A Model Disciple, pt.2 (Acts 3:12-4:4) | 2/27/22
Acts 3:12-4:4 | 2/27/22 | Will DuVal
This morning, we continue our study of the book of Acts. Last week in my absence, Pastor Thad did an excellent job taking you through chapter 4, and the apostles’ example of boldnessin the face of opposition to the gospel. But because I decided 2 weeks ago to split chapter 3 into two parts, now we get to go back and finish ch3 together this morning. Our title, as a reminder, is “A Model Disciple”, because in Acts 3 we find Peter and John – Jesus’ disciples – following in His footsteps, “doing the works that Jesus did”. (John 14:12)
In the first half of chapter 3, the apostles physically and miraculously HEALED a man who was lame from birth, and in Jesus’ name, they gave him the power to walk. And we said that because Jesus – our rabbi, our Lord – devoted his life in part to healing people physically, we too should seek to care for peoples’ physical needs – feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and the imprisoned. And we extrapolated 7 principles for doing so from verses 1-11, as a quick RECAP; we need to…
Be AVAILABLE. (3:1) Peter and John were right where God wanted them to be in order to be USED BY God to reach this poor man in need. So too, you and I must regularly put ourselves in a position to be bothered by others’ needs. And then view those occasions not as inconveniences, but as opportunities.
#2 – We have to Be ATTENTIVE. (3:2-4a) It’s not enough to encounter needs; we have to NOTICE them. Peter and John noticed this lame beggar, when others ignored him. We need to truly SEE people. And moreover…
#3 – We need to see them the way JESUS sees them; we need to Be AFFECTIONATE. (V4b) Peter and John were the ONLY ones to make EYE-contact with this man, to give him back his dignity and worth, as an image-bearer of God. And they looked at him not with judgment or contempt like the Pharisees did; but with COMPASSION and LOVE, like Jesus did.
#4 – We ought to Be ALTRUISTIC. (3:5-6a) “unselfishly concerned for and devoted to the welfare of others”. The apostles didn’t have any silver or gold to offer the man, but they generously shared all that they DID have, and it happened to be what he trulyneeded – healing! Perhaps you and I today don’t possess the same supernatural gift of healing, but what we DO have is the silver and gold to be able to care for others’ material needs. We ought to do so, altruistically.
#5 – We must Be ANCILLARY. (3:6b) Subordinate; secondary. We help people NOT to feel good about ourselves. Not to pat ourselves on the back. But to point them to JESUS. It’s all about HIM. After all, any help we have to offer comes from Him anyway.
#6 – We should Be AUDACIOUS. (3:7) “Extremely bold”, in our service to others. Not because we have so much confidence in ourselves – our power to help, to heal, to meet needs – but because we have so much trust in THE LORD, who is able to do ALLthings – heal the lame, raise the dead, sober up the addict, comfort the broken-hearted – and we know that in His providence, God chooses to use US as His VESSELS; the instruments of His healing and hope to others.
And lastly in part 1, we said we need to Be ACCEPTING. (3:8-11) After Peter and John healed the man, v11 says, “he CLUNG to them”. And they, in turn, celebrated WITH him. They treated him not like a project, but like a person. We need to be like JESUS, the “friend of sinners.”
But Jesus came not ONLY to bring us physical restoration, but to offer us SPIRITUAL healing as well. Our spiritual need is more subtle. It can be harder to see these “needs” Jesus is calling us to meet in others’ lives as we look around us in places like Town & Country… Chesterfield… Ladue, because we fail to see as GOD sees: through SPIRITUAL eyes. I’m convinced that when God looks at Town & Country, he sees every bit as much poverty, SPIRITUAL poverty, as when He looks at East St. Louis. That my next door neighbors need Jesus just as much as the homeless guy living under the 14th St. overpass downtown needs him. And though spiritual poverty is more subtle than physical poverty, it’s even more significant, eternally significant. There’s one story in particular from the Gospels that highlights this best; it’s the story of the paralytic from Luke ch5. The friends of this paralyed man hoist him up on top of a house Jesus is teaching in, and then they lower him down through the roof, to get him to Jesus. Anyone remember what Jesus does? The Bible says, “when he saw their faith, [Jesus] said to the man, “your sins are forgiven you.”” It’s not until the onlooking Pharisees start questioning him that Jesus says, almost as an afterthought: “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man —“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ” (Lk 5:23-24) In other words, “it’s much EASIER to heal him physically. Miraculously knitting some disjointed bones back together. What’s really HARD is uniting sinful MAN back together with a holy GOD! Forgiving sins; SPIRITUAL healing.” The Pharisees were right; only GOD has the ability and the AUTHORITY to do such a thing. They just didn’t realize they were LOOKING at Him; God in the flesh. So to PROVE it, Jesus heals the man’s physicalparalysis.
