Video Transcript: Be Enthusiastic

Back, Be Enthusiastic. My dad used to say, be enthusiastic, and you'll be  enthusiastic. And I wonder, as a kid, I want to deal with that. Later on remember  Rich DeVos wanted to go to the Dale Carnegie? Oh, yeah. So I went to the Dale Carnegie course. And that's where my dad got it. Because I guess my dad had  gone to the Dale Carnegie course. And there was an exercise that we did. Right. And you had to tell a story where you weren't that enthusiastic. You had to  reenact it, right. So I did like leading a leadership meeting at church. So I don't  want to be here. But here we are the third Tuesday of the night. So I gotta lead  this meeting. I know you don't want to be here either. But we got to do this  church stuff. So let's do this church stuff. We had to do it. We had it with a  group, you had to do it like that, right? And then for 30 seconds, and then the  guy said, Okay, stop. He said, Now literally, I want you to take one step over,  right? Take one step over. And he said, Now I want you to do the same thing.  With 10 times more enthusiasm, right? I am, this is the greatest. I've been  looking forward to this Tuesday for a whole entire month, I have not been able to have this moment to share. I mean, you had exaggerate, you had to go way  beyond. What you what was interesting about exercise is how unenthusiastic  most of the time we are right? And how, you know, if you're bored with what  you're saying, if you're bored with the situation you find yourself in? Well guess  what everyone you're talking to, is going to be equally bored. If you're you're  setting the temperature, right, and you're putting it low and that's when it's going  to be so Dale Carnegie was saying you have to you know, you might be going to a meeting and everyone's down and they're you know, if you just reflect that  back that's the way it's gonna be right? You have to lift the enthusiasm level.  Paul writes in Philippians, 3:12-14, Not that I have already obtained all this or  already or am, already perfect. Press on to make it my own because Christ  Jesus has made me his own brothers. I do not consider that I have made it my  own. But one thing I do. forgetting what lies behind in straining forward to what  lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in  Christ Jesus. All these words, press, straining, forgetting I pressed on to make it  my own because Christ Jesus made me brothers. I did that good, sir. But I have  been on my own but you know? Right. So your tone your body language. A lot of times, a lot of times we just reflect what we're seeing. Right? And so if you're in  a room filled with uninteresting people, then you become uninteresting. So you  want to, it takes some energies of awareness. to step out of that I have to  change the atmosphere here, right and enthusiasm can do it. But there's the old  saying and peoplesmart literature, are you the thermos or the thermostat? Or,  you know, are you the problem thermometer or the thermostat. So the  thermometer is just something reflect tells you what it is right? To the thermostat  sets that temperature right? Or regardless of what people want or don't want,  you are going to you create the atmosphere. And that's what enthusiasm you  you are creating an atmosphere. So you know my oldest son, he is in the 

project. So he was not in the cars at all. I was never into cars. I never thought  about them at all. For whatever reason. He got to into cars. And he was just so  enthusiastic about it that he got me enthusiastic about it. So now we own two 68 Datsun roadsters and we're cobbling together and and he has plans about  swapping out the engine and doing this and he had it all out on the computer.  And so here I am. I never had that much interest in cars growing up ever. But his enthusiasm is contagious. Makes it interesting. You know, there were things I  didn't know about any of these things. And all of a sudden, just by his sheer  enthusiasm, I become interested in something that he's interested in. So, so  enthusiasm, how, what's the difference between fake phony enthusiasm and ral. In ministry it is a really important issue. I think people sense that. Number one,  fake enthusiasm is not sustainable. Right. Right. You can put it on for a while.  Yeah. Is that I think it's the genuine enthusiasm that becomes interesting. And  anything fake, just, you know, we listened. But that's it. Because, you know,  people that are truly like, Paul is saying, I forget the rest. What are we talking  about? I'm talking about this, I don't want to talk about anything else is like, laser focused on the passion that he has for his calling and the prize? And, you know,  if you start thinking about that in terms of ministry, right? If you're a leader in  ministry, and you want people excited about your church, well, how enthusiastic  are you about your church, right? There's one reason why churches don't grow,  is the members are not enthusiastic about their church. Right? If they were  enthusiastic about their church, our church is awesome. Our pastors, awesome,  our music is awesome, that when you meet someone, you wouldn't use  someone would have to hold you back from telling them. You got to come to our  church it's awesome, right? So if it's not awesome, you can't fake it till you can't,  because in the end, you're gonna find out, right, and so it just doesn't work. So  genuine enthusiasm, still getting enthusiastic about your church getting. And if  you're not, do something that you can, do something or, or find a piece that you  can get involved with it, you know, maybe the rest of the church is falling apart.  But this one thing that you're involved in, you're gonna make it the best you can  you press on towards the goal. forget the past, you're pressing on that. You're  staying up to the middle of the night thinking, Lord, how can we make this  better? Yeah. For those ministers who are preaching, enthusiasm, you know, do  not just think that you have a job to do in your next. Today's sermons going to be about today's sermon can change your life. Yes, I am. I have been studying this  and God put this on my heart. I couldn't wait for Sunday morning. See, now  listen, I don't want to miss it. So the producer of Dr, Clouser in the other room.  So she's had to listen to like, the entire philosophy class. So today, program,  that's like 25, to 25 lectures on the history of philosophy, and the Greeks and all  of that. So all of that. So, so, over lunch, after lunch, I looked at her and she was waiting for the last day of taping, which is happening in another studio right now.  And so I remember thinking, or I walked up to her. Looked her in the eyes and 

said, philosophy is going to change your life. And then she's really interesting,  she caught up, and will change this ministry. That's right. You know, it was like,  you know, all of a sudden, you'll people get caught up in your enthusiasm. I  wasn't paying any attention. But I mean, whatever it says that, do you believe  that what you're doing God has called you to do? And the confidence of that  calling, so that's what, really, that's what is going back to what my father said, Be enthusiastic, and you'll be enthusiastic. Sometimes, you have to just muster it  up, but in the middle of your enthusiasm, you start getting really enthusiastic.  They used to say, fake it till you make it. And there's an element of truth to that  but if somethings not there, it's just not there. But at the end of the day, this is an intentional practice, where you're growing in confidence of your calling, and if  you are confident of your calling. Tell it on the mountaintops don't hide under a  bushel.