(2 Samuel) More Anointing, More War — David Guzik

David Seeks the Lord and Is Anointed King in Hebron

That David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him, Go up. David said, Where shall I go up? And he said, To Hebron. So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitus, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

When the book of Second Samuel began, David wasn't in the land of Israel. He was living among the Philistines in the city of Ziklag. And that's where he is when the second chapter of Second Samuel begins.

David is sort of pulling out of a decline in his spiritual life, a period of time when he lived virtually as a Philistine among the Philistines. It was a time where despair and discouragement had led him away from the things of God and the people of God.

And it took a real shaking in his life to bring him back to a place where he was committed to serving and honoring God again. But that shaking has happened. And now David is doing something great. Did you notice it here?

In verse one, it says that he inquired of the Lord. Now, I know that there's a lot in this section, in this chapter, that we can't really deal with. Many of you were probably struck with some curiosity when you noticed that David had two wives here.

And you're saying, what's that all about? This man after God's own heart. Well, can I just ask you to sort of put that on hold? Let's wait till David has a few more wives before we deal with that whole question.

And we'll get to it a little bit later on in our study of 2 Samuel. So be patient with me on that one. But I just want you to focus on the fact that David inquired of the Lord. How important that is in our life.

You know, so often we set our course and we make our plans. And somewhere along the way, we ask God to bless them. Well, we want God to bless our plans, right? My plan, my strategy. Oh, God, please bless it.

Come on over onto my team, God. David wasn't like that. His heart is changed. And now he's inquiring of the Lord. Much more than God's blessing on his plans. Now, David wants to be right in the middle of God's plan.

And so he inquires, he says, God, you want me to go to Judah? And it's beautiful what we see there in verses one and two that the Lord answered him. I think even better than David inquiring of the Lord is what we read there in verse one, where it says, and the Lord said to him, go up.

Isn't it great when you have that guidance from the Lord? You know, sometimes we don't. And it's not because God wants to torture us. It's not because God hates us. Sometimes God only reveals the smallest of steps in front of us.

Sometimes he just says, well, I'm not going to give you any more guidance. You just be faithful right here where you're at. And we just obey him at times like that. But nevertheless, isn't it glorious when he does give us guidance and says, go up?

God didn't have to. God had every right to say, well, David, you know, you're just coming back to me now after a period of decline, after a period of backsliding in your spiritual life. David, you're on probation for six months.

Come inquire of me back in another six months and then maybe I'll speak to you. No, no. Do you see how gracious God is, how much he loves you, how much he cares about you? And so David says, well, now, good, I can go back and the Lord can give me this guidance.

And I know, God, that you're going to do some great things in my life. And there were some great things happening when he came back to Judah. Did you see what happened? Verse four, then the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

If you know anything about the life of David, this might make you scratch your head, say, well, wait a minute. A long time before this, David was already anointed king. Remember when Samuel came and at that big dinner with all of David's brothers and and God didn't want the first born in David's family, nor the second born when all the way down to the eighth son in the family who was David.

And there Samuel anointed David with oil, anointing him as the next king over Israel. Well, he was already anointed. Why is he being anointed again in verse four? Isn't that a powerful lesson to us, friends, that we we need a fresh anointing from God, an ongoing experience with the Holy Spirit.

Oh, I rejoice if God anointed you 15 or 20 years ago, like he did, David. Do you need a fresh anointing from the Lord? He's here to give it to you. He is here to give you that great anointing. I want you to notice something that's pointed out for us here in verse four.

Where did this anointing happen? Did it happen when David was in Ziklag living among the Philistines? No. Look at it there. Verse four. Then the men of Judah came and there they anointed David there. Whereas the there in Hebron in the land of Judah, the anointing couldn't come to David when he still lived among the Philistines, virtually as a Philistine himself.

He had to get things right in his own walk before this fresh anointing. That beautiful David says, no, I'm leaving the Philistines, I'm leaving those associates, I'm going to walk among the people of God now.

