Beginnings of a Movement (Acts 1:12-26) | 1/16/22
Acts 1:12-26 | 1/16/22 | Will DuVal
On the eve of the Great Awakening – that great spiritual revivalthat swept through this soon-to-be-country in the 1730s and 40s – the American Church found itself on the brink of obsolescence, if not extinction. The so-called Enlightenment had led many to question not just the Bible, but ALL religious authority. As a result, the surrounding culture grew increasingly secular, declining into moral deprivation. Jonathan Edwards diagnosed it as “a far more degenerate time… than ever before” in history. Worse still, the existing Church wasn’t offering any solutions. The early 18th c. American Church was marked by empty ritualism and sectarian division. George Whitfield famously quipped that colonists had stopped attending church because “dead men were preaching to them”.
Does that sound familiar? To the remaining faithful on the eve of revival, the fate of the 18th c. Church must have seemed muchlike the fate of the 21st c. Church often does to many of usTODAY: as though God had completely given up on them. And yet, God – in the way only HE can – was paradoxically preparing His Church for an AWAKENING. For an extraordinary movement of His Holy Spirit.
So perhaps God hasn’t given up on the 21st c. American Church just yet either. But friends – the only way our OWN society’s rampant secularization, moral decline, religious apathy; the only way our problems in the CHURCH – division, hypocrisy, deadpastors – can be turned around is by a movement of God’s SPIRIT. Nothing less will suffice. THAT is what we must be praying for today.
Well, next week, we’re going to witness together the single GREATEST movement of the Holy Spirit in the history of the Church, at Pentecost in Acts ch.2. But this morning, we’re going to consider the BEGINNINGS of that movement, the preparationFOR that move of the Spirit. We cannot control or manipulateGod’s Spirit. Jesus said, the Holy Spirit is like “The wind [that] blows where it wishes” (Jn 3:8). And yet, God has made it clear to us in His word that there are certain ways in which we can make ourselves more or less OPEN and RESPONSIVE to the Spirit’s activity in our lives. I like the way David Mathis describes it in his book Habits of Grace. Mathis writes: “I can turn on a faucet, but I don’t make the water flow… We can’t make the grace [or the Spirit] of God flow, but he has given us… [certain] pipes to open expectantly… God is free to liberally dispense his [Spirit] without even the least bit of cooperation and preparation on our part… But [God DOES have] his regular channels” through which he most often works (Mathis, p25).
This morning, we’re going to examine SIX of those “regular channels”. We can’t make the wind blow or the water FLOW, but we CAN turn on the faucet, and wait expectantly for a movement of God’s Spirit. And there are SIX faucets, 6 PIPES that we need to open, in order to best prepare for God to move in our midst.
Would you stand with me… SCRIPTURE: Acts 1:1-11
“Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,
“‘May his camp become desolate,
and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and
“‘Let another take his office.’
21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”
This is the word of the Lord… Let’s pray…
#1 – If we want to see an outpouring of God’s Spirit, the first “pipe” we need to open is that of OBEDIENCE. We must OBEY the Lord.
We read in vv12-13: “Then they [the apostles] returned to Jerusalem… And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying”.
Back in v8, Jesus had foreshadowed two important events that are GOING to happen very soon: 1) they’re going to receive the Holy Spirit, and 2) they’re going to go be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. But before the apostles could be filled with the Spiritto go witness, back in v4, Jesus had given them two even moreIMMEDIATE orders to follow: 1) return to Jerusalem, and 2) WAITfor the arrival of the Holy Spirit. And that’s exactly what they do: they go BACK to Jerusalem, to the “upper room” – probably the very same upper room in which Jesus had eaten His Last Supperwith them and promised to send them His Spirit – they go there, and they WAIT, v12; they “stay”.
