Everybody, please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we are about your business. Father, we are here because, as we learned earlier, we have sinned and offended you. Father, we have no hope in ourselves. The only hope that we have is Jesus. Father, we come expecting you to speak to us through your word tonight. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would keep me from error, Father, that your name would be praised and that for the fame of your name, Father, this time of preaching and learning would be for your glory. Father, that your Holy Spirit would sanctify this message in such a way that the sheep will be well fed. Father, we do aim to please you with everything we are and everything we have. Father, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I want each of you to think with me for a minute. I want you to think about the power of a single word in a specific context. Here's what I mean. Picture yourself in a movie theater, a crowded movie theater. Someone comes in to the back of the theater and screams out one word fire. What does that make you think of? Think about putting yourself in the shoes of a mother who has a couple of sons overseas fighting in a war a thousand miles, five thousand miles from home. She picks up the morning paper and it says one word, peace. So your hometown team is playing in game seven of the World Series. You pick up the sports page the next day and it says victory. You become, you want so desperately, a young couple wants so desperately to be pregnant and they are at the OBGYN waiting for him to come see them with the results of a pregnancy test. And what more, what one word they want to hear more than any other is positive. So, in the text before us tonight, and we'll get there in just a minute, in the text before us tonight, I believe God is writing through Peter with a divinely inspired word of encouragement. You see, the young church that Peter is writing to is under intense persecution. They must have been filled with fear, disoriented, and scared beyond what we can imagine. So what is the word that God offers to encourage these followers of Christ in the early church? I submit to you, I think that word is hope. So, think about a time that you were filled with hope. Think about the time of the birth of a new baby, a promotion at work, Finding out something as simple as the fact that that repair will be covered under warranty. Thinking about something like the doctor's office just called and I got a clear bill of health. At that moment, were you not filled with joy? Did you not want to tell anyone and everyone that you could about your exciting news? Now I'd like you to think of a time where you had no hope. You were literally hopeless. Could be ongoing infertility. Possibly a miscarriage. It could be that in corporate America you were relieved of your job responsibilities. Could be that you were betrayed by a trusted friend. Could be that the doctor's diagnosis matches up perfectly with what your worst fear is. So how did you feel then? Defeated? Discouraged? Hopeless? Now, as Christians, we know that we're called to persevere no matter what. But the question is, how are we going to persevere? Where is the motivation to press on, even in the darkest of circumstances? I believe the passage before us is a gift from God to shape our thinking, to mold our hearts, so that we are able not only to survive, but even thrive in the face of great discouragement and even persecution. So let's talk a little bit about the author of this book of 1 Peter. What do we know about Peter? I thought of a couple of words that describe the Peter that we know and love from Scripture. I thought of brash, volatile, proud. I think it's interesting that Peter, in a matter of moments, went from refusing to let Christ wash even his feet to pleading with Christ to wash him from head to toe. So, this is the same Peter who denied Christ three times the night before Christ was crucified. Peter was restored personally by Christ after the resurrection. And one has to believe that Peter had never known such forgiveness, such love, as when Jesus himself restored Peter on the beach. Peter goes on to preach the powerful sermon of Pentecost, which led to the conversion of many. This is the man that God used to deliver this word to the early church. A couple words that jump out. Broken, redeemed, and restored. And now filled with a passion for Christ and his glory. Let's talk a little bit about the context that Peter is writing into with this book. One of my new friends in preparing this sermon, one of the new friends that I made was a theologian that's been dead many years. His name is F.B. Meyer. And he wrote this paragraph that describes the context into which Peter was writing. Quote, this epistle was the child of many tears and much sorrow. It was written probably about the year AD 65, when the followers of Jesus of Nazareth were regarded with growing dislike, while clouds of suffering and persecution were passing over the house of God. The disciples had already begun to learn by bitter experience that they were to follow their master's steps by way of the Via Dolorosa, to the light of the resurrection morn, and that they must not expect softer names or usage than had been accorded to him. They needed comfort, a stimulus to patience, a recital of the arguments for heroic endurance, all of which the Spirit of God supplied through these fervid and persuasive paragraphs." So Jesus, through Peter, is preparing the early church, those for whom Jesus gave his life, to persevere in light of the present and coming persecution, how gracious of Christ to provide the letter that they needed and to provide the letter that we need. Most of us in this room admittedly have never and likely will never face the type of persecution which the early church faced. However, if we are going to persevere, live a faithful life, God-honoring, Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled life, we have the same need that the early church did. We need hope, and we need a God-informed hope. So here's the premise of my sermon. When you are in trial, not if, but when you are in trial, hope in God. So as we prepare to read our text, I'd like you to listen for the theme of hope that rings throughout this passage. Put yourself in the place of the original hearer. a member of the early church, perhaps already suffering various forms of loss and persecution, not only from them out there, but from those immediately around them, friends, family members. These are folks who are distraught because of the persecution they're experiencing simply for the fact that they've decided to follow Christ. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 1. I'm going to read verses 1 through 9. 1 Peter 1 verses 1-9 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with His blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Again, when you are in trial, hope in God. I'd like to organize our thoughts tonight around six points. Number one, we are to understand the world and those who have not yet been reconciled to God. Number two, We are to understand our status in the world. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ in this fallen world between the time of the resurrection of Christ and the rapture of the saints? Number three, we are to remember and celebrate God's great work of salvation in Christ. Number four, we are to remember God's great promises to those who belong to Christ. Number five, we are to embrace the reality of trials and God's purpose in our trials. And number six, we are to look forward to the rapture, to the return of Christ for his people. We are to hope in Jesus. Number one, we are to understand the world and those who have not yet been reconciled to God. First John 5.19, many of you, that will be a familiar verse to you, basically says, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. You see, the biblical reality is that unbelievers, those who are not yet born again, are slaves to sin. For those of us who are born again, that was me, that was you. So, again, unbelievers, those who are not born again, are slaves of sin, spiritually dead, without hope, and without God in the world. Now, these are uncomfortable truths, but true nonetheless. We might be thinking of a loved one who has not yet come into a saving relationship with Christ. The important truth is that we need to orient our thinking to God's revealed truth and live according to that. We need to learn to see the world through God's eyes. So my question for each one of us here tonight is, are you sure that you have been born again? Are you sure that you've been reconciled to God in Christ? That you've been delivered from the wrath of God, which is coming to all those who have not been born again? Some of you know a little bit about my story. I'm a preacher's kid, never knew a Sunday when I wasn't in church, a reasonably nice guy, and I was at the age of 33 when God, through, oddly enough, evangelism training, showed me that I was a wretched sinner who needed a Savior. I was fundamentally a nice, moral guy who did not have a saving relationship with Christ, though I assumed myself to be right with Him. So, it's oftentimes that I've had an opportunity to share my testimony that it causes the person on the other end to begin thinking, am I really saved? Am I really right with God? And so I want every one of us to be assured of that. And if you're not assured, please see Pastor Jeff, please see me, please see somebody else. But again, that's something that is too important to not take very, very seriously. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 7. I'm going to read just three verses. I think we'll highlight the severity of this message. Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 to 23. And again, this comes from a guy who for the first 33 years of my life believed myself to be fundamentally moral and so obviously accepted by God. verses 21 through 23 Jesus himself says, not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day many will say to me Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name and then will I declare to them I never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness so again I ask the question are you sure you've been born again And the stakes are very high. Eternity is a very long time. And I remember when I was 33 and the Holy Spirit was confronting me with the reality that I was not right with God. Honestly, my first reaction was embarrassment. I'm a preacher's kid. I ought to know this. But I would just encourage you, if you find yourself in that state, questioning your salvation as I did at that time, and rightly so, don't be embarrassed, but run to Christ. So, to summarize this heading, to understand the world and those who have not been reconciled with God, we should really be expecting ongoing conflict between those who are under the power of Satan and those who are devoted to Christ. So conflict and trials are really a necessary consequence of living in a fallen world and yet following Jesus. So we should expect these things. But, when you are in trial, hope in God. Number two, we are to understand our status in the world. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ in this fallen world between the time of the resurrection of Christ and the rapture of the saints? Well, verse one spells it out. We are called elect exiles. Elect exiles gives us a reminder of the doctrine of election. I've got a little quote here from F.D. Meyer again that I think speaks to this. speaks to this truth. Quote, Before all worlds, God chose us in Christ. There is no election outside of Christ. He was chosen and all who were one with Him in a union which was before time and which is manifested in the process of time. We know little or nothing of the secret transactions of eternity, but we can tell if we are included in them by a very simple test. All whom the Father gave to Christ come to Him. That's referencing John 6.37. If therefore we have come to Christ, attracted to Him as steel filings to the magnet, we may assure our hearts and dare to lay claim to the blessings and responsibilities included in that mystic circle." End quote. So, where do we fit in the world? What's our status? Well, chapter 2 of this very same letter describes us as sojourners and exiles. So that gives a little bit more clarity to where we fit into the world in this present time. Turn with me now over the right to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John 2 verses 15-17 describes very clearly what is to be our relationship with the world. 