So here in part 2, the SECOND half of Acts ch3, we’ll examine our calling, as Jesus’ followers, to minister to the spiritual needs of those around us. And to the 7 exhortations concerning physical healing, we’ll add an additional ELEVEN encouragements this morning for offering spiritual restoration to others.
Would you stand with me… Acts 3:11 – 4:4. Let’s actually pick up in v11. Peter and John have just healed this man, lame from birth. And we read:
“While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant[b] Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus[c] has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophetslong ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall allthe families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every oneof you from your wickedness.”
And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” This is the word of the Lord… Let’s pray…
I count 11 marks here, of a true disciple, who would follow in Jesus’ footsteps by offering spiritual healing to others:
#1 – We must Be ADVANTAGEOUS. (3:12a) We’ve got to take advantage of every possible opportunity to share the gospel. We said 2 weeks ago that we ought to be PRAYING, asking God for opportunities to share. But the point here is that when God answers those prayers, and PROVIDES us those opportunities, we’ve got to SEIZE them. Take advantage.
Like Peter does, in v12: “And when Peter saw it” – when he SAW the whole Temple crowding around this not-so-LAME-anymore man, “utterly astounded” and searching for an explanation – Peter didn’t waste another moment; immediately, “he addressed the people”. He JUMPED at the opportunity to be a witness for Christ.
I’ll be honest: I STINK at this. I’m really good at recognizing opportunities to share the gospel with someone like 30 seconds afterthe chance has passed. If a volleyball buddy’s car breaks down, and I give him a ride home, I’ll realize as he’s walking in his front door: “Hmm, I wonder if God was giving me that opportunity because I was supposed to have a conversation with him about faith?”
Or a pest control salesman shows up unannounced, and maybe I even do the right thing and invite him in for a glass of cold water on a hot day, and I’m kind enough to listen to his sales pitch, instead of treating him like an annoyance. But it’s not until after he’s walked back OUT the door that I realize, “Shoot! I SHOULD have said, “Now I’VE got a pitch for YOU! Let me tell you about JESUS…”
My father-in-law, on the other hand, is GREAT at this. He’s ALWAYS looking for opportunities to witness. If the grocery store bagger is wearing a cross, he’ll ask her, “I love your necklace; I’m curious: is it just for fashion, or for faith?” Or if our waiter at dinner has a tattoo, he’ll ask, “That’s a cool tattoo; is there a story behind it?”, as a way to potentially open up a deeper, more personal conversation, and perhaps share his OWN story of faith in Jesus.
What IS that? Is my father-in-law just less concerned with offending people, or making conversations awkward? Is he more extroverted? Does he have the spiritual gift of evangelism, that most of us lack?
Or is he just OBEDIENT. To PRAY for those opportunities, and then not wait, but proactively seek them out, and boldly take ADVANTAGE when God provides them.
#2 – We need to Be un-ASSUMING. (3:12b) Modest. Not self-important.
This is sort of a restatement of point #5 from part 1 about being “ancillary”, or secondary. But the point is so important, and so often transgressed, that it bears repeating: our helping others shouldn’t be about US – feeling good about ourselves… lookinggood in others’ eyes… – NO; it’s about JESUS!
What are the first words out of Peter’s mouth, in v12, when the whole Temple crowd rushes up on him like some kind of celebrity on the red carpet? He says, “Why are you looking at US? Me and John, “as though by our own power or piety we have made [this man] walk?” Don’t look at US! Peter immediately deflects the attention AWAY from himself, to JESUS, where it BELONGS. Peter knows he couldn’t do SQUAT, without Jesus; it is God’s power flowing through Him, that healed the man.
I offered you the illustration 2 weeks ago of me allowing my 2 year old son to help me clean up the milk he spilled all over the counter. He spilled it in the first place! Our sin broke the world in the first place! And yet God in His mercy fills us with His Spirit and allows us to be co-agents of change, in bringing shalom back into the world, not because He NEEDS us, but because He’s a loving Father. So whenever we’re tempted to get our heads inflated, about how much good we’re doing, let’s remember we’re just toddlers “helping” clean up our spilled milk.
