Bianca, Robert and Logan share demos

Good morning, men and women. It's an honor to be able to speak to you again on the Pando app. Technology is amazing. Right here from Life Fellowship Church in McKinney, Texas. We love you. You're part of our church family. We're so grateful for you for choosing our church to get edified and to get poured into. My name's Logan Williams. My TDC number is 1490218. I got four numbers after that. I went round and round and round in the system on drugs and crime and all that stuff. Never thought that there was anything better. There was anything different. I just kind of gave up and thought this is just going to be my lot in life, man. And, you know, when I was 45 years old, Jesus got a hold of me. And I'm telling you, I don't care what the situation is, anything is possible with God. And I just want to encourage you to seek after him, chase after him, like with the desperation of a drowning man, because he is your lifeline. He's been that way for me. He changed my life. He'll change yours, I promise. But we have to get all in. Hey, you can tell your friends and family they can download the same Pando app on their phone. You can watch the same videos. You can watch the same stuff. You can talk about it when you see him in visitation or when he's talking on the phone. You know, I know, you know, the phone calls are not that long, I know, but, you know, take three, four or five minutes and just talk about, talk about God, talk about spirituality, talk about what you saw on the Pando app.

You know, I know you don't have much time when you're in, when you're in visitation, but maybe take a few minutes in and do that. Try to be the spiritual leader of your family, men, and try to be a spiritual example to your kids, women, like it's not over. I know you think that, well, my kids are growing up without me and I'm here in prison. It's not over. God is a God of restoration. He's a God that loves to heal families. He loves to restore families. So don't, don't buy into the lie that it's just over for you and your family. You can still lead them. You can still do that. But have them download Pando and y'all watch the same stuff. I don't care if it's live fellowship stuff or not. There's 150 churches on there. There's the chosen on there. The Bible recaps on there. Find a way to do this thing together. It's possible. It's possible. So I was reading James and I love the book of James because he's just so straight up. He's just so real talk. And in James, he starts with saying this letters from James. I'm reading the NLT version, a slave of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, that's just so incredibly weighty, right? He's saying, man, I'm completely sold out to, to Jesus and to what he did on that cross and in that empty tomb, I'm a slave of Jesus. I don't care what that means. I don't care what that entails. I am completely sold out to him.

I'm all in, no strings attached. And then he says, I'm writing to the 12 tribes, Jewish believers scattered abroad. So see James, after the resurrection, see before the resurrection, James didn't really, we didn't hear much of James and what we did hear from James, you know, because he was Jesus's half brother. But before the resurrection and he ascended to heaven and all those things we'd love to talk about, we saw a little bit of James, but he thought Jesus was crazy. He thought he'd lost his mind. He, you know, cause think about it. If your brother came to you and said, Hey, check it, bro. I'm the savior of the world, you know, like your response to that would be, man, get off the gas, bro. Like we got the same mom, like I know you like, and that's kind of what we saw from James and the scriptures were so real. You know, I love that about that because he was like, Hey man, somebody's got to go get Jesus, man. Like he's telling everyone he's the savior of the world. But you know, there's nothing like resurrecting from the dead and walking out of an empty tomb, right. To prove your point that you are the savior of the world. And so after the resurrection, we saw what we saw was Jesus meeting with James. James that used to think he was out of his mind because he was his brother. But now he's meeting with James and he becomes a ferocious contender for the, for the kingdom of God. And so he's, he's writing this right during a time of intense persecution for the church. And it's, it's not persecution. Like we would think persecution, like I know in many of the places that you guys are at, You guys get some pushback, you know, you hear a lot of the, oh, they're just sitting at the table reading the Bible

because they don't really want to get down. They're scared. They don't want to get down with a gang or they don't want to get involved in this. So they're just hiding over here behind a Bible. I know that there's a lot of that in there, but in Rome in the first century, like it was a little bit different. Like they had people that would torture you to death. Like they would literally be sitting there eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while they just breaking you in half. Okay, so persecution in first century Rome was a little bit different than it is now. And if you were a follower of Christ, if you were a follower of the way back then, it probably meant your life. And it probably meant your life in a very brutal way. In fact, we see that shortly after, not long after James wrote this letter, it says that James was thrown off the temple, which was about 30 to 40 feet, thrown off the temple where he didn't all the way die. And then they all ran down there and they stoned him to death until he did die. So there was some persecution. That's the reason they were scattered abroad. They're scattered because they're running for their lives. They're running for their lives, but as they're running, they are, it's amazing.

