When Pride Meets God

Thank you so much for joining us. As we take a look at the Book of Acts, we take things nice and slowly. As we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey, and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Umbeltexas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're gonna be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person. We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes and let's learn together through the Book of Acts. - All right, we're gonna get started tonight for those of you that are online and that will be watching this sometime down the road. We're so glad you're here. Would everybody in the room say hello? - Hello! - You can't see them, but I promise they're out there. And there's a bunch of them, and we're all part of one big family. We want to catch up tonight as we are walking first by first through the Book of Acts. Already mentioned to our friends in the room

that when I started looking ahead at this passage, it was not as exciting to me, or as fun to teach as last week. Last week was one of the most fun lessons I've taught in a long time, and I know some of you think, "Well, you always think they're fun." And I really do. - Yeah. - But last week, it was just a story. Like, I kind of was like, one of those pastors where you think, "Well, if you can't preach that, you just can't preach." That's just all there is to it, right? 'Cause it's just all laid out there. It's just the most interesting web of confusion, and lack of faith, and faith, and it's just amazing. So we have been experiencing over the last several weeks in the Book of Acts. Even in just this chapter alone, we have seen the first mark out of all of the apostles. And do you remember which martyr, which apostle that was? He was James, the brother of John. So James, the son of Zebedee. Remember, we had another James that we met last week, which is James, the half brother of Jesus. And so we just had a lot of those names going around. Of course, we remembered we looked back last week on the fact, or two weeks ago, on the fact that that very St. James,

it had the conversation with Jesus, early on in Jesus' ministry. "Hey, can we sit at your right hand and your left? "We won't be right up there, we think we're king of them?" And he said, "Are you sure you're ready to drink the cup?" He's like, "Sure, we'll do it." But that really came back, honestly didn't. Because James did drink the cup. He drank the cup of suffering and was rewarded. But just as he said that he would. Then last week, of course, we saw the imprisonment of Peter. How God entered the weak people, unbelieving prayers of his people. They literally didn't believe that what they were praying for was happening because then they're praying for him to be released. He shows up at the door, he bang on the door, he said, "What do you let it in, so let must be his angel." Or something that started to get to be him, we're too busy and you're praying for him. So just into comedy, the whole thing, and also a commentary for us, right? When we were praying, do we actually expect to see God do what we were praying for? Now, when we pray these big prayers. So we also asked a question that was a sort of an ominous question, why do God allow James to be murdered and Peter to be saved? That's not a question that we can accept to say. His ways are higher than our ways.

God was most glorified in the martyrdom of James. And God was most glorified in the inciting Peter's life to be used of him. So we looked at that, of course, as I mentioned, we met the very important new character in the storyline of Acts that we're gonna see several times in the coming months. And that is James, the half-brother of Jesus, who did not even believe in Jesus. Paul, Jesus, was living on the earth of all interesting things. And you don't have to grow up with Jesus as your brother. And you're like, maybe it would be hard to believe that your brother would be beside your brother. Maybe that's what it was down. But nonetheless, tonight we're gonna continue the storyline in Acts 12. I'm gonna start with verses 18 and 19 because it sets up the next verses. I know you probably, I believe you read these last week, but I don't think we really gave him a good go to really dig out what was in here. So let's take a look at Acts 12 verses 18 and 19, which read, "Now when day came, "there was no little disturbance "on the soldiers over what had become of Peter. "And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, "he examined the centuries and ordered "that they should be put to death. "Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea "and spent time there."

