I read something that was really neat to me, and I expand on a little. 2 Chronicles chapter 17. 2 Chronicles chapter number 17 is where we're going to start. 2 Chronicles 17. The verse that I read was really interesting to me. The Bible says in verse 10, Bible says in verse 10, It says, and the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. Also, some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and tribute silver, and the Arabians brought him flocks, 7,700 rams and 7,700 he goats. Now, that's kind of an interesting two verses, if you look at that. You notice that the Philistines even came and brought gifts to them. The Philistines would be the modern-day Palestinians, wouldn't they? Imagine this. What do you suppose they did? Do you suppose they stood on street corners and preached to people and all that? I mean, that's a very good and worthwhile thing to do. You know what they did? The Bible says in verse 6, Jehoshaphat's heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. First of all, the leadership had an interest in the things of the Spirit of the Lord. If it is only barely given attention by you, you don't have much interest in it. Moreover, he took away the high places and groves out of Judah." In other words, he took away their opportunity for idolatry. Verse 7, also in the third year of his reign, he sent to his princes, even to Ben-Hael, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and to Nathanael, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah, when with them he sent Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebediah, and Azahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, Levites, and with them Elishaim, and Jehoram the priest." And notice this, what was it that brought the attention of the nations around them? and they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them and went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people." In other words, this good king, he wasn't perfect, this good king reestablished the teaching of the word of God through the Levites to the people of Judah so that they would establish their lives upon the clear teachings of the word of God. That's what's missing today in our country. And I didn't know where I'd read this, but I saw this testimony given from an 85-year-old judge. He was a political science major, and 68 years ago in a poli-sci class, he found out these eight things to do to overturn a democracy. To overturn a democracy, number one, divide the nation philosophically. Number two, this was 68 years ago. Number two, foment racial strife. Number three, cause distrust of the police authority. Number four, swarm the nation's borders. Allow swarms to come in and violate our borders. Number five, engender military strength to weaken it. In other words, compromise the military strength. Six, overburden us with taxation. Number seven, encourage rioting and discourage any kind of accounting for that crime. Number eight, control all the balloting. Oh, and number nine, control the media. Is there a single thing there that's not going on today? That was 68 years ago. This is the way it's always been. Now, What's interesting, this isn't going to be a political message at all, because you know what the solution here is, and I'm for standing up for political things. We have the right to vote here, and I would not minimize that. But you know what's the most important thing? All the way through your Bible you find out this, that it is a spiritual battle that we're in. You can't see that more than you can see it today. And a spiritual battle has to be fought with spiritual weapons, doesn't it? And you notice what they did that caused the nations around them to be at peace with them? They taught the people the words of God. Why do you suppose we're what we call a Bible-believing church? Why? Because the Bible is what has answers to the world's problems. The issues of our nation has answers in personal lives, in homes. It has answers to those that are hurting and discouraged and all of the other things. And each one of those things was a message I was thinking about bringing this morning. But this is what the Word of God does. And no, this church is not going to dominate the valley. I wish it could. But I can tell you this, this church can influence the valley around you, but it takes God's people to do something. The condition of a country always starts with the condition of the hearts of God's people. It always has. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. You mean God's people can be guilty of wicked things? Absolutely. Absolutely, and the Bible is full of those examples. In Peter's writings, he said, judgment must begin at the house of God. In the Old Testament, it was the children of Israel. In the New Testament, it's God's house, the Christian church, the church that preaches the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It starts there. We're the ones that have the right message to influence the world around us. Again, that doesn't mean we stick our head in the sand about political things, but when it can be this obvious and it still goes on. And I can show you, I can demonstrate to you, this is older than the book that influenced Al Gore and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That was Rules for Radicals. That was, I think, 1972. That one says almost the same things because this is the formula all the way through the years. It's all the way through the years. And you know you could take every one of these, divide the nation philosophically. You can find a Bible solution to every single one of these things. Why do you suppose the Bible is so hated today? Now, if you look at your scheduling, this, if you have a Scofield Bible, it's right on the top of the page. This was written about a hundred years since David was on the throne. Only a hundred years. Now, it was 60 years since Rehoboam divided the kingdom. because of his foolishness. It's 300 years yet to the captivity, and that seems like not so long, except that we've been only in existence for 248. 