day for David as you might think. This is not going to be as exciting a news that you're bringing as you might think. Now for some reason most of my commentaries say that Joab thought that David might kill Ahimaz out of frustration and was actually protecting his life. Now, I'm very, very skeptical of that interpretation. It is true in chapter 1, David almost immediately killed the young Amalekite when he claimed to have killed Saul. In chapter 4, it's true that when the two Jews, Abana and Rechab, actually bring the head of Ish-bosheth in their hands, they're obviously murderers, that he immediately executed them, but those are two totally different things. That's what the commentators bring up when they say that this is probably why Joab was not sending him. He was worried that if David reacted like that with those two people, how much more so with his own son. I think it's much more likely he's just trying to spare him from disappointment, but either way you interpret it, Everyone has agreed that Joab is trying to spare or protect Ahimaaz in some way, and he has good reasons for doing so. Now, interestingly, he's not quite so protective of the Cushite. Verse 21, Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what you have seen. So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran. But in verses 22 through 23, we see that idealism is not quite so easily suppressed. And Ahimaz, the son of Zadok, said to Joab, but whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite. So Joab said, why will you run, my son, since you have no news ready? But whatever happens, he says, let me run. So he said to him, run. Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite. Now that first phrase in verse 22 shows that he tries again. It's hard to suppress enthusiasm. In fact, this has been one of the graces that has enabled me to persevere through some pretty tough times and still be optimistic and still be enthusiastic about the ministry. It helps us to push through when God puts fire in our bones, so to speak, about His graces. The next phrase shows that he's not motivated by reward. He says, but whatever happens. A phrase that commentators believe means that he doesn't care about getting a reward from David. That's not why he's running. He's running because he's excited to tell the good news to David. The next phrase shows that he longs for action. Please, let me run. He's not talking about an idle enthusiasm. Some people are pretty enthusiastic sitting in front of the TV watching other people do the work. Okay, now he's talking about an enthusiasm that wants to be involved. So when you've got biblical faith, hope, and this biblical kind of enthusiasm that we're talking about, you want to see the scriptures fulfilled. You want to see them put into action. And so even if at first you don't succeed, you keep trying. And Ahimaz is not dissuaded by realism. Joab's objection, why will you run, my son, since you have no news ready, was a phrase that shows that Joab was being realistic. You don't have all of the facts. But he still wants to run. He's eager to go. And there's nothing wrong, you know, with youth being eager to serve the Lord, even if they don't have all of the facts. You know, you youth, go ahead. Even if you don't know everything, go ahead and seek to serve the Lord. And Ahimaaz presses past these obstacles by continuing to ask permission to run. Now, in the military, you're under greater restrictions to your freedom than a private citizen would be, but it doesn't keep him from asking. And the motivation to run is still there. So Joab finally relents, lets him run. Verse 23. But whatever happens, he said, let me run. So he said to him, run. Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite. Robert Bergen explains why Joab let him go and a bit on the geography. He says, seeing Ahimaaz would not be dissuaded. And believing that he would arrive only after David had expended his emotions against the Cushite, Joab gave leave. Once on his way, Ahimaaz made his journey to Mahanaim by way of the plain, that is, by running over the relatively flat terrain paralleling the Jordan River instead of climbing up and down over the rugged forested hills as the Cushite was doing. This less arduous path, though longer, permitted Ahimaz to arrive at Mahanaim before the Kushite. And so the first five verses of our pericope give a tiny portrait of enthusiastic idealism versus Joab's mature realism. But the real wet blanket comes in the next verses. David's reactions not only take the wind out of Ahimaz's sails, they take the wind out of everybody's sails. And I'm going to save the preaching on chapter 19 for next time. In fact, Lord willing, we're going to be looking at it from a different angle, so it doesn't hurt for me to read it now. But if you take a look at chapter 19, Verses 1 through 3, you will see how this completely robbed the joy of this celebration, of this incredible victory that God had wrought. Chapter 19, beginning at verse 1, Joab was told, Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Epsilon. So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day, the king is grieved for his son. And