Let's stand together, brothers and sisters, for the reading of God's Word. We'll be looking at Acts chapter 28, verses 17 through 20. I'll read from verse 11 through to verse 22 of Acts chapter 28. Please listen very carefully because this is God's holy and infallible Word. After three months, we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the twin brothers. which had wintered at the island. And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days. From there, we circled round and reached Regium, and after one day, the south wind blew, and the next day we came to Puteoli, where we found brethren and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage, Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldiers who guarded him. And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them, men and brethren, Though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go because there was no cause for putting me to death. But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have called for you to see you and speak with you. because for the hope of Israel, I am bound with this chain. Then they said to him, we neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you, but we desire to hear from you what you think. For concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere. Thus ends the reading of God's word. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. So last week, we looked at Paul's words to the Roman church, that letter written sometime around AD 57, about three or four years prior to the events here in Acts 28. And in that, we saw Paul's longing, right, to come to them, his ceaseless prayers for them, his being hindered to come to them. He had tried and not been able to. And his great desire to preach the gospel to them and to be mutually encouraged together in Christ with them. Remember we looked at that? Romans chapter one, verses eight through 15. And that longing's fulfillment had begun at Appii Forum and Three Inns because the brethren were also eager, right? They came from Rome and they had walked about 40 miles, we saw, in Paul's direction to greet them, about a three-day walk along the Roman road, the Via Appii, or Via Appii. The Lord provided remarkable liberty for Paul, the Roman prisoner, when he got to Rome. He was granted to be not in the prison. where the other prisoners went, but instead he was allowed to live by himself with one Roman guard in his own rented home. And so that's remarkable. I remember the Maltese transition, how horrible the journey had been. The Alexandrian ship smashed to bits on the shores there of St. Paul's Bay, but probably there was another Alexandrian ship already there ready to take them the rest of the journey and all the good treatment they got there on Malta and the gospel success there at Malta that we saw. So let's consider, again, consider well the eagerness of Paul to get started with his ministry to the brethren at Rome. Have you ever been eager, looking forward to Christian fellowship and really excited for those moments of time with your brothers and sisters in the word, preaching the gospel to one another in mutual encouragement in Christ? Isn't it true that few things compared to the joy of fruitful, mutually encouraged, trust-filled fellowship and communion in Christ together. And this is what awaited Paul there with the Roman church. He'd been longing for this, right? But think of it, instead of diving right into this good and pleasant Christian communion, as we read from Psalm 133, Paul goes first to the Jews. Instead of the flowing waters of Mount Hermon and the oil running down Aaron's beard and robes, instead he goes to a place more like barbed wire in dealing with the Jews. He goes first to the Jews. Think of it. His faithfulness to his calling, which we'll look at in Romans 1.16, His faithfulness and his calling to his countrymen persist to the end, despite their persistent malice in almost every city. His pattern of preaching first to the Jews continues here unchanged. And it's instructive for us if we'll take time to consider it. Listen to Romans 1, 15 and 16. He said, so as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. So we've already looked at that, but listen to the rest. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. So they knew what he would do when he got there. They understood his pattern of going first to the Jews with the gospel. John Calvin says about this, Paul's humanity, that is his meekness, was wonderful, and that though he had suffered such cruel injuries of his nation, he studied, notwithstanding, to appease the Jews, which are at Rome, and he excused himself to them, lest they hate his cause, because they hear that the priests do hate him. That was the news they would have been receiving. He might well have excused himself before men if he had passed over these Jews and just gone, turned himself to the Gentiles. Though he had continually in divers places attempted to bring them to Christ, yet they were more and more nettled and moved. Isn't that great? Nettled and moved, which means exasperated. And yet he had omitted nothing, neither in Asia, nor in Greece, neither at Jerusalem, which might mitigate their fury. Therefore, all