300 years they were captive. And the prophets came and spoke to this people. But you know what you saw here under Jehoshaphat, who had his own problems, we'll see. You know what you saw? That he established the teaching of the word of God to all the people and made it common. Made it so that everyone understood the words of God. That's what he established. That's our job, our task today, is to have a forum to teach people the words of God. it'll change your life. Now, we'll look at just, I'm taking the title from a verse in Nehemiah, just a little bit of reviving. Because in just 300 years after this was happening, they went into captivity because of their unbelief. They just didn't have to, did they? If they had continued to teach The words of God, there were great kings that forgot all about the Bible. That's what tells you, shows you what was happening in Josiah's day and Hezekiah's day. The words of God had been forgotten amongst the people. And strangely enough, they went into apostasy and ultimately captivity. They had good kings and bad kings, and you can see through all these historical books. In fact, this is 2 Chronicles. Where does 2 Chronicles end in chapter 36? The captivity. It traces the history of about 300 years, how they went from good king to bad king to good king to bad king, basically all downhill. But you have right here a formula to make a difference. And that's what our lives are for today. If you have trusted Christ as Savior, then he's made a difference in your life and you are able to make a difference in other people's lives. And we should be doing that daily. Let's pray. Lord, would you bless our time together? Father, I struggled today to see exactly what you'd have me to speak, and I believe you could put this message on my heart. Would you give me the words to speak? Give me liberty of thought and speech, Lord, that your people would be edified and that we would be encouraged to serve you more and more publicly each and every day. Just bless us today in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, it is a little bit of reviving. We preach about that, we pray for that all the time. If we could just have a reviving in our church, if we could just have a reviving in our valley, if we could have a reviving in our county, our state, our country, wouldn't that be wonderful? But here what you have is the start of some really good things, so much so that, and the nation's already divided. This is just the Southern Kingdom. It's already divided, but what you do see is this, that when Israel, when God's people got their lives right before him, then it made a difference in the nations around them. First of all, notice this, heritage matters. Heritage matters. They're trying to break down everything that we were taught to appreciate when we were kids. I remember reading about George Washington, about Abe Lincoln. I remember reading about Hamilton and all the founding fathers. I had a government teacher that called them the FFers, the founding fathers. Okay? For some reason that stuck with me. I remember reading about that. And I remember, well, some years ago, I went and stood right next to the bed George Washington died in. Isn't that amazing you can still do that? I remember looking at the Jamestown. Jonathan took me there. Jamestown, where they came and established a colony. And some of the buildings that either they were remnants of the original or they tried to copy the originals. And so many of those things are still there. And our souls thrilled with the fact that people escaped Europe to come here to have religious freedom. so they could worship God as they wanted. And your heritage is that important. If you had been born into Judah in those days, you know what you would remember? You'd remember, well, it's sad that our nation was twice as big, or probably more, just a few years ago when Solomon, the wisest man's son, took the counsel of the kiddies over the counsel of the older folks. and it divided the nation. And boy, we don't want to do that. And you could look at the reign of David. You could look at the reign of Solomon when he was right with God and built the temple and invited people to worship. And worship was common in those days. You can look at all of the heritage that you had to rejoice in. But then you look at his own father, Asa, in chapter 20 and verse 32, it speaks once again of Asa's demise when he died. This is Jehoshaphat's father. In 20, 32, it says this. It says, and he walked in the way of Asa, his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. This is the end of Jehoshaphat's life. And we're going to look at some things he messed