especially notice these words in verse 3. And the people stole back into the city that day as people who were ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. So David had poured cold water on their fire of their zeal. He threw a wet blanket over their enthusiasm. He turned their joy into shame, celebration into mourning. And there are times when we leaders must hide our emotions for the well-being of those that we lead. Those who excuse the expression of lousy emotions with the lousy excuse, hey, I'm just being honest with the way I feel. Well, so what? Keep your feelings to yourself sometimes, you know? I think we need to learn the self-control and the Bible, Proverbs especially, warns us a number of times not to express our whole heart. You've got to think of what words are appropriate for the situation. Now, it wasn't as if David had been totally lacking in his own enthusiasm. Chapter 18, verse 24 says, Now David was sitting between the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate to the wall, lifted his eyes and looked and there was a man running alone. So I want you to notice David was sitting not in his house. He was sitting outside there between the two gates. He was anticipating an outcome. He was hoping for good news and especially hoping for good news about his son. He didn't just wait in his room. He's out there itching to hear what would happen. He had obviously assigned a watchman to the wall. And in verses 25 through 26, we see that he's anticipating news. Then the watchman cried out and told the king and the king said, if he is alone, there is news in his mouth. And he came rapidly and drew near. Then the watchman saw another man running and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, there is another man running alone. And the king said, he also brings news. So David was not apathetic. He just had a different vision of what he wanted to see. And our enthusiasm is controlled by our vision. Okay, our enthusiasm is controlled by our vision. Frequently, the joy suckers of this world are good people. They just have a different expectation than what you have. They get upset over things that you're excited over and you wonder, why? Why would they be upset over this? This is great stuff. They many times will oppose the things that you are supporting. And it's not necessarily that they're bad people. It's just that their vision maybe is clouded or your vision is clouded, but they've got a different perspective on life. But unfortunately, those people condemn the enthusiasm in our walk and especially in the walk of the young people. Anyway, David's hoping for good news, verse 27. So the watchman said, I think the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, he's a good man, comes with good news. At least he's hoping that he's coming with good news. But once the messenger comes, David shows no enthusiasm for the good news that Ahimaz brings. What would be good news for Ahimaz? Well, it would be that all of David's enemies are vanquished. But before he even gets to David, he blurts out, while he's still running, all is well. That gets David's hopes up. Verse 28. So Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, all is well. Then he bowed down with his face to the earth before the king and said, blessed be the Lord, your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hands against my Lord, the king. So that was indeed good news. And part of the glory for Ahimaaz is he was still alive to be able to tell this to David. And David just ignores that, brushes that aside. That would have hurt. Part of the glory for him was the excitement of being part of a miraculous campaign against Absalom. And he loved David. He was loyal to David. There were good reasons for his excitement. And so with these few words that David gave, he's brushing all of those things aside. He's brushing aside the love, the loyalty, the enthusiasm for David, faithfulness. and his self-sacrifice as if it was unimportant. Now, I'm sure David did not intend to do that. He's so focused in on one thing, he doesn't even realize what his words are going to be doing, but that's the impact that his words had upon Ahimaz and anybody else who was looking on. And that's what made Joab so angry in the next chapter. And though David was no doubt relieved at the news that the army had won, it would have been disheartening to have the first words coming out of David's mouth to be the words in verse 29, is the young man Absalom safe? I mean, that would have cut like a knife. Instead of asking, hey, how is the army doing? How many people have died? You know, what's the welfare of the people who have loved me and served me? He's asking, is my son safe and I'm sure Ahimaaz is thinking in his head what what are you talking about we were fighting against Ahimaaz we're risking our lives to defend you against Ahimaaz he didn't say that But that was, I'm sure, in his mind. And so commentaries assume that Ahimaaz's next words, which suddenly hide some of the very news that he was planning to bring, come from a sudden realization that David would not be happy with the news of his son's death after all. It didn't make sense to