men would have justly pardoned him if he had let those alone whom he had so often experienced to be of desperate pride. But because he knew that his master was given of his father to be the minister of the Jews, to fulfill the promises whereby God had adopted to himself the seed of Abraham to be his people, he looketh unto the calling of God and is never weary. He saw that he must remain at Rome, seeing he had liberty granted to teach. He would not that they should be deprived of the fruit of his labor. So Calvin, when he looked at this text, he saw the same thing. Wow, look at Paul's meekness. So before we dive into the text, as we contemplate God's word together today, let's have some questions in mind. So these are gonna kind of cover some of the key points that come up along the way. So have these questions in your mind. First of all, are you seeking Christ himself as you hear his word today? When you come to God's word, or anywhere, what motivates you to read, to learn, to study God's word? You know, God really teaches us a lot here in John chapter five where Jesus is talking with these Jews who are scheming to kill him. See, they want him dead. That's what the text says prior to this section. He says to them, he says, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. You know, I'll tell you, brothers and sisters, these Pharisees probably knew the Bible better than any of us in this room. Beware of coming to the Scriptures with this kind of broken thinking. You see, there's a futile way, a totally vain and empty and helpless and hopeless way to seek eternal life in the Scriptures. The way that seeks life apart from Christ, unwilling to come to Him. Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? Is that why you come to the word? He says, my sheep know me and they hear my voice and they follow me. Is that why you come to the scriptures is to hear the voice of your savior? Because there's only one fruitful way to seek eternal life and scriptures, and that's to willingly, willingly draw near to Jesus via the scriptures. You see, you seek Jesus always, and in him you find life as a result. Jesus first, Jesus first. Next, do you allow the good and pleasant parts of the Christian life, what we are experiencing here today, what we'll experience during our fellowship meal today, do you allow these good and pleasant parts of the Christian life, the Psalm 133 moments, to determine the life that you live? Or do you simply seek to be faithful to God's call on your life regardless of your own desires? You see, this life that he gives to us can become an idol and we can forget the lost. We can forget that we need to spend time in those barbed wire locations. Next, is there some part of your worldview that believes it's reasonable or even good and expected to give up on those who have persistently harmed you? Paul has been dealing with Jewish sinful persecution and abuse for over a quarter century at this point in time. Next. Instead, are you chained as Paul to a life always motivated by the hope of Israel? Is that what gets you through and through? Ask yourself this in connection to this. Do I have a forgiving heart? Do I have a forgiving heart like Paul? And do I forgive others the way that God forgave me? And am I aware of how serious this is in our walk with God? Connected to this, when you look at yourself, is this meekness that we see in Paul, we'll look at it, is this your response to enemies who harm you, especially Again, chronic harm. Is this your response? And we can think of a lot of things, whether it's personally or whether it's the church in today's world or whether it's the civil government or the media or Anthony Fauci, whoever it is. What is your attitude towards your enemies? Is it a meekness? Because the vengeful, angry heart is offensive to God. And it's from the flesh. Next, stepping back from the personal and kind of taking a more societal view that we can learn from this text, I'll ask you to consider this. What comes first in a society, church, apostasy, or state tyranny? Okay, so today's text, Paul never gave up on the Jews. First, we'll see this amazing thing, the Jews agree to Paul's call to come and be with him. We'll see him describe his innocence before Jews and Gentiles. And we'll see him talk of their Jewish, their malice towards him, but in a meek and modest way. We'll see the Roman justice that's given to Paul in contrast to this Jewish malice. And we'll talk about there, this connection between church apostasy and state tyranny. And then we'll consider with happy hearts, this being chained for the hope of Israel. And at the end, probably review some of these questions to go through them again and see what answers you've gotten as a result. So first, the Jews agree to Paul's call. And it came to pass that after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them. So this is a good start with the Jews at Rome. God grants for the Jews to agree to Paul's request. And there was the Berean church, the Berean Jews, right? They were noble minded. So you kind of think, oh, maybe this is gonna be a Berean experience in Rome. Given all the evil they would have heard about Paul, think about what they would have heard, against