All Things Are Possible

Dr. Bernie Miller: We're quick to send out a prayer hand emoji. Somebody said, "I'm in the hospital sick," and you send a prayer emoji, and you don't say a word. Like that emoji can speak for you. God doesn't want a text message relationship. He wants a personal connection.

Guest (Male): When the burdens press and the night gets long, cast it on the Lord. He will make you strong. When the tears come down and the road feels dry, cast it on the Lord. He will hear your cry. He's a heavy load bearer. Yes, He is. He's a source and savior. Yes, He is. What you cannot carry, He can carry. Yes, He can.

Cast all your cares on God. Cast all your cares on God. He will never leave you alone. Never leave you alone. Bring every worry, bring every need. Bring every worry, bring every need. Lay it all down at His throne. Lay it all down at His throne. Cast all your cares on God.

You take the weight and you give us peace. You take the weight and you give us peace. When your heart is tired and your faith feels weak, cast it on the Lord. He will speak to you. When the way is dark and you cannot see, cast it on the Lord. He will carry you. He's a burden breaker. Yes, He is. He's a chain remover. Yes, He is. Put it in His hands. Put it in His hands. He'll see you through.

Cast all your cares on God. Cast all your cares on God. He's the one who knows your name. Knows your name. Every pain, every fear, every loss. He can turn it into praise. Turn it into praise. Cast all your cares on God. He will hold you steady all the way. Hold you steady all the way.

I cast it. I cast it. I cast it all on the Lord. I trust you. I trust you. I trust you more and more. I lay it down. I lay it down. I lay it at your feet. Your yoke is easy. Your grace is free. Your grace is free. Your grace is free. I cast it. I cast it. I cast it. I cast it. I cast it. I cast it. Cast your cares. Cast your cares. Give Him the weight. Give Him the weight. He'll work it out. He'll work it out. He'll make a way. He'll make a way. He's still God. He's still God. He's still God. He's still God. Cast your cares. Cast your cares.

Dr. Bernie Miller: There are certain questions we've learned not to ask people, like, "How old are you?" But think about it, when we were young, we'd tell everybody our age. A five-year-old though, they wouldn't just say, "I'm five." They'd say, "I'm five and a half." I remember when Brandon was seven years old.

My wife, it was a couple of weeks or maybe a month after his birthday, but she said, "Brandon, you turned seven." Brandon said, "I've been seven." Now if somebody asks how old you are, some may say, "Old enough to know better and young enough not to tell you." Others say, "Age ain't nothing but a number." That's true, but some of our numbers, praise God, have grown significantly.

But if someone asks you how old is Jesus, we couldn't answer that by counting back to Bethlehem. Because Jesus didn't begin at Bethlehem. Before creation existed, Christ also existed with God. And in the incarnation, the eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Last week Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" In other words, what's the word on the street about me? What's trending? What are people posting about me? What's ABC? What's CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, and all those other folks saying about me?

Well, in today's climate, it wouldn't be too good. They said, "Some say you're John the Baptist. Others say you're Elijah. Others say you're Jeremiah, and others say you're one of the prophets." Every answer was a compliment. John the Baptist was courageous. Isn't that a wonderful thing they're saying? "Jesus, you're courageous like John the Baptist." And Elijah was powerful as well. Elijah was a very powerful prophet. Jeremiah was filled with so much compassion that he was called the weeping prophet. Every answer was a compliment.

The problem was their problem wasn't that they thought too little of the people they compared Jesus to. The problem was they thought too little of Jesus. They recognized His greatness but missed His lineage to God. Jesus called Himself the Son of Man. And in that one phrase are several things: humanity, authority, glory, divinity.

In humanity, when He spoke of the Son of Man in His humanity, He's saying, "I've walked this life like all of you." And in the authority, He's saying, "I have the power to forgive sins. I've had that authority." His divinity says He was God in the flesh. His glory says He sits at the right hand of God because that's where He belongs. And His sacrifice says He gave His life as a ransom for many.

So when we confess Jesus, we're confessing all of that. We're confessing His divinity. We're confessing that He was a human, but He was different because He has a lineage that goes back to God. But we're also saying that He's someone special. He wasn't just a human being. He was God in the flesh. He came and dwelt among us. That's what all that means.

He's in a category all by Himself. And 2,000 years ago, the question is still the same. Even after that, who do you say Jesus is? "Oh yeah, yeah, He's my savior." But what is He beyond all that? Is there something beyond that? Yeah. I want you all to put on your thinking caps and also put on your spirit to learn something today.