Or here’s another one (this is why you let me go on vacation; for the sermon illustrations) – here’s Elijah “driving” the golf cart down in Florida last week. Look at that big smile on his face – “Look at ME, Dad! Watch me DRIVE!” Totally disregarding Doz’s hands overtop of his, controlling the wheel. Doz’s foot pressing the gas pedal. But my son thinks HE’S the one driving; he is delusionally self-important. Friends: THAT’S you and ME, when we try and take credit for anything GOOD, that God has done through us. HE’S driving the cart. So we ought to be unassuming, and simply point people to Jesus.
#3 – We should Be ACCOMMODATING. (3:13a) To accommodate is to “adjust or adapt” in order to best suit one’s circumstances.
Now, the content of the gospel cannot be adjusted. The central, saving message of the gospel – that God is SUPREME, we are SINFUL, Jesus is SAVIOR, and faith in Him is SUFFICIENT for salvation – that message doesn’t change. But the MEDIUM, how we convey it to others, has to be contextualized to fit your audience. The content doesn’t change; but the context does.
And we’ll see that in the nine different gospel presentations throughout the book of Acts. When the apostle Paul witnesses to the Greek philosophers in Athens in ch17, for instance, it’s very different from Peter’s sermonette here in ch3. Paul doesn’t quote Scripture, the Old Testament, to the Epicureans and Stoics; cuz it wasn’t “Scripture”, inspired writing, for them. As a matter of fact, Paul’s gonna quote their OWN pagan philosophers in his presentation of the gospel! Can you imagine quoting a passage of the Qur’an to share the gospel with your Muslim neighbor? Or using Nietzsche to witness to your humanist co-worker?
Because he’s evangelizing an entirely Jewish audience here, Peter references “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… the God of our fathers,” who “spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets… Samuel and those after him”, and he quotes from Deuteronomy 18, and Genesis 22 and 26.
Because we want to accommodate our evangelism to our audience, so we can share the good news with folks in a way they can understand.
This is why I had to get out of youth ministry. Cuz I didn’t know what a TikTok was, who Billie Eilish was, what “sussy” meant, and more importantly, I stopped CARING. TBH, I started getting ANNOYED, with GenZ subculture.
But the truth is, the church can’t afford to get annoyed and just give up on the culture. It may get harder and harder for us to “accommodate”; to translate the gospel into terms our culture understands, when apparently, judging from the TV shows and music our culture produces, every other word used in normal, everyday conversations outside the church these days is a “four letter” one.
Which mainstream movies, shows and artists can we, should we, even stomach anymore, as Christians, if we’re going to stay connected and “fluent” in our culture.
Where exactly is that line drawn that we’re called to walk between being “IN the world” but “not OF the world”? We have to be distinct enough FROM the world that we’re still light and salt – “if salt loses its saltiness it’s USELESS” – and yet salt has to pressed INTO decaying meat in order to be effective as a preservative; light has to shine INTO the darkness, to be helpful. How far INTO the culture should we go, as believers?
These are all fair questions that deserve discussion – gracious, charitable discussion – amongst Christians who may have different approaches but who share the same goal: reaching OUR culture today with the good news of Jesus.
#4 – Sometimes, meeting peoples’ spiritual needs will mean being ACCOSTING. (3:13b-15a) To “accost” is to “confront boldly”.
Just listen to how Peter “boldly confronts” his listeners in vv13-15: I think it’s kind of fun to imagine Peter here as a seminarianenrolled in a Homiletics course taught by Joel Osteen. And the assignment is to write the sermon you’d preach if you had the chance to address the crowd who crucified your best friend and their Messiah, Jesus. And when it’s Peter’s turn, he stands up in front of the class and exclaims, “the God of our fathers glorified his servant[b] Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life”.
And Professor Joel interrupts him, **“Peter, I’m gonna stop you right there. I LOVE your passion, your enthusiasm. But I have found, in my years of ministry, that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. People don’t need to be told how BAD and SINFUL they are; they get beat down enough by the world, Monday to Saturday. On Sundays, we need to remind them of how GOOD they are. Of how much God LOVES them; they’re the apple of his eye, the most important thing in the WORLD to Him. And don’t forget to SMILE.”
But friends, the good news of the gospel isn’t really GOOD without the BAD news about our sin. It doesn’t even make any SENSE! If we’re just good people deserving of God’s love, how do you explain Him sending His only SON to die on a CROSS? What’s the point, if we aren’t wicked SINNERS in desperate need of forgiveness?
