A couple weeks ago, we read the book of Philippians in the church, and for me, I've been stuck on it ever since. As the weeks have come since we've done that book, God has just been revealing so much to me about the book and about Paul's life and really about what God wants from His people, and I've just been so blown away.

And when I looked into the history of the book, it was amazing because if you read—I think it's like Acts 16—and you start reading about Paul, he goes on a mission to what is modern-day Europe. He goes, he begins to preach, and he meets this woman named Lydia. He begins to preach to her, and he begins to speak to her. Lydia was a prominent businesswoman. She was somebody who had influence. She was somebody who was successful. And Paul goes and begins to speak to her about Jesus Christ and about what He had done.

And Lydia becomes his first European convert, which is amazing. And then Lydia opens up her house, and a bunch of converts get together, and they begin to meet in Lydia's house. And then fast forward 10 years later, and this is the Philippian church that came out of that one time that Paul preached to that one person, and God came and did something so amazing.

It's a book—when you read it, you can just feel Paul's love and his joy and everything coming out of it, that every word that he spoke was with such passion. You could tell they were a church that was in one spirit with Paul, and Paul loved them. And at one point, Paul even calls them his crown on his head. That's how proud he is of this church and how much it is in one spirit with Paul. And I read this and I was just blown away.

And you read Philippians, and you read everything God's doing, and you forget that Paul is in shackles when he is writing it. We forget that Paul was shackled to a wall and was probably hungry and was probably getting abused and all of this stuff that was going on with him, yet the joy coming out of Paul was so evident.

And at one point Paul says, “Be on the lookout,” and he actually calls them dogs, he said, “Be on the lookout for those dogs that are trying to bring you back to the old way.” And he begins to say to them, “There's a sect of people that are trying to reverse the clock a little bit and telling you that,”—and he's specifically talking about circumcision— “saying that you have to go back. You have to be circumcised to be a Christian, to be a person of God.”

And Paul said, “Don't listen to them. It's not about circumcision of the flesh. It's about circumcision of the heart.” And I was reading this, and I kind of said to the Lord, “Lord, why would somebody want to re-institute such a brutal thing? You'd think they'd be excited to get away from that. It's not like they had anesthetic. It's not like they had even sharp knives. That was brutal. That was rough. And why would somebody want to revert back to such a practice?”

And you know what the Lord said? He said, “You know, Kris, it's very easy to hide in religion. You see, for people who don't want the relationship, it's very easy to hide in the religion. It's very easy to say, ‘Look at my flesh. Look, I have this mark on my body. I'm more than willing to pay that price. I can be called a Christian the rest of my days. I don't have to have a relationship. I don't have to worship Him. I don't have to honor Him. It doesn't matter because I have this piece of religion that I do.’”

And I said to the Lord, “We still have this problem today where people try to hide in religion.” And I've had this happen to me where I go and I'll talk to somebody, and I'll be like, “Yeah, I go to church.” And they're like, “Oh yeah, me too.” And I'm like, “Yeah, yeah, I know, but I really read my Bible.” And they're like, “Yeah, I really read my Bible, too” and I'm like, “Yeah, but I really pray. Like, I'm a praying man.” They're like, “Yeah, me too. I pray a lot.”

And I'm like, “Man, what's the difference? Where do you draw the line in the sand, Lord? How do I separate? Lord, how do You separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff? What is the line in the sand?” And you know what He said to me? He said, “My children will always bring glory to My Name. My Name. “

That is what God is calling for. God is calling for a people that bring glory to His Name—not your name, God's Name. God is calling for a people whose lives, and everything about them, they bring glory to God's Name. That's what it means to be a Christian. And that is what today God is calling for, and even demands, out of His Church: that we bring God's glory to Him.

You see, those people that were being circumcised, they wanted the glory for themselves. “Look at me. Look what I've done. Look who I am.” But that's not how God works. God is looking to bring the glory back to His house. And when I read Philippians, and I read Paul, and I see what God was doing, you see, the glory was going to God's house. The glory was going to God's throne. And that is where the glory belongs.

