To God be the glory!

But how to explain the existence of the Universe and living beings? From his bag of tricks, the enemy pulls out another deception: evolution! -> Everything is the result of evolutionary processes out of nothing!

The other strategy is the one the enemy uses with those that insists that there must be God; he makes the believe that there is not only one, but many! (Polytheism!) and you can choose which one to worship: Buddha, Allah, Zeus, Brahma, Krishna, Vishnu, Ganesh, or the new Holy Death (Santa Muerte). If you do not like of those feel free to make your own!

That’s why the Lord made it very clear to His people from the beginning:

Deuteronomy 32:39 NASB95

‘See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

Deu 32 39

…and reminded them thru the prophets:

Isaiah 44:6 NASB95

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.

Isa 44:6

The great I AM, the Lord of Hosts, the Almighty, He is the only God; therefore:

He is the only one to be worshipped.

Only in the foolishness that sin has brought to man, a creature prefers to worship another creature instead of the Creator:

Romans 1:22 NASB95

Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Romans 1:25 NASB95

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

The psalmist had said on a previous psalm:

Psalm 97:7 NASB95

Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, Who boast themselves of idols; Worship Him, all you gods.

How can you worship an animal, a piece of wood, stone, or metal? Those are or represent creatures! But God is the Creator!

He is the Creator.

He has made us.

“He has made us, and not we ourselves.” 3b

No! We’re not the product of mutations or evolutionary process! We are wonderfully made by the same hands who made Adam and Eve.

We are not animals, as some wants us to believe, but human beings made alive by the breath of God.

Every person is an artwork made by God, and He does not make mistakes. God has made you exactly as He wanted to make you. You are special to Him! As the psalmist acknowledged it and thank God for it:

Romans 1:22 NASB95

Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Psalm 139:14 NASB95

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

Romans 1:25 NASB95

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

The psalmist had said on a previous psalm:

Psalm 97:7 NASB95

Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, Who boast themselves of idols; Worship Him, all you gods.

We are His people.

“We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” 3c

It is just logic to think that the creatures belong to the Creator. Unfortunately, man sold himself to the devil by the pleasures of sin. Therefore, man had to be redeemed, bought back, by price, the precious blood of Jesus.

Every redeemed belong to God’s people, to God’s flock.

We are the sheep of His pasture! (3) and as such we should not worry what we’ll eat for the shepherd care for his sheep and leads them to green pastures; or for about protection for His rod and staff comfort us.

Our worry should only be staying close to the shepherd and produce wool for Him.

If He is the only true God and the Creator, then He is worthy of all praise.

God is worthy of all praise.

Praised by all His Creation.

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.” 1

Let’s focus our attention to two things on this verse:

First, “shout” (Spa. “aclamad”)

“Raise a joyful shout, give a blast with the horn” to bring attention to the Lord. Like when the crowds chant to their hero!

Second: the directive or command to praise is given to all the earth. No one is excepted from praising Him! All creatures, angelical and human, all peoples, nations, tribes, must praise Him because He made them.

Psalm 69:34 NASB95

Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them.

Romans 15:11 NASB95

And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, And let all the peoples praise Him.”

Rom 1

Praised with joyful singing.

“Come before Him with joyful singing.” 2b

The Heb. “renaná” is translated as “ringing cry; and utter words and sounds of joy by music”. That is loud singing!

Singing has always been used as one important mean to praise God.

Most of the Psalms are precisely that, songs that praise God

Psalm 63:5 NASB95

My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

It does not matter if you are a good singer or not, as long as you do it joyfully and from your heart, you may sing praises to God.

Singing praises is a part of worshipping and all believers should participate in it:

Psalm 96:1–2 NASB95

Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

Psa 96:1-2

If He is God, if He is the Creator, and Lord (Owner), then He must be served.

God deserves to be served.

Praising by lips must be accompanied by actions. It is not enough to say “God is my Lord”; if He is, you must serve Him.

Served with gladness.

“Serve the Lord with gladness;” 2a

Serving Him is a way of giving glory to Him; but some do not serve Him with gladness but with complaints and mediocrity. They give more dedication, time, and effort to employment than serving God. Why? Because employment pays with money, and money is more important to them than God. That’s why Jesus warned His followers:

Luke 16:13 NASB95

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The reality is that some serve Him due to a sense of obligation, but God must be serve with thanksgiving.

Served with thanksgiving.

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving… Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.” 4-5

The people entered the gates of Jerusalem and went to the temple’s courts to offer sacrifices to God. That’s the way they served Him!

As we enter the gates of the place of worship to offer spiritual sacrifices to the Almighty, we should enter with gratitude in our hearts and with the willingness to serve Him.

How won’t we serve Him if He is always good and merciful to us? If He is always faithful, even if we are unfaithful to Him?

The NIV Application Commentary: Mark Peter’s Denial (14:53–54, 66–72)

proconsul tells the bishop, “Swear and I will release you.” Polycarp replies, “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he had done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?”

Illust. The story is told about bishop Polycarp of Smyrna, disciple of the apostle John, that he was imprisoned due to his faith in Christ. He was brought before the proconsul who, wanting him to curse Christ, told him “Swear and I will release.” Polycarp replied, “Eighty-six years I have served him and he had done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?”

He has done so much good to us too: He made us, blesses us every day, provides for our needs, He is always there for us, and He has given us eternal life!