WEBVTT 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:01.245 Good morning family. 00:00:01.245 --> 00:00:08.349 We're going to be in John, chapter 2 this morning and we are going to open up with a deeply spiritual question today. 00:00:08.349 --> 00:00:09.952 Are you ready for it? 00:00:09.952 --> 00:00:12.683 Are you ready for it? 00:00:12.683 --> 00:00:21.265 Yes, ok, I want you to think right now of a favorite place you like to eat at. 00:00:21.265 --> 00:00:24.888 Do you have a favorite place? 00:00:24.888 --> 00:00:27.541 Deborah's got one. 00:00:27.541 --> 00:00:28.725 Do you have a favorite place you like to eat at? 00:00:28.725 --> 00:00:31.239 Okay, if you do, I want you to think about it in your mind On the count of three. 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:32.161 I want you to shout it out. 00:00:32.161 --> 00:00:32.603 You ready? 00:00:32.603 --> 00:00:35.908 One, two, three. 00:00:35.908 --> 00:00:39.194 Nobody said McDonald's. 00:00:39.194 --> 00:00:40.701 Right, nobody said McDonald's. 00:00:40.701 --> 00:00:42.404 Okay, because we got people available at the prayer. 00:00:42.404 --> 00:00:44.887 Next steps banners after the service, if we did. 00:00:45.868 --> 00:00:56.020 We had Zeb Greenfield here last week and he's a church planner to Washington and in Washington I guess they don't have any In-N-Out burgers. 00:00:56.020 --> 00:00:58.685 Wow, we got some size. 00:00:58.685 --> 00:01:05.813 So he got off the plane on Saturday Guess where he wanted to go, like the first place he wanted to go. 00:01:05.813 --> 00:01:12.131 He wanted to go to In-N-Out Burger because he had to get his In-N-Out craving satisfied. 00:01:12.131 --> 00:01:30.995 Now, if you've been to In-N-Out in Fairfield, you know that if you wait and you wait Now I've never, while I've been waiting and lying in and out. 00:01:31.015 --> 00:01:38.084 I've never stared at that sign and said, wow, that sign is amazing. 00:01:38.084 --> 00:01:48.790 The vivid colors, the arrow is just perfect and the shape of the arrow is just amazing. 00:01:48.790 --> 00:01:50.914 I'm like I've never done that. 00:01:50.914 --> 00:01:51.155 Why? 00:01:51.155 --> 00:02:01.537 Because the purpose of a sign is to direct focus to something beyond itself. 00:02:01.537 --> 00:02:04.162 That's the purpose of a sign. 00:02:04.162 --> 00:02:23.974 The purpose of the in and out sign is so people will drive by on Interstate 80, and they'll see the sign and they'll know oh, that's the place where the angels rejoice, because the hamburgers are I'm not joking Because the hamburgers are made there. 00:02:23.974 --> 00:02:25.096 It's to point to something beyond itself. 00:02:25.096 --> 00:02:32.493 Now, here's why I bring this up, because we're in a series right now called the Great Reveal of how Jesus was revealed. 00:02:32.493 --> 00:02:37.270 And what we're going to see today is the first of seven signs. 00:02:37.270 --> 00:02:38.894 Everybody say signs Ready. 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:42.365 Seven miracles of Jesus. 00:02:42.365 --> 00:02:45.832 Jesus did seven recorded miracles in the book of John. 00:02:45.832 --> 00:03:05.132 And here's what you need to know about the miracles and this might surprise some of you Is the point of the miracles of Jesus were not the miracles of Jesus, but to show people that Jesus was the Son of God. 00:03:05.132 --> 00:03:09.289 The point of the miracles were not the miracles. 00:03:09.289 --> 00:03:10.947 Have you ever tried to tell somebody something? 00:03:10.947 --> 00:03:17.167 Or maybe your kid something and try to get them to figure something out, and it wasn't about what you were doing, but it was like what you were trying to get them to see. 00:03:20.002 --> 00:03:24.949 In fact, the entire book of John was written so we would see and understand who Jesus is. 00:03:24.949 --> 00:03:27.305 In John, chapter 20, verse 31,. 00:03:27.305 --> 00:03:28.709 We have verse 30. 00:03:28.709 --> 00:03:29.651 Look at verse 31. 