Now again: The Spirit’s work in your life does not DEPEND on your obedience. In the OT, God’s Spirit comes upon pagan sorcerers like Balaam, and wicked kings like Nebuchadnezzar, in spite of their disobedience; God still works through them to accomplish His purposes. The Spirit truly blows where it wills. If God wants to use even talking donkeys, just to prove He CAN, then that’s God’s prerogative. He can make water flow even from closed pipes. But MOST often, He uses OPEN pipes. Like the pipe of obedience.
Later in Acts ch5, Peter shares the gospel with the Jewish council, and then he declares, “we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obeyhim.”” (v32) God gives His Spirit to those who OBEY Him. Does that mean God has a big “to do” checklist, the 613 laws of the OT, and if you measure up, you keep MOST of them (so, 307+), if you’re “good enough”, if your obedience outweighs your disobedience, then God will reward you with the gift of His Spirit?
Not at ALL, friends! The Bible says that “by works of the law NOhuman being will be justified in [God’s] sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” The whole point of the Law was to be a MIRROR, a moral mirror, into which you and I could look and realize our IN-ability to keep the Law, and therefore our need for a SAVIOR!
So what IS our “obedience” then? Romans 16:26 explains: it is the obedience of FAITH! Do you know the most important commandment in the Bible? It’s a bit of a trick question. Because in Matthew 22, Jesus says the greatest commandment in the LAW is what? “Love the Lord your God…” But Romans 3 already told us all the Law is good for is recognizing how SINFUL we are. How much we DON’T love the Lord our God.
No – the single most important commandment not just in the LAW but in all the BIBLE is found in John 6:29, when the crowd asks Jesus, “How do we make sure we’re doing the works of God… following the Law… being “good enough” for God?” and Jesus’ reply is simple: ““THIS is the work of God: that you believe in [ME]!”
The only obedience that can SAVE you is the obedience of FAITH in me, JESUS!
Friends, if you want to see God move and work powerfully in your life, the very first thing you MUST do is repent of your sin, and surrender your life to Jesus in faith. Obey God, by trusting in His Son.
#2 – PRAY. How do you prepare for a movement of the Holy Spirit? The obedience of faith may be the FIRST pipe – you don’t receive the Holy Spirit until you’ve been born again – but perhaps the single most IMPORTANT channel to make sure you’ve opened is the PRAYER pipeline of the Spirit.
We read here in vv13-14, “Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All [11 of these disciples-turned-apostles] with one accord were devoting themselves to [WHAT?] to prayer…”
The NIV translates they were “constantly in prayer”; the King James – they “continued in prayer”; the NASB: they were “continually devoting themselves to prayer”; the Greek suggests an ongoing, perseverance in prayer. For how long? 10 days. Do the math: Pentecost takes place 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection; Acts 1:3 informed us that Jesus appeared to them for 40 days before Ascending to Heaven; 50 – 40 leaves? 10 daysfor them to WAIT, and PRAY, for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Any of you ever prayed – “continually devoted yourself to persevering prayer” – for 10 days straight? How about 10 minutes? It’s TOUGH, isn’t it! I pray up here after the sermon and by minute 3 or 4, half of y’all have fallen asleep!
Why did God make them “persevere in prayer” for 10 whole days? Why not send the Holy Spirit immediately after Jesus’ ascension? Remember: Jesus left them with this MASSIVE mission! Take the gospel all the way to the ends of the earth? You know that PETER, in particular, had to be restless, for those 10 days; thinking, “We gotta get GOING! Time’s a’ WASTIN’”. “Take Charge Peter”, who thought Jesus needed his help when he was arrested, so he chopped the Roman soldier’s EAR off (that was AFTER Jesus had already rebuked Peter – called him “Satan”! – for declaring that he wouldn’t let them crucify Jesus).
Any other “take charge”, type-A personalities in the room, like me and Peter? Who struggle to sit still for 10 minutes, much less 10 DAYS, and simply WAIT, and PRAY?
Why did God make them wait?
Well, on a practical level, perhaps God was waiting until JUST the right time, when Jerusalem would be at its most crowded, for the festival of Pentecost, to maximize the number of people who would hear the gospel when the Spirit descends next week in ch2.
