Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas (Acts 1:12-26)

Welcome and Announcements

No Bible Study & Prayer this Wednesday—let me encourage you to take the time that you’d otherwise spend driving here and being here to connect with or reconnect with someone in your life that you’ve lost contact with for the purpose of sharing the Gospel with them. You can do this through a meal or you could do this really in any way that you would prefer, but please be intentional with using the time for the Gospel. We’ll be back on our regular worship schedule by Sunday.

Church Workday on October 1, 2022 starting at 9:30am—please let me know if you plan on being there so that we can get an idea of all that we can get done that day.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.giving.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 62:9-12)

Our Call to Worship this morning is the last four verses of Psalm 62, which ends this psalm by contrasting man regardless of man’s stature with that of whom God is. The psalm ends by David pointing out God’s power, His steadfast love, and the judgment that God will enact on mankind. Please stand and read with me Psalm 62:9-12—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses; please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 62:9–12 ESV

9 Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. 10 Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them. 11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, 12 and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

Congregational Singing

Behold our God (126)

The Solid Rock (381)

Take my Life and Let it Be (393)

Scripture Reading (Ps 32)

Scripture reading this morning is Psalm 32, which is a psalm of David that expresses thee joy of being forgiven. David recalls a time in his life in which he refused to repent and tried to hide his sin, but when he finally repented there was gladness and joy in the Lord. Natalie, can you read Psalm 32 for us?

Preaching of God’s Word (Acts 1:12-26)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Acts 1:12-26.

At this point, we’re week three in our series on the Acts of the Apostles. So far, we’ve worked through a lot of introductory material and last week, we studied through this last statement given by Jesus just prior to His ascension of Jesus. We learned of Jesus’ ascension and then we read a statement from two angels concerning Jesus’ eventual return.

This morning’s text continues in the historical narrative and in it, we see the apostles choose a replacement apostle for Judas Iscariot. Let’s read Acts 1:12-26 together.

Acts 1:12–26 ESV

12 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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Setting (12-20) and (2) The Casting of Lots (21-26). Now, I realize that a big portion of this text is more geared towards explaining the setting at hand, but you’ll see very clearly that there’s a reason for this because the setting is what necessitates the Casting of Lots in the second section. This morning’s text will show us how the disciples went about replacing Judas and it’ll give us a decent idea of the proper way of making God-honoring and biblical decisions.

Prayer for Illumination

The Setting (12-20)

Our text starts this morning by continuing the historical narrative. Remember last week’s message ended with Jesus ascending into the heavens and the two angels telling the disciples that Jesus would return in a like manner. And then in vv. 12-14 we see that the disciples left the area that they saw Jesus ascend to return to Jerusalem. V. 12 tells us that “they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.”

This tells us the location of where Jesus’ ascension took place, the “Mount called Olivet” or we might simply refer to it as the Mount of Olives.

The Mount of Olives sat east just across from what we would consider Jerusalem proper adjacent to the temple mount. It’s a significant location as it’s also the location of Gethsemane and is where Jesus was arrested prior to His death, burial, and resurrection.

And clearly, the Mount of Olives happens to be where the ascension of Jesus occurred because contextually, it’s clear that this is where they were before heading back to Jerusalem and this is where the ascension took place.

The phrase, “a Sabbath day’s journey away,” doesn’t imply that the ascension occurred on the Sabbath, but rather that the distance between the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem itself was what was considered as far as you could walk on the Sabbath without breaking the Talmud—the Jewish traditions based on the Law. (According to John Polhill, that distance was about 3/4s of a mile.)

Once they entered back into Jerusalem, “they went up to the upper room, where they were staying” and then Luke records who all were in this room, Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, Simon, and the other Judas.

Now the naming of all who were in the room was done specifically by Luke because of the purpose of this book—to provide an orderly account of all the events.

It also helps in giving us an idea of who all witnessed Jesus’ ascension and it provides us with an idea of who is in the room after witnessing the ascension.

And we’re told that all of these along “with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and [Jesus’] brothers were all “with one accord . . . devoting themselves to prayer.”

We aren’t exactly told what they’re praying for, but considering the fact that Jesus had told them that the Holy Spirit was to come upon them before they went out to proclaim the Gospel, we could assume that they were praying for the Holy Spirit to come.

