This morning, if you have your Bibles, we want to continue our study through the book of Romans. So if you’ve got your Bibles, then we’ll turn with me to Romans. And we’re going to be taking a look at the beginning of chapter 2 this morning, and the last verse of chapter 1. So verse 32 of chapter 1, and then we’ll begin by reading a portion of chapter 2. Paul is speaking of, in the last verse here, all of those who have become fools denying God.
Last Sunday, we looked at the characteristics that those people would possess, and what those characteristics meant, the meaning of those words, and what their lives would reveal. Paul is referring back to them in verse 32, and referring back to the characteristics that they possess in their walk of rebellion against God, and their denial of who He is. Paul says in verse 32.
Romans 1:32 through 2:1-9
32 who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. 3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 5 but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8 but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 11 for there is no respect of persons with God.
Let’s just bow in prayer. Dear Holy Father, as I come before you this morning, Lord, help us to understand. It’s not what we perceive as righteous or holy. It’s not what we perceive as good or true. But it’s what your Word reveals is truth. You are the truth and we do not make up truth. Lord, help us as we look at your Word this morning to understand that many people view themselves as good simply because in their mind they have determined what is true and what is false and have not looked at your Word nor do they follow after your character nor trust in you. Lord, speak to us through your Word this morning and Lord, help us to understand the seriousness of the hour in which we live and the seriousness of the people’s lives are at stake for eternity. And Lord, they need to be brought to the realization that you are the one that tells us how salvation must come. You are the one that establishes what is true and what is not true. What is good and what is evil.
Lord, speak to us through your Word this morning. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The Apostle Paul was dealing with a couple different situations. Number one, this letter is written to the Roman church as we talked about at the beginning of our study in Romans. He had never been to Rome.
The Christians in Rome had been saved. Many of them had been saved in other portions of the Roman Empire and had moved to Rome. Some of them had gotten saved when those people had come and shared the Gospel with them and there was a good body of believers in Rome already at this particular time, even though Paul had never been there and Paul, being the Apostle to the Gentiles, had longed to go there.
Also, Paul realized that these people needed to understand the seriousness of the situation in which they found themselves. They lived in a culture which was in total opposition to everything God stood for. The Roman Empire, as we talked before, had become more and more evil and wicked in its ways and doings, its beliefs, and the customs and actions that they carried out in their lives.
They worshipped false gods. They worshipped man. They worshipped everything that was talked about in chapter 1 that people worship when they deny the knowledge that God has placed before them of who He is.
But not only that, they also had a Jewish culture which was against the Christians. And they were really saying that the Christians could not know God until they became Jews. They were called Judaizers.
And they really were very similar in their thinking to the Pharisees of Paul’s day. And Paul had been part of that group of Jewish people that had persecuted the Christians. And so he totally understood how the persecution was coming from the world.
It was coming from those that claimed to be God’s people but didn’t want to know the Lord. And then also it was coming from inside the church as false teachings were entering into the church, even in the very early stages of the church when Paul was living. One of the problems that Paul saw is that people could begin to take on the attitude that he had possessed prior to his knowing Jesus Christ.
He had possessed an attitude that he was good, that he was moral, and that he would not stand in judgment before God because he was a Pharisee of Pharisees, a Hebrew of Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin. And he was being trained by the best rabbis in Israel. And how could people find fault with him? But when he met Jesus, he was quickly brought to his attention.
The greatest fault he had was his pride and arrogance and lack of willingness to humble himself before Christ and realized he needed to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior because he was a sinner too. Now as we come to this, Paul has an interesting word at the beginning of chapter 2 that is, therefore. Why is therefore, therefore? That’s the question you need to ask whenever you see that word.
And he goes on and he says, what is therefore, therefore? Because he’s going back and he’s listing all of those sins that are evident in the life of the unbeliever that’s in total rebellion against God and is a fool. And we look at those sins. They’re serious sins.
They’re nothing to be laughed at. And he says, you are inexcusable, old man. And he’s speaking to the person who is righteous in their own eyes.