But on a spiritual level, I’m gonna suggest that God made them wait because He wanted them to be absolutely certain that what HE was about to do through them – this greatest of ALL movements of the Holy Spirit in Church history – that it depended COMPLETELY on GOD. He was reminding these apostles that THEY depended completely on HIM. As Jesus had cautioned them in John 15, “I am the vine; you are the branches… apart from me you can do nothing.”
Maybe this morning you feel like you’re stuck in a holding pattern, WAITING. You see this vision of what your life could be, what it SHOULD be, and you can’t figure out what God is waiting on.
You want to be parents. You know you’d make GREAT parents. You keep crying out to God for a child. But He hasn’t given you one yet.
Or you’re sick of your dead-end job. You know you have SO much more to offer; God could use you SO much more elsewhere. And you keep ASKING Him to do so. But He hasn’t opened a door yet.
Or you want to be HEALED. You’ve suffered from the same, chronic, debilitating ailment – maybe it’s a physical infirmity; maybe it’s a mental or emotional disorder, anxiety, depression – you’ve suffered for YEARS. You’ve been praying, crying out to God, begging Him to heal you. And He still hasn’t.
Why not? What’s He waiting on?
Maybe God’s not done PULLING you towards Himself yet; He wants you even CLOSER, even MORE dependent on Him.
Ellery turned 6 this past week. She’s getting to that age where she wants to be totally independent… UNTIL she needs me.
She’s hungry and needs dinner.
She’s scared and needs protection.
She’s bored and needs my password to login and watch a video.
She draws closest when she wants something, NEEDSsomething; when she depends on me for something.
Think back on your life, friends: when have you prayed the most? Drawn closest to God? Was it when life was hunky-dory? All smooth-sailing? Or when you didn’t know where else to turn?
I know this much: if we want to see a movement of the Holy Spirit in OUR day, in OUR society, in our Church, here at West Hills – if we desire to see more than ONE person, or even JUST one person, come to saving faith through the ministry of this church in 2022 – we’re gonna have to be UTTERLY dependent on the LORD. I am no church historian, but I’ve studied enough to know that EVERY single movement of the Spirit – at Pentecost, the Protestant Reformation, the TWO Great Awakenings of the 18th c., the Jesus Movement, EVERY revival in the history of the Church always started with PRAYER. Because if you and I can’t change even a single sinner’s heart, and cause them to turn from sin and trust in Jesus, then we sure as HECK can’t change a whole CULTURE, a whole SOCIETY, spark a movement that reaches a whole GENERATION for Christ. Only GOD can do that.
You know, it’s interesting – I mentioned last week that there are 30 miracles recorded in the Book of Acts; wanna guess how many times PRAYER is mentioned? 31. It’s like God is driving home the point that HE is the only one with the power to work miracles; we’ve gotta go to HIM first, in prayer. And the greatest miracle of ALL is when a sinner is saved by the power of the gospel.
So I’m excited to announce this morning, a new “initiative” we’re launching here at West Hills. I had a congregant approach me after last Sunday’s sermon – when I pleaded with you to pray with me this year that God would use us, West Hills, the ministry of this church, to save lost souls in 2022 – I had a brother here tell me that he was going to carve out specific days throughout this next year, to dedicate specifically to prayer and fasting for the salvation of unbelieving loved ones on the hearts of the members of our church, and for our collective witness TO them, as a church. And I thought, “Man! That is such a great idea; why wouldn’t we EXPAND it to include the entire CHURCH.”
So this year, I am inviting you, I’m ASKING you, to join me, and my fellow church leaders here – our staff and elders – as we commit to spending one day per month in prayer and fasting for the salvation of YOUR lost loved ones. We’re calling this the “1:8 Prayer Initiative”, based on Acts 1:8, the thesis verse for all of Acts and subtitle of our sermon series – “you will be my witnesses” – because before we can WITNESS, we need the Holy SPIRIT. And if we want the Spirit, we better be PRAYING. It ALL starts with prayer.
