In the sermon titled 'Actively Waiting upon the Lord,' Trent Moody examines the period described in Acts 1:15-26, where the disciples are in a waiting phase after Jesus's ascension and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Moody emphasizes that waiting on the Lord is not a passive activity but involves active engagement with God's Word and prayer. He highlights Peter's leadership role as he guides the disciples in understanding the fulfillment of scripture regarding Judas's betrayal and the necessity of replacing him with Matthias. The sermon underlines the importance of not drawing from personal resources but seeking strength and wisdom from God's Word. Moody stresses that, like the disciples, believers should actively wait by engaging with scripture, praying for guidance, and trusting in God's sovereign plan. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to learn from the disciples' unity and commitment to seeking God's will.

All right, one of the challenges about preaching in the afternoon, obviously, is you've got your bellies full and now you're going to sit still. So let's seek to be attentive to God's Word. One of the things, the main theme that I want to speak to you about in the book of Acts, we're going to continue on in our study in Acts. We're going to be looking in Acts chapter 1 verses 15 through 26. And kind of the overall thought that I want to speak to you about is actively waiting upon the Lord.

And that seems somewhat like a contradiction, but there are actually things that we do while we wait upon the Lord. And in this passage, I believe that we see that. So turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts and turn, look to number verses 15 through the end of the chapter. And we read in verse 15, and in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, altogether the number of names was about 120, and said, Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. And, or for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.

Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all of its intervals gushed out, and it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem. So that field is called in their own language, a keldamah, that is, field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in it and let another take his office. Therefore of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John to the day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. And they purposed two, Joseph called Bar-Savvus, whose surname was Justus and Matthias.

And they prayed and said, You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas, by transgression, fell, that he might go to his own place and they cast their lots and the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Let's ask the Lord's blessing upon his word. Our Father We thank you for every word that is in the Bible. We thank you, Lord, because it is your word. It is the word of the living God.

And we know that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for our souls. And so Lord, I pray today that this word we would find very profitable to our souls as we learn to wait upon the Lord. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31 says, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Psalm 27 14 says, wait on the Lord. Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart wait I say on the Lord." As I was studying for this through this passage this week and looking in this and many people have even asked me so what are you going to preach this next section and just kind of it's a narrative and how does it apply to us and what benefit will it be for us? And it's very interesting and this almost always happens when you really begin to study God's Word.

You begin to see such wonderful principles and presets, such wonderful things even in narratives that are instructive to us, instructive to our souls and helpful for us. And as I began a few weeks ago speaking about the book of Acts, we're going into a narrative text. This is something where we will see many things spoken of. And one of the things I discussed about that and kind of gave you a preface towards is that when we look into a narrative text, we see things that are descriptive. They describe to us what took place.

But not everything that we read is prescriptive, prescribing for us how we should emulate that. So we have to do the work of looking and discerning through those differences there between what is being told for us to do or to obey a command or to obey some principle, or what is it there that is just descriptive of actually what took place in that time period and in this text. And in this one, we do see something that's very descriptive, but what I believe that we will see is that there are also some really helpful principles that we see that I pray will be a blessing to you. I wrote what I don't normally do this but just to give you a theme of what I'm wanting to get our minds around as we actively wait upon the Lord and it is this, in times of waiting upon the Lord, a true disciple of Christ does not pull from his own resources but draws strength, wisdom, and consolation from the Word of God. So there are going to be times and seasons in your life where you are called to wait upon the Lord, to wait for the next step in your life, the next thing that the Lord may be doing.

You may be in a season like that right now, you feel like you're just in a waiting phase in your life. You may be single and thinking, I'm what now? Wait upon the Lord. Actively wait upon the Lord. So the disciples found themselves in this situation and my first point that I want you to grab a hold of is this, the disciples waited but were not idle.

They waited but were not idle. He says here in verse 15, in those days, and then we know this in verse 15, and in those days Peter stood up. One of the things that we often do, we read through a passage so quickly that we forget to stop and ask ourselves a question. In what days? He says, and in those days, which days are these?

These are the days that Peter had commanded them earlier in verses four and five, and if you'll look there in verses four and five, he says, in being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." So we know that there's this time period of about ten days, of ten days that they are waiting upon the Lord. They're waiting for the promise of the Father. We know and understand that this waiting time or this promise of the Father is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God which we're going to get to next time in chapter 2, but before we get to this glorious promise of the Father and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon His people, we're waiting. That's where they found themselves. These 10 days they're in the upper room, they're waiting.