Or, if we consider the fact that they’re about to choose a new apostle to replace Judas, which we see later in this passage, they could be praying concerning the decision that they’re about to make.

Again, we aren’t entirely sure because Scripture doesn’t give us those details.

We simply see that the original eleven along with the women, Mary, and Jesus’ brothers are all gathered in the upper room in which they’re praying. And this is the setting for the narrative that we’re studying.

Luke then continues in vv. 15-20 by recording a statement made by Peter. Peter stands up and speaks to everyone—v. 15 says that “Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, ‘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.”

Peter points out some prophetic words given by David, but before he actually quotes the words themselves, he gives some other details:

He tells this group of about 120 people that what occurred was the fulfillment of Scripture, which honestly, is probably something that needed to be reiterated because after witnessing all that occurred with Jesus’ arrest, death, and burial—even with the resurrection and ascension, there’s almost certainty that some would still feel uneasy about all that happened.

All that happened would still have caused great uncertainty; just consider the fact that they’re only about a month and a half from the date that Jesus was crucified. And they just witnessed Jesus ascending into heaven, of course there would be great uncertainty in all that happened.

And yet, Peter says that all that had happened happened to fulfill Scripture, which was spoken through the mouth of David by the Holy Spirit concerning Judas.

Or in other words, despite the fact that all that occurred probably shocked and discouraged the disciples; and despite the fact that they’re probably facing an emotional roller coaster after watching Jesus ascend into heaven, Peter says that all of it was planned and all of it was accomplished just in the right way to fulfill Scripture.

What exactly fulfilled Scripture? V. 16b-17 answers that question for us, that Judas “became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For [or because] he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in the ministry.”

The fact that Jesus was betrayed by Judas despite Judas being counted as an original disciple is what was prophesied by David in the Psalms.

And we see that prophecy in v. 20, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and ‘Let another take his office.’”

The first quote comes from Psalm 69, which is originally a psalm concerning the enemies of David surrounding him and David crying out or calling for help.

The second quote comes from Psalm 109.

Luke utilizes both of these quotes by making it clear that just like David was unfairly attacked and harmed by his enemies, so was Jesus; and just like David’s enemies were unjust and unrighteous in what they did, so was Judas.

And yet, what Judas did was a fulfillment of Scripture.

Now, I’m sure you noticed that there was a rather long parenthetical phrase that covers both v. 18 and v. 19. “Now this man [meaning Judas] acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 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.”

Because it’s clearly parenthetical and just utilizing context clues, I’m sure you can tell that these two sentences are not necessary for properly understanding the text at hand, however, because Luke insisted on recording these details by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we do need to take a few minutes to talk about the details.

We’re told that Judas bought a field utilizing “the reward of his wickedness,” which clearly refers to the money that was given to him by the high priests for betraying Jesus.

And then we’re given several rather gruesome details concerning Judas’ death itself—details concerning him falling headlong and his bowels gushing out after his stomach burst open. It doesn’t sound pleasant and it might cause you to ask why exactly Luke gives these details and there’s two possible reasons for it:

As a physician, writing about the history of the first-century New Testament church, he might simply be recording these details because he’s a detail-oriented type of person. His profession requires this.

Patrick Schreiner offers a different suggestion, “The overt focus on the specifics of Judas’s fate might seem odd to readers . . . Judas is the archetypal example of the death of the wicked following the fate of Jezebel . . . Judas is . . . the first of many figures to experience judgment in Acts.” (Patrick Schreiner, Acts, Christian Standard Commentary, (Nashville: Holman Reference, 2021) 101-102.)

Either suggestion is plausible and explains why Luke would bother to write all the different details concerning Judas’ death.

Probably the most notable aspect of the details given in the parenthesis, is that the location of Judas’ death was known to all in Jerusalem—so much so, that they gave it the nickname of “Field of Blood.”

Basically, what we see Peter stating in vv. 15-20 is that what occured to Jesus was to be expected because it was prophesied about in the Old Testament; thus, what we see him quote from Psalm 109 concerning Judas’ replacement also needs to happen. This is the setting and the motivation behind what they do next in vv. 21-26. Let’s read these verses again.