both Jews and Romans, things that he supposedly would have done, it's a surprise that the Jews would have come to Paul. It really is a surprise. Also consider the possible suspicion that they could have brought upon themselves from the Romans. I want you to recall the edict of Claudius, remember? That all the Jews had been kicked out of Rome. Now it had been lifted at Claudius' death in AD 54. Okay, but surely the fears of stigma would have persist. Those fears of association, you know, the devil's tools to try to make us afraid to associate with certain types of people who might come under the ire of the civil magistrate. It would have seemed likely the Jews would have already attacked Paul, initiating tumult like the Asian Jews had done to him before. Hawker says, it is a little strange that Paul's enemies, the Jews, both at Caesarea and Jerusalem, had not sent their hue and cry after him before his arrival at Rome. So there's something happening here where God is granting the Jews there to have been free of this great evil influence that had been traveling through the Roman Empire about Paul and the gospel. So this next section is about Paul describing his innocence before Jews and Gentiles. First, in his conversation with the Jews, he says, men and brethren. You know, that's easy just to pass by it. But Luke would put it here by God's spirit for us to consider. Note how Paul maintains respect and tenderness toward the Jews who've agreed to come to him. So what we have here, as we looked at earlier, is that unattainable combination of boldness and humility. that only the saints of God can have and only by the work of the spirit of Christ in our souls to make us like Jesus. So is this hard for you? Think about those who have repetitively harmed you. It's hard for me. Is your heart like Paul's? Is this men and brethren tenderhearted kindness your way with all, even those you have every reason to distrust? Do you remember the Lord's prayer about forgiveness? Think about these words. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. That's kind of terrifying. I have to tell you the truth. I don't want God to forgive me the way that I forgive others. But we want to grow up in forgiveness and see how serious this is for us to have this meekness and this tenderhearted humility that Paul displays here. Do you see that Paul's courage flows from his focus upon the Lord instead of upon the harm that had been done by others? So he's not only able to be meek and tenderhearted with them, but he's willing to call them and to go head on with the conversation, with the things that need to be discussed at that moment. Brothers and sisters, the Lord God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And Paul displays this to us in the way that he engages with the Jews. Now next, let's just look at a few of the phrases from this text. He says, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, so Paul has not done anything against the Jewish people or against the law or the customs of the Jewish fathers. John Gill says, He had said nothing disrespectfully of the people of the Jews, nor had done anything to the prejudice of their temporal, spiritual, and eternal good, but just the reverse. Nor had he said or done anything contrary to the laws and customs enjoined the Jews by Moses, even those that were of a ceremonial nature. For though he had everywhere declared that the Gentiles were not obliged to an obedience to these ceremonial laws, yet he did not dissuade the Jews from the use of them, and oftentimes complied with them himself. We also see that Paul was tried by the Romans who found him innocent and desired to release him. So he's clean for Jew and Gentile. We see this Romans, it says here, the Romans who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go because there was no cause for putting me to death. Matthew Poole says about this, as Festus did in the presence of King Agrippa in chapter 25, who they were both unbelievers, yet justified Paul, acknowledging that he had not committed anything worthy of bonds, much less of death. Thus our savior was declared innocent by Pilate. So he starts out by saying, I'm innocent before you and before the Romans. So Paul takes the initiative of love and courage to not only call the Jews to meet with him, but also here at the beginning of the conversation, He first expresses his courtesy and his tenderness. And we see here also likely hospitality. This is probably the rented home that he had for two years there. And then he seeks to reassure them that he is no enemy of the Jewish people or ways or of the Romans. He goes head on. So I want us to note here, brothers and sisters, proactive tender. Early communication over hard topics should be prioritized as a life maxim, as loving and wise. This is in keeping with the spirit that we've been given, not of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. A CPC pastor, whom I respect, wrote recently in one of our email exchanges amongst all the elders, he says, my biggest ministerial regrets have been delayed action. When the red flags have emerged, I waited to act. Early cancers are easier to cut out. Metastasis in the body causes great harm. And this