I assert that God's identity, sovereignty and goodness do not depend on anything he created. I take you beyond the beginning of creation to show that before the first sunrise and before the first human breath, he was God. I use Genesis 1:1, Psalm 90:2, John 1:1–3 and Acts 17:24–25 to ground this truth. I challenge us to ask whether we have made God's goodness conditional on our prosperity, success or answered prayers. I teach that we can pursue wealth, work and healing without making those blessings the measure of God's worth. I call you to surrender any blessing you have begun to treat as the condition for your peace and to trust that whether you gain everything or lose everything, he is still God. I invite you to consider the truth I declare from the outset: before the first sunrise and before any human story began, he was God. I trace this claim through Genesis 1:1, Psalm 90:2, John 1:1–3 and Acts 17:24–25. I state that the events of history do not create his identity. They only reveal what he already is. I urge listeners to distinguish the Blesser from the blessing. I affirm the value of work, stewardship and prosperity. At the same time I warn against a faith that measures God by outcomes. I call people to pursue goals and to pray with passion, but not to let success become the basis of worship. I ask a hard question: if God does not grant the request you most want, will you still worship him? I teach that Christian maturity grows when we trust God’s character even when our circumstances hurt. The closing charge is clear. Identify any blessing you have made into a condition for peace. Surrender it. Remember: the blessing did not make him God; the loss cannot unmake him.

Takeaways:

• I declare that God existed before all things and His being does not depend on creation.
• We must not measure God's goodness by our material success, promotions, health, or wealth.
• I teach that prosperity is good and worth pursuing, but it must not become our god.
• We are called to trust God's character even when prayers go unanswered, losses occur, or hope fades.
• I urge you to identify any blessing you have idolized and surrender that condition to God today.
• I explain that because the Creator needs nothing from His creation, believers have freedom to desire blessings without making those blessings their foundation of faith.

I want you to consider something that we don't think about often enough.

Before God created the heavens and the earth, who was he?

Before the sun ever rose, before the stars illuminated the night, before a single human being drew breath, who was he?

He was God.

Before Abraham received His promise, before Sarah gave birth to Isaac, before Moses parted the Red Sea, before David sat upon the throne of Israel, he was God.

And here's what I find remarkable.

None of these events made him God.

They revealed the God who already was.

But somewhere along the way, we've developed a theology in which God's goodness seems to rise and fall with our circumstances.

When the business succeeds, God is good.

When the promotion comes, God is faithful.

When the child is born, God is wonderful.

But what happens when none of these things happen?

Over the next few messages, I want us to discover a faith that can believe for prosperity without making prosperity its God.

Because before you had anything, he was God.

And whether you gain everything or lose everything, he is still God.

This is the message with nj.

And there is one line I would reserve for the climatic moment of the entire series.

I do not worship him because he gave me everything.

I worship him because even before there was anything to give, he was God.

Now let's get into the first message.

Before there was a beginning, I want you to travel with me for a moment.

Not to another country, not to another continent, not even to another century.

I want you to travel beyond the boundaries of recorded history, beyond the birth of civilization, beyond the formation of the Earth itself.

I want you to imagine a time before time as we know it, before the first sunrise ever illuminated the horizon, before the first star ever decorated the darkness.

The before there were oceans to contain water, mountains to touch the clouds or winds to move across the surface of the Earth.

Before there was an Africa, an Asia, a Europe, or an America, before there was a king to rule a kingdom, a scientist to discover the laws of nature, or a philosopher to contemplate the meaning of existence.

Before there was a mother to hold a child, a businessman to build an empire, a doctor to heal the sick, or a preacher to proclaim the Word, there was God.

And here is what I want you to understand.

He was not waiting for the universe to begin, before he could become God.

He was not waiting for humanity to arrive.

Before he could acquire authority.

He was not waiting for somebody to worship him.

Before he could become worthy of worship, he was already God.

And over the next six messages, we are going to journey through some of the most extraordinary events in biblical history.

We will stand with Abraham before the promise becomes a child, we will stand with Moses before the waters of the Red Sea divide.

We will look at David before the crown, at Jesus before Lazarus emerges from the grave, and at the three Hebrew men who stood before a blazing furnace and declare their loyalty to God, regardless of whether he rescued them or not.

And through every chapter, one extraordinary truth will remain unchanged.

Before it happened, he was God.

While it was happening, he was God.

And after it happened, he was still God.

Welcome to the Message with nj.

This is our series.

He is Still God now there is something fascinating about the way the Bible begins.

Genesis chapter one, verse one says, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Now I want you to notice what the writer does not say.

He does not begin by explaining where God came from.

He does not introduce God's parents, describe his birthplace, or offer us a biography of his early development.

The Bible simply begins with God already present.

In the beginning, God.

You see, everything we know has an origin.

Every organization has a founder, every building has a builder, every human being has a birthday.

Even the wealthiest people in the world can point to a moment when they did not possess the fortunes they now command.

But God is not another item in the inventory of things that began to exist.

Psalm 92 puts it beautifully, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou has formest the earth and the world.

Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.

Notice the language.

The psalmist does not say, from everlasting to everlasting, thou becamest God.

He says, thou art God.

God is not a work in progress.

He is not improving his qualifications, accumulating experience, or waiting for the next promotion to establish his authority.

He has never needed a performance review.

He has never had to submit a cv.