The Casting of Lots (21-26)

Acts 1:21–26 ESV

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.

Of course, the decision as to who replaces Judas, one of the original twelve, is an important decision and there are requirements that have to be met by whomever replaces him.

The primary requirement is given in vv. 21-22, “One of these men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 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.” The requirement is actually pretty simple:

Whoever replaces Judas had to have been with them for the entirety of Jesus’ ministry—starting with his baptism and ending with the ascension.

In particular, the person had to have been a witness to Jesus’ resurrection.

This is the primary qualification of all apostles, Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians—that he is an apostle only because he saw the resurrected Jesus face-to-face, physically on the road to Damascus.

In order to replace one of the original twelve, who then became the apostles spoken about throughout the New Testament, the replacement had to have been a witness to the resurrection of Jesus and the passage makes it clear that there were two who fit this requirement.

Note that the text doesn’t say that they were the only two possible candidates; these were just the two that were suggested by the others in v. 23, “They put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.” We know very little about both of these men:

In fact, everything that we know about this person named Joseph or Barsabbas or Justus is really summed up in this verse. We know that he was apparently a witness of Jesus’ ministry and His resurrection—and we know that His Jewish name was Joseph, his nickname was Barsabbas, and his Latin name was Justus. Scripture never mentions him again.

Matthias is introduced to us with even less fanfare, we’re just told he was a witness of Jesus’ ministry and His resurrection, and his name was Matthias. And with the exception of v. 26, Scripture never mentions him again.

All we know is that they fit the requirements proposed by Peter and they were the ones who were recommended to fill the position.

And then the text continues by telling us how the process of selecting the replacement for Judas went. Vv. 24-26, “And they [meaning the apostles] prayed and said, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”

They start with prayer, which though it might seem like an obvious thing for them to do, I think we’d all admit that many of us make decisions without bothering to pray.

In the case of the apostles who were looking to replace Judas, their prayer is really predicated on the fact that God knows the hearts of Joseph and Matthias and that because God knows the hearts of man there really is no one better to make a decision such as this than God Himself.

In fact, the method that they utilize to select the replacement is based on the idea that they want God to make the decision.

They pray, they mention in their prayer that God knows the hearts of all and they simply ask God to “show which one of these two [He has] chosen” for the purpose of replacing Judas.

And then they cast lots, which brings up a lot of different questions. Such as:

What does it mean to cast lots? — Casting lots was done in the ancient world as a means to make decisions when a decision couldn’t be made easily—consider the Roman soldiers who cast lots to take Jesus’ clothes during His crucifixion, or even all the way back to Jonah on the ship during the storm—the sailors cast lots to make a significant decision.

The concept is mentioned about seventy times throughout the Old Testament and it’s mentioned just a handful of times just prior to Pentecost, but it disappears completely after Pentecost.

Whenever it was done biblically, according to the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible “lots seem to have been used only when the decision was important and where wisdom or biblical injunctions did not give sufficient guidance.” (Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Lots, Casting of,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988, 1356)

And basically, though we aren’t positive on what exactly it was, it seems that there were marked stones placed into a container, shaken, and then cast out with the lots providing the answer that they were looking for.

Now, you might ask “are they leaving the decision up to chance”? — and the answer to that is, that when it was done biblically no, because God had actually told them to utilize this method when seeking an answer from God, Himself. Again, look at the prayer that Peter prays in Acts 1, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen.”

The casting of lots done in the Old Testament and into the New Testament before the day of Pentecost didn’t leave the decision up to chance, it based the decision on God’s sovereignty and providence.

Because they understood that God was in control and because God, Himself, had told the Israelites to do this multiple times throughout the Old Testament, they left it up to God to reveal His decision by picking whatever lot that God wanted them to pick.

Should they have cast lots instead of making the decision in another way? — there are some scholars who make the argument that what they did here wasn’t right. They make that assertion based on the fact that it does seem like they’re leaving this decision up to chance and then they make the argument that God never recognized Matthias as an apostle because Scripture doesn’t mention Matthias again.

The issue is that these are both assertions made not based on what Scripture says, but on making inferences about why Scripture doesn’t say anything else about Matthias.