up. Imagine going to battle with Ahab. Why would you want to have anything to do with Ahab? So he messed some things up, but you know what? As God's stamp was on him, did he please God with his walk? And he walked in the counsel of his own father who did the same thing. We need to be fathers and mothers that instill the right values into our children, so that even as those children might become more and more of a minority, they know what's right, they know what they should be doing, and it doesn't matter how small it is. We're down quite a bit today. I looked at several posts this morning of churches across the country. We have 30 people faithfully coming. We have 40 people faithfully coming. We have a building that's paid for. We have five acres. I saw one this morning. We have five acres. It's all paid for. We're looking for a pastor. They're all over this country. Why is a nice building empty on Sunday mornings? You say 30 people, well, that's getting to where it's more and more of the common size of Bible-believing churches, because you can find some place easily that will tickle your ears and speak to you, hoping and coping, caring and sharing, which is the mentality that's destroying our country. You know what makes a difference in the lives of people? Because my aunt cared for me. She showed me I was a sinner on my way to hell. That's not a message most people want to hear, but it's the message that people desperately need to hear. Their heritage included David and Solomon, and immediately he had Asa as his father who made a difference in his life. You seek the permanent, not the immediate. What happens today is people, politicians are looking for immediate power without any thought given to the consequences of their decisions. Isn't it amazing how Venezuela in just 30 years went from one of the most powerful economies in South America, might have been the most powerful, but one of the most powerful economies to where now it's filled so much with poverty and corruption, people get out of there as fast as they can. Why? Because they failed to learn the lessons that we're failing to learn in our country today. And if you are familiar with the word of God, my dad was a fairly young Christian when one of my sister's friends said, come on over, we're going to have a Ouija board time. And I can make, I can make someone appear on it on a TV set that shut off. My dad says, you're not going to have anything to do with that. I don't know why it's wrong, but you're not going to have anything to do with it. Why is that? The Spirit of God dwelt within him. He read his Bible every day. He did all of the life that I knew of him. He knew the principles to follow. You can see how the Word of God goes against all these things that they're trying to implement today. So first of all, heritage showed itself in his father and his fathers as well. Secondly, the example inspired them. Their heritage inspired them. I've said several times recently about the heroes in times past in our country. I was a sap to read hero stories. Listen, I don't even think they're in libraries anymore. I'm pretty sure what I was reading was the landmark series of books. Jonathan, I know, has a whole set. You know why he has one? because when James first started coming, he found that Jonathan had a love for reading, and he would send him great big, didn't send me any, great big boxes of books, and he'd find these books that you can't find anymore, and that set of books, I found them when I was in grade school, and they were histories of famous Americans, and it wasn't just Christians. I read all about Brigham Young and the march of the Mormon church to Utah. I had a good grasp of history because these books, and you can't even find them in libraries anymore. You know why? Because the purpose now is to separate you from the history that made our nation great. Well, that example inspires us. When you think of Alvin York, who was a conscientious objector. Came from the hills, I think, of Tennessee, and he didn't believe in taking lives. And he was the one, I always rooted for the underdog, he was the one that went out and captured a whole, what, 132 German soldiers by himself. You know why? Because he knew that there's a time to kill, you have to sometimes defend your own people. and he was a hero of mine, a great hero of mine, not because he killed, but because he stood up for what was right. He died a hero. These clowns today aren't gonna die heroes. When the history is written, concluded of our generation, you're gonna find we went so far down from where we came from, it's gonna be unbelievable, isn't it? examples inspire us. In verses 5 and 6 of our text, on chapter 15, verses 5 and 6, it says, In those times there was no peace to him. No, that's not what I want. There was rampant unrest. I think it's in verse 5. It says in verse 5 of chapter 17, Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat's presence. And he had riches and honor and abundance, and his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. Moreover, he took away the high places and groves out of Judah. You know, they came and honored him as a godly king, and even though there had been unrest before, there was spiritual provision made for them. Look at verse 3. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Balaam, but sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments and not after the doings of Israel. That's why God established his kingdom. There was spiritual provision given to him and he shared it with his people. ignorance plagues generation after generation after generation. And as we look at Isaiah on Wednesday nights, you'll see that over and over again the minor prophets and the major prophets said that Israel went into captivity for what? Their lack of knowledge. There's a famine coming in the land, I think it's in Amos 8, a famine not of water or food, but of hearing the words of God. That's going on in our day. People name the name of Christ, I hope they're all saved and maybe they all are, but they're not getting the strength that they could get from the word of God to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others. God, through Jehoshaphat, gave spiritual provision. And God, look at verse 15. And next to him was Jehohanan, the captain, with him. Now, that's not the verse I want either. I want 15, 15, I think. It says, and all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire, and he was found of them, and the Lord gave them rest round about. Now I know there's other citations in chapter 15 that I skipped, but in chapter 15 you see the groundwork laid for Jehoshaphat's reign. It started with Jehoshaphat seeking God with all of his heart. If you stood before Jesus Christ right now and he asked you, have you sought me with all your heart, would you be able to say yes? To the best of my knowledge, I've sought you with all my heart. Have you yielded your heart to me? And boy, that's something we need to think about each and every day, because this world too quickly displaces the Word of God in our lives, and that's seen all over the Bible. He sought with all his heart, and when you seek Him with your heart, you know what God's greatest promise is, one of them? He's going to be found of you. God, would you show yourself to me? I'm not talking about a vision. God, would you show me from your word what the answer, the solution to my problem is? And you open your Bible and you read and read and read and God opens your eyes to a passage because when you seek him, you'll find him. These verses come from this period of time. God said to the people plainly, Do you think he quit looking for people? He's still calling for missionaries. He's telling us to be a witness for Jesus throughout the world today. Do you think he's quit looking? No. We look back and we marvel at how God has raised up some of our friends in the ministry. Brother James has been raised up remarkably, hasn't he? There are other people that can be raised up, but it's because those people need to have their hearts right toward God. God, speak to me. I don't care what the price is. God, show me what I need to surrender. I don't care what the cost. That's what this man who is on a throne, who is the king of Judah, that's what brought God's intervention in his behalf. We need God to intervene in our country in a great way, don't we? It's to the place today I could probably poll you, and I'm fairly certain that there's not one in here today that would say, you wonder if there's not conspiracy going up right now to eliminate the possibility of Trump being president. Hey, there may not be any, but I'd be surprised if there weren't. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Listen, the powers of the devil have been so strong in our country and we see it at work every day. But again, the solution is when one man turns himself to the Lord and the Lord uses that one man. This one was a king. Sometimes it's a little shepherd boy that delivers them from Goliath. Other times, it's an unwilling prophet that goes and speaks words hoping they wouldn't benefit the people of Nineveh, and Jonah saw a mass revival. You just need to surrender yourself to him, so heritage matters. Number two, service is honorable. How about honorable service? In chapter 17, verse four, I think we already read this, it says this, but Jehoshaphat sought to the Lord God of his father. You know what that means? He saw what God did through his daddy and he wanted a piece of that same thing. You know, when you go back to your friends and you say, hey, I got saved, you need to get saved. Hey, it's so wonderful, I got saved. And they look at you like you're nuts, maybe. But then they see that there's a spring in your step you didn't have before. There's a joy in the midst of trials you never had before. You're getting some blessings, whether you go through trials or tribulations or not, your blessing is apparent in your visage, in your face. There's a joy that you didn't have before. Here is a man that sought the Lord because he had a walk with the Lord personally. He had a walk with the Lord personally. Let me ask you this. What's your walk like with the Lord? Can you go days without reading his word? Or can you read his word while you're watching TV? Can you read his word and read for pages and not remember a single word? Hey, you don't want your wife to feel that way toward you, that you just drone on and on and on and on and she doesn't hear a word you say, or maybe the other way around. You know what sweet fellowship is? We're on the same page. And God's not gonna change His purpose, we need to change ours. He sought the Lord and he established public instruction. They taught the Word