The moral person. The person who thinks, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m not anything like those people.
It’s interesting Jesus encountered those. And if you would turn with me, keep your finger in Romans because we’re going to come back there. But turn with me to Matthew chapter 7. In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus gives a parable.
And this parable is in relation to judging. And he says in verse 1 of chapter 7, Judge not, lest that ye be not judged. And if you’ve ever witnessed to anybody who’s not a believer in Christ, that seems to be one of the few verses in the scripture that they have got memorized.
Because whenever you share the gospel, they view that as judging them. And so the immediate thing they’ll throw up in your face is, judge not, lest you be judged. And the thing is, we’re going to see when you share the gospel, and when Paul looks at all of these individuals, who he refers to as fools.
Who, as in one of our first studies, we went back and read Psalm and see the Psalmist on two occasions, refers to the man who says in their heart, there is no God, that he is a fool. And Paul is saying, when he’s doing that, he is looking and seeing exactly what the situation is. And he’s calling it out for what it is.
But the thing is, the standard of judgment is not based on what Paul says is good or bad. It’s not based on what Paul’s life reflects. But it’s based upon the Word of God.
And we’re going to see that what Jesus is going to say here, in this parable, and what Paul is going to teach us in the first portion of chapter 2, is that judgment isn’t what we perceive by our personal values that we have established, but rather it is based by God and His Word and His authority. And He is the one that judges. And we but show and reveal the truth of His character to a world that’s in total rebellion against it, and it’s evident to see by the lifestyle of the people, those who are in rebellion and have rejected God, as we saw all of those characteristics last week and looked at them all, that it’s not only our privilege, but our responsibility to share with them their need for Christ.
And that we personally are not saying, I am better than you, but rather I am like you, but I’ve been saved by the blood of the Lamb, so that I will not have to be judged by God for what I have done with my life. Because Jesus’ blood has covered my rebellion and my sin, which is just like everybody else’s rebellion and sin that lives in the world. But I’ve been forgiven, and redeemed, and transformed, and made a new creature, and now I can see with eyes that behold, instead of eyes that are blinded by my own rebellion and sin.
Well, Jesus was dealing with the Pharisees, and they were the main group of people that were constantly trying to come against His ministry, His message, and why He had come to earth. Jesus gives a parable that’s directed directly at them. Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.
Okay? So He’s telling His audience, don’t you become the judge and determine by your aspirations and thinking what is righteous and what is not, and what is the means of judgment. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure of meat it shall be measured to you again.
And so what He’s saying is, if you come and you judge, basing saying, look at my life compared to your life, you need to get your life cleaned up, buddy, because you should be like me. You’ve just established the means of judgment as you. The measure of righteousness as you.
The measure of truth as you. And God’s saying, if that’s what you’re saying, and you haven’t given your life to Me and allowed My Son to pay the penalty for your sin, the judgment that you’ll be judged with is the same judgment that you’re demanding of that person that you’re telling them get your life cleaned up. And Jesus is saying, you need to get your life cleaned up just as much, because you’re going to be judged by the actions of your life.
If you don’t know Me, and if you have not responded to the leading of My Spirit, if you have not received the free gift of salvation, if you have not come to know Christ, your actions are what you are saying is going to save you. And what Jesus is saying is, you’ve got a problem, because your actions can’t save you. Jeremiah tells us the depth of the problem that we have when we try to walk in our own strength and our own wisdom and try to save ourselves by our own moral living.
He said that every one of you that’s sitting here today has the same problem that I’ve got. We have a deceitful heart. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked.
And when we rely on our heart to reveal truth to us apart from God’s Word and who God is, we’re in trouble. Because we deceive ourselves. We think that we’re something we’re not.
Jesus then gives them the parable. He says in verse 3, And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thy own eye? Now to understand the word mote here, it means a very small speck of wood. A little tiny, little itty bitty sliver.
Hardly anything. And you’re considering and you’re complaining about the speck that’s in your brother’s eye, but at the same time, you’ve got a mote or a giant beam in your eye. So you’re looking at the speck, but you’ve got a mote.