should be a life maxim for us in our marriages and in our child rearing and in our friendships with one another in Christ as well. And there's a way to do this, as Paul displays to us, that is hospitable, that is tender, and that is respectful. Now, it's a beautiful thing to see the way that Paul goes through this. He moves on now to describe the Jewish malice that he had experienced. But I want us to note that even in how he does this, see his meekness, his moderation in his description of what they've done. He says, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. And then he talks about when the Romans wanted to let him go, the Jews spoke against it, okay? So let's consider not only his meekness to meet with him first, not only his way of addressing them, but just in the way that he talks about how he's been mistreated. First of all, note his meekness in leaving out the severity of their malice. There's many things we could talk about, but there's no mention here of the multiple plots, one of which definitely involved the high priest, to have Paul assassinated, right? He doesn't even bring that up. That's malice. And I also want you to see the meekness in scope. You see, Paul could have gone all the way back to around AD 35, about 26 years earlier, shortly after his conversion at Damascus, where Luke describes the first Jewish murder plot. It is a habit of the deeply entrenched apostate to hatch murder plots. And from there, Paul could have chronicled the decades of Jewish hatred and abuse. from Syria, to Judea, to Asia, to Greece, to Macedonia. He could have gone synagogue by synagogue and talked about the vicious treatment that he had received. And he even left out the particular malice of the Asian Jews who came after him, falsely accusing him at the temple while he was drawing near to God in sincere worship in spirit and truth. Commentary says, he modestly complains of the hard usage he had met with, that though he had given them no offense, yet was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. If he had spoken the whole truth in this matter, it would have looked worse than it did upon the Jews, for they would have murdered him without any color of law or justice if the Romans had not protected him. But however, they accused him as a criminal before Felix the governor and demanding judgment against him were in effect delivering him prisoner into the hands of the Romans when he desired no more than a fair and impartial trial by their own law. So if you can see and consider and look at your own heart, you see how Paul lives out Christ's command on how to treat our enemies. Does this meekness also define your response to mistreatment? Again, 26 years of continual vicious mistreatment and attempts to kill him. Jesus said, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your father in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Brothers and sisters, I think this is a very, very important thing for each one of us to internalize and to cry out to God about in today's world. There will be irresistible temptations towards vengeance and hard hearted anger towards how we are treated as Christians in today's culture. And I pray that it is not the case But I suspect that the experiences that we've had over the last five years are simply a prelude to what is planned to bring destruction and evil upon this culture and especially upon God's people. Don't take the bait. Have the meekness of Paul. Have the boldness of Paul and the meekness of Paul and remember where the battle is and engage in spiritual warfare. because that's where the battle is, spiritual warfare. So today, I hope that we will cry out to God together during our time of worship in regards to these things. Next, we see Paul mentioning the Roman justice. We've kind of looked at this already, but again, we're gonna circle back to emphasize the contrast between the Jewish malice and the Roman justice. Remember, who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go because there was no cause for putting me to death. But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar. So consider that the people of God, the Jews, with the word of God, planted by God in such a good land, delivered from captivity, and even granted a second temple in his mercy, have become such enemies of their God and his foretold Messiah. Consider that. Consider the terminal apostasy that we are viewing here. And consider the contrast with those who are outside the covenant, who do not have God's word, infested through and through with pagan idolatry and wickedness of every sort throughout the kingdom. Remember we talked about to Corinthianize? Remember we talked the magic that proliferated at Ephesus? they become the defenders of God's prophet. So, there's a lot we could say here, but one thing to note is that there's an order to the flow of history. I think we see that here and throughout history. In a society, when the people of God draw near to Him, when they worship Him and they serve Him in sincerity and in holiness, God blesses and the land and people around them are also brought into this blessing. Prosperity of the people of God becomes the prosperity even of those outside the