of God. It plainly says that. It says in verse 8 of 17, He sent Levites and 9, in verse 9, they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them. They went with, they took with them. God's words to impart to the people. Probably many of them had never heard them before. We know that the Word of God fell out of common use in the generations to come, but what did He do? This is the most important thing for you people to hear, what God said and recorded in His Word so that you can know the mind of God. And why would he do that? Because he already knew the mind of God. And God was working in his behalf and doing something with him. And Jehoshaphat, in a sense, reflected the influence of his own daddy on his life and made a difference in the people around him. They taught the Word of God. Now, I know these are many Old Testament verses, but in Proverbs 30, it says every word of God is pure. Verse 6, I think it is. Every word is pure. I'm so glad for that, aren't you? It says in Psalm 12, unless you don't have a King James Bible, it says God promises to preserve his words to every generation. If faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, you better know you need the word of God as God intended it. When the first time you see Satan come on the scene, he says, did God really say that? You know where he's going to attack. In 2 Timothy 3, every word of God, now every word's pure, right? Every word is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction. You know what that is? Doctrine sorts out your thinking, makes you think right. Reproof is where God adjusts your thinking. And correction, instruction in righteousness, that is, God trains you, untrains you, retrains you. God walks you along with this book. That's why Jehoshaphat said, my people... There was probably a time when he thought, our nation's slipping. What do they need? What's the important thing that they need? And he knew this. They needed the words of God. They didn't need a new song, but new song. There's song and there's singing and joy in all this passage too. What they needed was the word of God, didn't they? And what amazes me is what they received was peace from their enemies. Imagine the Palestinians, or if you will, it says the Philistines in verse 11. Imagine them coming and giving gifts to the people of Judah. Why? Don't mess with those people. Don't mess with those people. They saw God's blessings upon them. Even the Philistines. The Bible says, when a man's ways please the Lord, even his enemies are at peace with him. Hey, that didn't last. The Philistines have always been a thorn in their side, but then and there, they saw a difference in the children of Judah because the word of God was common in their thinking. Number three, there are hindrances in life, aren't there? their hindrances. You look at chapter 18 you just soon it wasn't there. I can't imagine this good and godly man whose heart was set to seek the Lord. I can't imagine him doing this. Chapter 18 verse 4 Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel that's that's who is that. That's Ahab the worst king they ever had. The worst king. Now good kings were compared to David. The bad kings were compared to Ahab. And Ahab said, why don't you come and help me in this battle against the Syrians? And I'm sure I could guess how Joshua was thinking. Well, really, Israel is part of our people. I'll help them against a common enemy. Really, this is maybe a good move for Ahab. Maybe we can spare. I mean, he went through his head with all kinds of thoughts and maybe didn't consult God on this. But you know what he was doing? Later on in this passage, you read it, it says, the prophet came and said, why would you consort with the enemies of God to fight another enemy? Why would you make an alliance with Ahab? Why would you do so? It was bad judgment in chapter 18. And yet in verse 33 of 18, it says, And certain man drew a bow at Aventure and smote the king of Israel. Listen, we're going to go to battle, but I'm going to disguise myself. You put on your robe so that Syrians think that you are the king. You're the king, but you're king of Judah, not Israel. And so they went after him and realized he wasn't the king of Judah. And a man just pulled a bow back at Aventure and killed Ahab. God intervened, didn't he? you're going to be faced with bad things in life. That's one of the things I was looking at today. I think it's in 2 Corinthians 4. We're troubled on every side. Let's see if that's it. 2 Corinthians 4, I think it is. This is one of the greatest men that ever walked in the Christian era. Probably, without a doubt, the best Christian of our age. It says, verse 8, we are troubled on every side. Have you ever felt trouble on every side? This is Paul the Apostle speaking by inspiration. We're troubled on every side, yet not distressed. There's every reason for stress, but your heart's fully set to serve the Lord. The trouble doesn't make you distressed. We are perplexed. That just means you don't know what to do, but we're not in despair. If you don't know what to do, you know what you're tempted to be? despairing. Every one of you experiences that somewhere. We're troubled, but we're not distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. That means that the people around you set you as their target, but you know you're not forsaken. So