We saw last time that they had had these all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication and they were gathered together praying and seeking the Lord's counsel in those times and just praying to God and supplications and asking the Lord to help them. So one of the things that strikes me about this section though is that in these days we need to ask those questions and consider what is going on and what they must be going through. We find the early disciples doing just what God had commanded them to do. They were waiting upon the Lord, but they were not idle as they waited. You know, I guess this is just the way my mind works.

I asked myself these questions. What were they waiting on and what were they doing while they were waiting? I think it's instructive for us to ask scripture questions. That last song that we just sang, almost entirely questions. Did you notice that?

Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you truly trusting in the Savior's power? Question after question after question. That we're asking, we're singing questions to ourselves, which helps us to understand where we are. Those are helpful questions.

There's helpful questions that you can ask the Word of God that will be instructive. So again, I'm not saying that everything that we're going to look at is prescriptive, but I do believe that what everything we're going to look at is going to be instructive for us and helpful for us. So these early disciples, as they were gathered there together, we know from our reading that there was about 120 of them in this upper room. They were there. And what we see is Peter begins to show signs of leadership.

It says, in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples. Altogether the number of names was about 120 and said. Peter was addressing the disciples who were there, these 120. It's interesting because Peter is the one that was the main focus of having denied the Lord. He was the one that three times denied the Lord, but if you notice in those passages and we looked at it last time, they all forsook him.

But it seems like the big focus is on that Peter forsook him. It gave it brought us right into that narrative and right into that story of Peter denying three times that he even knew him. And yet now we see Peter standing up in the midst of 120 disciples and he's addressing them. We remember what Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22 and the Lord said, Simon, Simon indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren." Peter remembered that. When you have returned, what really great consolation for the Apostle Peter.

Even though he had denied the Lord three times, the Lord Jesus looked at him and he said, when you are restored, strengthen your brethren. And so now in this time of waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter took that to heart. He believed the Scripture. He believed what the Lord Jesus had told him. He understood through his repentance that he had been restored and now his focus was to strengthen the brethren.

And what was he going to do? He was going to help them to understand all that the Scripture was teaching. He goes in and we'll look at this, that he quotes the Old Testament and he says that these things must be fulfilled. He says and so now here we have Peter doing exactly what the Lord had said he was to do. He's strengthening his brethren by leading them to see that all these things, all of these negative things that they had seen, the crucifixion of Christ, the burial of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and now the Judas being, going out and committing suicide, all of these things, he's wanting to help everyone to understand that these are the fulfillment of God's Word.

The next thing that we see is that the disciples, it says the disciples altogether, the number of the names was about 120. This is somewhat of a side note, but I found it interesting, and you may too. This is not really a main point, but I think it's interesting. I've never noticed this before, but Luke says in this passage, the number of names. So often, it seems that we shy away from list and sorts within churches, and you'll hear some people deny membership of churches, it almost seems like they're taking a membership list here.

The number of the names of the disciples. This was important to them because these were the early disciples, these were about 120 of these who had come together. And now we know that there were more disciples in Jerusalem, but these were numbered and their names were given within this group. And it's a sort of a sign of a membership because becoming a part of a church means that you're becoming a part of a covenant group of people and there is a known relationship between you. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.

And here in this passage of scripture it says that the number of names was about 120. That's profitable for us. It helps us to understand something, that these early disciples were concerned about individuals. Your name meant something. Your name speaks of who you are.

Even especially in Hebrew, it's speaking about your character and the type of person that you were, we are to be people who care about one another. As I look out and I see each one of you here today, when I see you, I think of your name. And these names are precious to me because the people are precious to me. Again, somewhat of a side note, but I find it interesting and encouraging to me as I consider your names here before me. Notice, thirdly, their focus on the fulfillment of scripture.

Peter stands up and he's among the 120 disciples and he has something to say. He says, men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before the mouth of David concerning Judas. This scripture had to be fulfilled. So what is instructive about this? How does this instruct us and help us?

I believe that we are shown that they were actively thinking about what had taken place and they were putting it together. If you'll remember and I'll read it in just a few moments, but Jesus opened the scriptures to them in the law and in the prophets and in the Psalms. While they were waiting on the promise of God, they were not idle. They were actively engaged with each other in their life. They were actively thinking about the Word of God.

They were actively considering what God's Word had said. They were actively considering that this scripture must be fulfilled. It had to be fulfilled. All events were not happenstance. All of these negative things that were taking place and then we have the resurrection but then we have Judas.

Judas went out and hung himself. How did they feel about that? They walked with this man for three years and at the last supper they were all saying, is it me? So apparently they did not say, oh yeah, of course it's Judas. Judas is the one.