Now, these are the pieces. If you're not careful in the scripture, we try to spend our time moving slowly through the scripture. This feels like just a little simple bridge and just go, "Okay, just links this really amazing story "to this amazing story." he actually pulls out some things that are interesting, especially to build up to verses 20 and following about Herod's demise, if you haven't read it yet. Be ready for it. It's about to be gruesome in just a few minutes. But it says here that, of course, when Dave Kane, we're speaking of Peter is gone, Dave Kane, so remember his escape by an angel was at night, and the beauty has dawned, and what do you think was the general attitude of the soldiers? - Scared. - Scared to death, because we talked about last week that it's kind of mysterious, whatever happened to the soldiers, because there they were, they were chained to Peter, both hands, and two more in the room, and yet somehow they're just not even mentioned. They were walking right past them, so we think maybe some sort of a trance, or maybe they went to sleep. We don't know what happened to them, but when Dave Kane, here's what happened to them. They were gone, and the most important prisoner was gone. That's the prisoner that was Peter who was marked for death. I mean, we're gonna bring him out,

and let's let's do the same thing to him that we did with James, we weren't disposed of one of Jesus' top three. Let's get number two out of his top three, but that was definitely not to be. So imagine some of the things that they were saying. What do you think are the questions that the soldiers are asking? - What happened? - Yeah, what happened? Are they pointing at each other? It was you, it was you, what do you think, Dave? - No, no, I'm gonna tell you. If they were chained together, Peter, they may not be chained at all, but Angel did, and he just walked out, but the soldiers still have the time. - It's got her out here, indeed. You got two soldiers standing there a lot, well, I guess we're caught red handed, right? If you slipped out for a ride among us. So you can just imagine, I just want you to picture these soldiers, I mean, they're like, they're not just like afraid, what? They know they're terrified, because they're like, this is the end of us, and as we know, it was the end of them. So there was no little disturbance among the soldiers, or what did he come up with, Peter? That's an understatement, okay?

It was a big disturbance. So it says then, here is searched for him, and did not find him. That's Peter, okay? So here is, let me just go look for him myself. Can't you see him? He's looking all over the place, and they're like, well, he was right there, and now he's not there, better remind you of Jesus at the time, right? It's like, well, he was there, and now he's not there, and I don't really know the answer. I don't know where he is. So then he examined the centuries. Now the centuries were a couple of these soldiers, right? And you notice, examined the centuries means cross-examined the centuries, right? He's not looking for Peter in their pocket, okay? He's like, and you tell me what happened here, and you lay it out, and I imagine they're just kind of like totally floured, you have to. Like, your guess is as good as mine, but this is a mess. So he quickly ordered that they should be put to death. Then he decided to leave town, undoubtedly frustrated. What else do you think? What other emotion do you think he would have been feeling? Anger. Anger? - I didn't think he appeared too. - Think he was scared?

Yeah. I think Herod is kind of, I'm not as in charge as I thought I was, right? If he could be under that much lock and key and can still get out, there are powers at work. 'Cause Herod knows that Jesus has appeared, but by now, I mean, that wasn't done in a corner. When Jesus resurrected from the dead, that's, there's just been telling what Herod's thinking. So he goes to Caesarea, okay? Now, Caesarea, I want you to remember that this Herod that we're speaking of, we talked about all the Herod's. We show Herod, when you say Herod, that's not just, there's a variety of Herod's. There's the first and the second and the third. This specific Herod is Herod Agrippa the first. That is grandson of Herod, the great, who had ordered the killing of all the babies when Jesus was born, okay? So I want you to sort of get in place which Herod it was. Now, this Herod Agrippa, his father, is Herod Antibus. That's the one who had ordered the beheading of John the Baptist, okay? Guys, this is just a bunch of grisly, evil, mean, tyrant for kings. They were terrible. Also, the one that Pilate sent Jesus to, do you remember in Luke chapter 23, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, okay?

And I don't know if you remember that, so we won't read it tonight. Luke 23? Do you remember the story? Was Herod excited to see Jesus? No. No. He actually tried to get Jesus to do something. Yes. Do some miracles? Did Jesus have a lodge? No. No. We did not. He refused. He asked him questions. Did Jesus answer? No. Do not. He stood there quietly. That is because he knew Herod was trying to make it sound like he was like seeking truth or something. Herod was seeking truth. He was just trying to get Jesus to incriminate himself. So Herod then allowed his soldiers to ritual and make Jesus and then sent him back to who? Partly. Partly. Partly. Okay.