men all over the scriptures in both Testaments knew what it was like to be in need of God's intervention. And if you look at chapter 19, it says, And Jehu the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, Shouldst thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee. This is God sending a prophet to him to change the direction he's taking. He made a mistake in judgment. He went out and helped the ungodly. Helped the ungodly. You know what impresses me about this? This great and godly man received the reproof. It's not like, who are you to speak that to me? He received the reproof because the word of God is profitable for reproof, doctrine, reproof for correction and instruction. He heard the words of God. Why do you read your Bible every day? Probably every one of us in here has experienced God's hand of conviction upon us. You've been in a service where God had your breath quickened. You were sweating in the palms of your hands. The invitation came and you were resisting going forward when you knew good and well God's spirit was moving on you. And what will people think of me and all that? Man, if God's dealing with your heart, do something. Because by not doing anything, you're doing the worst thing you can do. Harden your heart against the spirit's pleading. Yeah, this man responded, didn't he? He responded to that reproof. And that's the wondrous thing about it. Hindrances come into your life when you realize you're taking the wrong path, go a different direction. And that's what we're talking about. And then number four, there's historic record, isn't there? Look at verse four. I didn't write down the chapter, but I think, yeah, verse four of chapter 19. It says, And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem. This is after he got rebuked. And he went out again through the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers. He went out and retrieved the strays. Sometimes when I write a letter, I sign it, yours for strays. Is that what you look for? Those people that wander around as sheep not having a shepherd. And sometimes the saints can do that. You've wandered so far away. You don't know where to start. Where you start is go back where you left the trail. Go back where you left the trail. And he went through, he was a king, but he was also a shepherd, wasn't he? Now, David was a shepherd who became king. Here's a king that goes out and shepherds the people and brought them back. In verse five, he said, judges in the land through all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, take heed what you do. Here is a man that was reproved for his failure. And he says to the judges, you make sure you pay attention to what you're doing. Take heed what you do, for you judge not for man, but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. You take this thing seriously, and you go out and settle the problems amongst God's people. He retrieves them. He shepherds the people. He's probably fixing the poor example of Ahab. And all over this, the law was a basis. Verse 10, what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities between blood and blood, between law and commandments, statutes and judgments? You shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord, so wrath come upon you. You make sure you bring your actions into conformity of the word of God. You make sure you do that. What thrills my soul about this passage is, they're a nation that's already had its ups and downs, and they're gonna have even more ups and downs in the future, so much so that their downs are so far down, they get carried into captivity. Horrible judgment comes upon them, and it's another 600 years or 700 years before, no, they're in captivity for about 400 years, and they come back to the land of Israel, but they come back as captive still. slave servants. They had so many things in their history and the high spots were always when a shepherd that was a king. told them, bring your lives to captivity to the Word of God, made the Word of God available to people, spoke the words of God, appointed judges that would follow the words and precepts of God's Word, and made sure the priests weren't the compromised ones that Israel had to the north. He shepherded them. But you know this, that historic need was he set those judges up, and that is according to the word of God in Deuteronomy 16. He read the Bible, he read the law, he found out what the judges were supposed to do. From Deuteronomy 16, verses 18 to 20, he established judges and warned them, told them how to judge according to the word of God. Chapter 20 is all about leadership. Chapter 20, it's almost my favorite part of the message, probably is. It came to pass after this also, the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, who are they? The Moabites and the Ammonites came from Lot through incest. And notice they came up against them. And verse two, there came some that told Jehoshaphat saying they're coming a great multitude. And verse three, Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. You know what he did? He didn't get on the news media. He feared the Lord, proclaimed a fast, said, everyone, we have a problem. We're going to fast together. We're going to fast together. And Judah gathered themselves together. And verse 6, he said to God, O Lord, God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God