covenant. Conversely, when the people of God turn away from him and reject his word and ways and turn to idols and evils and unholiness, The accrued surrounding blessings will then wane generation by generation until that surrounding culture and its political rulers hate true religion and become tools of the apostate church. Before the Beast of Rome came the harlot of Jerusalem. You can see that in Revelation chapter 17. If you take the time to study it, I do believe that that harlot can be shown to be Jerusalem and that beast is Rome. And we can even see it in history when at this point in time when Nero is the Caesar, he's yet to gone mad. He begins to lose his mind where he's probably demonized leading up to the fire that burned in Rome. and then all of the horrible persecution that he carried out after that, became a vicious, vicious man. Now, one text that helps us see this positive aspect of this is 2 Chronicles 7, 13 and 14. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain or command the locusts to devour the land or send pestilence upon my people, so the people of God have turned away from him, and he disciplines them in his kindness, Right? Do we live in a world like this? Does anybody think we see things like this? I think we see things like this in our world today. He says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, four things, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin. Does it stop there? It does not. And heal their land. OK, so what we see here is that the people of God in any land, as they work out their salvation with fear and trembling like Paul commands. The fruitfulness of that society is connected to the holiness of that people. And this is a great and glorious gift from God. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. So we see this with this pagan nation being more righteous than the apostate church. But the time will come when Rome will be a great, a great terror to Christians, along with the Jews. So Paul goes on now to give them his reason for calling them. He says that he's chained for the hope of Israel. So he didn't appeal to Caesar to bring accusations against the Jews. He says there, not that I have anything of which to accuse my nation. So he'd appealed to Caesar, and certainly given the level of malice he had experienced, he probably could have brought evidence of an assassination plot against a Roman citizen, for example. And so there could have been people who were quaking in their boots that Paul was doing this in order to bring legitimate accusations. He says, that's not why I'm here. And he had already said, and by implication, he's alluding to it, even though they had likely violated Roman law in their act of malice against him over the last quarter century. But he wants to dispel that thought. and replace it with the truth. He's not there to seek justice in the courts of Rome against the Jews. He is there to see the Jews face to face, to speak with them and exchange words with them in person, even in chains, because of the hope of Israel. That is what has motivated Paul to go through all of this. So brothers and sisters, what is the hope of Israel? Are you motivated by the hope of Israel? Are you chained to the hope of Israel in your life? So what is this hope of Israel? Very simply put, it was to be delivered by their Messiah via his blood and his outpoured spirit. That's what the Old Testament wrote of. Delivered from what? From sin and death and hell and all oppression eventually. Justification in his resurrection and the promise of the future resurrection of the dead and eventual total glorification of this world and of our bodies. We looked at that, didn't we? During Advent. That's coming our way. There's four texts that I want to end with to help us recall the hope of Israel, the commission that was given to the church, the message that they and we are to preach. Remember when he was before the Sanhedrin and the commander Lysias there in Jerusalem after he was taken into custody because of the tumult stirred up by the lies of the Asian Jews? So he's there, he says, Luke writes, but when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am being judged. So what is an essential part of the hope of Israel that the Sadducees had been lying about for quite some time? The Pharisees did believe in it. The resurrection from the dead. not only of Jesus Christ, but of all who are in him. And not just a spiritual resurrection, the new birth by the spirit, but brothers and sisters, in that final day, our spirits in heaven, reserved by God in perfection until that glorious day, will be reunited with a spiritual body that will ever and ever grow healthier and stronger and wiser and more joyful. in the presence of God, in unbroken relationships, carrying out the dominion mandate throughout the entire cosmos together. This is deliverance. All that Adam lost is restored eventually in Christ and more. That's who we are. That's what we've brought into. And the Jews would have none of it. They didn't want to hear. about the glorious redemption that is ours in Christ. Next, before Felix, he says in Acts 24, I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. So the hope of Israel is tied to the