So these are some of the Herod's and some of the involvement here. So why is it when you look at all of these Herod's that they were so antagonistic to Christianity? What's the problem? They want to be the king. Yes. They want to be all-powerful. Exactly. Christianity is about a new king. That's what you have to think of Christianity in these terms. We think of the kingdom of God and all of that. And that just sort of sounds like a nice churchy thing to talk about. Guys, the kingdom means there's a new king. And the new king is who we've answered to. And if you answer to a king that is higher than your earthly king, then you start acting differently and behaving differently. Herod's are trying to keep the new king down and then try to grandfather, remember, try to kill all the babies and keep the king down. Because they heard that oh this new king, well then he just got out of town and God kept the new king. Because it wasn't time for him to be a threat. But he was threatened by a baby. So it's just escalated. They just told stories. You know, the first Herod would tell it to his son who would tell it to his son. So this is generational, this antagonism against Christianity, this threat that they feel from the king. And then they killed him and they're still threatened by it. Because they can't stop his followers either. I mean his followers are also, you can't chain them down.

You can't do anything. And so even when it doesn't even scare the followers of Jesus, when one of them is martyred, they just get stronger. God is literally, it's almost, it just feels like how do we get rid of these people. There's like the blight of his existence. So they're antagonizing Christianity because they were threatened by it. So Herod heads north to Caesarea. That's about 75 miles north. Caesarea is a port city. And this particular Herod, it was his grandfather that had built Caesarea into the city that it was. And Caesarea actually was named by Herod after who? Caesarea. Caesarea. Caesarea. Caesarea. We know the origin of this name, right? So he named it as like O and O to Caesar, right? So let's get in his good graces. And so of course he was getting, getting fired from him, but Caesarea had come to supplant Jerusalem as the center of Roman rule because where is Jerusalem located geographically? Of high, right? Not a port city. You can gain more control if you've got a port, right? Because you can get in and out and access. Caesarea was rising. It was in a fluent place. Herod and Gripa undoubtedly had a home there. So I suspect he's going to sulk perhaps to regroup. Perhaps he's embarrassed.

This is embarrassing for a king. Okay. Caes are trying to show power, prestige that they've got everything under control. And when they don't have everything under control, they don't like that. And so he takes off, goes to Caesarea, turns out, as we get to the next verses, this whole situation with Peter was not here in a Gripa something problem. Okay. So let's look at verses 23-23. David? Yes, sir. One thing that the scripture doesn't point out is just the way Satan works. Satan is trying to use these rules. They're screwing up and so he just turns him over to their own fears. So I mean, he is as bad as him as he is to believe him. I mean, he failed to knock Jesus off his room. That's a really great point, Dave. I think it's always important, guys, that we not only see this on the earthly level of what's happening right, but we're looking at more of a heavenly level. Guys, we're not wrestling against flesh and blood. It is principalities and powers and an evil. And that's not just back in Jesus' day. That is today, okay? So we need to look and we need as Christians, we've got to think on a higher level. There's more going on than what meets the eye, okay? So here we're gonna see things are really gonna get gruesome. So if this bothers you, just be ready for it. Or crush your ears on Mount verse 23, okay?

Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came to him with one chord, having persuaded blast us, the kings chamber them. They asked for peace because their country depended on the king's country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an aeration 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 glory, and he was eating by worms and breathing glass. (laughs) - Well, what a way to go. - So how do you have fallen, right? - Yes. - We're claiming our power in the next minute we're eating by worms, okay? So there's a lot to run back in these verses, but I want us to pull back a little bit and see what's going on. This whole, when it says here that Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. There's another way that you might hear the people of Tyre and Sidon, of course there's some other cities in the region. These are definitions, okay? So that's where Tyre and Sidon are. You can look at your little maps and find those places.