who did strive out? By the way, he's speaking not only historically, but from his own experience. who drove out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, gave it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever. They dwelt therein, verse 9, if when evil cometh upon us as the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house. In other words, he knew from the law where to pray, where to face, the place of power, where God's presence was. He proclaimed a fast and turned everyone's hearts and minds toward that temple and toward God's word. He had leadership, didn't he? Proclaimed a fast. He prayed. I think it was verse 10. And now behold the children of Ammon and Moab in Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade. God, you wouldn't let us invade them. But now they're afflicting us. You wouldn't let us invade them. And he says they're powerful. We don't know what to do. Look at verse 12. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. You haven't been a Christian very long if you haven't come to that place in your life. God, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. My eyes are upon you. I'm going to take instruction from you. I need you to intervene. Our eyes are upon you. We can't withstand them. Look at verse 13. And all Judah stood before the Lord with her little ones. I saw two of my grandkids up here singing, thrilled my soul, thrilled my soul. And all the kids up here singing, thrilled my soul. Can you imagine a nation potentially ready to be destroyed? having fasted according to the word of the king, having sought the Lord according to the word of the king, now standing with their little children. We don't know what to do. This is one of the greatest passages in the Bible. You know what brought it about? Jehoshaphat understood the heritage of his people. He understood the history of their people. He understood the honorable service that had shown itself in people before him. He withstood the hindrances of life. And you know what you get from all this? I really love this. And it said, I want you to see verse 17. This is God's answer. You shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you." Hey, they're going to go out against them, but they don't have to fight. They could have gone out there and just watched. Bless you. Thank you. They could have gone out there and just watched. He says, you're not going to have to fight. Now, if God says, you don't have to fight in this battle, boy, I'm going to go and watch, aren't you? Here is a great king, and some of the greatest verses you've probably heard before. But this is the background of it all. You don't even have to fight. Verse 20, they arose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established. Believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. You know what? They won a great victory that day. And you see what brought all this about. It was a man with vision who understood his training. His dad loved the Lord and he followed his dad's ways. And when he messed up, he listened to the rebuke. and he made sure that his people had the words of God, had training in the words of God. When a problem came, they fasted and fell before God in prayer, and God answered them. If we're not in that place in our country today, if we're not in that place in churches today, then we need to open our eyes, don't we? The biggest problem any one of us has is the one that stands in our shoes. Keep your heart right before God. It'll make a difference around you. Do what you know you should be doing. Don't put it off. Don't excuse it. Do what you know you should be doing. And when you find that you've gone the wrong direction, repent, get back on the road where you should have been before. Whatever burden comes your way, just trust the Lord's going to see you through that as well. When God sees you through those burdens, He gives you a strength that the world knows nothing about. He gives you an experience that will help you in future experiences. He'll help you to build a testimony that will affect your kids after you. We desperately need the next generation. It's going south so fast. Listen, this is a little reviving. It looks to me like they had a little reviving, don't you think? Those people stood there with their kids and God said, I got this. I got this. And guess what? God really did have it, didn't he? They could go and watch and just watch. Look at that down there. I'm probably taking too much liberty with it. But if I'm going from surrounded to delivered, and I see God moving in a wondrous way, I would so enjoy watching that, watching God's hand move. I don't know what the need of your heart is. We're all in the same place sometimes. We're distressed. Sometimes we're burdened. Sometimes we don't know what to do. But I can tell you this, turn your eyes upon Jesus every time. And if you're not saved, it begins with that. Well, let us be the shepherds that he showed himself to be, though he was a king. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your goodness today. Bless your word to our hearing, Father. Bless us as we serve you in this day that's increasingly getting darker. We'll thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Song is 249, Just As I Am. Let's stand and sing a couple verses. 249, Just As I Am. I don't know what to do. You. you.