00:03:29.651 --> 00:03:32.966 But these are written everything John says. 00:03:32.966 --> 00:03:36.073 All these things I've written so that you may what's that word? 00:03:36.073 --> 00:03:46.810 You may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, the forgiver of sin, the son of God, and that by believing you may have what's that word? 00:03:46.810 --> 00:04:09.901 You may have life, life in his name, that you would see that Jesus was who he said he was, that you would find purpose and you would see that he is the source of all truth and answers and hope, that he is life and the miracles were to show that. 00:04:09.901 --> 00:04:16.197 And in John, chapter 2, he does his very first miracle. 00:04:16.257 --> 00:04:19.785 Now, next week we're going to be in John, chapter 3 and John, chapter 4. 00:04:19.785 --> 00:04:23.987 Next week, we're actually kicking off a new mini-series entitled Conversations how to have Conversations that Change Lives. 00:04:23.987 --> 00:04:24.670 What we're actually kicking off? 00:04:24.670 --> 00:04:27.642 A new mini-series entitled Conversations how to have conversations that change lives. 00:04:27.642 --> 00:04:43.105 What we're going to see is we're going to see in John 3 and John 4, jesus had two different conversations with two completely different people with two completely different backgrounds, and we're going to discover how, in a world that's dominated by the digital, we can have real, in-person, life-changing conversations. 00:04:43.105 --> 00:04:45.110 And that's John 3 and 4. 00:04:45.110 --> 00:04:55.564 But today yes, that was a commercial to get you to come back but today we're going to see John, chapter number 2, and we're going to see the first miracle of Jesus. 00:04:56.026 --> 00:04:59.862 Now, what Jesus had done leading up to John chapter 2 is he had just made some new friends. 00:04:59.862 --> 00:05:04.952 He had called some people to follow him Peter Andrew. 00:05:04.952 --> 00:05:11.740 He had called some people to follow him, peter Andrew, nathaniel Nathaniel's got a pretty good name, by the way Philip. 00:05:11.740 --> 00:05:17.333 These guys are with Jesus and they go to a place called Cana. 00:05:17.333 --> 00:05:20.100 Everybody say Cana, ready? 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:20.762 Oh, let's try that again. 00:05:20.762 --> 00:05:22.923 Everybody say Cana, ready, cana. 00:05:22.923 --> 00:05:25.326 In Cana, there's a party happening. 00:05:25.326 --> 00:05:26.786 You guys like parties. 00:05:26.786 --> 00:05:30.149 Some of you are like am I allowed to say I like parties in church? 00:05:30.149 --> 00:05:37.795 There's a party, there's a wedding party happening, and Jesus is about to do his very first miracle. 00:05:37.795 --> 00:05:39.456 So let's read about it in John chapter 2. 00:05:39.456 --> 00:05:42.103 If you're ready for it, would you say amen? 00:05:42.122 --> 00:05:43.766 It says in John, chapter 2, verse 1,. 00:05:43.766 --> 00:05:45.951 It says on the third day. 00:05:45.951 --> 00:05:47.403 What's the third day from? 00:05:47.403 --> 00:05:53.040 Third day from when he called Peter, andrew, philip, nathaniel to follow him. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:54.122 So this is three days. 00:05:54.122 --> 00:06:00.944 After that there was a wedding that was taking place in there's, that place in Cana of Galilee. 00:06:00.944 --> 00:06:06.492 Jesus's mother was there In verse two. 00:06:06.492 --> 00:06:08.836 So we got mom here, we got a wedding here. 00:06:08.836 --> 00:06:11.384 In verse two Jesus and his disciples. 00:06:11.384 --> 00:06:15.394 They were invited to come to the wedding as well. 00:06:15.394 --> 00:06:24.153 Verse number three it says when the wine ran out, jesus's mother told him. 00:06:24.153 --> 00:06:30.824 When the wine ran out, jesus' mother told him. 00:06:30.824 --> 00:06:31.386 They don't have any wine. 00:06:31.386 --> 00:06:32.348 Now, some of y'all read that first line. 00:06:32.348 --> 00:06:34.495 When the wine ran out, some of y'all were thinking that's a big problem. 