They didn't know who it was. So how did they feel about this situation with Judas going out and hanging himself. Peter stands up and he's warning them to understand, men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled. This was the will of God because it was something that was spoken, he says, which the Holy Spirit spoke before the mouth, excuse me, before by the mouth of David concerning Judas. He said, David spoke of this.

So these instances and these circumstances and these events were not happenstance but were providence. God was working all things according to the counsel of his own will and according to his purpose. In other words, what is prophesied will come about, will come about. God sovereignly brings it about according to the purpose and plan of his counsel. There are no accidents and there are no meaningless actions and there is no useless waiting upon the Lord.

Here they were in the upper room, I'm sure wondering, man, we need to get with it. We need to, he said go, but he said wait. There are no useless times in your life. There's not one second that God is not using in your life to teach you something. Now, he can't be teaching you something negative about your life.

He may be teaching you that you're a procrastinator. He can teach you that. That's still not useless. These disciples were waiting upon the Lord and these disciples were being exhorted by the Apostle Peter, remember, who had denied Christ but now he was commanded by Christ to strengthen his brethren and he's strengthening them by strengthening their understanding of the Word of God and that it had to be fulfilled. Ephesians 1 11 says, in him also we have obtained an inheritance bring predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

He is working all things according to the counsel of his will. We read in Matthew 10 verse 29, are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will." He doesn't say that he knows it when they fall. He says not one falls apart from his will. Your waiting upon the Lord should be an active waiting upon the Lord and your waiting is part of his will. This causes some people great trouble who have experienced great trials this week.

I was talking to that dear brother that Scott was talking about who witnessed the death of that man by fire. And I also talked to the man that was with him. These type things cause especially unbelievers great trouble. They cannot comprehend in their mind how God can allow these things to happen. They say in their mind, and this is the big question for many people who deny God, either God is not good or he's not powerful enough to do anything about it.

Neither of those are true. God is good and he is all-powerful. The problem is, is we have such a limited understanding of God's will. We have such a limited view of God and all that he can do and all that he is doing. For instance, let's pull back and look at this just for a minute.

They are coming off of the crucifixion of their Lord. That was a terrible circumstance. From their standpoint, they're looking. They believe that this is Christ. They believe that this is the Messiah.

And here he is. He's being flogged. He's being crucified. He's being buried. The unbeliever would say either God's not good or he's not powerful enough to do anything about it.

But as we read the rest of the story, we realize that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and because of his death, burial, and resurrection, salvation spread for all peoples. God was good and God is powerful. The problem is is we don't always see that clearly because of the very limited and finite nature of our thinking. They were considering these things. As you wait upon the Lord, consider the goodness of God and the power of God.

He's more than able to move you from your circumstances. He's more than able to get you out of your circumstances, but if you find yourself in those circumstances, wait upon the Lord, but don't wait idly upon the Lord. Consider these things because they are good and they are helpful, and when tragedy strikes close to your home, remember these things. Remind yourselves of them. Settle in your own heart that, in your reasoning, that why something happens you may not fully understand, But you will and should understand this, that God is good and that God can do all things.

You see these type situations will either drive you away from God or drive you to clinging to God that much more. We must actively wait upon the Lord as we consider the word of God. Next we see that they believe that the scriptures were the word of God. He says in this passage he speaks about it, this scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David. He's encompassing all of God's Word as being the very Word of God.

It's the Word of the Holy Spirit of God. And he understood that we were reminded of this in 2nd Peter 1.21 that I preached on when we were going through 2 Peter, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. That's what God's word is. We also know in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. This passage that we have before us this morning is so that you will be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Part of that good work may be waiting upon the Lord. These early disciples were waiting upon the Lord because they had been given a promise by God. Actively wait. They had a new understanding of the interpretation of Scripture. We read in Luke 24 and verse 44, then he, Jesus, said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me and listen to what he says, and he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures.

That's what's happening. Peter is comprehending the scriptures and God is using Peter in his ability to stand up and take the leadership and to strengthen the brethren, and he's teaching all of these disciples that this had to be fulfilled. There was an understanding that the Scriptures were God's Word, and that they were understanding and that they were learning from God's word. Now there's more there but for sake of time I just want us to look down a little bit. In this regard of Jesus opening their understanding they now understood that even the betrayal of Judas was foretold by the Holy Spirit in the Psalms.

