Watch Out for the Worms

Who's glad to be in church today?

So when I thought I'm excited to be able to tack on to that last announcement, one day to feed the world, every year for the last two or three years now, we have been joining up with Convoy of Hope, and we take our annual salary individually, divide it by 365, and give one day to feed the world.

Our one day changes their every day.

And I'm so pumped that we get the great privilege and the great responsibility to help the less fortunate around the world.

So, hey, this is your chance.

This is our chance.

Begin to plan.

Begin to do the math.

Get out your calculator.

Figure out what you're...

gross income is, and no matter how gross it seems, but just get your gross income, divide it by 365.

Let's go all in, every single one of us.

Lean in, listen, Pendleton, even the Department of Corrections can join in on this.

I'm here to tell you, all of us, teenagers, babysitters, you got a part-time job and you're in high school.

Come on, $1.

day to feed the world.

We all can participate.

Everyone can do their part.

One of our jobs as a church, listen, one of our jobs as a church is to vet organizations that you can give your money to where it will go the greatest distance that it can.

That's one of our responsibilities as a church.

We have done that with Convoy of Hope.

We are so proud to be partnered with them.

And so here we go.

In just one month, three weeks from now, October 11th, we will be bringing our One Day to Feed the World offering.

And in about four to five weeks, I'll be announcing that we are going to feed, come on, how many of you believe, over 1,000 kids again for a year.

So tell your neighbor, come on, let's do it.

Come on, tell your neighbor, let's do it.

Let's go.

Well, I'm just fired up about that, so I had to take just a moment and talk about that.

And then I'm just so excited that we live in the day and age that we do because we get to minister to all those who are in the room in Walla Walla, but also in the Department of Corrections, also Pendleton Life Church in our Pendleton High School Auditorium.

Come on, let's put our hands together and welcome our whole church family today.

We love you guys so very, very much.

All right, I got great honor and privilege of continuing in our series today in the book of Acts that we have titled There Is More as we journey through the book of Acts verse by verse and chapter by chapter.

Now today, I have been given

by these verses, one of the most savage passages of scripture in the New Testament to deal with today.

So buckle up.

Let's go.

Come on, stand for the reading of God's word.

Acts chapter 12, these verses, verses 20 to 24.

Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon.

But they came to him with one accord.

And having made Blastus the king's personal aide, their friend, what a bunch of manipulators.

they asked for peace because their country was supplied with food by the king's country.

So on a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.

And the people kept shouting, the voice of a God and not of a man.

Now,

whether that was genuine or not, they wanted what he could give them.

So they gave him praise, which is just a little bit of warning.

Not everybody who acts like they like you actually likes you.

Some people just want something from you.

Voice of a God and not of a man.

Then immediately, here's savage, you ready?

Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God.

And he was eaten by worms.

We're just gonna throw that out there.

He was eaten by worms and died.

I just want you to notice, it didn't say he died and then was eaten by worms.

savage intense and i get a preach on it but the but i like this and then it's just the next sentence but the word of god grew and multiplied here we go i want to talk on the subject watch out for the worms when pride steals the glory that belongs to god tell three people watch out and then you may be seated

Watch out.

Watch out.

Watch out.

Listen, I grew up in the 70s and 80s.

And in the 70s, there was this thing that was legal back then before they realized that you could kill people with it.

And it was this worm getter.

And it was this rod that you could plug into the electricity and put it in your wet yard.

And then go pick up the electrified worms while it's still plugged in.

I'm a living miracle that I'm still here.

Anybody old enough to remember this stuff?

My dad's favorite bait was worms.

And so he had one of these things and then it was just in the 70s they began to discover, hey, these things actually kill people.

You're hooked up to electricity in a wet yard and you're playing in the yard picking up electrified worms.

Well, I think a little bit of my goal today is is that the power of God would put a rod down on the inside of us and kick out every worm of pride

that has inched its way into our life.