But these people were dependent on the king to get them the resources that they need for food. So we don't know why Herod was angry. It doesn't say that, but we really need to know why I didn't hear it was generally angry, okay? Now we know he's angry about something. So he had cut off the food supply to this region, Tyre and Sidon. So what is happening now is the Phoenicians from Tyre and Sidon have come with one accord and they have already won over Herod's right hand guy. You have an interesting name, do you catch that? Blast us. Doesn't that sound like a superhero or something? So they won over Blast us and we're trying to get back in the evil Herod's good graces. Do you see what's happening here? This is very, or you will not understand the rest of this story. These few verses until you understand that. The folks from Tyre and the folks from Sidon are trying to get Herod to give them the food that they need to survive. So they've gone to his chamberlain. One of his right hand guys, they sort of won him over and now they're gonna try to ask for peace. Because look, their country depended on the king's country for food. Now we're pause right there and before we go any further, I want someone to look up and just please take some notes

on Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 18. This is a simple verse that will help you get some clarity on just how to see the world. Guys, this is an easy verse to memorize and this will help you make a lot of sense of a lot of things in the world guys. I promise it's true, this verse plays itself out perfectly in this story and it plays itself out, not just in these biblical stories. I thought about that earlier. Did you really? Yes. This verse, honestly, we could have looked up three or four times that the exact same sentiment is shared. The exact same truth is shared in different words in the book of Proverbs along, but it's also quoted in other places. So somebody read Proverbs 16, verse 18. Right goes before destruction and the haughty spirit before all. Okay, that ought to be something that you just have in rest. Because that is a very orienting verse of scripture. Guys, we've said this many times, but the New Testament is why there's a belief in simulations but I don't mind that at all. That God is not mine, whatever a man so's, that is not a belief. It does not always happen immediately, but I promise you,

vengeance belongs to you, we can trust whatever a man says he will be. So that is, that's a very, I feel like I need to handle because you know what? God's gonna handle it and you'll handle it way better than I ever handle it. Yes, sir. In studying for this, I was looking for that verse. I didn't let know where it was. And then I ran into same Proverbs 16, but verses 4 and 5, the Lord has made everything for His purpose, even the wicked for the day of disaster. Everyone who is proud and hard is the testable for the Lord. He assured that He would not go unfunded. Wow. That sounded like a good word. You see, that same idea, God's image is just peppered through our scriptures. You're gonna find it over and over and over. Not only does the city works, but also the truth that is within them. Pride comes before a fall. In elsewhere in Proverbs it says, but humility comes before what? Honor. Pride before the fall, humility before honor. So that's what we're looking at here, but what we're seeing tonight is God has been mocked and God is not going to be mocked. So it appears in verse 21 that some sort of celebration was thrown. Okay? On the appointed day, verse 21, Herod puts on his royal robes, takes his seat upon his throne, and delivers narration. So again, if you're putting the pieces together, they're trying to get in his good graces. Remember, they'd one blast us over. Now they need to win Herod over. So nothing like a king happier than trying to puff him up. Kings love to look really fancy and to wear their best things and to just be all puffed up. Kings love that kind of stuff, especially evil kings. Okay? Because they feed on their pride and their bravado and all these kinds of things. So, evidently, there's some sort of a celebration happening. There's no doubt they're trying to kind of butter him up. They're trying to, oh, if we can just butter him up, he'll just give us what we need. And they're going to win over. They just literally want to eat again. And then it's also an opportunity for him to kind of strike this stuff in front of the crowd. What does he put on? The throne. The throne, right? It's like, this is not for the daily wear, right?