God is looking to bring the glory back to His house. God is looking for your life to bring glory to Him. God is looking for everything about you to bring glory to His house. Amen.

So my theme verse for today is going to be Psalms 115. I pray that this would be in your heart today throughout the sermon, and even throughout the week and the rest of your lives. This is something I've been repeating to myself all week, and it says, “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory because of Your love and because of Your faithfulness.”

"Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory because of Your love and because of Your faithfulness."

So the bar has been set for us to really say that the glory must go back to His house. So, let's today learn how God can receive glory from us. Amen.

God gets the glory from your past. So, when I say God gets the glory, when I talk about somebody's past with somebody, usually I get, frequently I get one or two responses. Either somebody has kind of a shame involved, and it's like, “Oh, I don't really want to talk about that. It's a sensitive subject. I don't really want to get into it.” And you kind of have that, or people do this comparison thing, where they say, “Yeah, you know, things were really, really bad back then. Things were really messed up in the past, and my circumstance was really rough, but now my circumstance is so much better. Things are so much greater. I've come so far.”

But when I hear the comparison—comparing the old and the new—who really gets the glory in that? If you were to speak to somebody in the world and say to them, “Hey, you know, I used to be really messed up, but now I'm so much better,” what are they going to say? They're going to say, “Good for you.” I heard that word “good for you,” and it might as well be, “Glory to you. Glory to you. Good for you. That's great for you.”

You see, God does not get glory necessarily from the circumstance change and nothing else. God gets glory from the heart change. Today, God wants to turn your hearts. God wants to get glory from your past—not because of the circumstance that has changed, but because your heart has changed. Because your heart has turned from all of those old things. It has turned from the person you used to be. It has turned from your desires and your heart and your mind and all those old things, and they have turned to God. Amen.

"God does not get glory necessarily from the circumstance change—God gets glory from the heart change."

I want you to think of those things that used to make your heart leap—those things that used to bring joy and used to make you kind of jump when you heard it. I want you to think about how your mind used to reason and think so much like the world, and you used to reason, everything you thought of was so much on the world structure. But God today, He wants to bring you from the old things. He wants to be the thing that makes your heart leap. He wants to be the wisdom of God that speaks to your heart.

Or how about you sacrifice yourself, bring yourself down, lower yourself for God's kingdom? It used to be that comfortability was so important to you—you wouldn't let it go. Or how about your concept of right and wrong? People become so callous to other people's plights. They become so hardened after hearing it day in and day out. But what if God moved your heart and you could have compassion on somebody and you could sympathize with somebody? If your idea of what's right and what's wrong was shaped by God's Word?

You see, we used to be that man. We used to be that person. But God died on the cross so that your heart would turn to God—that He would be what makes your heart leap. That He would be the wisdom. That He would be your concept of right and wrong. That He would be the thing that makes you go out into the world and speak to people. That God would be the thing that your heart has turned to.

People should look at you, and they shouldn't recognize you from who you used to be—not because of your circumstance change, but because of your heart change. Because you're so different. Because you're willing to lower yourself to the ground and say, “God, may You receive the glory.”

You see, when you have something like that, your circumstance might change, and someone says, “Good for you,” but when you're willing to lower yourself—when you're willing to put yourself on the floor—it makes people consider something greater than themselves. What could be the reason? How could this person change? Why would they do this? Why would they sacrifice themselves? Why would they put themselves down? Why would they not care? Why do they not think like me anymore? Why are all their desires not the same anymore? What has changed inside that person?

And I'll tell you, that brings glory to the house of God. Amen. That is what God is calling for.

You know, you talk to somebody, you talk to them for 15 minutes, you can tell what they're all about. For a lot of people, you talk and there's so much passion and heart behind trivial things. I talk to some people and they'll talk about football. Oh my goodness—football. They'll give you stats. They'll give you a thing. They'll tell you their team. “Can you believe it? The season's finally here. Can you believe it?” I say, “Yeah, it comes every year. I can believe it. It hasn't changed.”