And when he came, God had a beautiful, fresh anointing for him. Oh, we need that in our own lives, don't we? Maybe that's God's word for some of you right now, just as well, you could just get up and leave.

Right. Please don't bear me out to the end. But that's what the Lord has really wanted to say to you. He's been trying to get that through to you. You got to leave the Philistines and come and be among the people of God, and then God has a fresh anointing for you.

David Honors the Men of Jabesh Gilead

Well, it didn't end there. Not at all. David was a gracious man. He knew how to give thanks for it was due. Look at here in verse four. It says in the middle of the verse. And they told David, saying the men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.

So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead and said to them, you're blessed of the Lord for you've shown this kindness to your Lord to Saul and buried him. Now, may the Lord show kindness and truth to you.

I also will repay you this kindness because you've done this thing. Now, therefore, let your hands be unstrengthened and be valiant for your master. Saul is dead. And also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.

Well, David knows to give some recognition, show some gratitude towards these brave and faithful men of the city of Jabesh Gilead. You see, when Saul was slain on the field of battle, actually, he he ended his own life in a in a misguided attempt when he knew that his his fate was sealed there on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.

Saul killed himself and his sons also fell slain in battle. And Saul decided there to end his own life. And when the Philistines came upon his dead body, they couldn't help but desecrate it. Mutilate it, hang it from a wall on one of the prominent cities just so that the cause of God in the name of God could be mocked.

Well, these men of Jabesh Gilead wouldn't stand for it. And so in a daring commando raid, they broke out and they they fled and they they came to the walls of the city where where the body of Saul and his sons were hanging.

And they cut it down and they took it back to the land of Israel and they gave it a proper burial. David says, I want to recognize that these are the kind of men I need to encourage. These are the kind of men I need to have strong around me.

And that's exactly what he did. He strengthened and encouraged these men of Jabesh Gilead. Now, right about now, we think the rest of the nation of Israel should be coming around, they should be recognizing David as king.

Ish-bosheth Challenges David's Reign

I mean, he's God's man, right? He was anointed 15 or 20 years ago to be the king over Israel. And here he is, the Saul's dead, long live the new king, King David. But I think it's fascinating that not everybody recognized the reign of David.

Look at it here. Verse eight. But Abner, the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanam and he made him king over Gilead, over the Asherites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin and over all Israel.

Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel and he reigned two years. Only the house of Judah followed David. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

This is strange, isn't it? Well, I thought David was the new king. But what's up with this distant son of Saul named Ish-bosheth, who suddenly gets put up into the place of being king? And most of the tribes of Israel recognize him.

I mean, there were 12 tribes in Israel and 11 of them recognized Ish-bosheth, the pretender to the throne, and only one of them, the tribe of Judah, recognized David. Now, this is fascinating because, well, if I was David, I wouldn't stand for it at all.

I mean, I wouldn't put out my hand against King Saul because as bad as Saul was, Saul was anointed of the Lord, but not Ish-bosheth. The Lord never put his anointing on king as king on Ish-bosheth, not one bit.

And if I was David, I would have, well, kill this man, assault his army, ruin him. David didn't. David said, Lord, I'm not going to take the throne, you're going to have to give it to me. You're going to have to open the door, you're going to have to pave the way.

And David knew this as well, that he did not want to reign over the people of Israel until they wanted him to reign over them. David wasn't going to impose or force his reign on anybody. The eleven tribes want Ish-bosheth and not me, then fine, let them have him.

God will bring them around. God will arrange the circumstances that results in the fall of Ish-bosheth. I don't have to worry about it. God will do it. It's amazing that David wouldn't force his reign on anyone.

And neither will Jesus Christ, the son of David. Have you been waiting for that? Have you been waiting for Jesus to force his reign on you? Now, maybe you're really not a follower of Jesus Christ at all, and you've come here this morning as a favor to family or friends or whatever.

I'm glad you're here, but I just want you to see and don't you to notice that Jesus isn't going to force his reign on you. You're going to have to invite him in. Maybe you're waiting and say, well, Jesus, you know, whenever you make me be a follower of you, then I'll do it.

