We're in 2 Kings chapter 18, at least that's where we'll begin. Tonight, in continuing our series on Bible characters, we're taking a look at the man Hezekiah, who I think is somewhat overlooked in the Old Testament considering the testimony that the scriptures give of both his heart and his leadership. His story encompasses about seven chapters in the book of Kings and Chronicles, not to mention, believe it or not, some space in the writing of the prophet Isaiah. The scriptural record, let's look at 2 Kings chapter 18, and as we come to verse five, it's gonna make a very interesting statement. 2 Kings chapter 18, beginning in verse one, Now it came to pass in the third year of Hosea son of Elam king of Israel that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. So as you go through this book remember that the kingdom is now divided and so a new king will come up in Israel and so many years later a new king will become king of Judah which is the southern tribes and then Partway through that, maybe another king will come in Israel, which are the northern tribes. And so you're dealing with both sets there. So it's saying that while Hoshea was king of Israel, then Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 25 years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abbi, the daughter of Zechariah, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his father did. Well, that's a good sign already. He removed the high places and break the images and cut down the groves and breaking pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. I said, whoa, that must have been around for a long time. Remember that story where people bit by serpents were dying and God said, make this serpent, put it on a pole, and when people look on it, they'll be saved? Well, that was back in the time of Moses. Well, guess what? The people had kept that sign and had kind of become superstitious about it, if you will, because notice the last half of verse four, For unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, and he called it Nehushtan. In other words, they had now begun to almost worship this relic, this thing, from the time of Moses. That was problematic, but it would go along with the idolatry that they were experiencing. Now, verse five. Speaking of Hezekiah, he trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. Now, it doesn't say specifically that his faith was greater, but that he trusted in the Lord so that After him and before him there was none like him. In some way, his trust in the Lord and what God did through his life and the testimony he left were superior, were distinct, were different from every other king after him and before him. So he really stands singular in a certain way. And for that cause I feel like he should be paid a little bit closer attention to than maybe he usually is. He lived also at a momentous time in Israel's history because it was in his reign in the southern tribes that Assyria came and carried away captive the northern tribes. So he saw the sad decline and really the end or the judgment finally brought about on the people of the northern ten tribes of Israel during his reign that would have been a really an interesting time for the people of Israel despite the fact that they they were separated they were a divided kingdom maybe there wasn't a whole lot of love loss and yet to think that we're all we're all descendants of Jacob and and the prophets have been speaking and now the Assyrians come and truly fulfill the prophecies that we have heard and take them away that's interesting because it says in verse 9 in chapter 18 verse 9, and it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it, even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Hala and in Habor by the river of Gozan in the cities of the Medes, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded and would not hear them nor do them." So the punishment, finally the judgment fell on the northern tribes and Hezekiah was leading the people of the south while that happened. He led the people through a cultural transformation. He revived the work of the priesthood. He prepared the people for war. It really was a significant time in history because of his leadership. As I was studying, I realized there's too much information here to try to squeeze into one message. So we're really gonna consider lessons from his life in a two-part or two different messages. This evening, I want to consider the heartfelt leadership of Hezekiah. And next week, we'll study the four crises of Hezekiah. You have to know that Hezekiah was not born into spiritual sensitivity. In other words, the family culture wasn't one that encouraged his pursuit of God. His father was a wicked man by the name of Ahaz. Without going a whole lot into the life and the account of Ahaz, I want you to notice what it says about his father's burial. Now, in 2 Kings here, chapter 16, Verse 20, look at 2 Kings chapter 16. and verse 20, their first part, their last verse of chapter 16. And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Well, that doesn't sound abnormal to the way the kings were buried. He slept, meaning he passed away, he died, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. However, the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles, in which we'll spend most of our time this evening, in 2 Chronicles chapter 28 tells us another detail. If you'll turn over to 2 Chronicles chapter number 28 and look at verse 27. 