Like the church can't be stopped. They're planting churches behind them everywhere they go. It's an incredible time for the church. And so James, what he's gonna do is he is going to very profoundly in five chapters, he is going to highlight and bring up and he's going to just make known anything that could potentially infiltrate and destroy the bride of Christ from the inside out. And so he starts it off just, he just drops bombs, y'all. He starts it off by talking about trials. And he said, hey man, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it joy. Consider it an opportunity for when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed, you'll be perfect and complete and not lacking anything. And so that's like a whole nother perspective on trials that we go through, right? Because I know many of you are going through trials right now, many of you are in dorms or runs that are absolutely crazy. Some of you aren't, some of you have other trials coming against you. Maybe you're sitting in county jail and they're offering you 50 years. And you're like, man, what am I gonna do? We can look at trials differently, as James is saying, because it can actually be a thing that develops us. But he knows it's gonna be difficult because he says,

if you need wisdom, just ask and he'll give it to you without reproach. That means we don't have to beg. We don't have to negotiate. We don't even have to be righteous. We just ask for wisdom and he gives it to us. But he says, but don't waver for a person who is, but when you ask, be sure your faith is in God alone. Don't waver for a person who's divided. Loyalty is unsettled as a wave of the sea. It's blown and tossed about. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. So when we ask God for the wisdom, we need to have faith in him and not some other system, right? If they're offering you 50 years, you need to ask God for the wisdom and then have faith in God and not maybe your lawyer. Well, maybe I need to go get another lawyer. Maybe I need to go try to, God has got you and he's got the perfect plan. And then he goes on in verse 12 and he talks, now he was just talking about trials. Now he's gonna talk about temptations. And he's saying, God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterwards, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. That sounds good, but what's the crown of life?

Like that's gonna come what? When I die, when I'm at that Bema seat, or when I'm, you know, like I want a blessing now, right? Like I want some money. I want a financial blessing. I want a new car. I want a new job. These are the things that our mind tells us, but he's saying, be patient, right? And wait, because this crown of life, these eternal blessings are much, much, much better than anything that we can get on earth. And he says, remember when you're being tempted, don't say God is tempting me. God never tempts, tempted to do wrong. And he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. So he's saying, man, God's not tempting you. That's coming from you. That's coming from your selfish, self-centered self that wants what I want when I want it, however I got to get it. And he's saying, man, be patient and endure these temptations. Then he goes on in 17 and says, whatever is good and perfect as it. of coming down to us from God our Father

who created all the lights in heaven. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. So all our good gifts are coming from God and he never wavers. We have to trust in his plan because sometimes we'll compare ourselves to other people and say, oh man, you're blessing that person. Why aren't you blessing me? Or look at these people. Social media is terrible about that. We can get into this comparison thing but God's gifts are front. We need to be patient. Every good gift comes from him. And then man, this is the point I wanted to make. He's like shifting gears now in verse 18. He was talking about trials. He's talking about temptation. He's talking about this walk that we're doing and all that we're gonna endure. And then boom in verse 18, he's like switching gears. He says, he chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, we, you, me, everyone that's watching, out of all of his creation, all of his creation became his prized possession. But think about that, man, all of his creation. Let's just think about his creation. You know, one of the things I remember about being in prison in the,

one of the very few positives is they're all in the middle of nowhere here in Texas. I don't know where you're watching from, but they're all in the middle of nowhere. And when we go to chow in the morning or when we go to get our clothes to change them in, we're always doing that at like two in the morning, four in the morning. It's dark outside, but it's the middle of nowhere. And so as you're walking down that run, sometimes you can look up and if it's a clear night, man, the sky is amazing. You can see all the stars. You can see the Milky Way. You can see the Big Dipper. You can see the planets. You can see the moon. It's just amazing, God's creation. But he's saying more than that. He's saying more. I don't know if you've ever been to Colorado before and you've been up maybe on one of those ski lifts and man, it crests the top one of those mountains and man, the view is just amazing. There's no words for the snow-capped mountains with all these aspen trees. It's just amazing. But he's saying more than that. He's saying more than the oceans. I don't know if you've ever been to the oceans