I'm going to have to be a little technical on some things, but it's pretty simple. It's elementary stuff, and you can all pick that up. I mean, you got here in your car, so you guys will figure this one out. But who do you say Jesus is? That's the all-important question. The question is important because what you believe about Jesus is at the heart of what we believe about salvation, what we believe about God the Father, and what we believe about our security, our eternal security, and our eternity with God.

Have you ever made a personal confession, or do you only call Him Lord when you come to church? When you're singing a song, "Lord, Lord"? Is that the only time you ever called Him Lord? If He isn't Lord over your life and you wake up in the morning without mentioning the fact that He is your Lord, maybe He isn't.

If you can go your whole day without calling Him Lord and thanking Him for being your savior, maybe something's wrong. I don't know a day that I wake up without thanking God for being my savior and for being my Lord and for saving me and for taking care of my sins. There's not a day that I wake up that I don't do that. I acknowledge that, and I acknowledge it before I go to bed at night. And I'm praying as I'm lying there in the bed. I'm just praying and thanking God and giving myself to Him so that He can watch over me at night.

But have you ever made a personal confession, or is He just Lord in your mind? You haven't confessed with your mouth that He is Lord. If He isn't Lord over your life, you are not eternally secure because Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will say on that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name and didn't we drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?'" Jesus said, "Yeah, you did all that, but I never knew you."

Then I will tell them plainly. Not only did I never know you, I want to tell you depart from me. Why? Because you are workers of iniquity. You are workers of lawlessness. So today, today we're going to look at three things: Jesus' preexistence. He was before creation. His participation means He was behind creation. And Jesus' presence. He became flesh in creation.

Now think about that for a moment. Bethlehem was the start of His earthly human life, but it is not the beginning of the eternal Son. Before Mary, He was. Before Joseph, He was. Before Abraham, He was. Before Bethlehem, He was. Before Adam, He was. Before the world was made, He was.

Let's look at His preexistence. John chapter one and verse one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It's pretty clear. So who is Jesus? He's the Word. What is Jesus? God. Because the Word was also God. So Jesus is saying, or John is saying, John doesn't begin the story of Jesus with "once upon a time in Bethlehem." He begins with "in the beginning was the Word."

In the beginning, each Gospel introduces Jesus from a particular perspective. In other words, Matthew begins with His genealogy and emphasizing Him as the King. Mark begins with His ministry and emphasizes Him as servant. Luke gives us the circumstances surrounding His birth and emphasizes the Son of Man in his Gospel. But John reaches further back. He's saying if you really want to know who Jesus is, Bethlehem isn't far enough back.

So John travels backwards past Bethlehem, past David, past Abraham, past Noah, and past Adam to Genesis 1:1, where it says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." God is Elohim, which means, get this, it's a masculine plural noun meaning God. So when people come up to you and say, "Wait a minute, how can there be more than one God?" No, it is God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The word Elohim is a masculine plural noun that means God. So when John gets to the beginning, Jesus is already there. That's the doctrine of Christ's preexistence. Preexistence means that the Son existed before His incarnation and before the creation of the universe. He always was and He always will be. That's just who He is.

Jesus didn't become the Son when He was born. He didn't begin to exist when Mary conceived Him. The eternal Son entered into human existence through the incarnation. He was before creation. He preexisted. Back to John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word, the Word, the Word, the Word. Jesus said, "I am the Word, the truth and the life. No one comes to me, no one goes to the Father without coming through me." Why? Because the Word was God. And if you want to get to His Father, you've got to go through Him.

When Zach was younger and he would have friends over hanging out, they would be able to eat and enjoy all the things that we have in our house. Why? Because Zach brought them in. They were his guest. We weren't going to kick them out because we didn't know them. Zach knew them. Zach said it's okay for them to be in here, Dad. Okay. Make sure they don't steal nothing. I'm just kidding.

Jesus didn't become the Son when He was born. He didn't begin to exist when Mary conceived Him. The eternal Son entered human existence through the incarnation. Genesis begins "In the beginning." John begins "In the beginning was the Word." Genesis says "In the beginning God." John, "In the beginning was the Word." Genesis tells us what happened when creation began. John tells us who was already there when creation began. What? Yeah. John doesn't say in the beginning the Word came into existence. He says in the beginning was the Word. The Greek verb "was" means to be.

John contrasts the Word's existence with what came into being. Creation became, the Word was. So put it another way: when the beginning began, Jesus already was. John calls Christ the Word because He's God's ultimate self-expression and revelation. Words reveal what's inside someone. And don't you get frustrated sometimes when people tell you, "Well you ought to know how I'm thinking. You ought to know how I'm feeling"?