Or they talk about boats. I don't know what people's obsessions are with boats. All they talk about is boats and their propeller size—you know, the flux capacitor. I don't know. It's so ridiculous to me. But people talk so longingly about boats: “Oh, the boats, the boats. I can't wait to unwrap my boat and put it in the water and float around.” People love boats.

And one of the biggest ones I hear is Disney. Oh my gosh. “I can't wait to go back to Disney. It's all about Disney. I've seen Mickey Mouse 19 times this year. I can't wait for the 20th.” They talk so longingly and work themselves to the bone for something so trivial.

And I say to God, “God, what if we, as a people of God, turned from those things?” If the people of the world—they’re so invested, and their heart moves, and that's what makes life worth living for them—but what if the heart turned and God became the thing that made your life so worth living? What if God became the apple of your eye? Amen.

God receives the glory from the turning of the heart—the turning from the old—that your heart would no longer be satisfied in the things of the world. That your heart would no longer feel fulfilled when we look at the boats and the Disney, or any of those other things fills your heart. God turns our heart to God, and He becomes our all in all. He becomes the thing.

Why would somebody give up overtime on a Sunday? Why would somebody stay out so late on a Thursday when they have work the next morning? Why would somebody be tired? Why would somebody invest their money into the Church? Why would somebody go to church six, seven times a week? Why would somebody do that? Because God is my all in all.

You see, it makes sense in the world to say, “I'll watch football from as soon as it starts in the morning all the way until at night.” And then they look at you and say, “How could you go to church? How could you spend so long in church?” And I say, “How can you watch the same football being thrown over and over and over again?”

You see, my God is what fulfills my heart, my God. I used to be one of those people that looked for fulfillment in all other things. But I'll tell you today, God is looking for a people who have had a heart change, whose hearts have turned from the things of the world to the things of God. And that's what brings glory to His Name. Amen.

And you see, Paul, he couldn't talk about his circumstance and bring glory, could he? Because his circumstance got a lot worse. His circumstance—he was not doing better than he was doing before on the outside.

Let's look at Acts 7. At this point, there's this man of God and his name is Stephen. And he goes, and Stephen is speaking the words of God, and he's getting stoned. They're looking to kill him for the words that he's speaking. And Stephen, just before he dies, says, “Look, I see heaven open up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” At this, they covered their ears, yelled at the top of their voices, and all rushed him, dragging him out of the city and began to stone him.

Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the young feet of a man named Saul. And it goes on to say, “And Saul approved of their killing him.”

So you look at this man of God speaking the words of God, and people covering their ears because they don't want to hear it. Yet meanwhile, the witnesses—so that means Paul was there—are bringing their coats to Paul. They're saying, “This guy's horrible. He won't shut up. I can't even listen to him. He's the worst. We've got to kill him. That's it. But, you are so great. You are so awesome. Here's my coat. I just want to honor you, Saul, because of who you are. I just want to lay my coat at your feet.”

And Saul is so in stature, and his position is so high. He's standing strong, and he is just great. He's so firm in his position.

And then we look at Philippians when he says, “If anyone thinks they have confidence in the flesh, I have more.” And he begins to speak about all the things he was: “the Jew among Jews, from the tribe of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the Church; righteousness based on the law, faultless.”

“But whatever was gained to me, I now consider a loss for Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. And consider them garbage, that I may now gain Christ.” What glory to God. What a testimony from Paul in that moment.

You see, he traded places with Stephen at that moment, didn't he? Stephen was the one speaking the Word of God. Stephen was the one getting stoned when he tried to speak the Word. Stephen was the one everyone was closing their ears to and wanted to stop it. And Paul was standing strong. But all of a sudden, his circumstances changed, and now he was the one in jail. Now he was the one handcuffed. Now he was the one suffering. Now he was the one—the man of God.