You know, Jesus won't do that, not I won't say that he won't paint you into a corner here and there. But the decision is still going to be up to you, you're going to have to choose to be a follower of Jesus Christ and he'll set up where he'll put you in the right direction.

He'll persuade you of the necessary character of this, but it's still going to come down to you have to be a willing follower of Jesus Christ. In the army of the Lord, there's only volunteers, he doesn't he doesn't impress anybody or draft anybody into service.

Or maybe you're you're waiting for the time when Jesus forces a full commitment out of you, total surrender, saying, OK, Jesus, when you really want it from me, force it from me. No, no, he's going to invite you.

He stands at the door of your heart and he knocks. You're waiting for him to kick in the door. No, he's going to knock and wait for you to open. He's not going to force his reign on anybody yet. Oh, there's going to come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

There's going to come a day when recognition of Jesus and his sovereign reign is king. It's not going to be optional right now. The Lord leaves it up to you. Don't don't wait for him to force it from you.

Abner and Joab Prepare for Battle

Well, look, in this time where there was two competing kings over the people of God, you can just imagine that there would be warfare. So look at it here in verse 12. Now, Abner, the son of Nerf, by the way, maybe I should say a few words about Abner.

You can't say that name without thinking of the comic strip Little Abner, right? I'll get that out of your mind for heaven's sakes. You know, this isn't some country yokel walking around bare feet, you know, with with all that sort of nonsense.

Abner was anything but that sort of country side stupid man. This was a sharp military man. Tough, mean, utterly devoted to his cause. This is the kind of guy you would want in charge of your armies. And he was Saul's general for many, many years.

Well, when Saul died, I think Abner ached to be in charge of things. And so he found a weak man, a son of Saul, maybe a son pushed off to the side. I would even speculate that Israel was an illegitimate son of Saul because he's not mentioned among the other sons of Saul.

But we'll take this man and put him up into power. And then Abner knew, well, I can really run things. I'll just put a weak man up there and I can really run the show. Verse 12. Now, Abner, the son of Ner and the servants of Ishbasheth, the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon and Joab, the son of Zariah and the servants of David, went out and they met them by the pool of Gibeon.

So they sat down one on one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool. And here we're introduced to another fascinating man. We've got Abner, who, by the way, was a cousin of King Saul.

Then we have Joab, who actually was a nephew of David. Joab is a fascinating, captivating man all on his own. Joab was the son of one of David's sisters. And Joab had two brothers. The two brothers name were Abishai and Asahel.

And we're going to meet those two guys later on in the chapter. And Joab and Abner are fascinating men cut from the same cloth that they were tough, mean military men. And as I said, both completely devoted to their cause.

And here they are. They're set across on a pool that the armies are surrounding. And for some reason they choose 12 men to step forward, maybe for some kind of contest, maybe for some kind of duel. They say, well, let's see how your best and our best square off against each other.

And so there they have, you know, they have the Navy SEALs on one side and then on the other side, they have the Army Rangers or the elite among the Marine Corps or whatever. And they're squaring off across one another right there on those army lines across a pool.

The Field of Sharp Swords and the Fierce Battle

Look what's going to happen here in this battle. Verse 14, then Abner said to Joab, let the young men now rise and compete before us. And Joab said, let them arise. So they arose and went over by number 12 from Benjamin, followers of Ishmael, the son of Saul and 12 from the servants of David.

And each one grasped his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in the opponent's side so that they fell down together. Therefore, the place was called the field of sharp swords, which is in Gibeon.

Wow. Wouldn't that be a scene? There they are, these 24 men squaring off against each other, 12 on one side and 12 on the other. And they're paired off one by one. And as they get ready, somebody announces a signal, go start, whatever they would do.

And they each reach out. It's almost as if it's choreographed. They each reach over and grab one another's head and draw a sword. And almost simultaneously, they kill one another. And so that in just a few moments, there's 24 dead bodies laying down there on the field.