resurrection of the Messiah. Thus, to the death of the Messiah. Thus, to the propitiating, satisfying, atoning work of Jesus Christ for you and me and all of his people. We must remember that the hope of Israel is the resurrection of the dead after the forgiveness of all of our sins. Not only Christ's resurrection, but our resurrection. And all who say that there is no resurrection of the dead lie. and they make Christianity worthless. Next, before Festus and Agrippa, Paul says a very similar thing. He says, now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. Both of these texts, the prior one and this one, is at Caesarea, while he's being held by the Romans, for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. That's why he is judged that day. To this promise, our 12 tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? So you see, what happened in the garden? Everything was lost. And what was the essence of it? Death. What do you see within the temple over and over again is the garden motif, paradise motif. It was before their eyes all the time that they had to have life. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And so the resurrection from the dead over and over again, he's preaching the gospel that it's all and only through Christ. In Luke 24, 46 and 48, going back to the beginning when Jesus gave the commissioning message to the apostles right before his ascension, listen to what he said. He said to them, thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. Paul demonstrates it to us and we live in it with him, the age of Pentecost. And so the hope of Israel, we preach by the work of the Holy Spirit, First, we preach the historical reality of Jesus Christ suffering on the cross and rising from the dead the third day. And then we point to him. and to His cross and His resurrection over and over and over and over again so that people can understand what it means to repent and to receive remission of sins in His name everywhere throughout the whole world. We don't do this on our own. We do this by the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we go forth to do this, it is wondrous to encounter souls that have been prepared for the preaching of God's Word. And so I know it can be, like Paul, probably discouraging to preach the gospel for 26 years and just be attacked the whole time. But next, as we go through this, we're going to see Paul reference the Gentiles and the great work of God in opening heaven to those who are not his covenant people at that time. They who were not a people have become his people. And in that, we can be encouraged that as we go through our lives, We will bump into resistance and hatred like Paul, but we will surely also have opportunities to share the word of God with those in whom God is working and to participate in the joy of seeing others converted to Christ and sharing in the love of Christ together with them. So, have you learned something today? Have these questions been in your mind? Why did you listen to the sermon today? Was it to know Christ and find life in Him? Are you prepared to step into those barbed wire experiences even when you have an opportunity for the do of Mount Hermon instead? Do you see that part of you that might make excuses to ignore and avoid those who have persistently harmed you? Is your life chained to and motivated by this gospel, the hope of Israel? Are you meek? Do you see that in yourself? Are you bold, willing to take things head on when they arise as needed? And you understand a little bit more maybe about how God structured the world for his church, his people to be at the center of every society and the health and well-being of his church being the defining feature. for the health and the well-being of those around us. And are you encouraged to know that as you seek him and walk with him, that all of the barbed wire episodes that we have in our lives are really just his sovereign plan and we can receive those things even as blessings. and look for and expect those moments when the gospel goes forth in power into prepared hearts. And we'll pray that way today. I'll pray that now and we can pray that as well during our time of prayer today. Almighty and gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word to us. First of all, we thank you, Lord Jesus, for demonstrating to us that you are led as a lamb to the slaughter. You being the perfect demonstration of meekness and boldness, of courage and humility. and how you work in your people by your spirit in one who was once the malicious murderer of the church, whom you turned into a meek and courageous man of the gospel who preached your word and declared the hope of Israel throughout the Roman world. Oh, Father, bless us. We pray to grow up in Christ, to know you and to love you more as a result of this teaching. We love you and we praise you, Father. Grant to us, we ask hearts filled with the hope of Israel. not focused upon those who hate us and the painful experiences of having the gospel rejected. But instead, with faithfulness, continuing to preach the word wherever we go and looking forward to those sweet moments where we find souls that you have prepared for the gospel in Jesus name. Amen.