We're going to put on the best thing we've got. We're going to sit on the throne. We're going to really just kind of milk this thing for everything. I guarantee you, Herod at this moment is also kind of vulnerable. Because what is Herod needing right now? Praise. He's needing praise. He's needing a win. He's needing some strokes. He's looking stupid. He's looking like he can't manage his kingdom. He's looking like these crazy Christians that are out here loving the poor and hanging out with the prostitutes and being with all the lullabies that they're the ones that are winning today. And then the following is growing. So Herod is needing, so it's like a perfect setup. Literally God is setting this whole thing up, guys. Yes. And I'm not a big fan of Joseph's, but I think there are times that he might be able to report. But that whole deal about the praise that these people were giving him. Well that's just Bluster trying to be on his right side. But it's talking about, they said he's not a man, he's God. And I got looking at that. Josephus says that robe that he put on was a special one. I know. He was woven with silver. You don't live in my mind. This is a very nice thing I'm going to share with you. I want to back up a minute because you're thinking, "Who's Josephus?" Well, I was going, "Well, I heard of Joseph and I don't know who Josephus is." That is why for something kind of sounds like it. It's not so Josephus is not in the Bible. But Josephus is a biblical historian who is well known and his words are not scripture. However, there's documented history where he sometimes has details in his telling of stories that we can look at and we don't put it as equal weight with scripture. But it's kind of like a commentary. If you've ever looked at a commentary to see what a commentator might say about a particular thing, I'm not going to make that. Like I'm not going to look in my study Bible. I don't take the notes at the bottom to be equal with the words at the top. But the notes at the bottom can give me insight about the words at the top. This is how Josephus, the biblical historian of that time,

so he was literally a contemporary while these things were happening, wrote and he said he put on a garment made holy of silver, of a contextually wonderful and he came into the theater early in the morning, at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun's rays upon it, shown out after a surprising manner and was so blended as so spread a horror over those that were continually upon him. That's in his book called Antipolis chapter 19. I'm not sure how you're looking at that, but what I want you to see is, he's just straight, right? He's just got on the fanciest thing, he's coming out of the fanciest time of the day. He's just like, you know, you seem like these stars aren't where they've just got all the glitter and all that kind of stuff. That's what he's doing. He's strutting. He's like, look at me. I've got everything. I'm the strongest one. So the way Luke puts it, if you kind of look at it in the book of Acts, of course, is on that point of day, Harry put on the royal robes, ropes, took his seat upon the throne and delivered an aeration. Herod, just keep in mind, guys. As he struts, Herod is anti-God. Herod is prideful, therefore Herod is headed for a ball. Guys, he has set himself up against God, and that is never going to go well. So then, we look at verse 22, and that's where it really gets kind of like, whoa. The people were shouting, "The voice of a God and not of a man." Those are chilling words. Listen, so the reason they're what they're saying that too, because he's delivered an aeration, and we don't get the order to attract the kind of black man over to a man. I think they had to say, I'm sure there was no word to us. So whatever his, I'm sure he talked about how wonderful he was and all the things that he had done and all that kind of thing, and how he's stronger than all the rest. So they begin to call him God, and how do you think Herod feels about that? He's like, he's the biggest guy.

I'm stronger than all, and here I am, and all about this splendid glory, shining in the sun. There he is. He's puffed up. Ever mind you, any other biblical kings? Never could know. Oh, okay. My father's the other guy named Nebuchadnezzar, doesn't he? How did Nebuchadnezzar show his pride? By building a statue. Yeah, let's build a statue. Everybody bows down to it. Guys, this is nothing new under the sun. Okay, we don't need any commentary about 2026, okay, with this. Nobody needs to comment, but guys, we still see this. This is just the way the machine works if we're not careful, and God's pride is tricky. We're not going to just look at other people when we say pride is tricky, are we? I'm going to hold up a mirror and go, oh, wow. Pride is something that we all deal with. So Josephus gives a couple of other details that, again, these are not equal to Scripture, but he just sort of builds in a little gap here, potentially. He said presently his flatteries cried out and didn't pronounce these, though not for his good. No, not for God. That he wasn't God. I kind of liked his little comments, so I want to throw that out there. It sounded good in his ears, but it was not worth his good. Guys, throughout history, kings have liked this, but as I started thinking about this, in light of the bigger story, this goes all the way back to the first sin. Because they want to be one God as well. What was the enticement of the serpent? You don't want to be one God.