him, but he answered David, When Joab sent the king's servant and me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about. Now that was a bold-faced lie because we know from verse 20 that Absalom was dead and he knew that Absalom was dead. But the fact that he had previously been eager to bring this message and now suddenly he is hiding this message shows that there's been a dampening of his enthusiasm. The wind has been taken out of his sails and instead of joy there is fear. That's why he's lying. David chose little interest in Ahimaz at this point, verse 30, and the king said, turn aside and stand here. So he turned aside and stood still. And exactly the same thing happened with the Cushite in verses 31 through 32. Just then the Cushite came and the Cushite said, there is good news, my Lord, the king, for the Lord has avenged you this day of all those who rose up against you. And the king said to the Cushite, is the young man Absalom safe? So the Cushite answered, may the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise against you to do harm be like that young man. So this is good news. This is something the king should be excited about, but his fatherly love gets in the way of his kingly duties. You can understand it. That he's grieved he's heartbroken over his son, but it gets in the way of his kingly duties And then comes the ultimate kick in the stomach to every soldier who has sacrificed their lives And their energies to defend him look at verse 33 then the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and And as he went, he said thus, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, if only I had died in your place! O Absalom, my son, my son! I mean, the wind is completely taken out of the sails of everyone when David treated this good news as if it was the worst news that they could possibly have brought to him. Okay? There's no praise of their efforts or their sacrifices or their love or their loyalty. Not a bit of gratefulness is being expressed by David. Instead, David treated them as if they have mortally wounded his soul. Can you see that? Now these are the kinds of responses that can turn idealistic people into indifferent cynics. When that happens to you enough times, eventually you begin to be hardened. It's a self-protective mechanism. It happens between husbands and wives. It happens between parents and children. And if it has happened to you, it is understandable From a human perspective, it is understandable if you lose your enthusiasm and you start simply going through the motions. Let me just explain what's behind this in terms of the biblical psychology. God has made us to be creatures of vision. And when the reasons for that vision are taken away, we begin to just trudge through life aimlessly. This is one of the reasons, by the way, why we have very early on tried to prayerfully think of what is God's calling upon my son and upon our daughter? How has God crafted them? We want them to lay hold of that vision, lay hold upon God's calling in their lives, because this is the kind of thing that can drive us either in a good direction or it can drive us in a bad direction. But we are made to be creatures of vision. We are made to be creatures of hope. And when hope is spoiled or soiled, it takes the fun out of life. God has made us to be creatures of faith, a faith that can move mountains and conquer the land of Canaan. But when people start whittling away and chipping away at our faith, eventually we get to a place where we're just going through the motions. We don't have this drive, this energy to move forward. God has made us to be people of love and loyalty, but when our love and loyalty is spurned, it's so easy to close off our hearts and not try anymore. And so the question comes, how did Jesus continue to be driven by enthusiasm when exactly those things had happened to Him? And the answer is, He got His vision daily from the throne of His Father, not from the people who were around Him. He lived by faith in God, not faith in man. There was nothing to put his faith in man whatsoever. He got his hope from God, not from the responses that other people gave to him. His love and loyalty to others did not flow from their love and loyalty to him. Quite the opposite. His love and loyalty to others flowed from a prior love that he had to the Father. Okay? His faithfulness was driven by joy in God's plan, and for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. And so even though your loss of enthusiasm is perfectly understandable from a human perspective, even though we'll all sympathize with you on that, I want to spend the last few minutes of this sermon showing how you can have a supernatural enthusiasm that circumstances cannot take away. But I want to start, first of all, by showing that God Himself, and this is in the conclusion here, God Himself puts a wet blanket on our enthusiasm when it is not Spirit-given. And He does so for our good. If your vision Your faith, your hope, your loyalty, your enthusiasm does not have an eternal perspective. It will let you down. In fact, it's interesting that Jesus very deliberately, very self-consciously sought to destroy the