In Luke 10:2, Jesus said, ““The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore (what is Jesus’ SOLUTION, to this Gospel Supply Chain shortage?) pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.” God loves your unbelieving co-worker, your wayward child, your lost neighbor, even more than you do; HE is the LORD of the harvest; and He alone has the power to CHANGE that person’s heart. Therefore pray earnestly! But we ALSO pray, that he would send US, as his “laborers”, to sow the seeds of the gospel, and then we trust HIM to give the growth in their life, to cause that seed to take ROOT in the soil of that person’s heart. That’s a job only GOD can do.
But brothers and sisters: WE have a job too: OUR job is to PRAY.
So we’re asking you on the 18th day of every month this year – 1:8 – beginning this Tuesday, would you join us as a church, in fasting and praying for those in our radius who do not yet have a saving, personal relationship with Jesus. I gave you homework last Sunday – I asked you to identify your personal mission field: “Who is YOUR Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria…?” So here’s the follow-up assignment: you should have received a “1:8 Prayer Initiative” insert in your bulletins this morning. Would you fill that out, with your full name, and then you can share as much or little detail as you’d like about the folks you’re asking us as a church to pray WITH you for over the course of this next year – just their firstname… just their initials… obviously, the more detail you canshare, the more targeted we can be in our collective prayers. But I understand that some of your prayer requests may be sensitive; we might have a WIFE here who’s requesting prayer for her HUSBAND who also attends West Hills and THINKS he’s saved but SHE’S pretty convinced he’s NOT! But he’s on our email list!
That’s why we included a box you can check at the BOTTOM of that card to let us know whether your request is private, and only to be shared with the elders and confidential prayer team, or whether it’s PUBLIC, and you’d like the whole CHURCH praying with you for these folks.
And then you can drop that “1:8 card” in the offering box on your way OUT this morning, and we will compile a LIST that we will EMAIL out to the whole church (if you’re not on our EMAIL list yet, btw, make sure you give us your email address and check THAT box on the OTHER, “new to West Hills” card in your bulletin) and we’ll email you this Tuesday, with the list attached, and ALL the other details I’m leaving out here for sake of time.
#3 – To prepare for God’s Spirit to move, we need to ORGANIZE.
Now that might seem counterintuitive to some of us at first, because unfortunately we’re more prone to associate the Holy Spirit with CHAOS, than with order. We hear “movement of the Spirit” and we imagine a cacophony of charismatic Christians, all speaking incoherently in different tongues at the same time. But that’s NOT what we will observe at Pentecost next Sunday; Pentecost wasn’t pandemonium; it was purposeful. And the apostle Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 14 that even though God’s Spirit blows wherever He wills, He does so in an organizedfashion. So Paul says of our worship today that “all things should be done decently and in order” because “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (14:40, 33).
The apostles give us an example of that here in v15 and following. A movement, even a Holy Spirit movement, needs three things to be successful, three very practical things; these aren’t just spiritual ingredients for revival; they’re pragmatic.
First, every movement needs LEADERS. God of course couldchoose to work in this world in a totally DE-centralized manner, where HE is the SOLE leader at the helm. But that’s not the way God has chosen to work; in His kindness, God condescends and accommodates to guide His people through human leaders working on His behalf of and in keeping with His Spirit. This is something the emergent church gets wrong; in its reaction against POOR church leadership, the emergent church seeks to do away with ALL human leadership in the Church. But that’s not practical, nor is it biblical. Whether it was Luther and Calvin during the Reformation, Edwards and Whitfield during the Great Awakening, or Peter and Paul here in the Book of Acts, God has always anointed leaders to organize and galvanize His people.
And sure enough, in v15, “Take Charge Peter” – is the first to stepup and speak up, and lead.