No, we need to KNOW that we’re sinners. Peter’s gonna say in v19, “Repent… and turn back, that your SINS may be blotted out”; there IS no salvation without repentance. Without recognizing you’re on the WRONG path, and making a conscious decision to turn FROM your sin, and trusting in JESUS instead. But that means people need to be WARNED about their sin; about the path they’re on, and where it leads.
We took the kids to this neat little wildlife sanctuary last week, where you follow this path through the woods and you come out in a little clearing and there’s a big enclosure with two giant black bears. And you go a little farther down the path and there are a couple panthers. A little farther and there’s the reptiles – the alligators and water moccasins. NOW imagine there were no cages. And by God’s grace, we’d noticed the deadly animals far enough in the distance to slowly back pedal and turn and run for it. But while we’re running, we pass another family, running just as fast down the path in the WRONG direction, TOWARDS the bears and panthers and alligators. How much would I have to HATE them not to WARN them. To let them keep running toward imminent DEATH, without so much as a warning. I can’t make ‘em turn around. But I can at LEAST warn them. Even ACCOST them – “boldlyconfront them” – if necessary, to do everything in my power to try and stop them.
Charles Spurgeon said, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not ONE go unwarned and unprayed for.” Amen.
#5 – We should Be ATTRIBUTIVE. (3:15b-16) Namely, we attribute ALL credit and praise for ANY healing – physical or spiritual – that any ONE – ourselves or others – may experience to JESUS.
We are Ancillary, Un-Assuming, and Attributive. The point’s so important, Peter repeats it a THIRD time now.
V15: “You killed the Author of life (the BAD news…) whom God raised from the dead (the GOOD news! Jesus didn’t STAY dead! He ROSE to defeat sin and Hell and death forever, for all who would simply trust in Him by faith!). To this we are witnesses. 16 And HIS name, JESUS —by faith in his name (there it is!) —has made this man strong.”
Let me give you 3 reasons why it’s such a GOOD thing that Jesus gets all the credit for saving sinners:
1) You can’t save anyone. Remember, Jesus said it’s harder to heal people SPIRITUALLY than it is to miraculously snap their bones back in place, and you can’t even do that. So you and I don’t have a SHOT of saving anyone spiritually. We can preach the gospel til we’re BLUE in the face, and we SHOULD, but we have absolutely NO power to change someone’s heart. Only GOD can do that. So if any of you have been carrying THAT weight around for too long now, you can just lay it down where it belongs, at the foot of the cross. I know men – godly, faithful men – who aren’t sure they’re qualified to be elders of the church because Titus 1:6 says an elder’s children must be “faithful”, and they interpret that to mean “SAVING faith” in Christ, instead of simply raising loyal, devoted kids who they PRAY desperately that GOD will save, but in whose hearts they have absolutely NO ability to control for outcome. You can’t save your kids. I can’t save mine. But that’s good news, because if we COULD, we’d probably screw it up anyway.
But #2) Jesus CAN save anyone. He alone gets the praise, because He alone has the power to save. And He really can save ANYONE; the people in your life you don’t even BOTHER praying for anymore, cuz honestly, it seems so IMPOSSIBLE that they’d ever surrender to Jesus. People like ME. People like you. Jesus can and does save. Praise God!
And thirdly, it’s good news that Jesus does the saving because We can TRUST Him. Jesus promised that God gives good gifts to His children who ask of Him. And there’s no BETTER gift than salvation. We know that 1 Timothy 2:4, God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”. So we just keep praying, and preaching, and loving on them and trusting in Him, and God’s word will not return void.
And when He saves, GOD gets all the praise.
#6 – We need to Be AMICABLE. (3:17) “Characterized by or showing goodwill; friendly; peaceable”.
Peter doesn’t pull any punches here: “you killed the Author of life”! But then the very next thing he does is bend over backward in v17 to assume the BEST about their motives and to try and build bridges (not BURN them) in order to WIN his listeners to Christ – “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” Peter refers to them affectionately as “brothers”, and he says, “I know you didn’t, you MUSTN’T, have known what you were DOING, when you killed Jesus”; Jesus himself affirmedas much, didn’t he, when he prayed on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for… [WHAT? they know NOT what they do].”