2 Chronicles 28 and verse 27. This also, speaking of Ahaz's death, says, And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem, but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the king of Israel. Interesting. He wasn't buried in the place of the normal kings. Though he was in the city, he was in proximity, it wasn't in the normal place. We don't know entirely for sure, but did it have something to do with the poverty, if you will, of character expressed during his reign? So Hezekiah didn't have good leadership that way. Now his grandfather had done a fairly good job though with one notable absence, that he didn't go to the temple. But in other ways he did well, but then his father Ahaz did a very poor job. And now Hezekiah steps onto the scene. Now, one thing he did have that was a blessing was that he lived during the ministry of at least three of our writing prophets. Isaiah is considered kind of one of the prince of the prophets, whose language is just tremendous and is a good prophet. He was during the reign of Hezekiah and a few other kings. Also the prophet Micah, also the prophet Hosea were in the reign of Hezekiah. So he had access, if you will, to hear at least, to even confer with these men, and I believe to some degree that he did. And scripture, and we'll mention this maybe another time, but he valued the scripture because Proverbs 25 tells us that the next few chapters of Proverbs were copied out. They were Proverbs of Solomon, but they were copied out by the men of Hezekiah. Interesting, so Hezekiah and his reign sought out the Proverbs of Solomon, because the Bible tells us that Solomon wrote many more Proverbs than are actually preserved for us in Scripture. Well, part of that, what we seem to have in Scripture, and maybe even the layout of Proverbs itself, has to do with Hezekiah and his seeming to search that out and have his men copy out Proverbs from Solomon. That's significant. So he really, despite his upbringing, despite his home and his father's reign and how destructive and dismal that was, Hezekiah really came into it strong with such a heart for the Lord. And if we consider his ascension to the throne, he had lived through half of his grandpa Jotham's reign, and then of course he had lived through the tragedy of his father's reign. I quickly wanna show you some verses in 2 Chronicles here, chapter 28, just to paint the picture of what Hezekiah stepped into. It really was a sad picture. 2 Chronicles chapter 28 and verse 1, Ahaz, speaking of Hezekiah's father, was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord like David his father, for he walked in the ways of the king of Israel and made also molten images for Balaam. Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and he burnt his children in the fire after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Wherefore, the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they smote him and carried a great multitude of them captives and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. For Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, slew in Judah, and 120,000 in one day. Casualties in Judah because of the reign of Ahaz, which were all valiant men because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Messiah, the king's son. and Ezraikim, the governor of the house, and Elkanah, that was next to the king. These people in high positions, even a prince, and then thousands upon thousands of people murdered because of the spiritual declension of the society. and Hezekiah's living through it. This is all while Hezekiah is alive. Look at verse eight. And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren 200,000 women, sons, daughters, and took also away much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. Now, a very interesting snapshot, and I would say maybe about the only bright light you see in the divided kingdom of Israel, which had a succession of all bad kings, if you read the next few verses, which you won't right now, but you might just mark it down, a very interesting story where a prophet comes out and goes, oh no, you are not going to take these captive, return them to Judah. And believe it or not, they do. They clothe them, they feed them, and they return the captives to Judah. But nonetheless, people, several, many people died in that battle. Look to verse 16 of 2 Chronicles 28. At that time did King Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him. For again, the Edomites had come and smitten Judah and carried away captives. The Philistines also invaded the cities of the low country and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Eijalon, and Gederoth, and Shoko, and the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also in the villages thereof, and they dwelt there. For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel. For he made Judah naked and transgressed sore against the Lord. Interesting, keep going. And Tilgath, Pulneser, king of Assyria, came unto him and distressed him, but strengthened him not. So he appeals to the Assyrians, but they don't help him, they actually make it worse. For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Syria, but he helped him not. And in the time of his distress, did he trespass yet more against the Lord. This is that King Ahaz. For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him. And he said, because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. And on it goes for a couple more verses. This is the content. And Hezekiah is growing up in this. He's seeing the defeat. He's seeing the slaughter. He's seeing his dad try to get help from outside sources and only be vexed more. He's seeing his dad go after other gods and offer children