Author: pastortravislv

I am a husband, and father of three, serving as pastor at Providence Reformed Church in Las Vegas, NV. We came here on July 1, 2015.

A Bold Gospel (Acts 17:30-31)

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Acts 17:30-31 – The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
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There is a beauty in this message from Paul to the pagan unbelievers in Athens. Paul spoke to these people in words they could understand. He pointed out their religiosity in worshiping all the different idols. He even noted their worship of “an unknown god,” a clear desire of the people not to leave out any deity. He talked about their own poets making reference to humanity being the offspring of God.

But when it came time to talk about what these people needed, Paul did not hold back. He did not soften the gospel one ounce. He hit them hard with the true call of God to repentance. Paul told them that God has been overlooking their ignorance. This is not to say that God was letting them off the hook on judgment day, but that God had simply not yet judged them. God well could have struck them all dead where they stood for worshipping those statues, but he was not doing so, and that is the overlooking that Paul references. But God will not allow them to continue in their pagan practices. God commands them to repent. God will judge. What is the proof of this? The proof is that God raised Jesus from the dead, elevating him far above any deity ever imagined by man. Jesus is God the Son, and he is the one and only way to God.

Again I point out that Christianity is not a tolerant religion. We do not attack others, and we do not use violence to force people to follow (any who did so in the past were not behaving as Christ). At the same time, we do not, under any circumstances, let people think that whatever they believe is OK. If people are living for themselves or are following false gods, it is our responsibility to tell them to repent. There is one way to God. That way is through faith in Jesus Christ. Any religion that claims something else is false, wrong, and it will lead people into the wrath of God. God proved that what I say here is true, because he raised Jesus from the dead.

Today, if you are a Christian, recognize that Christianity was not one of many options for you, and it is not one of many options for your friends. If you have Christ, you have life and forgiveness. If you do not have Christ, God commands you to repent and come to Christ. Christians, you must call your friends to the same repentance that Paul called the Athenians. You must be just as clear and just as bold. Otherwise, you are leaving them in an eternally dangerous ignorance.

If you do not yet believe in Jesus, let me call you as clearly as Paul called the Athenians to repent. God has so far overlooked your ignorance by not judging you on the spot. However, that will not last forever. There will come a day when you stand before him, and you will answer for your sin. And let me be very clear, if your sin is something as simple as not having believed in Jesus, your sin is enough to have you cast into hell for an eternity. There is no second chance. There is no way out. You have only one hope, and that hope is Jesus. God proved this to be true, because he raised Jesus from the dead.

Lord, I pray that all who read this will recognize the true and urgent call to Christ. Let Christians see this and be called to share their faith with honesty and boldness. Let those who do not know Christ see this, and sense your calling to faith in Jesus. Lord, I know that you have given us a way to be forgiven our sins, and I thank you for that way. Jesus is the way. I pray that all will come to know Christ before it is too late.

A Noble Church (Acts 17:10-12)

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Acts 17:10-12 – The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
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Without question, there is a lesson for us to learn from the people of Berea. Whenever you see the Bible commend someone with such clarity as is here, it is a commendation that you should take to heart. The people of Berea were noble, far more so than the people of Thessalonica. So, you want to have that kind of nobility in your own life, because the Bible makes it clear that this is good.

What made the Bereans so noble? They were noble because they received the teaching of the apostles willingly, but they also examined the scriptures daily to find out if what they said was true. This should, and in fact must, be the pattern of all of the people in our churches who want to be noble followers of Christ. Christians should be willing and even eager to hear the teaching of men of God. But, they should not be willing to blindly accept or reject that teaching. It is the duty of every person in the church to examine the scriptures upon hearing the teaching of men to find out whether or not such teaching is true.

As a pastor, there are few things that I like to hear more than an honest question. I do not mean that I enjoy an arrogant challenge from someone who simply does not like a particular doctrine. I do, however, love a genuine question from a sincerely seeking heart. I love to hear that the people of the church have searched the scriptures, and they want to know how what I have taught lines up with the rest of the word of God. And if Paul and I have anything at all in common, I am sure that the Bereans thrilled his heart too.