And I can assure you, he has never needed to explain a career gap on LinkedIn.

He is God.

Now, why does that matter to you and me?

Because we live in a world where almost everything about our sense of security depends on something else.

We depend on our jobs for income, our income for provision, our health for our ability to function, and our relationships for much of the companionship and belonging that make life meaningful.

And there is nothing inherently wrong with these things.

They are important.

They are often wonderful blessings.

But somewhere along the way, we can begin to relate to God as though he too, depends on the circumstances of our lives.

When the promotion comes, we say, God is faithful.

When the business turns a prophet, we say God is good.

When the child is born, we celebrate the goodness of God.

When the medical results come back clear, we testify about his power, and rightfully so.

We also thank God for His blessings.

But I have a question.

What was God before any of those things happened?

Was he not faithful before the promotion?

Was he not good before the business became profitable?

Was he not worthy of worship before the child was conceived?

Was he not sovereign before the doctors delivered their report?

Of course he was.

The outcome may have changed your circumstances, but it did not change his character.

And this brings us to something rather uncomfortable about how we sometimes understand prosperity.

I believe in prosperity.

I believe there is dignity in productive work, wisdom in creating wealth, blessing and financial increase, and tremendous good that can be accomplished when resources are placed in responsible hands.

I want people to flourish.

I want families to have provision.

I want businesses to succeed, communities to develop, and generations to improve, inherit something better than what came before them.

But I also believe that biblical prosperity must never become a theology in which the greatness of God is measured exclusively by the greatness of our possessions.

Because then, without realizing it, we have made the blessing our ultimate measure of the Blesser.

In Acts 17, Paul makes an extraordinary declaration about God.

Speaking to the Athenians, he explains that God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything because he is the one who gives life and breath to all.

Think about the implications.

God did not create the world because something was missing from his existence.

He did not create human beings because he was desperate for somebody to validate him.

Creation depends upon its Creator, but the Creator does not depend upon his creation.

That is what makes him fundamentally different from everything else we know.

Your company needs customers, your employees need salaries, your body needs oxygen, your phone needs electricity, and some of us need coffee before we are prepared to engage with another human being in the morning.

But God needs nothing outside of him in order to remain God.

And if that is true, then there is a profound freedom available to every believer.

You can desire things deeply without allowing those things to become the foundation of your faith.

You can pray for a baby with all of your heart.

You can undergo treatment, endure uncertainty, carry disappointment, and still believe that God is good even while the nursery remains empty.

You can work tirelessly to establish a business.

You can make sacrifices, invest your savings, build your brand, and pursue financial success.

But if the business fails, its failure is not evidence that God has failed.

You can lose a job without losing your identity in Christ.

You can receive a diagnosis that changes the course of your life without concluding that God has surrendered his throne.

And I want to be very careful here, because none of this means that loss is painless or that disappointment is Insignificant.

An empty nursery is not a theological illustration to the person who has spent years longing for a child.

Unemployment is not a motivational slogan.

To the parent who cannot afford groceries, illness is not an abstract lesson to the person living with pain.

These things matter, and they matter to God.

We should pray for provision, pursue opportunity, seek medical care, and work towards better circumstances.

But we must not confuse what God can do for us with who God eternally is.

Because there may come a season in your life when you have to answer a question you never imagined you would face.

If God does not give me what I have asked him for, will I still believe that he is worthy of my worship.

Not because the desire was wrong, not because the prayer was meaningless, but because God is infinitely greater than the outcome of any single prayer.

And perhaps this is one of the great foundations of Christian maturity, learning to trust the character of God even when we cannot understand the circumstances of our lives.

Let us go back to the beginning.

Before there was gold buried beneath the African soil, he was God.

Before the first empire accumulated wealth, he was God.

Before the first child was born, before the first harvest was gathered, before the first human prayer was ever uttered, he was God.

Before Abraham, before Moses, before David, before Solomon amassed his riches, he was God.

And when the eternal Word became flesh and entered our world in Jesus Christ, he did not come into existence for the first time, as John declares.

The Word was already there in the beginning with God and was God.

Now bring that truth into your own life.

Before your business was registered, he was God.

Before your wedding day, he was God.

Before your children were born, he was God.

Before your first salary, before your greatest achievement, before your most painful disappointment, he was God.

And the God who existed before all these things does not cease to be God when one of them disappears.

So by all means, dream, Build the business, apply for the promotion, pursue prosperity, pray for your family, believe God for healing, work diligently and steward what he places in your hands.

But today I want you to do one thing.

Identify the blessing you have begun to treat as the condition for each your peace, and surrender that condition to God.

Because the greatest security available to you is not the uncertainty that you will receive everything you desire.

It is the assurance that the God in whom you place your trust does not change with your circumstances.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, before the foundations of the earth were laid, you were God.

Forgive us for the times we have measured your goodness by our comfort, you, your faithfulness by our success, and your love by the outcomes we have received.

Teach us to pursue prosperity without worshiping.

Possessions to us.

Bold, without demanding that you prove yourself and to remain faithful in seasons of abundance and seasons of lack.

Give us wisdom to build, courage to begin again, grace to endure, and hearts that love you above all that you give.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Before there was a beginning, he was God.

And long after the things we spend our lives pursuing have faded into history, he will still be God.

The blessing did not make him God.

The loss cannot unmake him.

He is still God.