It’s interesting. It’s very easy to see sin in other people’s lives, but often times it’s very hard to see it in our own. There are many people that do not and will not acknowledge the depth of their own rebellion against God even though it’s evident to the world.
By the things they say, the things they believe, the actions they do, the lifestyle they undertake. It all shows that they’ve identified with the world system that’s in rebellion against God, not with God. The very things that they long for and they long to do, just like Paul said at the end, that you don’t condemn those things.
As a matter of fact, you encourage and are in agreement with them when he’s talking about the rebellious actions of the person that’s going down this spiral to destruction. Jesus says, what’s the solution to this? He says, Or how wilt thou say to the brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thy eye, the sliver out of thy eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Now what is he saying there? Well, the Pharisees, they went around and they were constantly telling everybody how to live. They were telling everybody that you had to do this. And for example, they were so concerned, I’ve shared before, that they would literally take the little grains and seeds and they would count them out so they made sure and gave a tenth of that as an offering to the Lord.
They didn’t make sure they didn’t give any more too, by the way. But they wanted to make sure they gave their tenth. And so they would literally count out the minute seeds of spices and herbs to see if they made sure that they gave a tenth of it to the Lord.
Well, at the same time, they would condemn others. And then they would demand that other people not only did that, but they’d place additional demands upon them, making their burden even heavier to say, yes, now you’re righteous. Never bringing them to God, but always showing them their way.
That is man’s way of salvation. A means of works, a means of somehow I can pick myself up by the bootstraps and do it. Jesus said, get the moat out of your own eye first.
You need to come to know me before you can bring somebody who’s got not as much of a problem as you’ve got. What was the Pharisees’ main problem? The Pharisees’ main problem was they were filled with pride and arrogance. And they viewed themselves better than those around them.
They definitely viewed themselves better than the Gentiles. And they would call the Gentiles dogs. They would have nothing to do with the Gentiles.
And they said, we are the ones that really understand who God is, you don’t know. And they would never desire to share and reveal to the Gentiles who God was because they didn’t even know who God was. One of the amazing things as you go to Israel today and you’ll see many of the ultra-orthodox and they live their lives very similar to the Pharisees.
They will build it totally upon works. They will not acknowledge Jesus at all. As a matter of fact, if anybody tries to mention Jesus they become very irritated and upset.
They will not even teach out of prophetic passages that deal with the Messiah. For example, Isaiah 53. They will not teach out of Isaiah 53 because it reveals Jesus is the Messiah.
And it reveals the whole plan of salvation. And it has nothing to do with keeping the law. Jesus is saying here, in order to really be able to share the gospel one needs to have a proper relationship with Him.
In order to reveal Christ and help people get the sin out of their eye, the little speck out of their eye, one needs to have a proper relationship with God. Let’s go back to Romans and let’s see what Paul is saying about this. He says, And they are judging by what they have determined is the means by which people can be saved.
And who should be saved. Paul is saying, if you want to judge and you want to bring judgment against people, you need to present the truth. One of the things that we had a course that we did, it must be ten years ago already now, on how to share the gospel.
One of the ways on how to share the gospel with people. And Ray Comfort had put together a series on ways that you could share the gospel with people and he would go on the street and share the gospel. And the vast majority of people that he is meeting are unbelievers.
Or if they are religious at all, they are not believers in Christ. They don’t understand the gospel. They haven’t given their lives to Jesus.
So how do you share the gospel with them? You go up and say, I know that you are a sinner. You are going to hell. Is that what you start out? Well, no.
One of the things that he did is, often times the same way that Jesus shared the gospel, is he presented it in such a manner that he had the person determine in their own minds the problems they need. It’s not God. And what Ray Comfort would do is, he would ask the questions, which I have shared with you before, were based upon the law.
And the reason he did this is, he said that Jesus, and if you look at the gospels and look how Jesus approached people, often times he would ask questions. Why do you ask questions? I like to talk to people and tell them things. The problem is, when you ask questions, you are asking them to think and give you an answer.