Lord, I pray today for the church that I serve. Please help them to be like the Bereans. Help them to be noble. Help them to receive the teaching of your word with gladness. Help them to search the scriptures faithfully, and to prove everything with the word of God. Help me to preach to them truths from your word just as you want me to.

Draw or Drag (John 6:44; Acts 16:19)

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Acts 16:19 – But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
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In my reading of Acts today, I came to a verse that interests me, not for its own meaning, but for the meaning of a particular Greek word. The Greek word translated “dragged” in the verse above is the verb helkuo. The reason that it interests me is that it is also used by Jesus to speak of how God saves us.

John 6:44 – “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

In John 6, the word is translated “draws,” and this translation can lead to some confusion as to how our souls are saved. When we, in English, think of the word “draw,” it can mean one of several things. Of course, we are not here thinking of drawing a picture. But there is some debate as to whether or not the word means draw in the sense of entice, woo, tempt, allure. Such a drawing would describe a man who is drawn to a woman by her beauty, or to the kitchen by the sound and smell of sizzling bacon. It would describe a person being brought somewhere by a desire that is resistible.

If we look, however, at all the occurrences of the word helkuo in the New Testament, including the Acts verse above, we will see that it does not ever clearly mean a wooing or enticing sort of drawing. It is used eight times in the New Testament. In John 6:44 and in John 12:32, the word has something to do with people being “drawn” to Jesus; but that does not help us to know what the word means. All six other uses of the word helkuo in the New Testament make it clear what the word means. In John 18:10, it refers to Peter drawing his sword. In John 21: 6 and 11, it refers to men pulling in or drawing a fishing net. In Acts 16:19 and 21:30, the word is twice used to refer to people who were seized, dragged off, and beaten. In James 2:6, helkuo refers to the rich personally dragging Christians into court.

Looking at the evidence, it is clear what meaning is behind the word in John 6:44. It is not to enable or empower somebody. No one would say that Peter enabled his sword or empowered the fishing net. No one would argue that the crowd wooed Paul away from the temple and beat him in Acts 21. No one believes that James meant that the rich were persuading Christians to desire to go to court. In every instance, this word means to take hold of something, and to move it somewhere by your power.

So, in John 6:44, the Son of God tells us that no one can come to him, unless the Father who sent him takes hold of them and moves them there by his power. This is not a wooing, encouraging, or enabling. It is a forcible moving. It is God taking hold of those whom he has chosen to give to the Son as we read in verse 37, and bringing them to him; and without this act of the Father’s, no one will come to the Son.

Yes, there are a million implications of this doctrine, and a million questions that it raises. I can not answer them all, because God’s thoughts are higher than my thoughts and his ways are higher than mine. He knows how this all works out, and why he chose to do things in this way. But make no mistake, if you or anyone you know is a Christian, it is because, and only because, the Father chose them as a gift for his Son and then brought them as a gift to his son. And let me be clear about this, all who are chosen by the Father will come to the Son. They can not resist that drawing, that moving of the Father any more than Peter’s sword could have resisted his drawing it or water can resist being drawn out of a well in a bucket.

Lord, I worship you this morning, because I again see you in your sovereignty. I do not understand exactly how all of this doctrine impacts all of my life. I do not fully grasp what is the level of human freedom and what is not a free choice. What I know for sure is that all who are saved are saved because you drew them to yourself. I know that you took me, someone who would have not chosen to come to you, and you pulled me, dragged me, drew me to yourself so that I might see and believe in Jesus. I can take no credit for my faith, because it was something you gave me without me seeking it. It is all of you and your doing. My salvation is to your glory from start to finish.

The Job Question

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Job 1:8 – The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”

Job 42:1-6

1Then Job answered the LORD and said,
2 “I know that You can do all things,
And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
“Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
4 ‘Hear, now, and I will speak;
I will ask You, and You instruct me.’
5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
6 Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes.”
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I recently received a question about the book of Job. As we see in the verse from chapter 1, Job is an upright man—God even acknowledges that. Yet, God not only allows, but insights Satan to put Job to a terrible test. Job loses so much, and it seems incredibly unfair.