of like Florida where it's just so blue. It looks like colored water and it's just vast till the eye can see. He's saying more than that. He's saying more than the glaciers up in Alaska. Man, that must be an amazing sight. I've never been there, but I've seen it on TV. It must be an amazing sight to see. He's saying more than that. More than anything in creation, more than the elephant, more than the giraffe, more than the woolly mammoth or the dinosaurs that don't even exist anymore. More than anything in all my creation. Guys, we can't read too fast past sentences like that. He's saying every, yeah, there's anything in all of creation, he picked us. We are his prized possessions. You are his prized possession. You're the most important thing to him. Yeah, the stars are cool, man. I just spoke those. I just spoke and they appeared. You're awesome. Fearfully and wonderfully made, Psalm 139 says. The NIV version would call it the first fruits of all his creation. It points to the same thing. You're very important to him. So he's saying church in Jerusalem and he's saying to you guys and to me,

as you're going through these trials, as you're going through these temptations, as you're fighting for your faith, as you're being sanctified one degree of glory to the next, whatever that looks like for you as you're going three steps forward and one step back or maybe you're going four steps forward and 10 steps back, he's saying in the midst of that, you need to know that as you fight, as you wage war against your sin, you need to know that you're his prized possession, that he adores you, that he's not just up there tolerating you, that our relationship with him is not this transactional deal where if I do this and this and this, then he'll love me. No, you're his prized possession. You're the most important thing to him, even on our crappiest of days. And I need to realize that because I have a jacked up view of my father and it manifests, I'm fighting against it, but there are still moments when I'll be like, dang man, I didn't do any Bible studies last week. So he's not gonna love me as much as two weeks ago when I was doing Bible studies. See, that's not the case. He adores us. We're his prized possessions, even on our worst days. So I don't know what it is that you've done

that you think you can't be forgiven for. I don't know what it is that you've, think about your father and how. how it projects onto the face of God. But I just wanted to bring that up that, guys, where is price possession? Because when we can get that, not just as information, but revelation, and we can walk in it, it's gonna change everything. It's gonna change everything. So let me pray for you guys. Heavenly Father, I love, love, love your word. I love how, man, your word just convicts. And there's so much truth in there that we miss. Just when we need it the most, we see it, God, and you just illuminate it. God, I pray that you would just bless every one of the people that are watching right now, that you would put a desire in their hearts to wanna read your word, and to wanna find these nuggets, and to wanna have a realization that, wow, you are, we are your price possession. That's why you left 99 to come after us. And so, God, I pray that if there's anyone watching that maybe doesn't feel like you've left 99 to come after them, that you would show them that your Holy Spirit in their heart could have a moment this week, and you could show them how much you love them, and how you just wanna meet them right where they're at,

whatever that is, in their crappiest of moments, and take them and embrace them. God, they can lay all that down at the feet of Jesus. And that's what I pray, man, that repentance would take place today, that salvation would happen. So, God, we thank you for all your blessings. I ask that you bless their families as they're gone, that you would just love them, and just let them know. Give them a sign, show them a song, something on Pando, something on the TV, some kind of sign to let them know how much you love them, and that they are your price possession. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Who's house? God's house. Let's give him some praise. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. So honored to be able to speak into your life, and super excited to bring this message to you. I was able to preach this message on Christmas Eve at one of the prisons that we visit, and I thought I'd bring it here to share it with you. But whether you came in full of faith, full of doubt, or just full of life and noise, we were all born into a story that's far bigger than just a single night, or a single day, or even just our own lives.

Because the truth of Jesus, it isn't, the truth is the story of Jesus does not begin on Christmas, or with Mary, or the angel Gabriel, but the story of Jesus begins in eternity. And John, writing his gospel, he knows exactly what he's doing, because by the way, John, he seems to be like a cool, calm, and collected cat. Like, I love to have a non-alcoholic beverage with him, well, whenever I get to heaven, but anyway. John pulls back the curtain of history when he writes in John one, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. So in other words, before there was time, he already was. Before there were stars, he already was. And before there was light to pierce the darkness, he was already there. And then John goes on to say, through him, all things were made, and without him, nothing was made that has been made. And that means that everything we can see, and everything that we can't, every galaxy, every star, every cell, and every breath that we breathe, it came through him. So Jesus is not a part of creation, but Jesus is the source of creation. And so like, I feel like a lot of us,

we believe that Christmas is the beginning of Jesus, but it's not. Christmas is the moment that the eternal God stepped into time. And if we don't understand who Jesus is before he came to visit us, then we'll never be able to understand the weight and the magnitude of the miracle that is his arrival here on earth. And so tonight, so tonight is not like, today's not about a small God who came quietly and did incredible things, but tonight is about a star-breathing God, a universe-holding eternal God who chose on purpose to step down. I love what Psalm 19 says, God's splendor is a tale that is told, written in the stars. Space itself speaks his story. Space itself speaks his story through the marvels of heavens, of the heavens. His truth is on tour in the starry vault of the sky, showing his skill and creation's craftsmanship. And each day gushes out its message to the next night by night, whispering its knowledge to all without a sound, without a word, without a voice being heard,