And I'll tell you, he couldn't have been more joyful about what God was doing. It wasn't about a circumstance. It was the fact that his heart was being fulfilled by God. It was the fact that God was doing something so amazing. It was that the Philippian church was thriving and doing amazing things, and God was doing a work—and to him, that was more than enough. God had done something amazing. His heart had been turned.

I'll tell you today, I don't care what it is that your heart truly desires, what makes you tick—it becomes evident in the way that you live your life. It becomes evident when you go and speak inside of the world. I can talk to somebody and know in 10 minutes what makes them tick, what makes their life worth living. Everyone in the world knows, as well.

My prayer today is that God would get glory from your life because of the turning—because when you speak, it's God. When you begin to talk about your desires, when you begin to talk about what makes you joyful, and what makes you tick, and where your heart is, that God would be pouring out. That glory to God would be coming out of your mouth—that everybody would be looking up and giving glory to God.

So, we see that God gets glory from our past, and then God gets glory from our life. When I say God gets glory from our life, it's truly about how we live, not what we do. It's not about what we do, but how we live. And that seems like a subtle difference, but let me tell you: what we do—people get caught up in this a lot—you can do things in the moment, and they're nice things.

"It’s not about what we do, but how we live—day in, day out, as an offering to God."

A lot of people in this world, they're rough, they're addicted, they're having a hard time, they're far from God, their hearts are broken, but they do nice things all the time. They give to the poor. They're there for a friend. They write Bible verses on their Facebook and post it up. And I'll tell you, those are all nice things, but they're in the moment.

You see, God is not looking for people who do nice things in the moment. It's not about what we do. It's about how we live. It's about the day in, day out. It's about giving your life as a sacrifice to God—an offering to God—and saying, “God, here I am. Every single day of my life will be to honor You. Every single day of my life will be to glorify You.”

And we think so often that because we do the Christian thing, that that's bringing God's glory. But if it's not backed up by a holy, holy life—by a heart that desires Him, by a heart that has turned from those old things—then it only brings glory to ourselves.

We say, “Oh yeah, I helped Hurricane Katrina victims, and I helped them rebuild, and I went to a soup kitchen, and I gave out things,” and those are all really, really nice things. But when your heart is overtaken by the Spirit of God, when your life is overtaken by the Spirit of God, when you wake up every morning and say, “God, this will be a day that I honor You. God, this will be the day that I glorify You,” you see, that brings glory to God.

The other things, they bring glory to us. But what did that verse say? “Not us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory.” Amen?

God receives honor from a life like that—a life that has been overcome by the Spirit. When no one is looking, how are you living? When you're upset, when you're tired, when you're disappointed—when those times when you have every right in the world to feel messed up, when you have every right in the world to say, “Oh, I don't want to do it today”—how are you living?

Because the ones that are overcome by the Spirit, they lay all their rights at the throne of God, and they say, “Lord, I have a right to all the things in the world, but I lay them at Your feet this day that You might be glorified through me.”

God is looking for a people who aren't just doing things in the moment, but who have steadfastness, who are dedicated, who have laid their lives at the throne, who have given it all up, who have said, “God, I give up my rights, and who I am, and who I think I should be, and who I think I was. God, I lay it all down at Your throne. And Lord, today and every day going forward will be a day that You receive glory from this life.”

God is calling for lives that bring Him glory. His children—His sheep—bring Him glory. “Not us. Not us, Lord. But to You be the glory. To Your Name be the glory because of Your love and because of Your faithfulness.”

When you read the bible and you start opening up some verses and you really have that mindset, things start to click. At least they were for me this week. And I was reading verses like: “This is to My Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they might see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” “Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.”

You see, I read these verses and I hear words like “fruit” and “light” and “purity” and I look at those words and I say, you know, those words aren't in a moment. Those words aren't fickle. They don't come and go. Those types of words that God is talking about come from a life—a dedicated life—who has laid themself down at the throne of God.

And I look at Paul, and I look at everything in his life, and I look at his circumstances. He had every right in the world to be bitter. He had every right in the world to be angry. He had every right in the world to want revenge. But he didn't, did he? When you read his words, there's such joy coming out. You forget he's in prison, and he's laying it all on the throne and saying, “God, the only thing that pleases me is that You are receiving the glory.”