00:06:34.495 --> 00:06:36.642 Okay, the wine ran out. 00:06:37.464 --> 00:06:46.519 The thing about weddings here you got to know in the first century Jewish culture they weren't just like a one-day thing like we know of a wedding culture. 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:48.163 They weren't just like a one-day thing like we know of a wedding. 00:06:48.163 --> 00:06:48.725 They were days of length. 00:06:48.725 --> 00:06:49.406 They could last up to seven days. 00:06:49.406 --> 00:06:52.422 I mean, in this Jewish culture these folks knew how to partay. 00:06:52.422 --> 00:07:02.163 This was something that was not just a quick thing and, culturally, at these celebrations, there were certain expectations, right. 00:07:02.163 --> 00:07:17.925 So you're invited and you expect there to be plenty of food and plenty of wine, all these different things, because, although drunkenness was forbidden in Scripture, they would have wine for celebrations and one of the cultural things that you had to have is you had to have wine. 00:07:17.925 --> 00:07:18.627 It couldn't run out. 00:07:18.627 --> 00:07:19.430 If you did, then that was. 00:07:19.430 --> 00:07:21.464 I mean, that was like shame on the people. 00:07:21.464 --> 00:07:22.749 Here's the problem. 00:07:22.749 --> 00:07:26.300 The problem here is well, like shame on the people. 00:07:26.300 --> 00:07:28.083 Here's the problem. 00:07:28.083 --> 00:07:29.363 The problem here is well, they ran out of wine. 00:07:29.363 --> 00:07:33.329 And well, jesus, his mom, tells him hey, they don't have any wine. 00:07:33.389 --> 00:07:39.935 And then verse four this is his response to that he says what has this concern of yours to do with me, woman? 00:07:39.935 --> 00:07:46.605 Jesus asked. 00:07:46.605 --> 00:07:47.266 He says my hour has not yet come. 00:07:47.266 --> 00:07:50.576 Now, when Jesus said and we'll read about it over the next several months in John, when he says my hour's not yet come, this is what he's talking about. 00:07:50.576 --> 00:08:01.127 He's talking about when his identity is fully revealed and he dies on the cross for all of the sins of humanity and then he resurrects from the dead. 00:08:01.127 --> 00:08:04.434 That's when he says my hour has not yet come. 00:08:04.434 --> 00:08:08.886 That's what he's referring to when he fully reveals his identity. 00:08:08.886 --> 00:08:30.189 Now, what Mary does in verse five is Mary basically pulls a mom card and Mary basically ignores everything that Jesus just said, ignores everything that Jesus just said. 00:08:30.189 --> 00:08:32.279 Jesus just said hey, mom, my hour's not yet come. 00:08:32.279 --> 00:08:36.205 This is what mom says. 00:08:36.205 --> 00:08:41.159 Mom looks at the servants and says do whatever he tells you to do. 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:47.975 You get the implication hey, jesus, you're going to tell the servants to do something. 00:08:47.975 --> 00:08:49.200 I'm pulling the mom card. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:52.091 Jesus just said my hour's not yet come. 00:08:52.091 --> 00:08:54.943 Do whatever he tells you to do. 00:08:54.964 --> 00:08:56.426 Now, verse number six. 00:08:56.426 --> 00:09:02.134 Now there are six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. 00:09:02.134 --> 00:09:07.903 Now, when I think of a jar, I think of like a jar. 00:09:07.903 --> 00:09:09.125 Right, so you think of like a jar. 00:09:09.125 --> 00:09:17.065 Maybe you got like a really big jar and it's like this you know you have you put lemonade in or something you got. 00:09:17.065 --> 00:09:20.975 A bunch of people come to your house or tea, if that's your thing, you know, and I think maybe a jar. 00:09:20.975 --> 00:09:23.923 These were not jars, these were jars y'all. 00:09:23.923 --> 00:09:27.871 It says they had been set there for Jewish purification. 00:09:27.871 --> 00:09:39.200 Each contained 20 or 30 gallons. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:42.291 That is not a small jar. 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:45.042 And then, in verse seven, what Jesus tells the servants. 00:09:45.042 --> 00:09:47.927 He says, hey, fill the jars with water. 00:09:47.927 --> 00:09:53.282 How many of y'all realize they didn't have any garden hoses at this time? 00:09:53.282 --> 00:10:01.712 When Jesus tells servants, fill these big jars with water, 20, 30-gallon jars, fill them with water. 00:10:01.712 --> 00:10:03.779 How many of y'all know that's a lot of work? 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:09.181 By the way, jesus wasn't part of the wedding party here. 00:10:09.181 --> 00:10:15.239 Jesus just tells the servants fill the jars with water. 00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:17.042 And now the servants are. 00:10:17.042 --> 00:10:18.634 You know, they, they kind of have a choice. 00:10:18.634 --> 00:10:19.378 What are they going to do? 00:10:19.378 --> 00:10:22.572 Because Jesus just asked them to do something that doesn't make sense. 00:10:22.572 --> 00:10:30.821 He just asked them to do something that was outside of their scope of their understanding and it's like does Jesus even have the authority to do that? 00:10:30.821 --> 00:10:34.438 But look what happened. 00:10:34.438 --> 00:10:41.722 They, they filled them to the brim and then he this is Jesus said to them now draw some out and take it to the head waiter. 00:10:41.722 --> 00:10:43.511 And they did. 00:10:44.534 --> 00:10:53.860 And then verse number nine when the head waiter tasted the water after it had become wine, he did not know where it came from. 00:10:53.860 --> 00:10:55.403 The servants who had drawn the water knew. 00:10:55.403 --> 00:11:13.412 He called the groom and told him everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior, but you, you've kept the fine wine until now, wine, wine until now. 00:11:13.412 --> 00:11:20.477 Jesus did this, the first of his signs turning water into wine. 00:11:20.477 --> 00:11:26.082 In Cana of Galilee, he revealed his glory and his disciples. 00:11:26.082 --> 00:11:34.231 They believed in him, they trusted in him. 00:11:34.231 --> 00:11:34.633 They trusted in him. 00:11:34.633 --> 00:11:40.072 It was because of this miracle that people realized oh, jesus is the son of God. 00:11:41.596 --> 00:11:48.422 Now, when we were reading this text here, did you guys notice that the names of the servants are not in there at all? 00:11:48.422 --> 00:11:51.230 I don't know if any of you guys were waiting for them. 00:11:51.230 --> 00:11:56.062 The names of the bride and groom are not in there at all. 00:11:56.062 --> 00:11:58.495 It's like what's the bride's name? 00:11:58.495 --> 00:12:00.633 Tell me about the family. 00:12:00.633 --> 00:12:02.076 Give me more. 00:12:02.076 --> 00:12:03.279 What do you mean? 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:04.101 There's just a wedding. 00:12:04.101 --> 00:12:05.836 Tell me about the family. 00:12:05.836 --> 00:12:07.149 Some of you guys are detailed people. 00:12:07.149 --> 00:12:08.456 You ask a bunch of questions. 00:12:08.456 --> 00:12:13.350 You're thinking we don't know, we have no idea. 00:12:15.232 --> 00:12:24.803 So this tells us that these people were probably regular people like you, like me, regular, normal people. 00:12:24.803 --> 00:12:26.745 These are not the religious elites. 00:12:26.745 --> 00:12:37.975 These are not the people that are like crazy rich millionaires or billionaires. 00:12:37.975 --> 00:12:38.639 I mean, they ran out of wine. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:39.702 These are normal people and this is what Jesus does. 00:12:39.702 --> 00:12:45.201 Jesus comes to these people, he comes to their wedding, he gives them attention and he shows them love. 00:12:45.201 --> 00:12:53.623 I don't know if you've ever realized this or you've thought about this, but Jesus does his greatest works through normal. 