And it does just that. It makes them think. Instead of when I come, and I come and just spout all this stuff, what happens is, it doesn’t get you to think.
Maybe you are interested in what I am saying. Maybe you are not. But if I can get you to think, and then present the truth.
So what Ray Comfort said is, he went to the gospels and he looked and he saw that Jesus said, what was the law? In the gospels, the Apostle Paul, in Romans, and we will see that later, he says that the law was given to us as a schoolmaster. What is a schoolmaster? A schoolmaster teaches us about things. If you are going to a proper school, and you are learning math, the teacher that is teaching you math will teach you about math.
He will teach you how math works. He will teach you the fundamentals of math. When you study English, he will teach you the fundamentals of the English language, how sentences are put together, how we communicate, how we use the language properly.
The problem with the school today is, often times they don’t have teachers that actually teach. They are not schoolmasters. But rather, they just throw out ideas.
Well, Paul says, the law is our schoolmaster. It is our teacher. Well, what is he teaching us? The law teaches us about God.
You go back and you read the first five books of the Bible, which were written by Moses. And in there it contains the law. A lot of people say, well this is very boring.
Well, what is it there for? It is to reveal to us our helplessness is what ultimately it does. And the law is summarized in the Ten Commandments. And if you look at the Ten Commandments, the first five star out what our relationship is to be to God.
What Paul did in saying that is, he says here in verse 2, But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth. That’s how God judges, by truth.
By the standard that He has established, by His character. The scriptures also tell us what is the basis of truth. God is the basis of truth.
His character is the basis of truth. There is no truth apart from God. You’ve probably heard people say things like this, Well, all truth is God’s truth.
Really? Well, is the truth of relativism God’s truth? You see, we have become a culture today which is a relativistic culture. And what do I mean by relativism? Relativism is whatever works for a given situation becomes truth for me at the moment because that’s the way I will conduct myself and live my life and I will justify it by the situation not by the fact that there is an absolute truth. Relativism stands in direct opposition to absolutes.
The Bible says there are absolutes. The Bible says that if you sin against God and then it lists what sin and rebellion is talks about how we defy His character there is consequences. And there is no situation that can justify our sin.
This is not Islam. In Islam, you’re allowed to lie to justify your cause so that you can defeat your enemy and gain your purpose. That’s a relativistic religion.
It’s not based on absolutes. The Bible says that we should not lie because God is truth. Islam says that there are opportunities where you can murder someone.
You can murder your own family members if they abandon Islam. The Bible says that if we predetermine to kill someone it’s murder. And even if they grow up in a Christian home and then would abandon the Christian faith that they had been taught and say, I don’t want anything to do with it it does not give us the freedom to say that gives me the right to murder them.
Do you understand the difference between relativism and absolutes? And Paul is saying our judgment is to be based upon truth which is based on the absolutes of God. His absolute character. Absolute right and wrong.
Wrong. He says go on here because we base things upon the truth we’re not going to be like the moralist who bases his upon whatever the moral culture of the day is. And I want you to understand morality, if it’s not based on the absolute truth of God’s character will become relativistic in nature and it will change with time.
One can look even in the church when the church begins to abandon the word of God as the foundation for our lives as Christians we’re impacted by the world. And different teachings come in that are teachings that are really heretical to Scripture. And we incorporate them into our worship.
We incorporate them into our lives and we justify them. The world says it’s alright to get divorced for virtually no good reason. If you just can’t get along you get divorced.
The world says I can live together before marriage so I can try things out. What does the Bible say? The Bible says divorce is very serious. And divorce Jesus said there’s really only one reason for divorce and that’s only because of the hardness of men’s hearts and the reason for divorce is adultery or infidelity.
The Bible says I’m not to live as a man with a woman outside of marriage. And I’m not to live as a woman with a man outside of marriage. And it’s a serious thing because God has established marriage as the first example of a covenantal relationship apart from the covenantal relationship we were to have with Him.