Philippians 2:7: “But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.” When he says, “I'm being poured out like a drink offering,” what he's talking about is the burnt offering—an offering that they would burn up to God. They would take a glass of wine and pour it over the top of the burnt offering, and that was the drink offering. And when it would hit the flames, it would sizzle, and it would smoke, and that fragrance would go up to God, and it would be pleasing to God.

And Paul uses this phrase again in 2 Timothy when he talks about it and he knows his end is coming. He says, “Look, I know I'm being poured out like a drink offering.” He's saying, “I know this is it.” And Paul in this verse is saying, “Even if I am being poured out—even unto death—even if my life is being poured out like an offering and I have nothing left to give and I die, I will be glad in it because God is receiving the glory, and it will go up to Him and it will be pleasing to His smell.”

You see, Paul's dedication to God—Paul's life—was to give God glory, was to bring glory to His name. I pray today that our lives will bring glory to God's name.

That verse before says, “Let your light shine before men.” “Let your light shine before men.” That's not from a once-in-a-while thing. That's not from doing nice things. “Your light shining before men,” means there's a light inside of you that can't be held, that can't be contained, and that is pouring out. Your life is evident, and everyone can see that your life has become an offering to God and your life has become a sacrifice to God. Everything about you—I don't care if you're working and you're supporting your family—it doesn't matter. Every single thing in our lives becomes an offering to God.

And I look at Paul, and I see the purity of his heart—being in jail, yet not seeking revenge—being in jail, yet not wanting to get them back—being in jail, but not being bitter. He had every right in the world to take up each one of those things, but instead he laid it on the altar and said, “Lord, let there be glory to Your Name.”

Let's look at Philippians 1. It says, “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.”

You know, I look at that, and I think, and I try to put myself in Paul's position. And I think about what's going on with Paul. I think about him in jail, and he's shackled to the wall, and he's preaching God, and he's speaking with joy, and he's speaking about all that God is doing. And I think about the guards going home to their families. I know when I go home from work, I tell my wife about what happened that day. “You wouldn't believe this guy I was guarding. He was shackled to the wall and he was singing praises and he was so joyful.”

And I think about that, and I tell you: that in the guards' house that day, God was glorified. And then I read and it says that the people went out, and they went to the streets, and they began to preach all with more boldness because of Paul and his plight. And I'll tell you: in the streets, God was glorified.

And I think about in the prison—Paul speaking and preaching—and the people that are bound in chains and shackles and in darkness, they’re looking upon Paul. Even in the darkness, even to the people who are bound, God was glorified.

That's what a life is. That is what a life of sacrifice and of wanting to honor God is: that God would be glorified in all things. Amen.

"That is what a life of sacrifice and of wanting to honor God is: that God would be glorified in all things."

And finally, that God would get glory from your mouth. God would get glory from right out of your mouth. We sometimes forget how important it is that God would receive the glory from your mouth. And Pastor this morning, she's talking and she's saying, “You know, God received the glory. Open up your mouth. Don't think you can do it out there when you're in God's presence. Open up your mouth. This is God's House. Give God the glory this day. Let it pour forth from your mouth and let God receive the glory.”

You see, it must come from here. It must come from our mouths. We are the children of God. We are the people of God. Where else is it going to come from if not from us? Amen.

And it makes so much sense when you think about it that God must receive that glory from us, if we are God's children. And you'll hear Pastor sometimes say, “Oh, you know, look at his eyes. You know, he's definitely with God. Like, God's doing something.” And I thought about that—why? It's almost like the Spirit inside of somebody can't be contained, right? It's almost like through the eyes it starts to spill forth. Or you'll be standing next to somebody and it's almost like the Spirit's coming out of their pores and you can feel it and get goosebumps next to somebody that's filled with God.