From chapter 4 through chapter 37, Job questions God. He knows that he has not done anything that he would ever imagine could cause God to punish him so severely. His friends, who are supposed to comfort him, only serve to discourage him by accusing him of bringing his troubles upon himself.

At the end of the book, God shows up, and speaks to Job. God asks Job a large series of uninterrupted questions to show that Job has no right to accuse God of anything, nor does he have any right to demand answers from God. Then, as we see in chapter 42, Job declares that he was wrong to think he could question God. He confesses and renounces his wrongful accusing of God. He repents, and the book closes with God restoring Job.

So, what is this all about? In large part, the book of Job deals with the question of why bad things happen to seemingly good people. The book of Ecclesiastes, on the other hand, asks an opposite question: why do good things keep happening to the evil instead of the good? The question of “why” in the book of Job has been asked for centuries, and I do not know that it will be fully understood in this life, but we must do our best to grasp it.

First, the answer to the why question has to be “for the ultimate glory of God.” Nothing happens, in the long run, that will not be shown to have been for the glory of God (Romans 8:28; 11:36). While these events were painful to Job, they served to display to us how great God is and how little we truly understand. Job, at one point, wants to take God to court over how he has been treated. By the end, however, Job recognizes that there are millions of things that he does not understand, and he dare not attempt to demand explanations from the Almighty, who knows them all. This shows God as glorious, and puts man in his rightful place, subordinate to God.

God’s glory is also demonstrated in his sovereignty over Satan. Satan challenges God, believing that he can take Job away from God through great suffering. God first shows his sovereignty over Satan by limiting exactly what Satan can do to Job. God also shows his supremacy over Satan by winning in the end. Job not only remains a follower of God, but his trust in the LORD is greatly strengthened.

Job also shows us the inadequacy of human knowledge. Job’s three friends are very logical. In fact, many people mistakenly site the verses spoken by Job’s friends as biblical truth, even though God harshly rebukes those men for their words. Men are always declaring the why and wherefore of tragic circumstances. Whenever things happen such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, or floods, men are very quick to try to say why it happened and what sin God was punishing. However, God, in the book of Job, lets us know that we do not ever truly know why events happen. We are not God. We do not have his knowledge. We have no right to say that we know why any single person or group of people have suffered difficult times. God alone knows, and Job teaches us to bow to his superior wisdom.

So, why did God do what he did in Job? It may surprise you to know that God never tells. He lets Job know that he does not answer to his creation; he is Lord over his creation. We are not in a place where we have a right to question him. Sure, we may ask him to reveal to us why something happened, but we have no right to demand it. Nor do we have the right to think that what God chose to do was wrong. He knows, we do not. He is God, we are not. He is sovereign, we are not. And, though we may not know why things happen, we know we can trust him, because he is the God who reigns over all.

Salvation for the Nations (Acts 15:10-11)

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Acts 15:10-11 – Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.
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Acts 15 is of tremendous theological importance to all Christians, and especially those of us who are not from Jewish lineage. This chapter describes a counsel in Jerusalem, where the early church had to discover the will of God concerning converted gentiles. The Christians who had been Jews before believed that any converted gentile must be forced to be circumcised and keep the Old Testament law in order to be saved. Paul, who had preached the gospel to the gentiles, however, disagreed, and is disagreement is found in the verses above.

Paul points out to the church leadership that, to make obedience to the law a requirement for gentiles, would be to give the gentiles a burden that the Jews themselves did not bear. He also pointed out to them that all people, Jew or gentile, will be saved by one means only, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is more important to us than just a history lesson of how the early church began to include gentiles. It is a reminder to us that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone for all peoples, regardless of race or class. It is a reminder that we do not force people into our customs in order for them to be saved. If people are saved, they are saved by faith in Christ, regardless of what they eat, what kind of music their culture enjoys, what kind of clothing their culture wears, or what kind of political system their government has chosen.