Herod, he had everything.

Herod had power.

Herod had position, Herod had influence, Herod had an audience, Herod had people telling him how great he was, but he did not give glory to God.

And that's when the worms showed up.

Now the worms weren't actually Herod's problem, pride was.

And pride has a way of hiding

until it eventually consumes every part of your life.

So today in this passage of scripture, we're gonna see what happens when we take for ourselves something that was never ours to take.

Because this is exactly what happens in this passage of scripture that we just read.

I want you to notice something with me.

The problem wasn't that Herod was successful.

The problem was not that Herod was powerful.

The problem wasn't that people admired him.

The problem was that he took the glory that belonged only to God.

Now, most of us will never stand on a throne somewhere and have a crowd shout, you're a God.

But we can still take glory that belongs to God.

We can take credit for what God gave us.

We can become proud of gifts that God has given us.

We can begin to enjoy the applause that's only meant for God.

And we can forget the one who gave us the ability to do whatever it is that we are gifted and called to do.

So let me start with this truth that is pretty basic, but I think we need to be founded on this again, and it's that we were made to give glory to God.

We were made to give glory to God.

To God.

What does that mean?

What does the word glory mean?

He didn't give glory to God, it says.

So what is the word glory?

It means splendor.

It means weight.

It means worth.

The intrinsic worth, heavy majesty, and visible splendor of God.

So to give God glory means to declare his true weight and his true worth, recognizing him for exactly who he is.

And when we fail to give God glory, we treat him as light or insignificant.

King Herod's fatal mistake wasn't just pride.

He intercepted the heavy honor that belonged solely to God and tried to weigh himself down with it.

So giving glory to God isn't adding anything to God that he doesn't already have.

It's redirecting the spotlight.

God's the creator of everyone and everything.

Y'all remember that?

Yeah.

He created it all.

Without him, nothing would exist.

You, me, the world, nothing.

Colossians says it like this.

For through him, Jesus, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.

He made the things we can see and the things we cannot see, such as thrones, kingdoms,

Rulers and authorities in the unseen world.

Everything was created through him and what?

For him.

We were made to give glory to God.

So today's message is a reminder there is only one who is worthy of the highest praise and deepest adoration and his name is Jesus.

Can I hear an amen to that today?

All right.

He's the one who created the heavens.

He's the one who created the earth.

He's the one who can make the sun stand still and people not fly off the planet.

He's almighty God.

Nothing is too great for him.

Nothing is too small for him.

He can hear every one of our prayers at the same time and not be distracted or disinterested.

That's the God that we are called to give glory to.

He's all-knowing.

He's all-powerful.

He's ever-present.

And the gospel writer John, who was possibly the best friend of Jesus while he walked on the planet, had a unique look.

at the resurrected Jesus that paled, that ended up causing his previous perception of Jesus to pale in comparison.

Revelation chapter one, check this out.

When I turned to see who was speaking to me, this is John, who was at the last supper with Jesus, hanging out, cuddled up on his chest, going, I love you, Jesus, I'm your favorite.

I saw seven gold lampstands, and standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man.

In other words, it was Jesus, but I'm here to tell you, it was a whole new perspective of Jesus.

Some of you need a new perspective of Jesus.

Some of you need a brand new, fresh, maybe for the first time, revelation of who God honestly is.

He's not your Santa Claus that you jump up on his lap and pull on his gray beard and get whatever you want every Christmas.

He's almighty God.

He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest.

His head and his hair were white as like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like flames of fire.

Another savage scripture.

His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves.

He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was like the sun in all its brilliance.

It's like, I can't even look at you.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead.

You think?

Yes.

Romans says it like this.

For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom what?

Be glory forever.

Shout it amen.

Amen.

I think sometimes we humans have this weird thing called amnesia that forgets that we were created and every gift that we contain

Every gift that we have came from him.

Do you realize that your smarts didn't just come from your reading or your study?

Yes.