yet all the world can hear its echo. Everywhere its message goes out, what a heavenly home God has set for the sun, shining in the superdome. The sky so in other words God's glory is on display for everyone to see no matter where you are in this earth but before we can Connect his message to us personally. We need to blow our perspective We need to blow up our perspective on on who God is tonight We have to put him in the right size because Scripture is constantly telling us that one of the night and in the nicest way possible by the way that one of our greatest problems as humans is that we constantly straighten down God to our size and Through the prophet Isaiah God says this to whom will you compare me or who is my equal says the Holy One? Lift your eyes to the heavens. Okay, mr. Isaiah. That's what we'll do And then he asked and then God he asked the he asked the question who created all of these Talking about the stars and then and then God answers for himself The one who leads forth the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name Because of his great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing and that's an Isaiah 40 So that's an idea of who we're dealing with He we've got to put him in the right size. He is not our size He does not have a brain like we do. He does not think like we think he's not reacting to anything But he is ruling over everything. He is working on a canvas. That's bigger than anything. We have ever dreamed of or imagined he's in The heaven he is huge and the heavens are telling us that So I want to look at and worship God through some of his greatest creations and I'll throw some illustrations up as I over myself speaking and Hopefully by the time we're done You'll see and have a new perspective and on the grandeur and and on the size of who God actually is So the first one is easy because there's just one star in our solar system and that star is called the Sun Yes, it's our own star and it's a lot fiercer than we think it's about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface

But what I really want you to see is how big it is. The Sun is about 93 million miles away So when you look up at it in the sky, it's already a pretty good distance out there But by the way light travels at a hundred eighty six thousand miles per second And it only takes eight minutes to cover that ninety three million mile journey just to touch your skin right where you are So what you're feeling from the Sun today started his journey from it started its journey to the earth eight minutes ago but what again what I really want you to see is the size of the Sun because the Sun is about a million times the Earth and That matters to us tonight because when you hear what the psalmist said you can start to feel the weight of it Psalm 33 says that by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made in other words God didn't lift a finger when he made the universe and Then it continues their starry host by the breath of his mouth So we're looking at something that's so intense So powerful that we don't want to get any closer to it than 93 million miles away And then scripture tells us that God just breathes out stars like that. Like he just naturally does that it's just a natural occurrence for him So that's crazy to think about But let me give you a little perspective that that honestly changed my life So if the Sun were the size of this ball of paper The Sun would be about 15 feet in diameter in comparison to this ball of paper Okay, I don't think I really did much for you but So all so all throughout this message This ball of paper is gonna represent the size of the earth Okay, so this is where we are. So I need you to look as closely as you can I need you to identify exactly where you are on the earth on this ball of paper And once you do you can continue listening to the message So, here's the perspective you could put about 960,000 Earth's inside this Sun and that's enough of these balls of paper by the way to fill in an entire school bus So this is a massive star But this one massive star is just one of hundreds of billions of massive stars in the Milky Way galaxy Which is our little cul-de-sac in the neighborhood that God has called that God called the cosmos that God has made

It's huge and tonight. We are worshiping a star breathing God, but I want to tell you about a second star. I've got four The second star is called Betelgeuse and this star absolutely wrecked my life. I Heard about it whenever I was about in the fifth grade and I think I was in biology class or something But I didn't know how to talk to God for about two months after I heard about this star and again, this star is called Betelgeuse and it's about 427 light-years away. And by the way, that's a light-year is 5.88 trillion miles equals one light-year. So 427 times 5.88 trillion miles that's how far away Betelgeuse is from us right now, but Here's the part that changed everything for me You ready? Beetlejuice is twice the size. You think I'm about to say twice the size of the sun? Oh no, Beetlejuice is twice the size of the Earth's orbit around the sun. That's crazy, so let's put that into perspective. So again, if the Earth were the size of this ball of paper, Beetlejuice would be the height of six Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. I mean, have you seen the Empire State Building? Maybe what you need to do whenever you have the opportunity is you need to get a ball of paper or a golf ball or something of this size. You need to get some plane tickets. You need to fly up to New York City. You need to go into Midtown. You need to take your ball of paper. You need to put it on the sidewalk. You need to put it on the sidewalk next to the Empire State Building.