The reality is that the casting of lots was a common thing to do during that time period because God had told the Israelites to utilize that method when needing an answer from Him concerning issues like this.

If they did do something wrong in this situation, it wasn’t for casting lots; it would have been the simple truth that Jesus, before His ascension told them to essentially wait for the coming Holy Spirit; and then they didn’t wait.

Should they have not done this? It’s too difficult of a question to answer because Scripture doesn’t give us an impression one way or another—and to make assumptions based on what Scripture hasn’t said, is a bit foolish.

But I will say, before we move into application this morning, it is important to note that the casting of lots was done before the Holy Spirit indwelled God’s people permanently—this is not how decisions are to be made now and if you read the New Testament carefully, you’ll notice that they don’t cast lots for anything again. And this is really where our application starts coming in. There are two primary applications that I want us to see: the first has to do with (1) God’s Providence (12-20) and the second has to do with Biblical Decision-making (21-26).

Application

God’s Providence (12-20)—you cannot read vv. 12-20 without coming to the realization that even in one of the most nerve-racking and devastating times for the apostles themselves—they witnessed Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and now ascension. Jesus has given them a commission or a command to do, but they’re to wait for the Holy Spirit before doing it. Now, this is more of a side-application for the passage, but it is worth reflecting on; and the application is this: trust God’s sovereignty and how He providentially works all things out.

We tend, particularly in really difficult situations in life to make the assumption that we need to have a plan and then a backup plan and then another backup plan.

We stress ourselves out trying to come up with different ways to solve problems, which on occasion are simply issues that we have absolutely no control over whatsoever.

As we allow our anxiety to build up worrying about these various issues, we tend to slide into sinful depression, further anxiety, and faithlessness.

But consider the disciples in this situation, after all they’ve witnessed and after seeing Jesus ascend, Peter calls them to remember that all these things were meant to happen—they were prophesied about.

Or in other words, Peter believed that God was and is sovereign and that God providentially worked all these things out in such a way that even though they felt as if things were completely out of control—they knew God had everything under control.

That’s relatively easy and simple to apply in your current life situation—God is completely sovereign; He is in control; and He providentially works all things out.

So trust Him, have faith in Him, and learn to rely on Him even when situations in life are completely out of your control.

Biblical Decision-making (21-26)—I pointed out multiple times that this method of decision-making—casting lots and praying that God answers the prayer through the lot-casting was something that was done in the Old Testament and at the chronological start of the New testament—more specifically before the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit permanently started to indwell God’s people. Clearly then, since the Holy Spirit does indwell His people and since it’s clear that we don’t see casting lots as a factor for decision-making after that point, the question is how are we to make biblical decisions today? This question will drive the remainder of our application.

Now, before I point out anything else, I do want to explain one issue. In our modern-day world, we’re blessed with two different things that the apostles in Acts 1 didn’t have—(1) we have the Word of God readily available in our own language and (2) we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

Thus, when it comes to our decision making process, we have to start with what we know is the Word of God. Biblical decision-making assumes that what Scripture says is right and we base that assumption on its source.

Because Scripture is the breathed-out Words of God, we assume that whatever Scripture says is genuinely from God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “16 All Scripture is [breathed out] by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.”

Which means, that whenever we’re making a decision, if the Bible clearly speaks about it, then we need to go with whatever Scripture teaches regardless of if it’s something that we don’t necessarily want to do.

For instance, and this is a bit of a silly illustration—if I leave this morning and see a wonderful car that I would love to have and I think to myself—I would really like that car, maybe I should just steal it.

Knowing that Scripture clearly speaks out against theft—thou shalt not steal should be enough for me to recognize that stealing that car wouldn’t be a biblically sound idea.

You can apply that to every sin related issue that Scripture is clear on.

If Scripture outrightly says not to do something—you don’t even have to consider whether it’s right for you to do it, Scripture already said no. Likewise, if Scripture says that you ought to do something—you don’t even have to consider whether it’s wrong for you not to do it, Scripture already said that you ought to do it.

Thinking biblically concerning issues that are blatant and clear in Scripture is simple. If the Bible says that you ought to do it—do it; if it says that you shouldn’t do it, then don’t do it.