God gave you the ability to read.

God gave you the mind to think.

God gave you the skill to play that sport, the skill to build that business, the skill to help people in counseling.

God Almighty gave us everything we possess.

God has given gifts to everyone.

Herod could speak well and sway crowds of people.

That's not what got Herod judged by God.

He was dressed well and in a high position.

That's not what got Herod judged by God.

Peter had the gift of working of miracles and healing.

God used Peter to raise someone from the dead.

See people who were crippled be healed.

They were healed, they were raised from the dead.

It was a gift from God.

And you have gifts from God.

And God expects you to use them for his honor.

In fact, Jesus once said this.

How do we glorify him?

When you produce much fruit, you're my true disciples.

This brings great glory to my Father.

So speaking well, singing well.

playing an instrument well, discipling kids well in your home or in church or using your gift of hospitality well or building a business for the kingdom of God well or helping marriages get better.

These are gifts that God gives to people and he expects us to use them well.

It's not doing things with excellence that is the problem.

It is when we do them with excellence and we forget.

that God is the one who gave us the ability to do anything at all.

God gave gifts to us and places and positions in life for his honor and for his glory, not yours and not mine.

So we were made to give him glory and we were not made to receive glory

do God.

That's what's so savage about this.

He didn't give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms.

The angel of the Lord struck Peter last weekend, we saw, but it awakened Peter, didn't kill him.

Then the angel of the Lord strikes Herod,

and he is immediately eaten by worms and dies.

Although we were created to give God glory, we were not created to carry that weight.

So far in the book of Acts, we have seen the apostles steer clear of taking glory that was not theirs, but belonged to God.

Check this out.

Acts chapter three, God uses Peter and John, heal this guy.

People of Israel, he said, so this lame man's sitting at the temple gate, he gets healed.

This is their response when people are astonished at the power of God flowing through the apostles.

People of Israel, he said,

What is so surprising about this?

And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness?

I love their redirection.

Don't you dare look at us as if we had the power to make a lame man walk or we were so godly and that's why God used us.

Oh, dear Lord.

May the word of God put a rod of his power inside all of our souls and drive out every worm of pride today.

For it, this is how their redirection, look at this.

It is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors who has brought what?

Glory to his servant Jesus by doing this.

This was done for the glory of God.

Don't you dare stare at us as if we had anything to do with it.

Did you know Peter was worshipped once?

Did you know that by another human being?

Peter the apostle was worshipped once.

Check this out.

Peter entered his home.

Cornelius fell at his feet and worshipped him.

Why didn't God strike Peter?

because Peter didn't receive it.

But Peter pulled him up and said, stand up, I'm a human being just like you.

How do you like this today?

I'm a human being just like you.

Mankind was not created to receive worship.

And neither were angels.

And I have sometimes pondered, I'm gonna skip this, okay.

Where did things go wrong?

When did things first get misdirected?

The Bible says that when Satan fell, one third of the angels fell with him.

Now, there's a couple of passages in scripture in the Old Testament that refer to Satan in Isaiah and in Ezekiel.

Now, even though this scripture we're gonna look at is written to the king of Babylon, it's also written to the spirit behind working in the king of Babylon.

Do you remember there was a time when Jesus looked at Peter and said, get behind me, Satan?

Did you know that Peter wasn't Satan?

Peter's this great man of God, but he got off and there was something influencing him that was not of the spirit.

And so Jesus spoke to the spirit behind Peter and said, get behind me, Satan.

That's what's going on in Isaiah that I want you to see that there's a spirit that what happened when Satan fell?

Check this out.

In Isaiah 14, how you are fallen from heaven.

Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations.

Look at what he did that caused a bolt of lightning out of heaven.

You've said in your heart, it didn't even come out your mouth.

You just had the thought, I'm all that.

I will ascend.

I will ascend.

into heaven.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

I will also sit on the mountain.