00:12:53.623 --> 00:13:05.352 But Jesus does his greatest works through normal, ordinary people, through normal, ordinary people. 00:13:05.352 --> 00:13:07.417 Fill the jars with water, verse 7. 00:13:07.417 --> 00:13:08.980 Who's he talking to? 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:17.222 He's talking to the servants, normal, ordinary people. 00:13:17.222 --> 00:13:29.024 Now, in our world, sometimes there's a spoken or unspoken dividing line in our world between the rich people, the pretty people and the powerful people and everybody else. 00:13:29.024 --> 00:13:36.143 And the rich people, the pretty people and the powerful people are seen as successful people. 00:13:36.143 --> 00:13:46.038 And if you're on this side of the cultural dividing line, you want to move to this side of the dividing line because these are the people that are successful. 00:13:46.038 --> 00:13:50.533 But this is what we see time and time and time again in scripture. 00:13:51.114 --> 00:13:56.524 Is Jesus stepping over, unapologetically, the cultural dividing lines? 00:13:56.524 --> 00:14:03.202 In John, chapter 5, there's a lame man that had been forgotten about and had been outcasted. 00:14:03.202 --> 00:14:04.111 You know what Jesus does? 00:14:04.111 --> 00:14:06.837 Jesus comes to that man and talks to him. 00:14:06.837 --> 00:14:09.283 There's a woman later on in John. 00:14:09.283 --> 00:14:10.873 She has an issue of blood. 00:14:10.873 --> 00:14:12.456 She is filled with shame. 00:14:12.456 --> 00:14:13.798 She has no belonging. 00:14:13.798 --> 00:14:15.803 Nobody wants anything to do with her. 00:14:15.803 --> 00:14:17.937 She is an outcast. 00:14:17.937 --> 00:14:19.995 Jesus looks her square in the face. 00:14:19.995 --> 00:14:28.017 He says daughter, in John chapter 11, people are emotionally distraught because they just lost a loved one. 00:14:28.529 --> 00:14:31.399 Jesus steps over the cultural dividing line. 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:38.635 He doesn't preach them a sermon, he sits there and he weeps with them in their emotional hardship because somebody died. 00:14:38.635 --> 00:14:51.917 Jesus, time and time again, steps over the cultural dividing line because in the kingdom of God there's only one dividing line and it's the proud, the prideful and the humble. 00:14:51.917 --> 00:14:57.345 And what Jesus does is Jesus comes to those who are humble. 00:14:57.345 --> 00:15:02.201 Jesus comes to those who realize that they don't have themselves together. 00:15:02.201 --> 00:15:06.620 He comes to those that maybe are feeling a lot of shame in their life. 00:15:06.620 --> 00:15:09.177 Maybe he comes to the person. 00:15:09.177 --> 00:15:25.909 Maybe you're here and you're just overwhelmed and life is hard and taxes are coming and you still haven't done your taxes and things are just heavy right now in life and there's relational tension and there's stress and parenting is harder than it's ever been before and life is not great right now. 00:15:26.211 --> 00:15:34.221 Can I just say that Jesus comes to those that will just humble themselves and say I don't have enough in me. 00:15:34.221 --> 00:15:40.976 He comes to the ordinary and the humble people that will admit that they need him. 00:15:40.976 --> 00:15:48.980 That's what he does, that's who he is, so we don't have to act like we have ourselves together. 00:15:48.980 --> 00:15:51.692 We don't have to act like we never make mistakes. 00:15:51.692 --> 00:15:53.576 We don't have to act like we're strong enough. 00:15:53.576 --> 00:15:55.182 We don't have to act like we're powerful. 00:15:55.182 --> 00:15:59.000 We don't have to put on this facade that we don't make any mistakes and we're perfect. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:05.043 We can put down our self-righteousness and be real with God, because God comes to those who are real with him. 00:16:07.190 --> 00:16:10.841 Jesus does miracles through obedient, humble people. 00:16:10.841 --> 00:16:18.008 He comes to those who are obedient, those who are humble. 