So guys, this same sin challenge, this temptation continues. Honestly, if you haven't figured it out by now, Satan doesn't have that many plays. He really doesn't. He just keeps using the same old play. It looks a little different in 2026 than it did in 1956. They did in 1056, but it's the same old play. The problem of man, the pride in our own hearts is I can be God, and I can do it my way. It's just at the base of every single sin. Because every sin says, "Oh, I don't need to do it your way. I've got a better way of doing it right. I don't need to submit to my husband out of reverence for Christ. I don't need to give some of my resources to the Lord. See, all of those are rooted in pride. I know better. But we as Christians, we're trying to live in a humility and a fear of the Lord that says, we revere the God of the book. And we look at the book to manage our lives and to look at it. So pride is a real enticement. But think about it, when these guys are even crying this out, when the definitions are crying this out, do you think they even believe it? No, they're just trying to get what they want. I don't think they're literally worshiping them, guys. They're just trying to get what they want, OK? They're just trying to stroke his ego. Because they're like, oh, that's what he means. The ego maniac just stroking. And he'll give us what he means. It's just a power play on their side.

They're like, here's the only power. Here's the only power we've got. We'll just puff him up and then he'll give us what we need. Well, that didn't end well for anybody else, right? So then comes verse 23. The first word says a lie immediately. I mean, I almost hear it. It's like the word God comes out immediately. And then here's where it literally sounds like, I don't know how this all plays out. But I'm going to take one of the phrases I'm going to look at at the end of it. Literally, the logistics of this is an angel of the Lord stroking down. He was eaten by worms and breathed his last. So let's use our holy imaginations here for just a minute. Gross. This sounds wild. OK, God could have done this in never a way, though. Let's think about the ways that God has like stroked people no matter what we've had, the ground has opened up and swallowed up into our people. So that's happened. It's like striking down with lightning. You know, you always hear people say that. I don't want to strike me down. I mean, there's all sort of a pillar of thought. I mean, there's all sorts of ways they've got to dispose of people. But this is like the bottom piece.

There's an angel of the Lord to strike you down. So I don't know what you're picturing. But somebody tell me what you're picturing. I think it's a answer. And I just think he's going to die. He's dead, but he's dying. OK, you see it that way. Somebody else, what do you say when it says an angel of the Lord to strike you down? Yeah, I did a little research on this a few decades back. And there is actually a condition that's not unknown in the Middle East, where you could be devoured by worms internally. OK. Oh, OK. All right. And just he was just-- He just reached the end of the road. Yeah, could it be? Absolutely. Again, there's plenty of space. Paul, what do you think? To play off of what was just said, the phrase eaten by worms in Greek is a word I can't pronounce. But the root of it literally means the head of a tapeworm. OK. And what happened, it's believed by most scholars in this, is that he had been infected by a specific variety of tapeworm that is prevalent in the Middle East because of the sheep and the cattle that are raised there.

They are a host for the parasite itself. The dogs will be infected by the parasite and the humans in contact with dogs, particularly the bird. There's a lot more detail leaving out. That's what gets a lot more disgusting. We were discussing that. The tapeworm will enter him. And it forms a cyst in which it deposits its eggs. Based on further research or further writings from Josephus, we know that he was eaten from the inside by the larva that had burst from one of the cysts. And Herod actually lived five days of excruciating pain, 45% of the past. So it was literally eaten five hours. It sent out. So what I want us to see from that is, number one, we always just take scripture for FaceTime. We take it for exactly what it says. There are-- we also know that as stories are related to us in scripture, there are details that are withheld. We're given all the details that we need. And you know what matters? It doesn't matter. It was five days. It was 15 days. It was five seconds. What matters is the striking down came from the angel of the Lord, right? They're not trying to give just a natural--