You're gonna look down and that's the Earth right there. You're gonna look up. You're gonna imagine another. You're gonna see the Empire State Building. You're gonna imagine five more Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other, and that's the Earth, and that's Beetlejuice. And somewhere on this ball of paper, somewhere in this Earth, you're on it. Guess how many Earths you could fit inside of Beetlejuice? You could fit 262 trillion Earths inside of Beetlejuice. By the way, if the Earth were the size of this ball of paper, that would be enough balls of paper to fill AT&T Stadium 3,000 times, the stadium where the Cowboys play. They have about 100,000 capacity. When I heard that as a teenager, that stumped me because most of my praying at that point in my life had been correcting God, advising God, suggesting things to God, drawing diagrams for God, reviewing my plans with God, counseling God. But suddenly I realized I'm probably not as qualified to run the universe as I thought I was. But there's two more stars. This next one is called Musithi. Can you go a little bit bigger? So Musithi is about 3,000 light years away. So again, that's 3,000 times 5.88 trillion. That's how many light years away that Musithi is from us. And by the way, when we look up at night, it's not just twinkle, twinkle, little star,

how I wonder what you are. No, I'm telling you what you are. What you are is intense and massive and ferocious. So, but let's try to wrap our minds around Musithi. Cause if the ball, I mean, if the earth were the size of this ball of paper, Musithi would be the width of two Golden Gate Bridges placed end to end. So evidently what we need to do now is we need to go from New York. We need to go all the way to the West Coast. We're gonna take our ball of paper. We're gonna go to San Francisco. We're gonna place our ball of paper at the beginning of the Golden Gate Bridge. We're gonna go, we're gonna cross the bridge and we're gonna cross the Bay into Oakland. We're gonna find a high place in Oakland where we can see the beginning of the Golden Gate Bridge. We're gonna imagine a second Golden Gate Bridge next to the real Golden Gate Bridge. We're gonna scan all the way back to the beginning of the first one. We're gonna find the ball of paper and that's the earth and somewhere you're on it. And this one star is so big that you could fit 2.7 quadrillion earths inside of this one star. It's crazy huge. Now, I just said the word quadrillion and I feel like we need to talk

about how big quadrillion is because a quadrillion is a incomprehensible number. So let's do it this way. Everyone understands a million, right? We all know what a million is. A million is a, we all know that a million is a thousand thousand, a billion is a thousand million. A trillion is a thousand billion and a quadrillion is a thousand trillion. So now here's, so a million seconds ago was 12 days ago. A trillion seconds ago, I'm sorry, a billion seconds ago was about 31.7 years ago, which will put us in 1993 when the Cowboys were still winning Super Bowls. That's a little bigger. Now, a trillion seconds ago, you're probably thinking 1800s, no. George Washington, no. Shakespeare, no. A trillion seconds ago was 29,700 BC and then a quadrillion seconds ago was 30,800,000 years ago. And. Musithi is so big that you could fit 2.7 quadrillion Earth's inside of this one star It's a really large number. By the way, 2.7 quadrillion seconds ago was 85.5 million years ago That was whenever the dinosaurs were about to get nuclear bomb to extinction around that time But Musithi is not even the biggest star that we found I love and I love astronomy and and We've the scientists have brought us one of the one of the largest stars that we found so far and are you ready for this? It's called Canis Majoris If the earth were the size of this ball of paper Canis Majoris would be the height of Mount Everest

Evidently what you need to do is you need to go from California to Kathmandu Nepal and With your ball of paper and and don't forget to park it by the way and Mount Everest by the way is almost six miles Above sea level. It's the highest point on the planet and I just dare you to get up there and and unzip your parka and pull out your ball of paper It'll probably blow away, but it's okay. You don't need it after this, but you could fit seven quadrillion Earth's inside Canis Majoris and That's enough Earth's if the earth were a ball of paper to cover the entire to cover the entire state of Texas and balls of paper two feet deep Maybe this will help you I'm gonna play a little illustration here and By the way, this isn't There's something I like to call spiritual speculation But so this isn't science. This is just my personal belief. I don't believe the universe is filled with other life-forms I believe the vastness of the universe exists So we can see in physical form the splendor and the grandeur and the power and the glory of God On all the galaxies all the stars on an unimaginable scale and all of it declaring how big he is in other words stars exist to serve as like a marketing plan or a marketing campaign to show God's glory and Power and his massive scale and I believe that we are so special to God that once he created us He didn't need anyone else We were enough for him all he wanted was to be with us and I feel like when we start to see creation like this, it doesn't make you feel insignificant, but it makes you feel chosen When when I blow my perspective up like this, I don't I don't know what happens to you But I'll tell you what happens to me a shrinking feeling starts to come over me and it's not like a bad shrinking feeling it's a good shrinking feeling because sin it has like a way of Shrinking God down in our minds and puffing up and puffing us up in our own estimation and but just one glance into the universe that God has made resizes everything in a heartbeat and You realize tonight that we are worshiping a Unrivaled uncontested God of all might and power and glory and awe and there is none like him anywhere in all of creation He is not some little teeny tiny God. No, we are the teeny tiny ones