It's almost bursting forth, so how is it possible that the Spirit of God is inside of us, bubbling over, yet it's not pouring from our mouths—the spot that reveals the depths of our heart? The first place it should be coming out of is our mouths—pouring forth: “Glory, glory, glory to God. God, glory to Your Name. God, honor to Your Name. God, on this day, that You be honored. God, in this place, may You be honored.” It comes from the lips.

And I read in 1 Peter, when Peter's talking about how can salt water and spring water come from the same place? It can't be. How can something worldly come out of a mouth that has been glorified and dedicated and has set itself to say, “God, You will be glorified through my mouth”? It can't happen. Even if it wanted to—even if it started to bubble forth—we would feel it. It would taste bad in your mouth, and you would shut your mouth and say, “No, it can't be. This mouth has been dedicated to bring glory to God.”

You see, God is looking for glory from the turning from your past. God is looking for glory from your life, and God is looking for glory from your mouth—from coming out. And that comes in different ways. It might be on a Sunday when you're praising God and worshiping Him. On Monday, it might be that you're giving your children, or somebody you know, wisdom of God and trying to help them navigate this world. On Tuesday when you get to work, it would be that you're strong in stature and that God is pouring out of you—just in how you present yourself and how you speak—you speak as a man or woman of conviction and of strength. You see, God pours out, and every single one of those things brings glory to God.

We're kind of the overflow of the glory of God. If we receive anything, it's just the overflow of God's goodness and love. But God must receive the glory. God must get the glory. That is where it belongs.

Pastor Janeth has been talking about that verse a lot—Revelation—where it says Satan's cast down in the end times, and he comes and he tries to accuse the brethren. And what does it say? “They triumph over him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

I thought about that. Satan—what was his whole deal? He wanted to take the glory away from God. He wanted to set himself up as God. He wanted to be in Heaven, and he wanted to be God. He wanted the glory upon himself. Satan was trying to steal the glory away from God. Satan was trying to take away the glory from God. And then he comes down, and he tries to accuse the brethren. And what does it say—how do they overcome him? By the power that was displayed on the Cross and by the word of their testimony.

Because you know what your testimony does? When you start to speak the words of God, when you start to utter the things of God, and you start to bring out what's deep inside of you—all the seed and all the heart of God, the Spirit of God, and everything that He's done—you know what happens when you bring it out? It brings glory back to God and puts it where it belongs: at God's throne.

Satan tried to steal it away. Satan tries to make man prideful, to take the glory of God. But we, as God's children, put the glory back where it's supposed to be, and that is on God's throne.

Go home and read Acts 26. Paul's before King Agrippa, and he begins to speak and begins to give him his testimony. At the end of it, he's like a king—he's not Jewish—and Paul begins to speak to him. He's like, “I know you believe the old prophets. I know you know what I'm saying. I know you believe what I'm saying.” The guy's like, “Are you kidding me, Paul? Do you think you're going to entice me in such a short time?” And Paul's like, “Whether it takes short or long, God is going to receive the glory.” God gets the glory.

We have to bring the glory back to Him. Our lives should be bringing the glory back to His throne. Every day should be saying, “God, I want to bring You the glory. You paid the price for me. I've been redeemed. That's enough. God, the rest of my days—I've received enough. Let You be the glory. Not us, God. Not us, but You receive the glory.”

Let me tell you this day that God is serious about receiving His glory. King Herod at one point tried to take God's glory, and he tried to steal it away from Him. They began talking, and somebody said, “Hey, that's the voice of God, not a man.” And because he did not put the glory where it was supposed to be—because he did not say, “God, no, that's not—there is a God in Heaven, and I'm not Him”—he died right in that moment.

You see, God is serious about His glory. We have to look at our lives and say, “Are we stealing the glory from God? Are we taking the glory away from Him?” And how do we do that?

Every time we do something and God's redeemed us and we know God paid a price for our sins and we know God died for us, and then we ask and say, “Why did you do that?” and you say, “Well, because I wanted to,” we're stealing God's glory from His throne.

We refuse to verbalize our sin, and we refuse to ask forgiveness, and we refuse to take the power that He displayed on the Cross and the forgiveness that He made available to us—we steal God's glory.