Today, if you are a believer, it would be a great idea for you to stop and thank God that he does not include or exclude people from his family based on their nationality or culture. God does not demand that you follow a particular diet to be his child, and that is a good thing. He does not exclude Americans or Australians from his family, though he certainly could have done so. He allows all to be in his family who will come to Jesus in faith. Thank God that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and not as a result of any works that you perform, religious or otherwise.

Also, today, check yourself to see if there are any roots of legalism in your heart. Do you have a standard in your mind as to how Christians should dress that goes beyond the biblical call to modesty and decency? Do you think of a particular people group as a more “spiritual” nation than another? Do you believe that certain activities are off limits for Christians, even if the Bible does not say the same thing? Do you believe that one country is superior to all others, and thus that people from there make better Christians? Do you call people to more than faith in Christ in order to be saved? If any of these are true of you, you need to capture those thoughts, reject them, and repent of them for the glory of Christ.

Lord, I thank you that you have chosen, in your wisdom, to create for yourself a kingdom of people from every nation. I thank you that you do not include or exclude anyone based on their nationality or cultural background. I thank you that salvation is by grace through faith, and not as a result of me keeping some sort of standard. Lord, I ask that you will help me to not apply legalistic standards to others. Show me where, in my own mind, I create standards that you do not create. Keep me from burdening anyone with a burden that I will not bear. Help me to magnify your glory and your grace for all.

Through Many Tribulations (Acts 14:21-22)

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Acts 14:21-22 – When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
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The phrase “they returned to Lystra,” may not strike you as being of much import in the two verses above, but if you looked at the verses which precede it, you would not overlook it again. Lystra was a city where Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel. But when certain Jews arrived in the city, they were able to stir up the crowds against Paul. The people of Lystra dragged Paul out of the city, and stoned him, leaving him for dead. Paul, however, was still alive. In fact, he got up, and returned to the city that evening before leaving for the next town.

In our verses above, Paul again returns to the city of Lystra to strengthen the church there. Let me be very honest, if I were nearly killed by the people of a city, I think I would find a reason not to return to that city for ministry. Paul, however, shows himself to be the bigger minister. He returns to a place where the people tried to kill him, and he continues to do the ministry.

In his teaching, Paul tells the Christians in Lystra that they must enter God’s kingdom through many tribulations. He knew what he was talking about.

In our lives, we shrink back from the slightest hint of suffering. We turn away from doing ministry so easily. Maybe we have a cold, so we call off a Bible study. Maybe we have worked long hours, so we neglect a prayer meeting. Maybe we are worn out on a plane, so we refuse to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to us. Maybe our favorite television show is on, so we rush a lost friend off the telephone in order to get back to it. Such things do not honor Christ. Such things are not marks of disciples. Such things are sin, and are not what God wants for us.

It is time that we, as the people of God, return to the willingness to suffer for God’s kingdom. This is not to say that we seek out suffering, but that we are willing to sacrifice for the greater glory of God. Yes, there are a thousand times when we have taken the easy road in the past. Now, however, it is time to take the road that follows Christ, regardless of how difficult it may seem. If Jesus is with you, you can return to the city that tried to stone you, because his will is more important than your comfort, your bad memories, or even your life.

Lord Jesus, I confess to you that I have, on numerous occasions, taken the easy road, even when it avoided ministry opportunities. This is sin, and I renounce it. I ask for your forgiveness here, and seek your strength in the future. Please strengthen my heart, making me willing to go through tribulations for the sake of your kingdom and the gospel.

Appointed to Life (Acts 13:48)

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Acts 13:48 – And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
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Without spending a great deal of time on this, I want to point out one word of this verse. It is the word “appointed.” Earlier this morning, I spoke on right belief about how we are saved in a message entitled “God’s Glory in Our Salvation” (click here to read or listen to that message). A major part of right thinking about our salvation and understanding the working of God in our salvation is to grasp that salvation is from God completely.