enthusiasm of His disciples, of the crowds, because He knew it was humanistic. In fact, why don't you turn with me to John chapter 6. which is, it's just amazing how Jesus is deliberately crushing the enthusiasm of the people here. John chapter six, the disciples kind of feel like Jesus has kicked them in the stomach and taken away any reason for them to be enthusiastic anymore. They've been so enthusiastic, but he's robbed them of that enthusiasm. First of all, Jesus ran away from the enthusiastic crowds because they wanted, it says here, they wanted to force Jesus to become their king. Okay? But He treated their enthusiasm as idolatry. He exposed the fact that they didn't want a Savior from sin. They wanted a Savior, political Savior, who would protect them from Rome, who would give them food, who would provide for them in different ways like this. And Jesus spoke some very sobering truth to those crowds so that they would not have a zeal without knowledge. Paul said that was the problem with many of the Jews in the first century. They had a zeal without knowledge and it was sending them to hell, right? So he is doing this for their good. Much zeal and enthusiasm does indeed need to be tempered with biblical realism. When the Jews complained about the way he was dashing their hopes, take a look at verse 60. After Jesus gave very, very offensive words, it says, therefore many of his disciples when they heard this said, this is a hard saying. Who can understand it? Now in response to their false hope, false faith, false enthusiasm, Jesus said in the second part of verse 61, does this offend you? What then if you see the son of man ascended where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. Okay. So he's giving them the true source of enthusiasm based on a true hope, true faith, true knowledge by the power of the spirit, but they're not getting it. So he continues to warn them, verse 64. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray him. And he said, therefore, I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my father. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the 12, do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. That was definitely not an overly enthusiastic endorsement of Jesus there. Where shall we go? We don't have a choice, Lord. Your words are hard, but we don't have much of a choice. But we're certainly not going to abandon the truth. But Jesus had taken the wind out of their sails. And at this point, Jesus had put such a wet blanket on their enthusiasm. They were simply plodding. They were not going to leave him, but they were not too excited. But thankfully, because they had a true knowledge, true faith, true hope, they remained faithful. That's good. Plotting is sometimes good. And like I said before, I've probably done a lot more plotting, faithful plotting, than I have energetic enthusiasm in my life. At least they were not reacting like that first generation of Jews in the wilderness. where they just left. They just said, we're done with it. In fact, let me quote that, Deuteronomy 128, where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts saying, the people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the heaven. Moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakin there. There are some people who can give you very good reasons why they have given up their faithfulness. And you can identify with them. Yeah, those are pretty good reasons. They've lost their enthusiasm, but they're not willing to even plod. They're going to completely give up. And I've brought these various scriptures together to show that God sometimes dashes our enthusiasm to the ground in order to replace it with something much better. The same forlorn disciples who were holed up in the upper room after the death of Christ, regained an enthusiasm to speak the truth boldly in the book of Acts, even when people tried to beat that enthusiasm out of them. It was a spirit-given enthusiasm that any one of us can have. It wasn't simply that Jesus straightened out their faith and their hope and their vision. That's absolutely critical, absolutely important because that drives vision, but it was an internalized faith, hope, and vision empowered by God's Spirit. Let me just put it this way, you cannot read through Acts 2 and following those chapters without it having, if you're regenerate, without it having in some way bringing a desire within you, a longing within you that says to the Lord, Lord I wish I had their boldness. I wish I could have their world-conquering faith and vision. I wish I could be enthusiastic like they are to share my goods with the brethren. I wish I had their hunger for the Lord, where they were steadfast in the Apostles' doctrine day after day in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, incredible fellowship, incredible ministry. I wish that I could be as excited about my Christianity as they were. And brothers and sisters, I'm here to tell you that you can be. You can be, but not in your own strength. Daily you need to go to the throne of grace and daily you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you don't know where to start, I