And the surrounding armies look at it and they're outraged. How could this happen? They killed 12 of our men and the other side. Well, they killed 12 of our men. Well, let's add it, boys. And they go at it and they fight.

Look at it there in verse 17. So there was a very fierce battle that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. Well, this is remarkable, not just for the vividness of the scene.

You know, you think about this. This had to be an eyewitness writing this, right? Only an eyewitness would note those details as they were. Friends, I want you to see not just the vividness of the scene, but the whole the whole concept of this.

We kind of take the camera back a little bit and look at the whole situation. We say this is crazy. This is madness. Why does David have to fight a war to come to the throne? Didn't he already go through all of that?

Isn't he already anointed? Didn't he already spend 15, 20 years, you know, being chased around the Judean countryside by this crazy King Saul who wanted to kill him? Didn't he already lose his family and lose his career and lose his home and lose his security?

God, hasn't he paid his dues enough? Well, why don't you just make it a fast track to the throne right now? Why does he have to be the pretender to the throne and. Why is there so much warfare in the Christian life?

You know why? I keep waiting for it. I keep waiting for the day when it's just all going to be easy. Now, I have to say, in all honesty, and I think you would say the same thing, that there are wonderful periods of time of rest that God gives us in the Christian life.

But somehow we don't remember those don't seem to rush through in those times of struggle or warfare. We remember those. There's a I know it from surfing. There's a funny thing about it that somehow your wipeouts are more vividly impressed in your mind than even a great ride.

You have a great ride and it's over and you want to paddle out and get another one. You almost forget it as soon as it's done. Oh, but the wipeouts, you remember those? You know, the warfare that we fight, why?

Why? There's a lot of reasons for it. But can I can I mention one great reason why I think God had this for David? It's because we need the battle. We need the warfare. Now, I know you don't feel like it.

You feel like that's the last thing you need. But, you know, there's a lot of things that we need in our life that we don't feel like we need. I think of Pastor Bob and his wife Rose and their son Nathan there in military training right now for the Marine Corps in boot camp.

And I just picture a young man like that called up and well, here's a 15 mile forced march with heavy packs. Do you think, well, I need this. Oh, boy, do I need this feels like that's the last thing in the world you need.

But in the big picture, it's what you do need. You do need things like this. We do need the warfare. We do need the battle. As I thought about it, I thought, you know, we. We need to really live the Christian life with a grown up view about the battle that we face.

Christian Maturity and the Necessity of Spiritual Warfare

Last summer, my daughter spent several weeks as a guest from my sister-in-law who lives in London, and she spent several weeks in London. What a great opportunity it was for her to hang out with my sister-in-law and her family and to and to, you know, tour all around London.

And my my daughter is a very polite girl, of course. And she has good manner. So when she returned home, she brought gifts. And what she got me was was something that I couldn't find anywhere, though I looked for in the US, but she was able to find it somewhere or another in London.

It was a set of two cassette tapes, the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill. And it's all the great addresses that he gave over BBC radio during World War Two, right leading up to the war and then the war itself.

And I just about drove my family crazy listening to those tapes all the time. But I was really struck by seeing what Churchill would say to the nation during a time of war. I think it really came out very eloquently what it took to succeed in wartime, or at least some of the principles.

One of the principles I saw there was that wars are won with commitment. You've got to be committed to win in wartime. Listen to this from one of Churchill's speeches. And don't expect me for a moment to try to do his voice.

That would just be the silliest thing we can imagine here. But he says this, we must show ourselves equally capable of meeting a sudden violent shock or what is perhaps a harder test, a prolonged vigil.

But be the ordeal sharp or long or both. We shall seek no terms. We shall tolerate no parley. We shall show mercy, but we shall ask none. I like that line in there. Be the ordeal sharp or long or both.

We will go through with it. Friends, I think it's very clear to us that wars are won with commitment. They're never won out of convenience. I heard a story this last week that was very convicting to me.

Prayer as Commitment Rather Than Convenience

A man shared with me on the telephone how he was speaking with a great man of prayer, a great man of God, and the man of God was impressing upon him the need in his life for a secret time of prayer. He shared how every great work of God, every great awakening and revival.

