“Follow the Teaching” – FBC Morning Light (6/18/2024)

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading, we're in the book of 2 Chronicles, chapters 17 through 20.

I'm sure if you're following along the chronological Bible reading plan, you're noticing how we're jumping back and forth between the

Kings and the Chronicles. Well, today we're reading about Jehoshaphat and his reign in 2

Chronicles 17 and following. And there's something about Jehoshaphat's rule as king that points up an interesting fact.

And that is that a leader of God's people who is earnest about following the

Lord and about leading God's people in the right way, understands the importance of teaching

God's word to his people. And you see this in the reign of Jehoshaphat in chapter 17, verses seven through nine.

Listen to what it says. It says, in the third year of his reign, he sent his leaders,

Ben -Hael, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.

And with them, he sent Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebediah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the

Levites. And with them, Elishema and Jehoram, the priests. And what was their purpose?

Why did Jehoshaphat send them out? For this simple purpose. They taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the

Lord with them. They went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people. Well, there is good godly leadership on the part of Jehoshaphat.

He realizes how important it is that God's people know

God's word. But there's another side to this. It's not enough that God's people just learn what

God's word has to say. And this brings up one of the great challenges of the ministry, actually.

You know, as a pastor, can do what I can to make sure the

Sunday school classes are teaching God's word, and the adult class as well as the kids' classes.

I have a passion about and a conviction about expositional preaching of the word so that the majority of the preaching

I do is passage by passage through a book of the Bible so that God's people learn the scriptures.

But the other side of it is, what do God's people do with that? See, what do they do with that?

And the reason I bring that up is because of what we read about at the end of Joshua's reign in chapter 20, later in our reading.

In chapter 20, verse 31, it says, Jehoshaphat was king over Judah. He was 35 years old when he became king.

He reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. So he had a nice, long reign.

And remember, it was in the third year of his reign that he started in earnest to make sure that the teaching of God's truth went out throughout the land.

So for 22 years, that's been going on. And verse 32, it says, and he walked in the way of his father

Asa and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Nevertheless, now don't you hate the nevertheless?

Don't you hate that thing? But nevertheless, it says, the high places were not taken away, for as yet, now get this, this is after 22 years, teachers going through the land to teach the word.

It says, the high places were not taken away, for as yet, the people had not directed their hearts to the

God of their fathers. So you see the significance of that, right?

The leadership can do everything in its power to teach

God's word and to do what they can to disseminate this truth of scripture and give

God's people every opportunity to hear the word and to learn the word, to come to know their

God better, to find out what God is like and what God likes so that they might live accordingly.

But it all comes down to this. Will the people direct their hearts to the

God of their fathers? Will the people direct their hearts to hear what the teaching is?

And not only to hear it, but to heed it. To have it make a difference in their lives.

So let that be a challenge to us today. You who, you're hearing the word, you're presumably faithful and going to God's house and so forth, it is not enough just to fill our heads with what the truth of scripture is.

It needs to change our lives. Our hearts need to be directed to hearts of obedience.

Our Father and our God, give us that kind of heart, we pray, and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.