We are small. We are weak we are fragile and frail and we can't do a single thing without Jesus in the Spirit of God within us and But you and me tonight are One of almost nine million I'm sorry one of the most one of almost nine billion people on this ball of paper sized planet in this massive universe that God has made and Yet here. Here's the miracle and To me. This is crazier than any size of than the size of any star That though we are but a vapor we are marked by majesty and We have been created in the very image of the God who breathed out this these stars and put the input these universes into place You and I we were fashioned and formed and ordained by the God of all creation We are fearfully and wonderfully made you and I I Love what David penned in Psalm 8 as he looks at the same sky that that were That we're observing tonight the same stars the same vastness He writes this in Psalm 8 when I consider your heavens in the work of your fingers the moon and the stars Which he has set into place. That's not familiar It's it's he's worshiping through creation the same way we're doing right now. And then he asked the question We're all asking what is mankind that you are faith that you are mindful of them Human beings that you care for them. So in other words God if you are this big why do you care about us at all and Then David he answers his own question You have made them a little lower than than the angels and crowned them with the glory with glory and honor So I just want you to let that sit for a moment You are crowned with glory and honor by the same God that swung these universes into existence And it's not because you're strong and it's not because we're impressive But big and it's not because that we did anything to earn it or deserve it but it's because we were made in his image and He loves you and he loves me and he loves all of us and David David goes on to say in Psalm 8

You made them rulers over the works of your hands you put everything under their feet everything under their feet so What do we do with all this information? There's a lot of scientific information. Maybe I lost you somewhere. But so what do we do with this? Answer is really simple. You just live out your identity in Christ You ask what is your identity well, I'll tell you and you are a miracle that sitting in the building that you're sitting in tonight And if I could just remind you just for a moment that you are somebody that is incredibly special. I I Love science is I mean I learned all this stuff in my biology class, by the way, but but let me just dial everything back to the very beginning of You not not Genesis 1 but the process that God used to create The entity of you the human form of you. So here's how you happened one cell from your mom found one cell from your dad and By the way, that's a pretty heroic thing that your dad did because that's that's 1 million that's 1 in 1 million of your mom's cell and the 1 and 1 of 1 million in your dad's cell and they had to be an exact match to pair and There's more there's more to it than that, but that's enough for us So just stay with me here each one each one of those cells each one of your mom and your dad's cells carried 23 chromosomes and then The one from your mom carried half of her DNA the one from your dad carried half of his DNA and When those cells met and merged into one single cell those chromosomes they matched and they began to form together a brand new DNA code Using just four characters for nucleotides They began to write out what we now know is a 3 billion character description of who you are That's written in the language of God So they wrote out your DNA your human genome 3 billion characters made up of four simple nucleotides and in that moment they they described who God has ordained you to be and in that one tiny cell scientists say that if you if you took the DNA and stretched it out end-to-end it would be about six feet long and

in in this six feet long of DNA it has three billion characters and It's so detailed that if I were to read your if I were to read your DNA out loud one character per second Night and day that it would take me 96 years just to read the description of you But when those cells came together They they wrote a picture a picture that had never been written before and in the history of humankind in other words There's never been another another one there's never been another person like you you are one of one and Then that one cell did the unthinkable and it set out to build who you are from one cell and I'm so I'm telling you That you are a miracle and you've come a long long way and here you are So That one cell became two then four then 16 Then I'm sorry became four then eight then 16 and eventually it became 75 trillion cells that make up your body And Every single one of those cells contains that contains that six the same six feet of three billion character DNA and that's you There's so much DNA in your body, by the way If you stretch it if you stretch it all into in there will be enough DNA to go to the moon and back 117 I'm sorry 108 178,000 times inside your body. That's how amazing God has made you to be You have 75 trillion cells that make up your body and by the way when I just told you that 50,000 of your cells died and were replaced by brand-new cells and this process happens every three seconds So again, another 50,000 of your cells just died and were replaced by brand-new cells So let's look back at Psalm 33 that talks about a star-breathing God and I love how it takes an interesting corner It takes an interesting turn. It says he spoke for he spoke and it came to be he commanded and it stood fast So that's power. That's all that's God bringing out the universe, but then he gets very personal The psalmist says from heaven. The Lord looks down and sees all mankind from his dwelling place He matches all who live on the earth He he who forms the hearts of them He who forged the hearts of them all and is intimately acquainted with everything that they do So let that sink in the God who speaks galaxies into existence is intimately acquainted with your life and Then the psalm goes even further. It says the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear

fear him, on those who hope in his unfailing love. And then here comes, here's a promise. Here's a promise to claim from the Lord, to deliver them from death and to keep them alive in famine. And that is a promise of God for you today. Because the building that you're in in our world is filled with hurting people, lives that are spinning out of control, pain that you didn't ask for, pain that we could never have imagined. But God is making you a promise tonight that he's saying that I am a universe maker, but I am also a heart former. And I am big enough to be intimately acquainted with every circumstance in every single one of your lives. And I promise you that no matter what comes in this lifetime no matter how difficult the road, no matter how dark the night, he will hold on to you and he will hold you together. And he will carry you through only, he will carry you through any and every circumstance that ever comes your way. And that is the promise of God. That is why Jesus came to deliver you from death. But you might be thinking, well, that sounds good, but how do I know that that's true in my life right now? I mean, I'm sure that's what you really wanna know, right? How do you know that God will always hold you together

no matter what? And I'll tell you how you can know, and it's probably not gonna be the answer that you think. You know by just looking, you know by looking just a little bit deeper into the human body. And there's a protein molecule there called laminin. And honestly, I guess you should see a picture of laminin. Here, I'll put it up for you. But this is a scientific diagram of the laminin cell adhesion molecule that is holding your body together right now. So this stuff is like the rebar that holds concrete and buildings together. And I mean, that's just crazy. The very thing that holds our bodies together, that holds the lining of your organs together, that holds your skin on, is in the perfect shape of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then immediately, whenever I first saw this, my mind went to Colossians 1, where Paul is talking about the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ. And he says, for by him, talking about Jesus, all things were created, things in heaven and things on earth, and things were created by him and for him. All things were created by him and for him. And then the next verse says this, and it's crazy,

because it says, and he is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. It's right there. Everything holds together in Jesus Christ. And then Paul finishes this section by telling the story of grace. He says, for God was pleased to have his fullness dwell in Christ, and through Christ to reconcile himself all things by making peace through his blood shed on a cross. So when you're at the toughest place in your life, how do you know God is gonna hold you together and bring you through? You know, because there are literally hundreds of millions of crosses literally holding your body together right now. And that's your identity in Christ. Long before you ever sinned, long before you ever did anything to separate your relationship from him, long before you even rejected him, Jesus put his stamp on you hundreds of million times over. There are literally hundreds of millions of crosses holding you together right now. So this is your identity in Christ. So now let's take everything that, let's take all this information, and so a God who breathes out stars, a God who holds galaxies together, a God who is so intentional that he wrote out your DNA

three billion characters long, a God who promises in Psalm 33 to see you, to know you, to hold you, to carry you, and then the cross that is written into your very body. Here's the question. How does a God like that come close to people like us? And that's the real story of Jesus, because John 1, 14 says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The God who spoke light into existence stepped into the darkness. The one who stands outside of time entered time. The God who never needed anything made himself vulnerable. Why? So that he can go through everything that we've gone through and he can overcome it, so therefore we can overcome it. Not because he was small or weak, but because his love for us was great. So Jesus is a star breathing God who stepped down, not to impress us or intimidate us, but only to save us. And then some of you might be thinking, man, this all sounds incredible, but what does this mean for me today? What does this mean for me today? It means, It says that the God who holds the universe together is offering to hold your life together. The God who stepped down into history is inviting you to step into his grace. And if you need to surrender your life to Christ,