In this verse in Acts 13, which I did not plan for today, we see that many people believed in Christ after hearing that the gospel was available to the gentiles. Wonderful, however, is the fact that those who believed are said by God to have been “appointed” for eternal life. This is, without question, an evidence of the sovereignty of God. God chose who would be saved that day. He appointed them; he chose them. Then, he brought them to himself. Of course, they believed. No one will ever be saved apart from faith in Christ. No one will be denied salvation who truly desires to be in Christ. However, this fact does not, in any way, take away from the truth that God first appoints people to life, and later they believe.

God is fully sovereign. If you are saved, it is because, before you came to Christ, God had already appointed you to eternal life. Thus, he deserves more thanksgiving than ever you could imagine. He chose you before the dawn of time. He chose you not based on anything you would ever do or become. He chose you for himself. Then, he worked it in your heart that you would desire to come to know him. It is God’s moving, and it is glorious; regardless of whether or not we can fully grasp all its intricacies.

Speaking Hard Truth (Acts 13:8-10)

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Acts 13:8-10 – But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?”
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When the apostle Paul was faced with opposition to the gospel and the kingdom of God, he responded with honesty and boldness. He responded to a magician who wanted to turn people away from the gospel by calling him a son of the devil, an enemy of all righteousness, and a person full of deceit and villainy. He did not mince words. He was not politically correct.

Recently, in the US, a couple of fairly prominent Christian speakers made reference to the evils of Islam, even going so far as to call that religion demonic. IN defense of such statements, R. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, stated, “I would have to say that as a Christian that I believe that any belief system, any worldview, whether it’s Zen Buddhism or Hinduism or dialectical materialism for that matter, Marxism, that keeps persons captive and keeps them from coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ … is a demonstration of satanic power.” (click for text)

The question with which we must deal is this: Are we willing to risk the scorn of the world to speak the truth? Mohler is absolutely right. Someone or some ideology or religion that opposes the kingdom of God is clearly of the devil. Paul said it to the magician, and Dr. mohler said it of several false religions.

As Christians, we have an obligation to share the truth in love. This means that we must speak truth. Love supposedly given by concealing honest, eternal truth is not love. Thus, to pretend that those who follow belief systems that are opposed to the biblical claims of Jesus Christ are spiritually OK is to lie, and it certainly is not loving. Such “tolerance” may win you a few friends in your community, but it will not gain you the chance to preach the true gospel, the only message that can save the souls of those held captive.

With that said, however, we also must add that truth not spoken lovingly can also cease to be truth. We must be careful to be kind, respectful, and loving even as we are honest. This is no call to return to some sort of crusader mentality. It is not a call for Christians to begin arrogantly haranguing anyone who is not a believer. It is a call to honesty, even painful honesty; but such honesty must come from one who is humble, compassionate, and demonstrating the love of Christ.

The fact is, all who oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ are children of the devil. They may not mean to be. They may very well be blinded, spiritually, to their condition. But for us to say anything less is for us to fail to recognize what the scripture teaches. Also, for us to fail to recognize that we too were once in the same category is for us to forget the truth of God’s amazing grace that saved “a wretch like me.”

It is time that we stop trying to impress people by pretending that their worldviews are OK. No, we do not get mean. No we do not ever get violent. But we do get honest, even while we aim at humility and love. It is time to learn to speak the truth in love, and that will require the wisdom of God and the guidance of his Holy Spirit.

Remembering God’s Faithfulness for the Future (Joshua 17:16)

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Joshua 17:16 – The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”
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This section of the book of Joshua is one of those sections of scripture we like to skip over when reading. It does not generally excite us when God records for us the particular cities of ancient Israel which were allotted to a particular clan. We do not really care that much about where the border of Judah ended, or whether or not the tribe of Joseph got one or two portions. But we forget that this was incredibly exciting news to the people. When They read of God apportioning the land to the tribes, they were reading of the faithfulness of God to keep his promises. He had promised the Israelites the land, and here he was keeping his promises.