The question is, what do we do in situations when Scripture doesn’t give a black and white answer—like, for instance, should Matthias be an apostle or should Joseph be an apostle?

What we see in Acts 1, despite the fact that they utilized a different method of decision-making than we ought to today, is that their decision-making process concerning an issue that didn’t have a clear right or wrong answer started with prayer. We could rightfully say biblical decision-making assumes Scripture is correct on all matters and when we’re dealing with something that isn’t outrightly answered in Scripture, we need to start with prayer.

We see this when it’s just the eleven with Jesus’ mother and brothers are in the upper room in v. 14 “with one accord . . . devoting themselves to prayer.” And then we see this again in vv. 24-25 when Peter prays before they cast lots, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside.”

While we don’t know precisely what they were praying in the upper room, I think we could make some educated suggestions:

They’re praying for the Holy Spirit to come,

They’re praying for comfort in such distressing time,

They’re praying for wisdom to know what to do next.

Of course, we know what Peter is praying for as he leads the disciples to choose a new apostle—he’s praying for God to providentially move in such a way that they recognize who God has picked for their replacement.

Now, for them, this is a major decision—at that time, there were eleven apostles, they were picking their twelfth apostle; there were only ever thirteen apostles according to the New Testament; it is a very big deal that they were picking a new apostle whatsoever, so of course, they’re going to saturate the decision-making process in prayer.

You might think that this is an obvious thing to do, but let me ask you, how frequently do you make decisions without any sort of prayer whatsoever?

How often are you making decisions—even major decisions without bothering to pray at all?

How many times are you making the decisions, going through with whatever you decided to do, and then realize that you should’ve prayed for the decision—so, you utter a quick prayer asking for things to work out ok anyways?

While we don’t know for sure what they were praying in the upper room, the prayer given by Peter makes it abundantly clear that before they made a major decision, they asked God to providentially show them which way to go and what decision to make.

And lastly biblical decision-making relies on God for wisdom. The whole casting of lots event derives from their desire for God to make the decision and then providentially pick which lot ought to be selected.

As I said earlier this morning, the practice of casting lots ended after this very event because of the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell God’s people.

But, we are blessed in that we have the Holy Spirit and we have the Word of God. I believe it was Alistair Begg who once said, that the Bible is absolutely useful for us; if only we’d actually read it.

In situations in life when Scripture doesn’t give us a yes or no or necessarily a right or wrong, it does give us principles that we ought to remember.

Should I go buy that really nice car that I was tempted to steal in my earlier illustration? Well it depends:

Scripture teaches us to be good stewards of what we’ve been given—so, can I afford this car? Or is it a car way out of my price range?

Should I go and by a brand new Corvette? Or should I buy something more suitable for my present lifestyle?

Will I be able to afford the insurance or the maintenance on that vehicle? Or would it put me in a position in which I would have to choose to pay for my insurance or feed my family?

Should I take a job working at one business or at another business? Well, it depends:

If both jobs offer the same pay and the same benefits and are relatively the same distance, then maybe you have to pose different questions.

If I take this job, will I still be able to attend church faithfully? Will I still be able to serve my community, will I still be home at a decent enough time to spend time with my family or spend time in Scripture?

If I take this job, will it influence my relationship with Jesus in a negative way whatsoever?

These are the types of questions that you ought to ask when Scripture doesn’t outrightly give a yes or no answer to the question that you have because in issues not involving sin, it’s a question of conscience and it’s a question of whether you can serve God better or not.

The wisdom that God grants through Scripture will help in making these decisions, but you’ll only see the help that Scripture gives, when you read it and you study it and you learn to delight in it.

What we learn from a passage like Acts 1:12-26 is two-fold: (1) even in times of life that are wildly out of control, God is still sovereign and He still works providentially, so trust Him; and (2) when faced with making decisions that don’t necessarily have a right or wrong answer—we need to pray, think biblically, and rely on God for wisdom.

Learn to make biblical decisions—if Scripture says no, then don’t do it; if it says yes, then do it. In all other instances where there is no right or wrong, pray and rely on the wisdom that God has already given you in His Word.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

Be Thou My Vision (176)