If you traced it back far enough, it came out of one person's prayer closet. And so he wanted to know from this man, well, what's your secret time of prayer like with God? What's it like with you and the Lord in the secret place?

Well, the man felt very convicted because he really had no personal prayer life to speak of. And so he went to the refuge that we often do in a time like that. He talked about the times that he does pray and he pointed out how he prays when he drives to work every morning.

And he said, you know, it's great there I am in the car and as is our instinct in a time like that, we start dressing it up to even be more than it is, you know, and he says, it's so wonderful that I'm driving to work and I can see the rising sun and all the rest of it.

And it just lifts my heart up to glory with the Lord. And you start exaggerating, talk about how great it is. And, you know, he points out that he prayed in his car every every time when he goes to work in the morning.

Now. Far be it from me or anybody else to put down prayer in your car. I mean, that's great. It's wonderful when you see how we all drive on the freeway, you know, all the prayer, the better. But then the the godly man that he was speaking to said something that really stuck in my mind.

He said, I am so happy to hear. That you pray out of convenience. But I pray that the Lord would lead you into prayer out of commitment as well. And there's a difference, isn't there? There's a difference between a Christian life by convenience and a Christian life out of commitment.

Well, convenience never won a war. Never. But commitment does. But let's look at how this war was fought here. Verse 18. Now, the three sons of Zariah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel. And Asahel was as fleet of foot as a wild gazelle.

So Asahel pursued Abner and in going, he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner. You can picture this in your mind, can't you? There they are running over the Judean landscape.

And sometimes the distance is great. Sometimes maybe Abner is 30 or 40 yards in front. Other times it gets very close and it seems like Abner is just within reach of this fast young man, this nephew of David named Asahel.

And, you know, Asahel wants him because if he gets the commander, well, then the battle's over. And he's thinking, oh, what a great feather in my cap would it be to come back with the armor of Abner and to show everybody what a great thing that I had accomplished.

And he goes on here now. Verse 20. And Abner looked behind him and said, are you Asahel? And he said, I am. And Abner said, turn aside your right hand, your left and lay hold on one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.

But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. So Abner said again to Asahel, turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I ever face your brother Joab? However, he refused to turn aside.

Therefore, Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear so that the spear came out of his back and he fell down there and he died on the spot. So it was that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still.

Wow, that's vivid, isn't it? Abner, in a clever and brilliant maneuver, knows how to stop, and as he stops, he backs up his spear. And Asahel, who had been following so close upon him, is impaled upon the spear and in a dramatic scene, it went right through him and he died right there on the field of battle.

Verse 24, Joab and Abishai also pursued Abner and the sun was going down till they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Agia by the road to the wilderness of Gibeon. Now, the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became a unit and took their stand on top of a hill.

Do you get the point here? Do you get the scene in front of your eyes? The armies of Ishbosheth led by Abner. Now, let's remember, these are the armies of the pretender king, the king who has no place ruling over any part of Israel, and these armies are on the run.

And verse 25 tells us that they they gathered up the forces and in a last stand, they said, here we are in a good defensive position on top of this hill. Men reform the ranks, strengthen the lines. We're going to prepare for a final assault if we don't hold it here.

We're destroyed. And the men of Abner, that army under him, they're ready for this final assault from Joab and the troops loyal to David. And then notice what happened in verse 26. Then Abner called to Joab and said, shall the sword devour forever?

Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren? You get the scene here at this critical moment when the armies of Abner are on the run and they're in full retreat and then they make a stand for a final, last desperate effort to withhold total destruction.

Abner calls out to Joab as he's leading the army up the hill. Joab, can't we all just get along? Joab, let's give peace a chance. Now, I'm sure that the that the men loyal to David under Joab were very tired.

I'm sure that they were weary of fighting. You know, they saw their men. They saw Asahel laying down on the ground, this great warrior among the people of God laying down there with a spear stuck clean through his body.