Or when things aren't going so well and you say, “I don't want to praise today,” we steal God's glory. Or when we have a bad day and our lips are closed and we say, “Today's not it. I've had a bad day. I don't want to talk about it,” we steal God's glory.

For God is God no matter what the circumstance. God is God. He died on the Cross for us. God is God. He was there when the foundations, when the foundations were placed in this world. And God receives the glory no matter what. God receives the glory no matter what's happening.

God receives the glory no matter what's happening in your household. God receives the glory no matter what's going on, or what happened at your job that day. “What's going on?” “I'm tired. I didn't sleep well last night.” God receives the glory. Amen.

God is looking to do something today. God is looking to bring you back. You see, there was an investment that was made inside of us. There was an investment that was made, and it was by His Son. It was paid for by a price.

There was a price that was paid for us to bring us in, and that was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He invested into us. He sent His Holy Spirit down into us for two reasons: one, that you might be delivered into Heaven, and two, that it might bring glory back to His Name.

We have to say today: has God made a good investment? Has this investment been paying off? Has this investment—of His Son and the blood that He sent, sending Him down in the likeness of a man to come and lay His crowns down and come and to suffer a death as a sinner—has that investment in us paid off to bring glory back to His Name?

Because that is what God wants to do today. That is the line in the sand that we have to look at today. How do we tell the difference? How do we know in this world, “God, who's a sheep? Who's a goat? God, where am I? Am I with You? Am I not?”

It's all about this: is your life—everything about you—bringing glory back to God and bringing glory to His Name? Amen.

You know, there's a lie in this world that says, “God knows what's inside of my heart. I don't need to speak it out loud. I don't need to say it. I don't need to verbalize it. God knows what's inside of my heart.” But God is looking for glory to come back to His throne.

And how does that glory come? It comes from the mouth of the believer. That glory comes when His presence is there. “I don't need to shout. I don't need to yell. I don't need to tell God. God knows what's here. He's a reader of hearts, right? Like He knows what's going on.”

But I'll tell you today, children of God: shout to His Name. The children of God bring glory to His Name. The children of God say, “God, all honor to You this day, Lord God. May I be brought down and You be brought up. Not to me, God—not to us—but to You be the glory this day. Because of Your love and because of Your faithfulness, I will spend every day of my life worshiping and honoring You.”

“God, I will spend every day—my children, my family—they will all be there to bring glory to Your Name.” Is God receiving the glory from you this day?

I just pray that God would begin to stir up your heart—that God would begin to stir up something that has been there—that you wouldn't allow it to stand still anymore. That you wouldn't allow the calm waters. Why does God say, “The lukewarm waters, I spit them out.”? Why? Because they're not bringing any glory to God's Name. They're doing nothing.

I pray that it would be churned up this day—that the Spirit of God would be churned up in you this day. That the waters would not be still, but they would begin to bubble up, and that praises to God and glory to God would begin to float up.

That your life would be like a drink offering going up to the nostrils of God, and that it would be pleasing to Him. I pray that the desires of our past would be burnt away, and that we would make a turn this day.

That if there's anything of our past we're still holding on to—if there's any desire of us that is not the Word of God and is not God's Spirit—that we would make the turn this day and turn back to Him. That we would dedicate our lives.

You see, it doesn't happen by magic. It happens by somebody who says to God, “God, my life will be dedicated to You.” Who wakes up every single morning and says, “God, this will be the day my life will be dedicated to You. My life will bring You glory. My life will bring glory to Your throne. God, I don't care what happens, what might come this day—my life will bring glory to You, Jesus.”

And Lord, my mouth will not stop. Nothing can stop the praises from coming forth. Paul and Silas were in jail giving praises to God, giving honor and glory to God. And the foundations of the prison were shaken and the shackles popped off and fell down.

Because, God, there is nothing that can hold back the praise—the glory—from my mouth. There is nothing that can hold back the glory I will give to Your Name, Jesus.