and that's not what Paul was saying-- or Lord Josephus, not just trying to say, well, No, that's not what he's trying to say. He's just trying to give an explanation that that is a way that people died and is gruesome death. But it's very interesting that Luke uses the language that he does, which is, he was struck by an angel of the Lord immediately, and again, whether it was five days, five days, it's immaterial. What matters is that God struck him down dead. On arrival, the end of him, yes, man. - It improves, there was not a guy. - No, it was not a guy. - It's like not. - He said, "I'll tell you the name of the house. "You have this whole thing about you being God. "Let me show you what you should who God is." - He wrote you. - I am God, and again, what we said, God is not moment, okay? I heard a friend of ours, and then y'all will remember this. We have a really different, I'll never be mistaken that she said us 30-something years ago, she said, "I think we need to be careful of this." None of us knows where the grace of God ends, and the wrath of God begins. That is a chilling statement, as a nation that we live in. God, when we walk in disobedience and unrighteousness and wickedness as a nation, we can be judged as a nation. And we've seen it.

You see, all over the world, nations that have risen up to say, you know what I mean, that we don't need God. So I'm not trying to breathe fear or anything like that. What I'm just saying is, guys, what a man sows, he will reap. And that is the message of this passage, if there is any message, no doubt. So however it all happened, he was killed, he was eaten by worms, he died, gross. But look at the little statement that is a very important one, that is in between an angel of the Lord struck him down and the other detail, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his life. It is the reason why God did what he did, because he did not give God the glory. Friends, we are created to be mirrors, to reflect the glory of God, not to be pumped up. Now, is it wrong to say a kind word about someone? Of course not. Is it wrong to honor someone, to give someone a compliment? No, he's not. But we have to be careful if we are being praised by men that that pride, you know what I mean, does swell up in us. But guys, we all, everybody likes to be complimented. Everybody likes to be stroked a little bit. And again, we are told in scripture

to encourage one another, right? To speak to one another and to call out the best in each other. But that's not what's happening here. These guys are not just trying to encourage Herod. This is the power plane. But that's not the reason why this happened is not, this is just kind of like the pinnacle of Herod so that he would have a quit and a very public fall, okay? He'd been building the case against him as he were, by his ongoing pride over decades. So Herod wanted it all and God finally said, enough. Herod wanted the glory, he was not gonna give God glory. Listen, in a few weeks, we're gonna look back on this passage because we're gonna see a story of Paul and Barnabas and they're gonna handle a very similar moment, very differently. Some of you remember, 'cause you've already read the book of Acts and you know that in a few weeks, we're gonna see Paul and Barnabas being called gods. But they're being called gods in a very different way. And God bless his, so I want us to look at, maybe one last little thing before we kind of wrap things up tonight, I found this interesting when you pull back on the whole chapter, how we saw angelic intervention twice, in one chapter, but in very contrasting forms. What was the first angelic intervention? (indistinct) The rescue of Peter, right? I mean literally, you just got this whole character show up, he's standing right there beside him,