1 John 2 verses 15-17, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride and possessions, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. So I think that passage, as well as any other, clarifies what is to be our relationship with a fallen world. We're called to be distinct from the world. We're also called to be distinct from those who do not know Christ. We're to operate under a completely different life and lifestyle. We have a different owner, God. We have a different priority, Christ and His glory. And by the work of God, election, we have been set back on the right course. Again, the question is, do you know for certain that you have been born again? Does your lifestyle confirm this? Is there evidence that Christ is the strongest affection in your heart? Christ himself said, I am the light of the world and then went on to say, now you are the light of the world. So light implies darkness, we are the light in that darkness and the reality of Christ living in each of us should be like a spiritual light in the spiritual darkness of this world. Christ himself said in Matthew 5.16, let your light so shine before men that men may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven. So, we are to be lights in the world between the time of the resurrection and the time of the rapture. So when you are in trial, hope in God. Number three, we are to remember and celebrate God's great work of salvation in Christ. Remember, Peter is writing to a group of exiles who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ. Many are suffering greatly. So, what does Peter tell them to do? Throw a pity party? Not a chance. Peter calls them to praise God in the midst of trials. Now, let's think a little bit about what are the messages that our culture sends us. You've got to believe in yourself. You're the best. You can do it. Or, conversely, you're a victim and can do nothing. But what was Peter's message? Look back at the first Peter passage. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So what does Peter call them to do? He calls them to praise. He praises God. He calls them to rejoice. He hits them right between the eyes with the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Now the next phrase I love, according to His great mercy, which begs the question, why do we need mercy? Well, because each of us, outside of Christ, stands condemned in our sin before Holy God. The furious wrath of God remains on all those who are outside Christ. Again, uncomfortable truths, but necessary to grasp these. So again I ask, are you sure that you have been born again? Please examine your heart. And then in verse 3, He goes on to say, He has caused us Again, he shows the great responsibility for salvation that rests in, wow, wasn't I smart, but praise God. If you're saved tonight, God is responsible for your salvation, not you. Born again. The next phrase, born again, implies going from spiritual death to spiritual life. Hallelujah. Next phrase, to a living hope. I'm going to read you a quote from the footnote to my study Bible, which gives a little flavor for what a living hope is. It says, in the Bible, hope is not uncertainty or wishful thinking, but a confident expectation of future blessing based on facts and promises. And living indicates the undying and permanent character of this hope. I'm going to read that again for you. A confident expectation of future blessing based on facts and promises. This is not hoping in hope. This is hope based on a promise. Which brings up a key point. Hope needs an object. Just like faith needs an object, hope needs an object. We don't hope in hope. We hope in someone or something. So what is our hope to be anchored in? Next phrase, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, three quick questions for you. Did God promise before Jesus was crucified to raise Jesus from the dead? Yes. Okay, did God keep that promise? Yes. Very good, thank you. Now, has God ever not kept a promise? Right, very good. Now, A key verse in this is 2 Corinthians 1 verse 20, which I think brings this all together. It says, All the promises of God find their yes in Him. And Him is referring to Jesus. Let me read that again. All the promises of God find their yes in Jesus. Now let's admit it. We have a tendency to doubt and fear. When I'm in trial, praise and rejoicing is not my default position. But, if God raised Jesus from the dead, as he promised, and all God's promises are yes in Jesus, is there any valid reason for me to doubt either God's willingness or His ability to fulfill His promise to me and His people? Remember, remember what Jesus accomplished. Think about all that God had to do to rescue us from His wrath. Think about the humility that goes along with Jesus becoming incarnate. Think about the perfect life he lived, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his continued life for a season, and then his ascension into heaven. So it's important to remember that we don't hope in hope, but we hope in the God who did all that to pursue us in our sin and rescue us from His wrath. So our hope is in God. I remind you again, when you are in trial, hope in God. Number four, we are to remember God's great promises to those who belong to Christ. Verse four is an amazing verse. Think about the word inheritance. Now do you think that maybe an inheritance promised by God is both secure and worth pursuing? F.D. Meyer gives another little more understanding into what this inheritance is. He says the following, our inheritance is God himself. not the golden harps, not the sea of glass mingled with fire, not rest from pain and immunity from sorrow, not the blessed society of heaven. From all these, apart from God, we should at last turn away dissatisfied. They are but the accessories and embodiments of something deeper, more inward and rapturous, the possession of God." To me that's so