And it was such a serious covenantal relationship that He made it the foundation of passing values from generation to generation and of sharing truth of who He was with children that He would allow us to bear. How do you do that in a home where you defy the whole concept of covenant? Paul in Ephesians chapter 5 and 6 talks about the covenantal relationship of marriage. Chapter 5 he talks about the fact that the covenant of marriage is to be a reflection of the covenant that Jesus has made with His people.
And what does he say in that? He’s not going to abandon His people. If you are His child if you have accepted Christ as your Savior if you have received the gift of salvation Jesus isn’t going to abandon you. And it doesn’t matter if you mess up because John talks about that.
We will mess up. But when we mess up as His child and His literal picture of His wife we’re to confess that sin and He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The covenant is there.
And a marriage is to be like that covenant. And the church is taking it so lightly today that there are people that are actively involved in church ministry that aren’t married that just live together and then they will go apart and move in with somebody else and we’re still not saying anything to them and we’re not preaching the truth of God’s Word. And what it does is it leads to lives of lasciviousness and fornication.
The very thing that the world lives like. God said, I will be there to give you wisdom and strength. James tells us that we don’t have wisdom because we don’t ask for it.
We have not because we ask not. How do you deal with situations that are impossible situations? God knows impossible situations. The Apostle Paul says that if you’re married to a non-believer and you got married and you’re a believer and you’re married to a non-believer and the non-believer leaves you and you have lived your life as Peter says as an example like the woman who didn’t know how to win her husband and so Peter says, live your life so righteously before Him you don’t have to argue Him into the kingdom but live your life that God may be seen in your character and you will draw Him into the kingdom.
But say that man is so filled with rebellion against God and hates God so much and you made the mistake of marrying a non-believer and that person leaves you. They want to divorce you. They want to walk out on you.
Paul says, you have to let them go. These are hard teachings. But the church has become so wishy-washy that we don’t stand for truth.
So how do we present the gospel? How do you present the gospel if you don’t stand for truth in the area of life in a daily way as a Christian? And that’s what Paul is saying. He’s saying, if you’re judging a world that’s in rebellion against God what’s the standard of your judgment? It better be the Word of God. It better be the truth of God because if it’s anything but that you’ve fallen into the relativism of the day and age in which we live.
And you’re saying, I judge by comparison, not by absolute truth. Paul goes on and he says, And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things and doest the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? That’s a serious statement. To a person that thinks I’ve got it all together, I’m a moral person, but they’ve never humbled themselves before Jesus and they’re not, as Jesus said, humble of heart.
It disturbs me a lot when I hear what churches are teaching today so we don’t have to confront sin. It’s easy not to confront sin if you have no standards in your life. It’s easy not to confront sin if you don’t have any standards in your church and you’re not basing it upon the Word of God.
In order to properly witness what Ray Comfort would do is he would call people to examine their hearts. And how do you do that? You go up to them and say, I’m a Christian. I want you to examine your heart today and I want you to see how you’re living.
He’d go up to them and say, I’ve got a couple of interesting questions to ask you. Have you ever lied in your life? Well, if a person’s honest, I don’t think there’s anybody here who hasn’t told some type of lie. And we always justify it, well, it’s just a little white fib.
It doesn’t really matter. Not if you’re living your life according to God’s Word, which is absolute. And people will go and they’ll say, oh yeah, I’ve told a lie.
And Ray Comfort will ask them, what does that make you? If you told a lie, what does it make you? And you know something? It’s very hard for people to say a four-letter word that begins with an L and ends with an R. They will say, it makes me like everybody else. It makes me, I guess, not so good a person. Or they’ll try and justify it.
It was just a little lie. I had to do it in order to give an excuse for it. He says, no, no, I want to hear what it makes you.
It makes you a liar. Why? Because a liar is a word that the Holy Spirit can use to convict our heart. He’ll ask them, have you ever stolen anything in your life? And they’ll say, well, yeah, I work.
At work I take home a pen or a pencil once in a while. I needed some paper at home, so I took some paper from work without asking. But it really wasn’t much.