he's talking to Peter, he's like, "Hey, so we're gonna do this and do that." And they start sticking their way out of there, that angel of God is helping the servant of God and Peter, and the servant of God, Peter, is gonna give God all that work. Then we see an angel at the end of chapter, and sometimes we see them doing things like let's rescue God serve it and sometimes we see them doing things like strike you now dead it warms in your body okay so I just want us to get a fuller more biblical picture of angels because we live in a culture in which angels are just they're just missed they're just misunderstood okay there are some beautiful some of you have probably seen some of the really powerful paintings that some people have done recently a strong angel standing by a bedside you know what I mean the angel of God in their in their strength but guys this this other stuff is kind of cute little you know chair of him and whatever that's just that's just cute little stuff okay that's not difficult in any way shape or form okay so I want us to see that so I want us to also look at just a couple other group things we wrap up I want someone to turn to Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 very similar to the Proverbs verse but I want us to see this because this verse Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 is quoted three times in the New Testament it was obviously a very important verse some of you will know this verse when you get there you'll know the second half more than you'll know the first half because the second half literally sparked a Protestant revelation so back at chapter 2 and verse 4 if someone gets there if you would read that allow for us so it is not upright with him but the righteous shall live with the righteous shall live by his faith okay thank you I just go back look up that second half of that verse that the righteous shall live by his faith because that literally is less part of the Protestant revelation I mean the Reformation he's in the Reformation because that's a very very much important verse in all his scriptures but the reason why I bring it up here is because when you zoom back at a back at 2/4 the first half is meant to be a contrast to the second half so usually we know that second half the righteous shall live by his faith that's great it's a contrast to the first half which says his soul is puffed up it is not upright within him and then there's a but you see that's the linking word that helps you see that these are two parts of the same sentence two parts of the same thought for you to see how these two things fit together so there's a contrast between the righteous who lives by his faith and the soul who is puffed up who is not upright within him guys faith is the opposite of pride won't you write that down if you write things down faith is the opposite of pride why is that faith is an opposite of pride Yes great and does it not come into really start when we're thinking back to Genesis 3. Pride came before the literal fall with the capital that fall right the first big fall pride came before it setting ourselves up as gods because we've been talking this lesson I keep thinking about the Sunday and the songs that we sang the Holy, Holy, and the Lord of God that is such a powerful thing that we just cannot forget I mean he's holy and it's all about us that's exactly right we see faith is the opposite of pride because you see pride comes before the fall just like we said Genesis 3 even as if you see it and you see it in the Proverbs but faith comes before salvation we cannot have salvation without faith Susan faith is opposite because faith is trusting and if you're puffed up and proud you're not trusting that you're not trusting anybody but you're still around you're like I don't need help In one little footnote it said, "A proud friend." There it is. You see, pride is the opposite of faith. And that really stood out to me in this. And so what we see here, sadly, is we see, I mean, it is sad because, I mean, this is a human life created, a heritage that was created in the image of God.

We have to remember that as evil and wicked as he was, he is a fallen human who never repented and turned to Christ for his salvation. So unless he had a last second conversion, he is in eternal hell, or caused of his pride. But the only way to be saved is to have humility and say, "I need a Savior. I cannot find him alone." Yeah, I was just going to agree with that. Pride says, "I can do it." That's right. Faith says, "I can't do it." But all things are possible through God. And what we have is we exalt to your point with our worship. We exalt the one who can handle all things. Why can't you do it? We don't need to worry about anything, God. Because we serve the King of all kings. We promise you, he is the King of Herod, right? He's the King of all kings. That is our Savior. And so there's so much for us to look at and to worship tonight. So as we wrap things up tonight, I'm going to have a closing prayer. And then I'm going to invite Rodrigo to come up and tell us a story or two from the trip to Brooklyn that we pray for. Okay, so we'll close out in prayer. Father, God, thank you again that your word is true. God, it has everything to do with daily life. God, help us to live. Not in such a way that we're looking at Herod like, "Oh, what a proud person." But God, let us look in the mirror and see, "Oh, wow, what a proud person I can do." God, help us to walk humbly so that God, we might experience your grace.

God, because as pride comes before the fall, humility comes before our honor. God, and we thank you so much for the blood of Jesus when praying His name. Amen. Thanks again for joining us, verse by verse, through the Book of Acts. I hope that you have learned a lot. More importantly, I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week. Share it with a friend. Great thing for you to just have some discussion with the other people around you. Share the things that God is doing in your life. Again, remember the Bible is a book about God far more than it is a book about us. So let's learn about Him, let's grow to love Him more and more. Here at United City, this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app. We would love for you to follow some of our other content. Watch some of our worship services along with the music and the messages. As well as podcasts, we've got a lot of great content and we would love for you to follow that. Also, if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City, the best way to do that is by writing us a letter. You can address that to Prison Ministry at United City Church, 199901 Townsend Boulevard, Umber, Texas, 77338. We'll read that, we'll pray for you, and somebody will write you back. God bless you, and we'll see you in the Word. [BLANK_AUDIO]