Second, a movement needs FOLLOWERS. Everyone can’t be a leader; then there’s no one to lead! So we hear in v15 that “the company of persons [in this upper room, upon whom the Holy Spirit is about to descend in ch2] was in all about 120” (they were more or less taking attendance; that’s organizational, administrative work). The vast majority of these 120 we won’t even meet, by name, in the book of Acts. And yet, the movement doesn’t HAPPEN without them; the early CHURCH, the 1st c. explosion of the gospel, doesn’t happen without these anonymous followers.
I’ve said before in past sermons that “God turned the WORLD upside down with just 12 guys”; but that’s not really accurate. He turned the world upside down with a company of 120 – a group roughly the size of us here, in this room, by the way – who were LED by 12 guys. And every single ONE of them had an important role to play. “Follower” doesn’t mean “passive”. Actually, “follower” is FAR more synonymous with “ACTIVITY” than it is with passivity; remember: biblically, the word for “follower” is “disciple”. Re-read the 4 Gospels: the disciples were a lot of things, but they were NOT passive. Even when they were behind the scenes, they were constantly on the move, walking hundreds of miles in Jesus’ footsteps, going ahead of him into towns to prepare for his coming ministry there, collecting loaves and fishes, and getting the crowd to all sit down in an orderly manner before Jesus could feed them. Before they could be leaders, they had to learn to be followers. The movement depends on such followers.
Friends, if God is going to move mightily in our midst, here at West Hills, it won’t just be because the staff and elders are on board. We ALL have an important role to play. What’s yours?
Thirdly – last subpoint under “organize” – a movement needs effective processes. Just take this new “1:8 Prayer Initiative” for example – I may be championing the idea, as the leader… you may even be on board and excited to participate, as a follower… but it won’t even get off the GROUND unless we’ve got some processes in place to give it organization. Praise God for the Ally Tewells, and the Thad Yessas, and the Bill and Ana Konyks of the world, who oversee our church administration and missions team and prayer team, respectively, and who are all gifted, SPIRITUALLY gifted, in turning a vision into a reality, through processes. Somebody’s gotta print the “1:8 cards” and stuff the bulletins, compile the prayer spreadsheet and email it out.
Here in vv21-23, the specific process in view is a leadership succession plan. One of the 12 disciples, Judas, had betrayedJesus and then killed himself, so Peter suggests they need to replace him. Whether that’s because Peter knew 12 was a good, even, biblical number – in the OT there were 12 tribes of Israel, for the 12 sons of Jacob – or whether Peter’s worried about an empty throne in the new heavens and new earth; back in Matthew 19:28, Jesus had promised the disciples that they would sit beside Him on 12 thrones when He returned at the Second Coming. Whatever the reason, they need to replace Judas.
But processes need parameters. Not just any disciple will do, as the new 12th apostle. There are certain qualifications that must be met, as part of this leadership succession process – the candidates must be “men who have accompanied us during allthe time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us”. This man must have been a witness not ONLY to Jesus’ death and resurrection, but to his LIFE and earthly MINISTRY as well; it’s ALLpart of the gospel they’re being sent out to preach!
And through those parameters and that process, they are able to narrow it down, v23, to two candidates: Justus and Matthias.
One more quick but important note, from v14 actually, but related to organization: it’s not enough to be organized; for a movement to succeed, you’ve also got to be UNIFIED. In v14, they weren’t just PRAYING together, they were praying “with one accord”; they were unified in mind and spirit and purpose. SO much more to be said about that, but I’m running out of time.
#4 – Discern (v16, 20). If we want to see God’s Spirit move among us, we need to discern the ways He is and has alreadymoved, to bring us to this point.
In vv16 and 20, we see Peter discerning God’s hand and God’s plan, specifically, as it was foretold in the SCRIPTURES: he explains, “the Scripture had to be fulfilled… For it is written in the Book of Psalms…”. Then he quotes King David from Psalms 69:25 and 109:8.
Did you know that God had even written JUDAS into His great plan of redemption, 1,000 years before Jesus was born, indeed, before the foundation of the UNIVERSE!