Well can I give you a verse of scripture? 1 Corinthians 2:11 for those of you who think we can read your minds. It says, 1 Corinthians 2:11, "Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man in him?" So ladies, give the guys some slack. Guys, give the ladies some slack. Can't nobody read your mind. You've got to tell them what you're thinking. "Why are you so moody, man?" Tell them, "I got fired." Tell them, "I didn't get my raise." Just be honest with people, because can't nobody read each other's mind. That's what the Bible says.

But when you speak, what was invisible becomes known. That's why Hebrews 1:1 says God has spoken to us. It says by His Son. In other words, you didn't know what God was like until Jesus came. You knew through the Old Testament what God was like, but you didn't know too much more about Him except through the prophets. But you really didn't know who God was until Jesus came and shared some things with you.

He is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person, is what Hebrews says. Jesus doesn't just bring us a message from God; He reveals God to us. He says if you've seen me, you've seen my Father. The Word was with God. He had a personal relationship. The Word isn't the Father. The Son exists eternally in relationship with the Father. Then John says, "and the Word was God."

John gives us both a distinction and deity. "With God" is a distinction. "Was God" is His deity. Jesus isn't just godly or godlike. The Word was God. John 17:5, in that particular passage of scripture, this is really Jesus' prayer. I know a lot of us use the Lord's prayer as Jesus' prayer. It was a model prayer given to those people that didn't know how to pray and get to God, and Christ gave them that prayer. But this is really His high priestly prayer in John 17.

If you really want to know how connected Jesus is to God, just read John chapter 17. Because in John chapter 17 and verse 5, He prayed, "Now Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was." So if you want to know where Jesus was, He's way before Bethlehem. He's way before Genesis 1:1. He was before anything was ever created. He was always with God and is God. Jesus speaks of glory shared with the Father before creation. In John 8:58, Jesus said this phrase and the folks got so upset with Him. The Pharisees and the Sadducees and whatever else was with them.

He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." Man, they got apoplectic over that phrase. He doesn't say before Abraham was I was. He says before Abraham was I AM. That's a big difference, isn't it? Jesus points back to Exodus 3:14 where Moses asks God, "Now God, you want me to go to these people and tell them that you sent me. Yeah. You know I'm on the outs with some of these people. Who should I tell them sent me? They're going to ask me who sent you? What's His name?" God told Moses, "Tell them I AM WHO I AM. You shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you." Christ existed before Abraham because His existence doesn't begin inside human history.

Imagine someone shows you an old family photo album and you're looking through it. And you're saying, "Well where are you in all this?" And you say, "Well I wasn't born yet." Go back far enough in history and eventually you disappear because you don't go all the way back. There was a time when you were not. You were not here. There's a time when I wasn't here. In fact, nobody even knew who I was before my mama. But God did. Do you realize that? Before you were ever born, God knew you were going to be born and when you were going to be born and He knew how you were going to be born. Because He was before you.

Before you even reached your mama's womb, God already knew you. That's who He is. He's all-knowing. And then while you were in your mama's womb, He saw you. He was seeing you being formed, and He was right there with you. He saw all that you had to go through to get out to be alive. That's who He is. He always was before you were even born. God already knew you. That's something to think about. That'll just make your head go around several times. Before Bethlehem, He was. Before Abraham, He was. Before Adam, He was. Before the universe, He was.

You can go back to the beginning, but you can't get beyond Jesus. Jesus doesn't belong to history; history belongs to Jesus. Let's look at His participation in creation. John 1:2 and 3. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into existence through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. So when people say I was an accident, I was born by accident, there's no birth that's an accident. Don't ever say that. God created you. You're not an accident. No, God, there's no way God makes accidents. That's not who He is.

It says apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. So what is John doing? John is moving from Christ's existence to His activity. He was behind creation. All things were made by Him, and without Him there was not anything that was made. The same was in the beginning with God. Jesus wasn't just present at creation. All things were made through Him. The Greek verb translated "were made" means to become. It means to come into existence.

Notice John's contrast. The Word was. Creation, however, came into being. But the Word was. Creation came. John divides reality into two categories: the one who eternally was and everything that came into being. So John closes the loophole. Without Him was not anything made that was made. Nothing created exists apart from Him. In other words, Jesus cannot Himself belong to the category of created things. If everything that was made was made through Him, He isn't one of the things that was made.

Let me show you that in Colossians 1:16. By Him, Christ, all things were created. How many things? All things. Both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible. So there's some invisible things that we don't even see, but they're here. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. Think about some of these people in authority. Don't get mad at them. Don't get mad at God. God created all these people for a reason, even some of these nut jobs. God wanted to give us a reason to pray because some of these folks, I'm not going any further.