Do you want to notice who's the subject of all the thoughts?

I, I, I. Of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the most high.

He wanted to exalt himself.

Lucifer was an angel created to lead worship

And then he fell and became Satan himself.

And when he tempted Jesus, when Satan tempted Jesus, he wanted the worship that only God deserved.

Look at this in Luke 4.

I'll give it all to you, Satan said to Jesus, if you will worship me.

I'll give you the planet if you'll worship me.

Jesus replied, the scriptures say,

You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.

This has been the goal of Satan ever since he fell.

To misdirect people's worship so they give glory to anyone other than God.

And he is fine with mankind seeking glory for themselves.

And taking glory that only belongs to God.

Now I know we're all in this room and we're Christians and we're

We're sitting here going, man, I worship God.

I just sang to Jesus.

To God be the glory, not to me.

And I realized that none of us would want to take anything that belongs to God to ourself, particularly the glory of God.

But let me just give you a few scenarios.

Just as play along with me, if you will.

How about this scenario?

When we give giving glory to God and when we take it for ourself.

How about your work goes uncredited?

Uncredited.

Well, when you give glory to God, you rest in the fact that God saw it and lives were impacted.

But when you're taking glory for yourself, you feel slighted, frustrated, or withdraw future effort.

How about this scenario?

A friend shares a heavy trial with you.

When you're giving glory to God, you direct them to God's promises, you listen deeply, and you pray with them.

But when you're taking glory for yourself, you dominate the conversation with your own wisdom and how I fixed it stories, and every husband just got convicted.

How about this scenario?

You walk through a painful season.

When you're giving glory to God, you allow others to see your weakness and how God's grace sustains you.

But when you're taking glory for yourself, you mask your pain to project an image of having an invincible perfect faith.

How about this scenario?

Can you have another one?

You tell a story of a miracle or a blessing, and when you're giving glory to God, you focus heavily on God's unexpected mercy and unmerited favor.

But when you're taking glory for yourself, you emphasize how your intense faith or your persistent prayers earned the outcome.

If you just had enough faith like me.

Okay, so that's enough of the pain.

Let's talk about some solutions.

What do we do with this passage of scripture today?

What do we do?

What can I take home to have that rod of

of heaven's power driving out any encroaching worms of pride in my life.

You ready?

Here it is.

It's just live a life that gives God thanks regularly.

God could have raised anyone else up in your place, but he chose you.

for that position, that life, that gift.

He gave you that gift.

He gave you those gifts.

He gave you that responsibility.

And when is the last time we just sat before God and said, thank you.

Thank you, God, that you saved my family.

Thank you for saving my children.

Thank you for helping me not kill my children when they were growing up.

Thank you, Jesus.

How many times I have thanked God for things that I don't know about.

My God, I know there's so many things I know, but there's so much more that I'll never know.

Maybe not until eternity, but I just want to start right now saying, thank you.

King David,

has this beautiful response.

It's one of my favorite, humble, grateful responses in all of the Bible.

And it just humbles me when I watch King David's response, when God promises David a lineage and how God would save his children, what God would do through his heritage, through his lineage.

I just want you to see his response.

Look at this in 2 Samuel.

King David went in and he goes, I just sat before the Lord.

I just sat down and prayed.

Who am I?

Oh sovereign Lord.

And what's my family that you brought me this far?

And now sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty.

Do you deal with everyone this way?

Oh sovereign Lord, what more can I say to you?

You know what your servant is really like.

Oh come on, somebody get honest with God.

God, you know what I'm really like.

I want the attention at times.

I want the glory at times.

I want to be seen.

I want to be recognized.

Sovereign Lord, you know my tendencies.

Because of your promise and according to your will.

You have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant.

How great you are, oh sovereign Lord.

There's no one like you.

We've never even heard of another God like you.

Don't ever stop forgetting to give God thanks every day.

Don't ever forget who you're really like

True humility is an honest recognition of who you are in the sight of who God is.