in the fire. That's what Hezekiah comes in. So he doesn't have this strong foundation of a great economy and a good morale and people that are excited to serve the Lord, not at all. And yet into that, he steps with such strength and such a true and whole heart for the Lord, it makes a phenomenal difference. So I see, as I was reading through, it jumped out to me that Hezekiah is a tremendous pattern for leadership. And if you don't usually take notes, I would still encourage you tonight to consider jotting down these seven points, or coming back and listening to the message again. Not because it's expertly preached, but because I think the points are valuable. Hezekiah is a tremendous pattern for leadership, and let me show you why. Number one, he gathered leaders and challenged them. He gathered leaders and challenged them. Just days into his actual rulership, in 2 Chronicles 29, verse one, it says, Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and 20 years old, and he reigned nine and 20 years in Jerusalem. And verse two, and he did that, which was right in the sight of the Lord. And then, notice verse three, he, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the east street. And he said unto them, hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. He immediately made the decision, we've gotta reverse things. We've gotta turn things around. This temple has to be cleaned out. It has to be repaired. And so he gathers the priests and the Levites, and he challenges them, he encourages them. Years later, in his, in his reign, he is being advanced upon by Assyria, again, under a different king, but by the country of Assyria. And in chapter 32 and verse six, you're gonna see something similar to what he just did a minute ago, where he gathered the priests and Levites in the street. Look at 2 Chronicles chapter 32 and verse six. And he set captains of war over the people. and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city and spake comfortably to them. So he gathers them together and he challenges them. And so let me show you how he challenged them. Number one, he gathered leaders and challenged them. But number two, he spoke to the heart. He spoke to the heart. So when he, When he talked to the priests and the Levites in that first encounter in 2 Chronicles chapter 30, look at verse 21. 2 Chronicles 30 verse 21. And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness. And the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord." This was soon after he had challenged them to clean out the temple. Now they're observing the And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord. What does that mean to speak comfortably? It's literally to speak upon the heart. I could say to speak to the heart. And if you read the context and you understand Hezekiah, you know he's speaking from the heart. So he spoke from the heart to the heart. And the form of the word, at least in one of the passages, is that he did so intensively. It wasn't just kind of a mild conversation. It wasn't just sort of a passing of information. He was intense about conveying something from his heart to theirs. I think that's significant. If you look in chapter 32, verses six through eight, what we just read, he set captains of war over the people. gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city and spake comfortably to them. He spoke to their heart saying, be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us than with him. Now physically speaking, that was probably not a reality. But notice what he goes on to explain. He's informing their heart with this important truth. With him, verse eight, with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. He spoke to their heart. And number three, he set the direction. He set the direction. In 2 Chronicles chapter 29, chapter 29, verse six. Again, he's newly in office. He's saying we've gotta change this, reverse this, clean out the temple. Verse number six. For our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and have forsaken him. and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. And they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense, nor offered burnt offering in the holy place unto the God of Israel. Wherefore, the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, and to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. For lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, and our daughters, and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. My sons, speaking to the priests and Levites, be not now negligent. For the Lord has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, that ye should minister unto him and burn incense. You see how he's setting the direction? He's saying, He's acknowledging the mistakes of the past. Our fathers sinned, and this is what they do. And we recognize that the punishment we face is because of the sins. Our very wives and children are in them, are in bondage, are in captivity because of this. And I desire to make a covenant with the Lord. Now, you guys, don't be negligent. Take up your job because God's given you a role here. He gathered leaders. He challenged them. He spoke to the heart. He set the direction. He demonstrated the cleanup had to be done. Number four, he equipped. I noticed this too as I read through the passages of his life, that he not only spoke, he not only gathered the people together, not only kind of encouraged them with the vision of what role they had, but he equipped them. And that was in two ways. He provided instruction, verbal direction, but he also provided materials. Sometimes by personal investment, he equipped them. Other times by executive order, which was still equipping them for the work. Now granted, we might say that, well, the people simply obeyed because he gave all the directives and he's the king. And this may be true for some of them. And yet the Lord, the text indicates that the people's heart was affected too, it seems. So he gave them instruction. For instance, look at chapter 29 verse 20. Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the rulers of the city and went up to the house of the Lord and they brought seven bullocks and seven rams and seven lambs and seven he goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the son of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. So he gave a command, hey, you need to offer these, offer these. Now, look at verse 24. And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar to make an atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. You see, he's giving direction. He's saying, this is what needs to be done. Now, do it. Now, look at verse 30. Moreover, Hezekiah the king and the princess commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads in worship. But he said, you need to sing. That was a part of it. That's what was ordained. And so remember, the words of David, the words of Asaph, use the Psalms. This is what you need to be doing, verse 31. Then Hezekiah answered and said, now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thanked offerings, as many as were of a free heart, burnt offerings. In other words, those that had a heart to want to offer a burnt offering, which is an offering, not a sin offering or trespass offering, it's simply something I want to give as a gift, as a matter of dedication, if you will, to the Lord. But he's giving them direction. This is what we need to be doing. You've been out of the habit. Our fathers have sinned. We've neglected God. Let's get back to what we're supposed to be doing. You offer the sacrifices. You sing. Now you bring sacrifices like we're supposed to. He gave them. instruction. But notice verse 36 of chapter 29, verse 36. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people for the thing was done suddenly. I mean, he was acting quickly, and yet in the acting of it, God had also prepared the heart of the people so that they were joining in. And not only was King Hezekiah rejoicing, but they were rejoicing with him. They were experiencing the blessing of this new direction and of this return to the Lord. So you also look in chapter 31 and verse number 3, It says, he appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings and the burnt offerings for the Sabbath and for the new moons and for the set feast as it is written in the law of the Lord, the king's portion. He gave of himself to say, hey, we need to have these offerings and this is what I'm supposed to provide for, so he made sure it was provided for. In chapter 30 and verse number 24, It says, for Hezekiah, king of Judah, did give to the congregation 1,000 bullocks and 7,000 sheep. And the princes gave to the congregation 1,000 bullocks and 10,000 sheep. And a great number of priests sanctified themselves. And you'll see through the text as you read, it's interesting. unrealistic in the sense of every priest just, boom, just jumped on board and sanctified themselves. Some sanctified themselves, and some later were ashamed and sanctified themselves, and then some more sanctified themselves. It was kind of a process of the priest getting on board and saying, this is what we're supposed to be, this is what we're supposed to do. But along the way, he was providing for it, he was giving the direction, so he was equipping them and making sure that there was sufficient for this priestly order to have what they needed to live and have the food they did as the typical sacrificial system was supposed to provide. He was giving direction to make sure that that happened. So number one, he gathered leaders and challenged them. Number two, he spoke to the heart. Number three, he set the direction. Number four, he equipped. Number five, he provided order, or you might say it this way, he reinforced structure. Organization, order is helpful. And sin, I would say increasing sin is going to be accompanied by increasing chaos. And so when someone is, it doesn't mean that all order is necessarily toward godly ends, but godliness is going to be paralleled with some sort of an order. In your life, if you're a godly person, there's going to be somewhat of an order there and a structure. At the very least, we could call the will of God or the behaviors that are patterned for us in scripture as the structure that we conform our lives to. Chapter 31 here in 2 Chronicles, verse 2. Chapter 31, verse 2. And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses. Every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord. He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burn offerings. We read that a moment ago, verse four. Moreover, he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord. Look at verse 11. Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord so that they could store the abundance that they had received. and verse 12, and brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully, and then it starts to list several people, and this guy was in charge of this, and there's this guy, and this guy helped, and these people were, he was putting things in order, he was setting up a structure, an administrative structure over these things that needed to be in place. We can be thankful for the change of heart of people to suddenly want to give to the Lord or want to worship Him or want to do what's right, but at some point there has to be some sort of a structure set in place to guide how things are done and to set up for continued success and maintenance of the way God wants things done. We might look at a church service and we go, oh, you know, it's such a method, it's such a way that we do things. Why can't we just sort of, just kind of come to church and just operate as the spirit leads? You know, just not have any structure to it at all. Sing when we want to sing and anybody stand up to preach and whatever. Well, you could, but But Paul says on behalf of God in Corinthians, let all things be done decently and in order. And even in the New Testament church, he prescribed, wait guys, this is getting too chaotic. This is getting out of hand. Too many people are standing up to do this. It's looking chaotic and confusing and people are going to come in and that's not going to be a good testimony. Things have to be in order. Now, different people may operate differently, and I'm not saying this is gospel necessarily, but a thought of mine, people may just feel like, well, why don't we just, you know, I don't know what we're gonna preach, or I don't know what we're gonna sing. We'll just see how the Spirit leads. Well, my question would be, couldn't the spirit lead a week ahead of time? And us actually preparing and thinking through songs, like I know, is done to say, wait, what would make a meaningful service? What songs could we weave together in a thoughtful way to be a blessing to the people? The spirit can lead a few days in advance. It doesn't have to be just immediate. I could actually prepare for a message and still be spirit-led. and come to the pulpit with something that I know that I'm gonna say, and not just see what the Lord brings in my mind. So structure and order. He provided order and reinforced structure. But number six, number six, he was wholehearted. He was wholehearted. Look at chapter 31, verse 20. And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments to seek God, he did it with all his heart. and prospered. He was all in. He was wanting to serve the Lord and he put his heart into it and he did it. It wasn't just kind of a hobby or a thing that he wanted to do alongside of enjoying his monarchy. and building his fame, no, he's had his heart and his mind set on something and he did it. This would include, if you think about, okay, doing something with all my heart for the Lord would include humility, because I recognize who I am in the sight of God, the fact that he is to be pursued and served and glorified, so it includes humility. It would include a desire to know, to know the Lord, to know the truth. I think Hezekiah spent some time in scriptures and I read an article about that and I thought that's really interesting that if you look at Proverbs 25 and following in those few chapters that the men of Hezekiah copied out, And you start to think, hmm, these Proverbs in light of his reign. And you'll notice a number of Proverbs that have to do with probably leadership or good decisions and things that would pertain that maybe he was looking back to Solomon's wisdom and saying, now that man was wise. We know that God gave that man wisdom. And so what did he write about leadership? And what did he write about decisions? And what did he write about these different things? Because I want to lead well. I want to serve God appropriately. And I think he looked into Proverbs, a desire to know. This wholeheartedness would be consistent with an openness to God's prophets. He had a relationship with Isaiah. We know from scripture that he communicated with Isaiah. Later, Jeremiah would tell us, well, Jeremiah was in the northern kingdom prior to them being taken, so it really wasn't necessarily, anyway, contemporary around the same time. And Jeremiah makes the point, Micah prophesied in Judah, and he wasn't killed, okay? He didn't suffer repercussions for it. So the way Micah was being treated in Judah versus the way that Jeremiah was being treated in Israel was very different. But I think there was an openness to God's prophets. There was a determination to act. There was a dependence on God in crisis. That would be consistent with his being wholehearted, but the text is clear that the things that he did in pursuit of the Lord, he did it with all his heart. Number seven, and I'm sorry, there's actually eight in the list. I said seven earlier. Number seven. He reached out to people that weren't his responsibility. Now as you're growing, I suppose you face this with your kids growing up, and this is something we've tried to teach our kids, is that first you're just trying to teach them, pick up your stuff. If you turn on a light, turn it off. If you get something out, put it away. If you take something off, put it in the hamper, or whatever. Take care of your mess. But then you want them to eventually take the next step of not just, OK, I cleaned my stuff. Did you clean up your room? My stuff. Are the stairs cleaned off? Well, my things are gone. OK, well, that's great. And that's good. Now the next step would be just pick up something and put it where it belongs. It doesn't have to be your stuff. You could take your sister's stuff. As hard as that may be, take your sister's stuff, take your brother's stuff. You know generally where it goes. At least take it down to their bedroom or take it up to the bedroom and put it on the bed. Kind of get it in the right direction. Or ask them, say, hey, is this