All things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. All things. People are so worried about things that they can't even control. They're worried about global warming. We've been here a long time. I mean there are a lot of people on this earth. If you go and study a whole bunch of stuff, especially the mountains and stuff and the snow and how the snow starts melting because of the people that climb up there, y'all go figure out what they doing. That's why it's melting. Not simply before some things; before all things.

I love that fact. That's why I don't get upset about a lot of stuff. Because that verse of scripture helps me out. He was before all things, and in Him all things hold together. So if my life starts falling apart, I've got to realize this: it's not falling apart because God is holding it together. I think it's falling apart, but it's not falling apart because God is holding me together. Now sometimes I may think like I'm cuckoo, but God is saying, "No, you're not cuckoo. I'm holding you together. You just went off on the left field, but I'm bringing you back. You're not to where you need to be."

All things are held together by God Almighty through His Son Jesus Christ. All things. Pick up anything in your house and you'll find if you turn it over a label. Made in China, Made in Kuwait, Made in Taiwan, made in wherever. It's a "made in" label on the back of everything that you purchase. But imagine turning over the universe, looking for the manufacturer's label, and you see "In the beginning, God created. Made by God."

So not only was the universe made by God, but do you not know that on some place in your body, God has placed "you belong to God, made by God"? If you've been born again, you have been made by God. You have been made born again by God. You didn't make yourself. God made you born again because you said, "Yes, Jesus." The moment you said "Lord, Lord" in a minute and confessed with your mouth Jesus is Lord and admitted that you were a sinner, there's a "made by God" on you.

And He's holding you together. Why? Because He's the one who made you. And we go to the doctors and they help us out, but you know they have to have wisdom. I'm glad most of our doctors, they believe in Jesus. And so when I go to see my doctor, whichever one it is, we're talking about Jesus. And I'm glad they have a relationship with Jesus because sometimes they'll give you the technical terms, but sometimes the doctor may need to pray with me. Because they know what they need to pray about because they know how we're made because they've gone to school to discover how we are fearfully made.

And they know that there's something in our body that's not functioning correctly. And so they know how to pray for us because we don't know how to pray. And then if he told us what was wrong, we still wouldn't know how to pray. But fortunately, even when our doctors don't know how to pray, the Holy Spirit does. We groan in words too deep for words, and He'll take that straight to the Father. Why? Because He knows the mind of the Father.

There's a "made in" label on all of us who are born again. And there's a "made in" label on all of you who have not been born again because God created everybody, sinners and believers. All of us were made by the same God, the same hand. And some people try to help God out. God doesn't need our help. Leave God's stuff alone. He made us fearfully and wonderfully, and that's how we're made. Fearfully and wonderfully made. That's what my label says. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. That's what your label says. Fearfully and wonderfully made. And then the writer says, "and I know that quite well." Now if you don't know that quite well, let me talk to you after church.

John, he said a lot, but he's got something else he wants to say. You find "Made in Heaven by Christ" on you if you're born again. That's who Jesus is. John 1:14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Do you know what that means? That means you can't ever exhaust His grace, and you can never get down to the deepest of the truths unless He reveals it to you.

You think you're so smart. I remember my wife, she was an advanced student when she was growing up. And she said, "You know, I was pretty smart, and I got to college." She said, "I found out there's some smarter people than me." You know what? You can't exhaust the truths of God without the spirit of God, and He can't give you a lot of truth because you can't contain a lot of truth. You can't even hardly contain the fact that He made the earth and it's still going around on its axis just as God created it to do. It is not God off-kilter. Have you realized that?

Nothing has ever changed up in the universe. God says, "I got this. All things are held together by me. Don't worry about nothing." Folks want to go up into Mars. Go on. I ain't going nowhere from here. Unless I'm going from this city to another city, and I'm going to try to avoid Atlanta because you know you may have to stay there overnight and several days ago because if the flights don't go on schedule. But other than that, I don't want to go to Mars. You all can go to Mars, not me. I can barely make it here on this earth, going to somewhere else. I don't want to go to Mars.

Grace. Full of grace and truth. If you don't know what grace looks like, this is what grace is: it's unmerited favor. In other words, you didn't earn it. Nothing you can do. You didn't earn it. God just gave it to you. He says, "Look, you need grace. You don't know it, but you need grace. That's why I saved you by grace through faith. That not of yourselves. It's a gift of God." So when you're in a particular situation and you're saying to yourself, "Oh Lord, help me," that's when grace comes.