I can't think of a better way to start the new year than to do just that. And so, by the way, let me just dispel the lie that you don't need to have it all figured out to come to him. You don't have to get all cleaned up to come to him. Right now he's offering to clean you up, but all you have to do is surrender. If you're here tonight and you'd say, I need forgiveness or grace, or I need forgiveness, I need grace, I need a savior, I'm tired of holding my life together on my own, then that invitation is for you. But you have to decide to surrender. So Father, I pray that you would just blow our perspective up, Lord. I pray that you would just give us the fear of the Lord again. I pray that you would, whoever this message is for, whoever it's touching, Lord, I pray that you would soften their heart to be able to surrender 100%, not just 99%. I pray that you would become Lord of all, because if you're not Lord of all, then you're not Lord at all. And so, Lord, Father, I pray that you would speak to them, and that you would just come close to them, and you would reveal yourself to them in your glorified form,

so they can see the power of who you are, but they can also see the intimacy of who you are as well. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Pray this in Jesus' name. Good morning, my name is Bianca Rivera, and I am a leader with Life Fellowship Young Adults. And I just wanted to let you guys know that you are so important to this congregation. You are a part of this congregation. And I wanted to share some encouragement this morning that I was reading in 2 Corinthians 10 three through five about how the battle ground is actually our mind. And so please open your Bibles with me if you have them to 2 Corinthians 10 three through five. It reads, for altogether we live in flesh. We do not wage war according to the flesh since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demonstration of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God. And we take every thought captive to obey Christ. And we are ready to punish any disobedience once your obedience is complete. Have you ever experienced spiritual warfare? I think we all have, maybe a better question is, have you ever experienced overthinking or self-doubt, anxiety, temptation, or addiction? If you have, then the odds are pretty good that the enemy has affected your life.

This warfare is present every day, but we don't always know how to identify it. Many times behind the things we see going on in our lives are the attacks happening that we can't see at all. I'll never forget the first time I recognized a clear deliberate attack had been awakened from a deep sleep in the middle of the night. Suddenly there was this loud, chaotic voice, several voices actually, screaming and coming at me from all directions, telling me that I wasn't smart enough, that I wasn't good enough, that I was a terrible mother and wife, that I'd never accomplish anything for the kingdom of God. Give up, you're not smart enough, these voices shouted. And I'd heard this voice before all of my life, in fact, but in the past, it had always been more of a whisper. As an adult, I had allowed this voice to become common knowledge in my mind, knowledge that I wasn't good enough, that I'd never be good enough. The enemy knew exactly how to get a rise for me that night because he had studied me all my life. I grew up with traditional Mexican parents, and as my dad's eldest daughter, there was a lot of expectation placed on me. I got good grades, I worked as a teen, I never talked back, I was polite and respectful and considerate of others. This wasn't good enough. Nothing I did was ever good enough.

And I convinced myself that if I wasn't good enough for the two people who were supposed to love me more than anyone else, then how could I ever be good enough for anyone or anything else? The enemy grabbed hold of that line. He led me into a life of sin, of sexual immorality. I partied, I was quick to anger, and eventually it led me into a physically and mentally abusive relationship. He tried his hardest to keep me there the rest of my life, but God. had other plans. Unfortunately, as long as you're a follower of Christ, these attacks are never going to cease. In fact, the more you pursue God, the stronger the attacks will be. The enemy cannot see our thoughts the way God can, but he does not have that power. He is not omnipresent, but he does have a network. And what they do is they study us, and then they watch our reactions to their tactics and they use those against us. Any negative speech or behavior is only giving the evil one a roadmap on how to ruin our day, enter our heart, and push us further away from God. The more you walk in God's truth, the less effective these attacks will be. The more you stay in his word, make time to sit with him and listen to what he ministers to your heart, the easier it will be to take those thoughts captive and bring them into alignment with God's will. As a child of the King, you have authority over the darkness. You are sealed and protected by the Holy Spirit. You're probably in an environment surrounded by people that make that really hard to believe. Ask God to renew your heart, to give you patience and grace. Whatever it is you feel you're struggling with in this season, and remember that God is in control. Sometimes it may feel like the enemy has won, but try to stay focused on the promise that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Maybe not every bad thing that happens for a reason, but for those of us who are the Lord's, he uses those bad things for his purpose. I know how difficult it is in the waiting, but you can trust that God is working. Claim the victory. We already know who wins in the end. Let's pray.

God, thank you so much for the person watching. I pray protection over them and protection over the families that they represent, Lord. Lord, may we approach you in our weakness, in our fears, in our anxiety, in our worry. Thank you, Lord, that all of those things just create a platform for your power. Help us to stand on your word, Lord. We love you. We exalt you this morning, Lord. And we pray all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.