This is the one about whom I said, &#8216;After me comes a man who is greater than I am,<n id="1" /> because he existed before me.&#8217;

You yourselves can testify that I said, &#8216;I am not the Christ,&#8217;<n id="1" /> but rather, &#8216;I have been sent before him.&#8217;

When he has brought all his own sheep<n id="1" /> out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize<n id="2" /> his voice.

For who is our hope or joy or crown to boast of<n id="1" /> before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not of course you?

For how can we thank God enough for you,<n id="1" /> for all the joy we feel<n id="2" /> because of you before our God?

and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">In<n id="2" /> the middle of the throne<n id="3" /> and around the throne were four living creatures<n id="4" /> full of eyes in front and in back.

In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;Be<n id="1" /> careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people.<n id="2" /> Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Thus whenever you do charitable giving,<n id="1" /> do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues<n id="2" /> and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth,<n id="3" /> they have their reward.

Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.<n id="1" />p>

This is the one about whom it is written:p> <p class="otpoetry">&#8216;<b><i>Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,i>b><n id="1" />p> <p class="otpoetry"><i><b>who will prepare your way before youb>.i>&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But woe to you, experts in the law<n id="1" /> and you Pharisees, hypocrites!<n id="2" /> You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven!<n id="3" /> For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then<n id="1" /> Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Are you the king<n id="3" /> of the Jews?&#8221; Jesus<n id="4" /> said, &#8220;You say so.&#8221;<n id="5" />

and after braiding<n id="1" /> a crown of thorns,<n id="2" /> they put it on his head. They<n id="3" /> put a staff<n id="4" /> in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him:<n id="5" /> &#8220;Hail, king of the Jews!&#8221;<n id="6" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Six days later<n id="1" /> Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led them alone up a high mountain privately. And he was transfigured before them,<n id="2" />

But<n id="1" /> since they found<n id="2" /> no way to carry him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof<n id="3" /> and let him down on the stretcher<n id="4" /> through the roof tiles<n id="5" /> right<n id="6" /> in front of Jesus.<n id="7" />

John<n id="1" /> testified<n id="2" /> about him and shouted out,<n id="3" /> &#8220;This one was the one about whom I said, &#8216;He who comes after me is greater than I am,<n id="4" /> because he existed before me.&#8217;&#8221;

Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius<n id="1" /> replied,<n id="2" /> &#8220;What is it, Lord?&#8221; The angel<n id="3" /> said to him, &#8220;Your prayers and your acts of charity<n id="4" /> have gone up as a memorial<n id="5" /> before God.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,<n id="1" /> so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.<n id="2" />p>

But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas<n id="1" /> in front of them all, &#8220;If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force<n id="2" /> the Gentiles to live like Jews?&#8221;p>