And then when you're standing before someone and you don't know the right words to say, Jesus told His disciples, "Look, when they bring you before the synagogue and all of the leaders there, don't worry about what you have to say because the Holy Spirit will tell you at that moment what you need to say." Folks, that has become such a truth in my life. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I was in a situation, I didn't know what to say, I didn't know the right words to say, and I just kept still. And the Holy Spirit gave me what I needed to have, and I marveled at it. And I just thank God for being fearfully and wonderfully made.

The baby who lay under the stars made the stars. The one who walked on water made the water. The one who commanded the wind created the wind. The one who multiplied the bread created wheat. The one who opened blinded eyes designed the eyes. The hands that touched lepers formed the hands. And when they nailed His hands to the cross, they nailed the creator to what He had created: wood. You've heard the phrase "if walls could talk." What about if wood could talk? Can you imagine Jesus? Better yet, what if the wooden cross could talk?

What would it say? Knowing that, if it had some knowledge. Here is the one that created wood attached to this wooden cross. And His back is bleeding, and the blood is going through the cracks in the wood. And if the cross could talk, the cross would have to give Him glory because He deserves it because He's shedding blood not just for us, but for the entire creation. Here, look, creation groans and moans to be redeemed. Do you not realize that's what's in the Bible?

It's not just us wanting to be redeemed; it's all of creation that wants to be redeemed. So if wood could talk, the cross would probably apologize for having been chosen to have the savior attached to Him. But then the wood would think of how glorious it is to know that they were able to hold the Christ on its cross. If wood could talk. Can you imagine the one who made the wood cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"?

Guest (Male): They call me red-handed in the act of sin. They all demanded that I be taken to Him. When we arrived, they threw me to the ground. I wanted to die, then He turned around. He heard me moan, but I knew I was wrong when He saw my fear. I heard the words I didn't think I'd hear. Cast the first stone if you've never done wrong. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone. Cast the first stone. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone.

They quoted the law and said I should be stoned. My soul felt heavy, would I win, would I lose, or would it be a draw? They told Him what I did and all they saw. But when He wrote on the ground, it was a sight to be seen. When He said whoever's not guilty of what I had done. They all started leaving from the youngest to the oldest one. Cast the first stone. If you've never done wrong. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone. Cast the first stone. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone.

Cast the first stone. Cast the first stone if you've never done wrong. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone. If you've never done wrong, cast the first stone. Cast the first stone. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone. Cast the first stone. Cast the first stone if you've never done wrong. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone. Cast the first stone. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone. Cast the first stone. Cast the first stone. If you've never done wrong, cast the first stone. Cast the first stone. Or leave her alone.

If you've never done wrong, cast the first stone. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone. If you've never done wrong, cast the first stone. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone.

Dr. Bernie Miller: So we fall into discouragement and we fall into failure, and we think those two things really make us who we are. And you stay down on the ground, wallowing around in the mud and thinking God will never forgive you, but He's already forgiven you. He forgave you on the cross.

Guest (Male): Every burden He knows, every tear He sees. He's here to meet your needs. Help won't be delayed. Don't be afraid. Come by faith. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy in His embrace. He knows what you're feeling. If you're willing, come to Him. He's the Father and the author and finisher of your faith. It's no bother. He's your Father. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy in His embrace.

You may have crumbled from the stumble. You may have fallen along the way and the enemy keeps reminding you of your mistakes. But it's a new day. But mercy's still available and forgiveness has taken its place. You'll find all you need at the throne of grace. Every burden He knows, every tear He sees. He's here to meet your needs. Help won't be delayed. Don't be afraid. Come by faith. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy in His embrace. He knows what you're feeling. If you're willing, come to Him. He's the Father and the author and finisher of your faith. It's no bother. He's your Father. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy. Find mercy. Find mercy in His embrace.

Come boldly. Come boldly. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Come boldly. Come boldly. Oh, come boldly to the throne of grace. Find mercy in His embrace. He knows what you're feeling. If you're willing, come to Him. He's the Father and the author and finisher of your faith. It's no bother. He's your Father. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy and His embrace.

Cast the first stone. Cast the first stone. If you've never done wrong, cast the first stone. Or leave her alone. If you've never done wrong, cast the first stone. Cast the first stone, or leave her alone.

Dr. Bernie Miller: Remember the Alabaster box? It was broken. You know, there's something about the Alabaster box. You can't open it. In order to get in it, you've got to break it. God's been trying to get your attention, and He's been breaking things up all around you just to let you know, "I've been trying to get in."