God is always at work in our world and in our lives. The problemis, we just don’t always SEE it, discern it. I imagine that after his betrayal, the disciples had a hard time discerning why Jesus had picked Judas to join their ranks in the first place. We KNOW they had a hard time discerning God’s hand in the Crucifixion! Even here in Acts 1, as they’re sitting, praying, discussing in the upper room, I imagine they’re still having a tough time discerning how it was BETTER for Jesus to leave them, and ascend back into Heaven; what could be better than having Jesus right by your side?!
Answer: Having Him in your HEART.
What could be better than having Jesus alive, as your Rabbi? Having Him die for your sins, as your Savior.
Friends, God is always at work, even, maybe ESPECIALLY in the difficult things we go through in life. We just need the FAITH and the discernment, to be able to see it. But a big part of that, as is the case with Peter in vv16 and 20 here, means we need to understand the Scriptures, God’s revealed will and plan in His word.
#5 – We need to Lament (vv17-19).
Just because you can begin to discern the ways God is USING the broken parts of your past for His own good purposes to give you hope and a future and to work all things together for your good, that doesn’t mean we don’t still LAMENT the past. God might be using your infertility, your under-employment, your suffering – none of it is WASTED; He’s working through it for your ultimate good. But it’s still HARD, when you’re going through it. Even AFTER you’ve gone through it, it’s hard to have those struggles in the rearview mirror.
We can’t just forget the past, and it’s not healthy to even TRY to; pretend like it didn’t happen. But we do have to make PEACE with our pasts, if we’re going to be open to God’s Spirit leading us forward, into a new future. You can’t move forward if you’re STUCK looking back.
So in vv17-19, Peter addresses the elephant in the room. Jesus isn’t the ONLY one who’s gone. Judas is gone too. And I imagine a tone of LAMENT in Peter’s voice here, as he helps the 120 collectively process their grief, their loss.
Lastly, #6 – we’ve got to Trust in the Lord (vv24-26)
We might be able to narrow it down to TWO choices, but then at the end of the day, we leave it in the Lord’s hands, and trust Him: “they prayed [again] and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside”.
And then they essentially roll dice for it. That’s what “casting lots” is. They rolled dice. You say, “Well THAT’S not very spiritual!” It CAN be. When you know the truth of Proverbs 16:33 – that “The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.”
The same God who causes the sun to rise every morning caused the lot to fall on Matthias. NOTHING is outside His providence. Take the most seemingly random thing you can think of – a Christian knows there’s no such THING as chance, as luck – if you go home and win your family’s game of YAHTZEE this afternoon, it will be because GOD wanted you to. He’s the God of the dice!
You say, “Then why don’t y’all just pray and then roll DICE at your monthly elders’ meetings to make big church decisions?” […You don’t know what we do at our meetings! Masks are mandatory… Not any more… Now they’re back on… Now they’re back off; you thought we were checking CDC and County guidelines; we’ve just been shooting craps. Too soon?]
Casting lots was a common way for God to reveal His will throughout the OT and even into the NT, but it’s significant to note that this – Acts 1 – is the very LAST occurrence of God’s people casting lots, and it just so happens to stop the chapter BEFORE God sends them His Holy Spirit. Coincidence? I already told you there’s no such thing as chance.
We don’t cast lots anymore because we have two VITALLY important tools that these apostles didn’t have yet in Acts ch1: God’s SPIRIT, and His WORD. They’re still AUTHORING the Scriptures, still living OUT the stories of Scripture, to be recorded in later years by guys like Luke. But now WE have God’s final, complete self-revelation to His people in these 66 inspired, inerrant books of the Bible. And we’ve got His SPIRIT to illuminate our discernment of His word as well. So no more dice needed.
But we still have to TRUST Him. Trust God’s word, and trust God’s Spirit, to lead us into all truth.
Obey, pray, organize, discern, lament, and then, when all’s said and done, trust in the Lord. And He WILL move, through the power of His Spirit. Let’s pray.