They're weary of the blood and the gore and the fatigue and the intensity of war. But they did a bad thing at that critical moment when they could have pressed through and destroyed this army that was opposing God's king.

Well, look what they did, verse 27, and Joab said, as God lives, unless you had spoken, surely then by morning, all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren. In other words, OK, let's take a break.

It wasn't that good. They stopped fighting. No, it's not good. Look at it here to the rest of the chapter. We're even going to read the first verse of chapter three. Verse 28, so Joab blew a trumpet and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore.

Then Abner and his men went on all the night through the plain, crossed over the Jordan and went through all Bethlehem until they came to Mahanaim. So Joab returned from pursuing Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David's servants, 19 men and Asahel, but of the servants of David had struck down a Benjamin and Abner's men, 360 men who died.

Well, that's a big difference in casualty count, isn't it? Do you see how close the men of David were to completely vanquishing the foe? When you have a casualty count, 360 to 20, that's a pretty big difference.

Verse 32. And they took up Asahel and buried him in his father's tomb, which is in Bethlehem, and Joab and his men went all night and they came to Hebron a daybreak. Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David.

But David grew stronger and stronger and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. I mean, this is amazing. That long war was unnecessary. If Abner. Wouldn't have given that call for a ceasefire. And if Joab wouldn't have received it, they could have pressed through and won the victory right then on that hill on that day.

Pressing Through to Victory in the Christian Life

But he didn't. And what was the result? There was a long war, you know, in the lives of many Christian people today, there's there's raging a civil war. It's between the forces of the king, Jesus, in your life and a pretender king, let's call himself.

And they're battling, aren't they? And I. I realize that there is a time when God is dealing with something in our life and we have the opportunity to press it home through to completion and the world or the flesh or the devil at that moment wants to do every can everything it can to cry out to you and to say.

Ceasefire. Let's give peace a chance. And can we just get along? And at that critical moment is the time where you can't listen to it and you need to press through until the victory is absolutely complete in your own life.

I trust that you're battling some things in your walk before the Lord. I mean, that's a good thing to say, well, I want to be more pure in this area. I want to be more holy in this area. I want to be more disciplined in that area.

Those are good things. Friends, if you're still struggling with the same things you struggled with five or 10 years ago, that's a long war. And I wonder if there weren't times when you almost had victory in hand.

But when the offer for ceasefire was made, you withdrew. Now, as I look around and I think of what God's doing in our church family and in individual lives, I think that God's doing some wonderful things.

And in your lives, in certain places, in certain ways, you can say that the devil, so to speak, is on the run. The world or the flesh, they're in retreat. Do you see what this shows us? If you don't press the battle through to the end, you're just going to be facing a long war along the end.

Friends, wars are never won when you just want it all to end. And that's the atmosphere, that's the discouragement that the world and the flesh and the devil will try to paint in your mind in the time of battle.

Oh, I just want the struggle to be over. But wars are never won when you just want to escape from it. Let me read you another little section of Winston Churchill. In another speech, he said, we ask no favors of the enemy, we seek from them no compunction.

On the contrary, if tonight the people of London were asked to cast their votes as to whether a convention should be entered into to stop the bombing of all cities, an overwhelming majority would cry, no, we will give out to the Germans the measure and more than the measure that they have given to us.

We will have no truce or parley with you or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst and we will do our best. Friends, when God is moving in your life and you sense the advantage in some area or in many areas, it is time to redouble your commitment to the Lord and press it home to the fullest.

To leave nothing in reserve. And to never listen to that siren song that says, well, maybe now it's time for ceasefire. No, it is. Not until King Jesus reigns in glory over every area of our life. Well, let's pray and ask God to impress this to our hearts.

That is our prayer, Lord. We pray for the great victory of King Jesus over every arena, every aspect. And Lord, we know that this requires a commitment from us. But Lord, we ask that you help by putting that commitment in us first.

We cry out before you, Lord, and say, let us let us be dedicated to you and press home the advantage to the fullest. We love you, Lord. We praise you and honor you here this morning. We ask that you would persuade any reluctant hearts among us to press on in this warfare.