So Peter doesn’t layer on the guilt and condemnation. Yes, they need to know they’ve sinned against God. But they ALSO need to know that Peter isn’t looking down his NOSE at them – that he’s a sinner TOO, after all! – that’s probably why Jesus ordained that Peter, of all his disciples, and in Jesus’ hour of greatest need, would deny Jesus not once, not twice, but THREE times; so that Peter would never be tempted to look down on anyone ELSE for denying Christ.
No, Peter can EMPATHIZE with them. “Look: I needed Jesus’ grace and forgiveness just as much as Y’ALL do now!” And after he accosts them with the bad news about their sin, he is amicable in sharing the GOOD news about a Savior. He doesn’t THREATENthem with hellfire and brimstone from a megaphone and soapbox; he INVITES them, lovingly, to “turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord”. What a beautiful word; our vacation was REFRESHING. Peter says, “You want to be SPIRITUALLY refreshed? Come to Jesus.”
And bad impersonations aside, you really DO win more flies with honey than with vinegar, don’t you? Peter will put it this way, years later, in his first NT letter: “always [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 3:15).
The word we sometimes use today is “WINSOME”; we wanna be winsome – “kindly pleasing; attractive; appealing; engaging; winning”. Amicable.
Is that us, church?
And YET, #7 – we’ve ALSO got to Be ADAMANT. (3:18-19) “Unyielding,” in our stand for the truth.
Peter knows, as Paul will write later, that Christ is a “stumbling block to the Jews” (1 Cor 1:23); but he preaches Christ crucified and resurrected anyway in vv18-19. He is ADAMANT.
Boy, that’s a tough balance to strike, isn’t it? To be both AMICABLE and ADAMANT. To be equally winsome about the good news of the gospel… and yet unyielding about people’s sin and their need FOR salvation?
And while we’re at it, we can add #8 – our need to Be ADJURING. (3:19-20) To adjure is “to charge or command earnestly; to entreat or request solemnly.”
Peter ADJURES them, he PLEADS with them, in v19: “Repent… turn back”.
“If sinners be damned, let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies… with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay.”
# 9 – We must Be ASSURING. (3:21-26) Specifically, we need to assure people of 3 unavoidable and imperative biblical truths;Peter assures his listeners that:
#1) God has fulfilled his OT promises to us in Jesus. V21: Jesus is the fulfillment of “all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” Jesus is the fulfillment, v22, of MOSES’ promise that “‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.” v24: “ALL the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, alsoproclaimed these days.”
Secondly, Peter assures them that if they REJECT Jesus, they are in ETERNAL trouble. V23: “You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does NOT listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’”
But thirdly and conversely, Peter assures them that if they will RECEIVE Jesus, they will be delivered and eternally blessed; v26: “God, having raised up his servant [Jesus], sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.””
That’s a pretty good, concise list, of the core, essential GOSPEL truths that we need to ASSURE folks of:
1) God has spoken to us in His word, the Bible, and JESUS, His SON, the Word made flesh, is the fulfillment and focus of all of Scripture.
2) To REJECT Jesus means spiritual suicide: Jn 3:18 “whoever does not believe is condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ” Jesus said in John 14:6 – “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (not “A” way, “A” truth…); NO ONE comes to the Father but through me.”
But 3) To RECEIVE Jesus means blessing and assurance and salvation and LIFE: “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
What a privilege, to be God’s appointed messengers, his mouthpieces, for announcing the good news of the gospel. And YET, as we do so, along the way…
#10 – We need to Be ADVISED. (4:1-3) Be forewarned. That we WILL face opposition, if we look and talk and act and love anything LIKE Jesus. If we are faithful followers AT ALL, Jesus promised us: “If they hated me, they will hate you also. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (Jn 15:18-20).
And that’s exactly what happens to Peter and John as chapter 4 opens. The Jewish leaders come and lock them up.
So just be advised: if you want to be the most popular employee in the office… the most liked neighbor in the cul-de-sac… the most appreciated voice on the PTA board… don’t follow Jesus. He didn’t make folks popular 2,000 years ago, and he won’t make you popular today.
But #11, if we faithfully follow Him, come what may, we can be ANTICIPATORY (4:4) that God will bless the ministry of His word, and that He’ll use us to reach others in His name. “But many of those who had heard the word [Peter spoke] believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.”
The harvest is plentiful. The laborers are few. I believe God wants to do a great work in our city through the ministry of this church. Are we ASKING Him to do it, and then EXPECTING that He will?
Let’s pray.