We can see that in verses 16 through 19. He speaks specifically of Judas and then also we read of that in Matthew 27. I'm not going to read it today but if you want to read that yourself, Matthew 27 3 through 10. It speaks about Judas the betrayer and what took place in that and his treachery and how they went out and they bought a field with that money that he threw back down. And we understand that these things were prophesied of in the book of Psalms by the mouth of David through the Holy Spirit.

John Gill has some helpful comments here. He says, there was a necessity of the fulfilling of it consistent with the understanding of God, his counsel and his decree and the veracity of the Scripture, which necessarily does not all excuse the sin of Judas, who acted freely from the wickedness of his own heart and not from any force that was laid upon him and the Apostle might observe this also to make the minds of the disciples easy To understand this awful providence since it was no other than what was predicted. Now that's a big saying John Gill, many years ago, but what he's saying is that Peter was helping them to understand the necessity of these things happening, even though they were such an ugly circumstance as Judas hanging himself and committing suicide. This was and had to be fulfilled. This was told in these passages here in verse 20 regarding the book of Psalms, let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in it.

That's Psalm 69 25 and then the next one let another take his office. This is Psalm 109 verse 8. What so what do we learn from this first little part about not being idle as we wait upon the Lord? And I'm going to break this that There's two main points here that I wanna look at, and this is the first kind of conclusion and the takeaway of this narrative. This is what I want you to take away.

What do we learn from this? Part of what I have learned is that waiting does not mean idleness, but actively considering what the Lord has taught us through his word. Another takeaway would be this, at least for me, if that if the betrayal of Jesus Christ, the scourging of Jesus Christ, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the death of Jesus Christ, the burial of Jesus Christ was ordained by God and according to his will and his purpose to bring about the greatest good news ever, then why would I doubt the goodness and the power of God when I personally experience trials and troubles on a much lesser degree? If God works salvation for man out of that, can he not work good out of my much smaller trial? He worked the greatest good out of the greatest evil.

He can work good out of your trial. The second big point here is that the disciples waited but were active in responding to the scriptures. They were active in their understanding, they were active in their thinking, they were considering the Old Testament, Jesus had opened the scriptures to them, Peter was proclaiming so that they would have an understanding that they would be strengthened, but also they were active in their response to the scriptures. They were waiting on the Lord, but they were actively waiting in the response to what the scriptures taught, specifically Psalm 69 25 and to Psalm 109 verse 8. Now if we read those without the understanding of this passage we would not see this most likely, but even here before the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Lord was helping them to understand these things.

Because none of us have understanding in the scripture unless the Spirit of God does that. So notice the first word of verse 21. He says, Therefore, Peter was instructing the disciples that the proper response to what they just heard from him and what they learned from the scriptures regarding the scriptures is active obedience to what the scripture teaches. As you wait upon the Lord and as you begin to see instruction from the Word of God that you should actively obey God's Word even while you're waiting upon the Lord. It doesn't mean that you just sit back and do nothing, you actively obey God according to the scriptures.

Remember Jesus opened their understanding. They understood that the field where Jesus or excuse me where Judas died would be called the field of blood. By good reason we can discern that what David said in Psalm 69 25, let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in it. That no one was gonna live in this place. Now I'm gonna say this is something that's somewhat lighthearted here, so don't be too upset with that.

That just makes sense that no one was going to dwell in that field. Consider the name of it. We have some realtors here. Can you imagine the Jewish realtor trying to sell that field? Bringing the buyer in and he says, oh what's this place called?

Beautiful Field. What's the name of it? It's called the Field of Blood. Okay, what's the next property that you have for me to consider? I don't want to be considering the Field of Blood.

No one was going to dwell in that field. That field was off limits now. They used that field to bury those who were outside of the camp in the sense. This place was something that no one would ever live in it and that passage regarding this field was to be fulfilled and it was. Let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in it." Only the dead were buried there.

But not only that, I believe we can move into this next Psalm, Psalm 109, let another take his office. They acted on what they knew, and they waited on what they did not know. They're understanding the scriptures. Peter stands up and speaks and preaches this, basically, to them, let another take his office. They are actively responding to the word of God.

Now some theologians have a hard time with this choosing of a replacement of Judas. I've spoken to some of y'all here about that and we kinda talked about it a little bit. And many others have had a hard time. It's like, who's this Matthias? We never see anything else about him.

Were they wrong in choosing him or what was going on? I've come to a conclusion, at least for myself, regarding my understanding of this passage and though it's a bit challenging, I think we have a few reasons to feel satisfied with what Peter was leading them to do. I believe that his reasoning was sound. He was not acting haphazardly, but rather it seems he acted based upon Biblical principles of interpreting the Scriptures and being obedient to the Scriptures. The replacement had to have been a part of Jesus' earthly ministry.