God deserves all the praise, all the thanks, all the honor forever through our lives.

Thank you, God.

that back in the 1970s, you saved my mom.

Thank you God that in the 1980s, you saved my dad.

Where would I be if you hadn't saved my parents?

Where would my kids be?

They wouldn't even exist.

I'd be dead.

I know it.

Is there anybody else here that goes, if it had not been for God?

Who are we to ever forget that everything that we have in life, the friends, the church,

If God does nothing else in your life, give him thanks.

He gave you the great privilege and honor of hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That should just make it so it's hard to even stop and pray for anything else.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you, God, for sharing the gospel with me.

Thank you for opening my eyes.

Thank you, God, for the friends that you've given me, the church that you've allowed me to be a part of.

Thank you.

Some of you need to thank God for the business ideas he gave you.

You're just not that smart.

Come on.

You're just not.

You know, every time that you tithe, you give God thanks.

When you tithe and you say, God, I'm giving you the first fruits of all the increase you bring into my life, here's what you're doing.

You're not just sowing seed and all that stuff.

You're going, thank you, God.

You're my provider.

There's only two instances in the book of Acts where God instantly judges people.

Herod, right here, and another couple by the name of Ananias and Sapphira who lied about how much money they gave.

I don't know why those two instances, but for whatever reason, God takes it serious when you take something that doesn't belong to you.

Herod receives the praise of men.

Ananias and Sapphira lie about how much they gave in order to receive the praise of men unjustly.

When people attempt to praise you for your gift,

And thank you for your hospitality.

Go ahead and say, you're welcome.

But in your heart, say, to God be the glory.

To God be the glory.

I have a dear friend that

He preaches like a freight train.

I mean, he'd scare some of you.

He's like, he just, his eyes are like this.

He just loves lost people, came from so much brokenness, and just goes at it.

And then people go, man, thank you for preaching like that, and thank you.

And here's his response.

I've heard him say it several times.

He goes, I'm just a donkey Jesus rides in on.

I love that.

I'm just a donkey Jesus rides in on.

Don't forget that.

I know the donkey makes the parade, but you're not the reason people are shouting.

The reason they applaud is because of the one riding in on your life.

This is the wonder of the God you serve.

You need to know this about you.

You need to know this about God.

He shares gifts with men.

He shares, why?

Because he wants humanity to see him through people.

And so there's a temptation to forget it's God.

please remember the prayer of David.

Oh, sovereign Lord, you know what your servant is really like.

You see, when Jesus changes you, especially over decades, and you haven't had a temptation in that arena for 35 years, you can forget and become accustomed to the transformation power of the gospel in someone's life.

But you didn't change yourself.

It was the renewing of your mind through the power of the word of God and the presence of the glory of the spirit of the Lord resting on you and in you that transforms you more into the image of Jesus.

So don't you ever get spiritual amnesia.

That's all that.

So back where we started and I'll close.

Watch for the words.

Because it's immediate.

So here's my question.

What spirit is influencing you?

Is it Herod and the spirit of Herod that receives and asks for the praises of men?

No.

Or is it the spirit of John the Baptist who says, he must increase.

I must decrease.

Watch for the worms of pride in your marriage.

I'm the only one holding this marriage together.

Oh, no, you're not.

Oh, no, you're not.

You do not want to see what things would be like if God withdrew His grace.

You think they're ugly now?

Things can get worse.

Watch for the worms of pride in your business, in your giving.

Brought me some gummy worms.

You got to follow me.

But, you know, I don't know how long you've played on the worship team.

It's been like, since my kids were like this size, 20 years maybe.

Amazing.

So gifted.

How many of you know that

when you're gifted, that worms want to just start hanging out.

Worms just want to start just resting on the keyboard.

Just saying, just eat me.

I'm here.

I mean, I don't know if people would worship like they do without my playing.

I just...

You are not this way.