encouraging to think that we're not going just to a sinless, diseaseless, tearless eternity, we're going to be with Jesus. That is the inheritance that we pursue. And how does he describe it? Imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. Again, God himself is our inheritance and he has committed his very own character to making sure that his promises will be kept. We will inherit God himself someday. Jesus himself is the treasure that we look forward to in eternity. Look at verse 6. It seems obvious, but when you really kind of process these realities, he says, In this you rejoice. Could there be any other legitimate response to such truth? In this you rejoice. What could be better than this? Turn with me, if you would, to John chapter 14, verse 1 to 3. Again, what we're doing here is making a biblical case for hope in God. And Peter's doing this to encourage the early church. John chapter 14. verses 1 through 3. Jesus says the following, Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. There's a promise of God, a promise to be applied, a promise filled with hope. So we need to remember God's great promises to us in Jesus. And when we're in trial, hope in God. Number five. We are to embrace the reality of trials and God's purpose in our trials. I think life teaches us and experience teaches us that trials come in various shapes and sizes. But one thing's for sure, they do come. The question is, what is the result of these trials and where is the hope in this? And the answer is in verse 7. So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I heard it said once that faith is like a muscle. It needs to be exercised and pushed if it is going to grow. God's purpose in trials is that we learn to trust more in Him and less in ourselves. The result is praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And a quick reminder, we all know these things, but I think Our hearts and our minds need to hear these truths time and time again. Everything in my life and in your life, including the trials that we encounter, have the glory and praise of God as their primary purpose. I've heard John Piper say it a thousand times, God is very God-centered. And God is not committed to my comfort. He's not committed to your comfort. He is committed to His glory being seen and experienced by us and through us. by all types of people which will lead to him receiving the worship and praise that he demands and deserves. Turn with me to Romans chapter 8, if you would. These will be some very familiar verses, but I want to key in on, again, God's purpose for trials in our lives. Turn to Romans chapter 8. We're going to read verses 28 and 29, which I think answers the question of why God brings trials into our lives. Romans chapter 8, verses 28 and 29. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. Again, God's not committed to your comfort. He's not committed to my comfort. What He is committed to is doing whatever it takes to conform us more fully to the image of Christ. And many times, trials is one of the very powerful means that He does to bring that about. So again, when you're in trial, hope in God. And number six. We look forward to the rapture, to the return of Christ for his people. We are to hope in Jesus. I think this is to a large extent the how of perseverance and how to persevere and even to rejoice in trials as exiles in this world. Look at verse 8. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Please note that our love for Jesus, our belief in Him, and even the joy which comes from Him is not based on the current physical presence of Jesus. You see, Jesus Himself said that it is... well, the first time I heard this verse, it just threw a loop at me. Jesus Himself promises actually to our advantage that He goes away, that the Holy Spirit would come live in us. So why is it? Why is it better to have the Holy Spirit than to have the physical presence of Jesus? Would you rather have God with you or God in you? Well, I'll take in any day. And the good news is that God with us, Emmanuel, we are going to be with Him for eternity. There's the goal. There's the object of our pursuit. So Jesus is with us, in us, by His Holy Spirit. Colossians 1.27 says, Christ is in you the hope of glory. So this is now. I want to key in on that, that verse 8 of 1 Peter 1 is now. This is not a future thing. This is the now of our life in Christ. We are to love, believe, and rejoice in Jesus and hope in Him. So now verse 9. What about the then, the future? Verse 9 says, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. So for those of us who are born again, we are saved and yet we are being saved. There's a sense in which I want to be careful with this, that Christ has more for us. I look forward to that day when we experience more of the fullness of Christ. So in this life, who doesn't admit that there is a thirst, a hunger, an ache, a groaning that goes along with this life that will never completely go away? And it's because we're not yet home. Jesus is our home. Our eternal home is not so much a place as it is a person. Jesus is our home, and I'm on a journey to be with him physically and eternally. I think it's interesting to take the picture that the Bible paints is that Jesus is the payoff. Jesus is the ultimate reward for persevering through trial. Jesus is our hope, the goal we pursue. Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 12. I think it's a passage that brings us together really nicely. Hebrews chapter 12. It's the first three verses. You'll note in these verses both the call to perseverance and how we persevere. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 through 3. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him, consider Jesus, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." So, when we're in trial, we hope in God, we look to Jesus. He's our goal. He's the reward that we seek. So to conclude, God wants us to be filled with hope in Him. And one of the reasons He does this is because it makes Him look great. And the good news is He's given us everything we need. He's given us His Son, He's given us His Spirit, and He's given us His Word, the Bible. Randy Elkhorn tells of an analogy in one of his books, and the reference is really in the context of stewardship, but it also applies in the context of perseverance. He tells the hypothetical story of a man who is assigned to a business assignment in Europe for six months. He's getting a substantial increase in pay for this six month window. And he has the opportunity to do with whatever he wants with his income while he's over there for those six months. But one of the provisions is that anything he buys while he's over there, he cannot take home with him. Now, he wants very much to see his family at the end of the six months. But now he's got a decision to make. Does he want to live a lavish lifestyle that six months while he's over in Europe? In which case he's going to end up buying a bunch of things he's going to have to leave behind. Or, is he just going to continue to send the money back home, live a very modest lifestyle, but he chooses to live a very modest lifestyle, which is the only rational choice, because he knows he can't take anything with him. This is not, Europe is not his long-term home. He wants to come back to the States and be with his family. So because his hope is set back in the States, that's where his money goes. So again, that analogy is told in a context of stewardship, But it really, I think, says a lot about where our hearts are. If we can get our minds and our hearts around the fact that this is not our home, that Jesus is our home, and we're on our way home, it'll go a long ways towards shaping our hearts and shaping our attitudes as we persevere through trial in this life. And again, each Christian is moving toward our true home, but keep in mind that our true home is a person. It's not a destination, and His name is Jesus. John Piper once asked the question, if you were to get to heaven and Jesus were not there, could you be happy there? And that question, as much as any, really challenged my thinking as it pertains to eternity because I'd thought about how great it would be for me to be free from sin and to be free from disease and sickness and sadness and things like that. But that question really focused my thinking that could I possibly be happy in heaven if Jesus were not there? I think the answer is no, because Jesus is the reward that we live for. So when we find ourselves discouraged, lacking hope, the fault is not on God. It's likely that we're facing a trial, and that God is using this trial to shape us and mold us to be more like Jesus, to bring Him glory. So, every time we face a trial, we're at a fork in the road. We can either choose the path of doubt and unbelief, which is sin, or we can choose the path of hope and belief, trusting that God will keep His very good promises towards us. So, my encouragement to you, and I think God's encouragement to us through this passage in 1 Peter, is to trust Him, hope in Him. If He raised Jesus from the dead, how will He not also do everything necessary to get us to our final destination of being with Jesus in eternity? So we must make the conscious decision to choose to keep our spiritual eyes fixed on Jesus. Again, we all have the tendency to drift. But, Jesus is our ultimate prize and he's promised his very own name and his very own character to see us through to the end. And again, key in on that verse, 2 Corinthians 1 verse 20, which is just shot through with the realities of hope. All the promises of God find their yes in Jesus. So, flock. I hope that this week, again it's not a matter of if you and I will face trials this week, it's a matter of how will we respond to those trials. We can either respond in unbelief and despair or in hope and faith. And my hope is that when we are in trial this week that we will hope in God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time together. Father, thank you for the encouragement that we have in your word. Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son. We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Father, we thank you for the gift of your word. Father, we have no hope apart from you, but because of Jesus, because of all that you have done for us through him, Father, we above all people should be filled with hope. And the beauty of Christ and his transforming power should be evident in each of our lives this week. Father, you've called us to be distinct, you've given us everything we need for life and godliness. Father, I pray that by your Holy Spirit you would transform our minds, you would transform our hearts, so that at every opportunity this week, as we have to make the decision to either fall into despair and sin, or whether we will choose the path of hope, and faith in you. Father, remind us of these great truths. Remind us of your commitment to fulfill all of your promises, just as you fulfilled your promise of raising Christ from the dead. Father, may you give us a newfound affection for your Son. Father, how easy it is to be distracted by other things. You made a beautiful world filled with things for our idolatrous hearts to get attached to. but father you are jesus is the beauty we seek he's the reward he's the treasure of our hearts and father i pray that As we learned in that first John 2 passage, Father, that we would not love the things of this world, but that Jesus would have the primary affection in each of our hearts. Father, we want our lives to be distinct. We want to love your Son so deeply that others could not help but see His transforming power in our lives. And Father, we pray that this week that we would cherish Jesus so deeply that we could not help but tell another about our great Savior. Father, may the transforming power of Christ be so evident in our lives. Father, that Jesus would be on our lips, and in our hearts, and on our minds, so that through a co-worker, through a neighbor, through a classmate, through someone that you would bring into our paths, Father, that they would both see the transforming power of Jesus in our lives, and that we would, by faith, Father, that we would seek to introduce that person to the Savior that has captivated our affections. Father, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.