We see that in verses 21 through 22. Peter, whether he was led by the Holy Spirit at this point, which I think he was because he was writing scripture or speaking scripture, simply and sound deduction leads us that there should have been a replacement. He says in verse 21, Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to the day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. So they were, by sound principle, they were saying, the person who must be a witness with us of the resurrection, by right, should be someone who has been with us the entirety of his ministry to see and to be a proper testimony and a proper witness of what was taking place, specifically regarding being an apostle. So, I don't want to spend too much time on this just for sake of our limited time today, but then in verse 23, brought forth two men, they proposed two.

We have here something I believe is instructed to us. They were in unison and they proposed two. They who? Either the 11 apostles or the 120 who were there, they were in unified agreement. This is one of the surest things to know that as they are studying the scriptures, they are looking at the Old Testament prophecies, Peter is doing what God had called him to do to strengthen his brethren and to encourage his brethren and now they bring forth something that they are all unified about.

They brought forth to Joseph called Bar-Sabbath who is surname Justice and Matthias. It's not always the case when God's people are in perfect unity over something, that that is necessarily the way to move forward, but it is a good indication when God's people come together and we all who are seeking the will of the Lord say, yes, this is the way that we should walk in it. They had some consolation there. I believe by sound deduction they were doing this. But not only that, the disciples prayed, verses 24 and 25, and they prayed.

Notice what they pray. You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas, by transgression, fell that he might go to his own place. They are seeking the will of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, that should be our sole desire. When we come together and praying here or praying on Wednesday night, we should all be coming with a unified purpose of basically this same thing.

Oh Lord, you know. We wanna know what you have chosen. We wanna know what your will is. And they submitted these things into the hands of the Lord and they prayed and they saw the face of the Lord. They called out to God to make clear their decision.

They wanted God's will to be done. They did not choose based on some outward likability or some outward qualification. They said, Lord, you know their hearts. And let me just say in bypassing this, I don't believe that this meant that Joseph called Bar-Sabbath, whose surname was Justice, that there was some sort of moral flaw in him. They're asking for someone who's going to take this specific ministry of being a witness.

There are some of us here who are gifted to teach, there are some of us here who are not gifted to teach. That doesn't mean one is less than the other or greater than the other. That's just the ministry by which God had seen that they were equipped for. So I don't believe this is a negative upon this man justice, but I think it is something that God, knowing the hearts and specifically what he designed for them to do, was that Matthias was the man that was going to be chosen, but they sought the Lord in prayer. And then we come down to this this last point.

Notice how they determine God's choice. Now don't make conclusions until I finish regarding casting of lots. They cast lots to determine the Lord's choice. Verse 26, we see it, and they cast their lots, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was numbered with the 11 apostles. How did they actively obey?

Proverbs 16, 33, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. The decision was God's decision. I can rest right there with understanding this passage of Scripture. Did they do the right thing? God made a decision.

They had scripture to back up what they did. And as one commentator noted, I think is helpful, he says this is the last biblical mention of lots in the scriptures. The coming of the Spirit which we will see in chapter 2, made the casting of lots unnecessary. Because the Spirit of God was going to teach us. The Spirit of God was going to lead us.

So in this narrative passage, what are my takeaways? What are our takeaways from this last section? I'm going to just name what we see here and let that instruct us. There's four things. One, we see God ordained, we see God ordained in Spirit-led leadership in the Apostle Peter.

We see unity of the body of Christ. We see a little church prayerfully seeking the will of the Lord. And we see God answering their prayers and blessing their active patience as they waited upon the Lord. So let us learn from this by precept and principle as God blesses this little church. As we may be waiting upon the Lord, let us be active and diligent in what we know, that we should prayerfully consider the will of the Lord and his desire for this little church.

So brothers and sisters, I hope that this was helpful and instructive as we actively wait upon the Lord. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your graciousness to us. We thank you, dear Lord, for instructing us from your word. And Lord, I pray that you would help us as we go through seasons of waiting upon you Lord.

We so desire to do your will Lord. I believe I know the heart of your people here and we desire to do your will and none other. So Lord, would you please help us? Lord, give us understanding into your word as the Lord Jesus Christ opened the scriptures to the disciples, we pray that your Holy Spirit, whom we now have, would instruct us into your word and teach us and guide us and Lord I pray for this little flock that you would bless them or that you would make your face to shine upon them and that you would give them peace. We pray in Christ's name.

Amen. You are the Smiths.