And I didn't even warn you I was going to do this, but... But they're insidious.

They show up.

They show up in all kinds of places.

shows up in pews, shows up in pulpits.

Pastors can forget that the applause wasn't theirs.

Worms can be closer than we think because they hide in the dirt.

They hide.

Watch out that there isn't any part of you

that looks for the glory.

Because if there is, there's an immediate effect that attempts to create a cancer to your soul where you need the praise of men.

I was just confronted by this.

And I was at a conference a week ago.

And a pastor was there that's very well known and has been a guest speaker at our church.

And he was telling these other people individually how much he loved our church.

And I'm listening to this one guy that just got back from Israel, great man of God that I've looked up to for a long time, telling me what this other pastor said about our church in a good way.

And then I got convicted and I was like, I enjoyed it too much.

And it was like, oh God, forgive me.

Watch out that there's any piece of dirt that a worm gets comfortable in, no matter how delicious the worm may seem.

I love it when I hear a sports person gets interviewed, and the first thing out of their mouth is, to God be the glory.

I mean, it has nothing to do with the question that they were asked.

What do you think about this, to God be the glory?

I love it.

They're redirecting the spotlight.

And I wanna thank Jesus for this opportunity.

So let's walk away from this savage passage of Scripture

And remember, we were made to glorify God.

Let's give God thanks every single day, multiple times throughout our day.

And let's just watch out for the worst.

Amen.

Will you stand up with me?

To God be the glory.

To God be the glory.

Can we as a congregation just to God be the glory?

To God be the glory.

To God be the glory.

Lord, we have to, as we stand here before you, we stand here with humble hearts, recognizing there's probably a worm in there somewhere.

There's probably some area of my life that enjoys praise too much.

And so, God, we...

We repent of taking something that was never ours to take.

To God be all the glory.

We honor you in this place.

May we use our gifts for your honor in such a way that everyone knows there's no way you're that gifted.

That we don't even have to say to God be the glory because everyone knows obviously it's true.

That's God.

We pray we would be so fruitful that we would bring you honor.

We bring you glory.

And we would never for a moment get amnesia and forget where you brought us from.

What you've given to us and the things you've taken out of our lives to bring you honor.

May this week

we not push for the front of the line.

May we not seek honor, but may we push to the back of the line, put others above ourselves, and every time we do, knowing we are serving you, we are honoring you.

Use us, empower us for the honor of your name.

with every head bowed and every eye closed, if you're the sound of my voice, and you've lived for yourself your whole life, but you've never lived for God, this is your opportunity to say, I want to get my life right with Jesus today.

This isn't your chance to become perfect.

It's your chance to become humble.

If you're not sure you're right with him, and the Bible says you must be born again, and

To become that, you just have to simply say a sincere prayer that says, God, forgive me of all my sins, and I want you to become the Lord and the Savior of my life.

If that's you, and you would say, Bob, I want to pray that prayer with you, and I want to leave here different than the way I came in.

If that's you, I want to know who wants to pray that prayer with me, and our campus pastor's coming up on the platform right now, and Pendleton, and we want to recognize who wants to pray this next prayer, and if that's you, you say,

I want to pray that prayer.

Would you just look up and wave your hand and catch eyes with us right now?

Will you do that right now in this room?

Lift your hand up high.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Who else is here?

I don't want to miss you.

Thank you back here.

Keep it up just for a moment.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you over here.

Thank you.

Now, if I miss you, we miss you in a room.

Jesus doesn't.

We're going to pray this prayer together as a congregation.

So come on.

Everybody repeat this prayer out loud.

Let's help out our friends.

Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you today.

as a sinner needing a Savior.

Forgive me of my sins.

Forgive me of the sin of pride.

Come into my heart.

I want to be born again.

Fill me with your Spirit that I may live for you and glorify your name all the days of my life.

I pray this now in Jesus' name.

Can everybody shout amen?

We love you, Jesus, so very much.