Well, if you stole something, what does that make you? And he goes, a thief. You’ve already admitted that you’re a liar and a thief. Jesus said that if we commit sin in our heart first, that’s where all our rebellion against God begins, is in the heart.
It begins in the mind, the will, and the emotions, where we devise ways in which we are going to rebel against God. And He’ll ask both a man or a woman, have you ever lusted after a person? Can’t they say yes? Say, well, by your own admission, you’ve admitted that you are a liar, a thief, and adulterous at heart. How do you think that God should let you into His kingdom based upon your life? And that’s the whole point of the law.
I can’t get in. I have to help people understand by the absolutes of God’s Word, they can’t get in. And then I can give them the solution on how they can get in.
And how they get in is through the grace and the mercy of God, the desired no man stand against the judgment that they will have to stand against based on their own character and its flaws. But rather, I will stand before the Lord because He has made a means by which the penalty for my lying, stealing, adultery at heart has been paid for. And that is through the blood of Jesus Christ.
He who was without sin became sin for me that I in turn could be righteous and His righteousness was imputed or placed upon me. And Paul is saying to the moralist, you have nothing to offer the man that needs everything. If you’re only going to compare him against other people or yourself, you need to come with the absolutes of God.
And you need to show him that there’s a standard that’s beyond his ability to attain because of the rebellion in his heart against the One who has created him but the One who desperately desires to redeem him. Well, I think sometimes we as churches can become the moralists of our day. We do not present the truth of God’s Word.
We don’t teach the truth of God’s Word. We don’t say God’s Word is absolute. There aren’t exceptions to God’s Word.
And when we do that, we open ourselves up to error. And then we begin to involve ourselves in the very sin that the One who says there is no God and is a fool lives His life by. And today you have churches that will teach people if someone hurts you, you can’t forgive them.
Like I said last Sunday, Jesus said love your enemy and pray for those who despitefully use you. Someone’s hurt you, are you praying for them? Are you loving them? Because the Spirit of God, if you begin to show that type of attitude and then ask God’s Spirit, pour out conviction upon their heart that they would come to you. That’s what Peter was talking about, the wife who didn’t know how to win her husband who was a non-believer.
And he said, live your life for Christ and it will convict Him because you will be so different from Him. I shared with you before one of the founders of Hesseloff. He got saved as a Muslim.
And as a Muslim, he had treated his wife the way Muslims treat women. She was his property. He could do with her what he wanted.
He could treat her the way he wanted. And when he got saved, one of the reasons he got saved, he started reading the Bible. And he saw the Bible was filled with love, forgiveness.
Women weren’t just property. Women were people. God used women.
There was no difference in the eyes of God between a man and a woman, between a Jew and a Greek, between the rich and the poor. And as he began to see this, God convicted him by the truth of His Word and he got saved. He gave his life to Jesus.
But now he didn’t know what he was going to do because the Muslims, if you give your life to Christ, you’re a dead person. They will put a bounty on your head. Especially if you’re somebody like him.
He did not even dare tell his wife that he had accepted Christ. One day, she came to him and said, what’s wrong with you? He said, what do you mean what’s wrong with me? You’re different. You’re acting so different.
Something’s wrong with you. And then he confessed, I gave my life to Jesus. Immediately, she was willing to move out and leave him, but God ended up convicting her and she ended up staying and becoming a believer as well.
Paul is telling us, don’t judge by words, but judge by truth. Judge by truth and walk in the power of God’s love and reflect the character of Jesus. We sang some songs today more about Jesus I would know.
I would be like thee. Those are songs that are easy to sing, but do we listen to the words and do we mean them? Let’s just close in prayer. Lord, I pray that you would just help us to become those that could share the gospel in a manner in which we can show forth your love and we don’t condemn based upon the relativistic lies and ideals of this world, but rather we share the truth and let the truth do the condemning for us.
Lord, go with us and help us to have opportunities to share with others the hope we have in Jesus. This we ask in your name, for your sake and glory. Amen.