would suggest picking up the booklet on spiritual warfare prayers and pray that first prayer on the filling of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1 verse 3 promises that you've already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You've got a bank account in heaven that's filled with millions and millions of spiritual dollars and those resources are there for you to receive by faith and through prayer. One of the greatest resources that you can have is the filling of the Holy Spirit who's the most enthusiastic being in this universe. In Acts chapter 4, you see the prayers of the church ascending to God. Verse 31 says, And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. And the chapter goes on to talk about the enthusiasm in their Christianity that was turning the world upside down. You see, idealism is not just a thing for youth. God-given idealism is a thing for every spirit-filled Christian. A.W. Tozer once said, God dwells in a state of perpetual enthusiasm. Think about that. It's an amazing statement. I believe it's a biblical statement. But he says, God dwells in a state of perpetual enthusiasm. He is delighted with all that is good and lovingly concerned about all that is wrong. He pursues his labors always in a fullness of holy zeal. No wonder the Spirit came at Pentecost as the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, and sat in tongues of fire on every forehead. Whatever else happened at Pentecost, one thing that cannot be missed by the most casual observer was the sudden upsurging of moral enthusiasm. Those first disciples burned with a steady inward fire. They were enthusiastic to the point of complete abandon. Brothers and sisters, I want that every day, which means I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. Though Ahimaz's enthusiasm is an enthusiasm that could so easily be dashed to the ground, if you have an enthusiasm that comes from the Holy Spirit indwelling within you, it cannot so easily be dampened or extinguished. Yes, human love in marriage may die. But if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Song of Solomon speaks of a romantic love given by God that many waters cannot quench, extinguish. And the reason they cannot be extinguished by hard knocks and cynicism and wet blankets is that Song of Solomon 8 verse 6 says that this romantic enthusiasm is divinely given. The literal Hebrew says, its flames are flames of fire, a flame of Yahweh. Sometimes God allows the man-generated enthusiasm within our marriage to die so that people will go to the throne of grace for a supernatural enthusiasm that many waters cannot extinguish. Yes, enthusiasm for life, for family, for kingdom, for church, for God's glory, for your own calling in your life can easily, easily grow dim. It can grow dim because of thoughtless statements, careless statements like David made to Ahimaaz. But cry out to God for the filling of the Holy Spirit and an enthusiasm engendered by the Spirit of God will motivate you. When you have the same Holy Spirit who filled Jesus, like Jesus, you too will have the zeal of God's house eating you up. The zeal of the house of the Lord was eating him up. You too will endure the cross for the joy that is set before you. You too will desire the Lord's table just like Jesus desired to eat that Passover with fervent desire, it says. That's the same word, that fervent desire. You too will have a passion for prayer that may on occasion keep you up all night long. You too will be driven into the wilderness, driven into ministry, driven to do the Father's will. Let's make it our prayer that we will no longer allow the wet blankets of others to dampen our enthusiasm and our zeal for the things of God. Now, we can feel sorry for those who are wet blankets themselves, but don't become like them. Don't become like them. Let's be a spirit-driven and a word-based church that cannot be shaken from a zeal and enthusiasm to live and work and talk for our awesome God. Amen? Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your word. Good examples, the bad examples, and the interpretation of those things that we see in your holy scriptures. And Father, we do desire to be more and more conformed to your image. As we see the ways that we can, ourselves, dampen the enthusiasm of others, forgive us. As we see in the examples of scripture our own life, that can so easily become dampened by the wet blankets that are thrown upon us. Forgive us. Help us, Father, to not look to an enthusiasm that comes and flows from our own fleshly endeavors, but to look to Your Holy Spirit. And I pray that your spirit would engender within us a hatred for the things that you hate, a love for the things that you love, a passion for the things that you are passionate about, and an indifference to the things that you are indifferent about. The Father, may we, not for a moment in any given day, be driven by anything other than Your Holy Spirit. And may the vision and the hope and the faith that You engender in our hearts give us a zeal with knowledge that cannot be extinguished, that is always living to Your glory. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.