yours? Where do you want me to put it? Take that next step to act outside of your responsibility. And note that Hezekiah did the same thing. In 2 Chronicles chapter 30, this is the interesting part of the story, beginning verse one. And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah. Now remember, he's the king of what? Judah, the southern couple of tribes. But he sends to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, which may stand for the whole of Israel, basically. But if you look at a map, even of the divided kingdom, Ephraim and Manasseh were a huge land block of the northern kingdom. The other tribes are relatively small compared to Ephraim and Manasseh. But he's sending to all the tribes there that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel. That's what they were supposed to do all along. That's what Jeroboam was afraid of, hence the reason he set up the golden calves. But that's what they were supposed to be doing, is coming down to Jerusalem to worship. For the king had taken counsel and his princes and all the congregation in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month. They came up to it and the Passover is supposed to be observed in the first month, but apparently there wouldn't have been enough time, enough time for everybody to prep, to have everything ready like it should, and there actually is an allowance in the law that someone can observe it in the second month. And they decided to do that. Don't wait another year. Let's not wait a year to observe this thing. Let's do it according to that allowance in the law. Let's do it in the second month. Verse three, for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. This would take time. And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation, so they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, from south to north, they had that they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem, for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written." They hadn't done it for a long time the way the Bible said to do it. went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see. Now be you not stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified forever. And serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you." And they might wonder, wait a minute, what jurisdiction do you have to tell me what to do, to tell me to repent? And yet He takes it upon Himself to do that. Continue on, verse 9. For if you turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that led them captive, for that they shall come again into this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return unto him. So the posts passed from city to city throughout the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun. But they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. But, notice verse 11, nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah, the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of the Lord. And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. You know, he reached out not just to his kingdom, which would have been the natural thing. We've been divided for a long time. This is my kingdom. These two tribes, these are the people that I have to care about. but he recognized the heritage of all 12 tribes. And he sends out this letter to say, come back, come back to Jerusalem and do it right. Worship God and repent and come back to him until he can have mercy. There's a compassion and a God heartedness in what he did. Did God want all of Israel to worship him appropriately? Yes, he did. And Hezekiah had the heart of God in that and wanted them to come back. He invited all Israel to this Passover. He was unique in stepping up to be the spiritual leader of all Israel despite the split. He didn't ask for influence, he just used it. And many people responded. He just said, you need to turn. You need to turn, you need to come back to the Lord. And guess what? Some of them responded. Some of them humbled, heard the message of King Hezekiah. Maybe they don't even know King Hezekiah. We're not part of your kingdom anymore, but they recognized that what he said was right. And they humbled themselves and they came down across the border. into the territory of Judah to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. He reached out to people that weren't his responsibility. And lastly, he prayed. He prayed. And I want you to notice the different scenarios in which he prayed. In chapter 30, in verse 18, they're observing now this holy day. In chapter 30, in verse 18, And it says, for a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the Passover otherwise than it was written. They weren't actually supposed to do that. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, the good Lord pardon everyone that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people. It's as if to say that they already were feeling the effects of God's punishment on them for taking it unworthily, for observing it in an unlawful way, and yet Hezekiah recognized their heart is to pursue the Lord, they're just not doing it the right way. God, would you forgive them for this oversight? Would you forgive them and heal them because their heart is to serve you? Isn't that interesting? that he interceded for people who were trying to come to the Lord, though they weren't doing it the right way. You'll also find, and I won't go to the passage right now, that later, several years down the road, when Judah, the southern kingdom, is advanced upon by the Assyrian army, they begin, kind of warring but not actually physically