{"id":41319,"date":"2015-06-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/denzel-washington-to-grads-put-god-first\/"},"modified":"2015-06-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-08T00:00:00","slug":"denzel-washington-to-grads-put-god-first","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/denzel-washington-to-grads-put-god-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Denzel Washington to Grads: &#8216;Put God First&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a 2015 commencement speech at Dillard University, Denzell Washington urged graduates to put God first and thank him constantly:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Put God first in everything you do &hellip; Everything that I have is by the grace of God, understand that. It&#39;s a gift &hellip; I didn&#39;t always stick with him, but He stuck with me &hellip; While you&#39;re [on your knees], say thank you. Thank you for grace, thank you for mercy, thank you for understanding, thank you for wisdom, thank you for parents, thank you for love, thank you for kindness, thank you for humility, thank you for peace, thank you for prosperity. Say thank you in advance for what is already yours &hellip; True desire in the heart for anything good is God&#39;s proof to you sent beforehand that it&#39;s already yours &hellip; When you get it, reach back, pull someone else up.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3460,3726,3907,4092,4166,4389,4552,4655,4677,4708,5144,5145,5146,5147,5305],"tax_ctp_topics":[384],"class_list":["post-41319","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-authority-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-exaltation-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-gratitude","tax_ctp_tags-honoring-god","tax_ctp_tags-lordship-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-obedience","tax_ctp_tags-pleasing-god","tax_ctp_tags-praise","tax_ctp_tags-priorities","tax_ctp_tags-thankfulness","tax_ctp_tags-thanks","tax_ctp_tags-thanksgiving","tax_ctp_tags-thanksgiving-day","tax_ctp_tags-worship"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Denzel Washington to Grads: &#039;Put God First&#039; - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/denzel-washington-to-grads-put-god-first\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Denzel Washington to Grads: &#039;Put God First&#039; - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a 2015 commencement speech at Dillard University, Denzell Washington urged graduates to put God first and thank him constantly: Put God first in everything you do &hellip; Everything that I have is by the grace of God, understand that. 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