In the light of this faithfulness of God, we read verses similar to the one above. The people from Joseph’s tribe wanted extra land, because they felt that their portion was too small for their numbers. In reality, they felt they could not take the land, because the Canaanites who lived in the plains of their apportioned land had big iron chariots.

It is at this moment that the careful reader slams on the brakes and takes thought. Who in the world do these men think they are? God has faithfully driven out all the inhabitants of the land before the Israelites. No nation, regardless of how strong their army, has been able to stand before the people of God. God is the one who stopped the flow of the Jordan river so they could cross and who brought down the walls of Jericho. How in the world could they not think God would finish what he started? But, these people lacked faith, and they actually allow the people of Canaan to live among them, in disobedience to God’s express command.

Let me ask, do we do the very same thing? Do we fail to trust God, even though he has shown himself faithful? Think of every time you get worried about how your needs will be met. Think of every time you are tempted to cut corners and disobey the will of God, because your heart tells you that the only way to get a job done is by taking the less ethical path. Think of how easy it is to fear for your future. But God has been as faithful to us as to any generation. Sure, we may have struggles, but we also have Christ. There is no room for us to doubt God’s provision. He has promised to give us what we need, but we sinfully doubt him. We are like the people who just saw the walls of a city fall at our shouts, but who immediately turn and say, “we can’t beat those guys; they have chariots.”

Let us remember the past faithfulness of God. Remember how faithful God was to provide for every need of every person in the Bible. You do not read of any of God’s people who were serving him faithfully starving to death. You do not read of him failing to give them success when they worked from inside his will. God was faithful to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, and all his followers. Remember that god has been faithful to you. Even if it is something as simple as taking care of a little need when you needed it most, he was faithful. How can you doubt him now? It is time to remember God’s past faithfulness, and turn from doubt to faith and obedience.

Lord, I acknowledge that you are faithful. You have always kept your word. You have not left anything undone. I do not need to sin to survive. I need only to serve you faithfully, obey your commands, and take you at your word. I know you will be faithful, because you will not let your name be defamed among the nations. I pray that you will help me to remember your past faithfulness. I pray that you will help me to rest in your character. Remind me that you always, yes always, keep your promises. Lord, I trust you, and I ask that you help me to trust you more.

The Danger of Stealing God’s Glory (Acts 12:21-23)

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Acts 12:21-23 – On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
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God is passionately jealous for his own glory. There are numerous places throughout the scripture where this fact is made known, and this is one of the more obscure places for it. King Herod gave a speech, and the crowds wanted to get on his good side. They shouted out that his voice was that of a god. Herod, always eager to receive praise, did not even think about deferring the glory to God. In this instance, God showed his hand, and an angel struck Herod down for receiving for himself glory that was due to God alone.

The lesson to be learned here is simple. Never, under any circumstances, take for yourself glory that is appropriately due to God. He guards his name and his reputation. He is jealous for his own glory. This is a very good thing for us, because it directs our attention to the glory of God; and nothing satisfies the human soul so much as when it is in the presence of God’s glory. We are created by God to bring him glory, so we are never more truly fulfilled than when we give him glory. But when we steal glory from him, we are never in greater danger of facing his judgment.

Where in your life do you take credit for things only God can do? Do you take credit and receive personal glory for the gifts that God has given you? do you take credit for your talent, beauty, or intellect? Do you take credit for your self for your belief in Christ leading to your personal salvation? Do you take credit for the good things that happen in your life? If so, you take credit for things that are rightly God’s . it is time that we all remember to do the thing Herod failed to do. It is time that we give God all glory for all good things we have and that we are. Without him, we could not exist. Without him, we would be completely evil. He is the source of all good we have and all good that we are.

Lord, I come to you this morning, and I acknowledge that I have no good apart from you. I did not make my talent. I did not give myself intellect. I did not even help myself to believe rightly about you. All good that I have is because of you. All glory for anything good in my life is yours. All honor for anything good that I do or I receive is yours. I yield all glory to you, for you are the one worthy of it all.