yet. They start a campaign to demoralize the people. And in part of it, they give a message to the people or to the king and that's written down and it's brought to the king. And it says that he spreads out the letter before the Lord and he begins to pray. Now he's faced by such a massive army of probably hundreds of thousands of men because that's the story where the angel comes and in one night kills 185,000 soldiers. If that's only a part of them, then there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers knocking on the door, if you will, of Jerusalem. And yet he had the faith to spread out that letter and say, Lord, you see what they say. And of a truth, they have had victory. They have conquered every other nation that they've come against. Howbeit, those other nations served false gods. And he recognized that God was true and there was a difference with them. And in faith, he prays in crisis. And then it wasn't much longer after that that he prays for a lengthening of his own days because the prophet comes and he says, put your house in order or you're going to die. and he turns his face to the wall and begins to weep and he prays to God and he asks Him for more time and God gives it to him. Now whether or not that was a good prayer or a beneficial answer, we certainly have to consider and debate, but he did pray. He prayed for people, those people that were trying to approach God or had a heart to God but weren't doing it right. He prayed for his people in a time of war, in a time of crisis. He prayed for himself in a time of approaching death. He prayed. What we notice as we look is that Hezekiah had a desire to do right. He had an intensity to follow through. He had an interaction with godly prophets. He had a love of the scriptures. He wasn't a perfect man, no man is, but his character was so commendable in the first part of his reign that he stands as an excellent role model for any leader, any person who bears influence. And that's where it begins to come to us. Leadership is influence, and we all have influence. We might call that influence power. I've been listening to a book recently that has been very thought-provoking and informative called Celebrities for Jesus, speaking of the history, the abuses, and the dangers of celebrity and evangelicalism. The author speaks in part about the issue of power, and as she did, it got me to thinking. about power. The Bible references two types of power. The one would be ability, physical ability, strength, taken from that word dunamis. The other type of power is what we would call authority, exousia. Each person has one or both of these to some degree. It seems that a proper stewardship of my power is to use all of my ability inside of God's delegated authority. Now hang with me here. God has given me authority to do certain things, correct? But not anything I want. So we might call his delegated authority his will for our lives. Here's what I want you to do. Here's the boundaries in which you can act and please me. Now, I have the ability to act outside of the authority he's given me, right? I can do things that are wrong. I have the physical capacity to run over God's boundaries and choose for myself what I think is right and wrong. Adam and Eve, case in point. I have physical strength, but I'm not supposed to kill an innocent person, right? I have various means, but they're not to be used to any end. I must use my power, my ability, to accomplish God's will, that which he has authorized me to do. Also, part of his will is that I use my power to increase, edify, or preserve, encourage, other people's power. You have power. You have power. You have ability. And if I can use my ability to build your ability, That's called edification. Maybe you have ability and you could do something for the Lord, but you're getting discouraged. You're getting disheartened. And because of that, it's like you're losing ability. And I could come along with a word spoken in due season and I could encourage you a promise of God. I could provoke you to good works and stir you up so that your ability again grows and is directed toward what God wants you to do. So I can use my power, my ability, to encourage you, to admonish you, that is to point your power in the right direction, to edify you, to use your ability, to use my ability, to increase your ability, or for fellowship. Us using both of our abilities together to expand the effect of our labor. In other words, working together so we get more done. Of course, in all that discussion, we must not forget the absolute need of God's power, of course. Any power we have derives from God and is to be stewarded for and submitted to him. Now, coming back to this concept of power, ability, influence. God's given you ability. God's given you influence. God's given you a sphere in which you can accomplish something. You're a leader. So you can follow these principles here. In the use of our power, that is the stewarding of our influence, let us remember the example of Hezekiah who gathered people together for specific responsibilities, spoke to the heart, set the direction, Equipped as he was able, given his position and his ability, he equipped people with instruction and materials. He provided order by reinforcing God's structure. He invested himself with his complete heart. He didn't use the excuse that someone was unreachable or wasn't his responsibility. And he prayed in faith. We can follow the same pattern in whatever sphere of influence that we have to build other people, to grow their power, to use our power to affect people for the will of God.