00:16:18.008 --> 00:16:22.859 If we're humble, he'll come to us and then he does miracles in us and through us. 00:16:22.859 --> 00:16:26.490 You know we read this text John, chapter 2. 00:16:27.113 --> 00:16:37.981 I've been in church for a while and you guys already knew that when Jesus said fill up the jars with water, you guys already knew what was going to happen. 00:16:37.981 --> 00:16:42.240 You're like oh, it turns the water into wine. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:43.975 I know this is going to happen. 00:16:43.975 --> 00:16:44.778 I knew this story. 00:16:44.778 --> 00:16:47.136 The servants didn't know that story. 00:16:47.136 --> 00:16:56.774 You know how many recorded miracles there are up until this point, cedro, yes, I'm a Spanish major. 00:16:56.774 --> 00:16:57.476 No, not at all. 00:16:57.476 --> 00:17:07.983 Nada, not one miracle was recorded that happened up to this point. 00:17:22.999 --> 00:17:25.289 And now Jesus tells these servants to fill up these massive jars with water. 00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:29.165 If you're the servant. 00:17:29.165 --> 00:17:29.689 What are you thinking? 00:17:29.689 --> 00:17:38.343 Yes, why, if I'm the servant, I'm like you're not the groom, I ain't got to listen to you. 00:17:38.343 --> 00:17:46.193 I'm thinking why don't you just go hang out with your mom and your friends that you just met? 00:17:46.193 --> 00:17:49.641 Jesus is asking them to do something that doesn't make sense. 00:17:49.641 --> 00:17:57.660 It's outside of their understanding, it's outside of their experience, it's outside of what's even rational. 00:17:57.660 --> 00:18:09.665 And because they chose to obey, they had one of the greatest blessings they've ever had in their entire life. 00:18:09.665 --> 00:18:32.188 They literally were a part of a miracle because they obeyed and some of us talk ourselves out of our own blessing ourselves out of our own blessing. 00:18:32.208 --> 00:18:35.734 Sometimes God wants to do something in your life and through your life and give you the blessing that you don't even know about. 00:18:35.734 --> 00:18:39.067 That's on the other side of your obedience. 00:18:39.067 --> 00:18:55.273 I remember growing up, when I was a teenager, the last thing I ever wanted to be was a pastor, much less a lead pastor for real. 00:18:55.273 --> 00:18:59.528 I mean, I could give you all the reasons why I shouldn't be a pastor. 00:18:59.528 --> 00:19:04.932 I'm going to tell you, and if you would have, first of all, if you would have seen me at 15, you'd have been like there ain't no way he's going to be a pastor. 00:19:04.932 --> 00:19:09.484 And if you would have, first of all, if you would have seen me at 15, you would have been like there ain't no way he's going to be a pastor. 00:19:09.484 --> 00:19:18.684 And if you would have told me that I'm going to be a pastor, I would have given you all the reasons why and why I can't do this and why I can't do that. 00:19:18.684 --> 00:19:25.037 And what I would have done if I wouldn't have taken steps of obedience to follow the Lord in that place in my life is I would have robbed myself from some of the greatest blessings of my life. 00:19:27.765 --> 00:19:36.132 And sometimes what we can do is we can let fears and doubts and insecurities and uncertainties keep us from trusting God, keep us from taking steps in our faith. 00:19:36.132 --> 00:19:37.296 And this is what God says. 00:19:37.296 --> 00:19:43.192 God says, hey, if you will just trust me, if you will just obey me, there's a blessing on the other side of that. 00:19:43.192 --> 00:19:47.771 Some of us in our lives, we have bitterness in our lives and we refuse to forgive. 00:19:47.771 --> 00:19:52.090 And I understand forgiveness at times is irrational and it makes no sense. 00:19:52.090 --> 00:19:54.545 But what you desire in your life is freedom. 00:19:54.545 --> 00:19:58.451 And freedom is on the other side of forgiveness, the blessing of freedom. 00:19:58.451 --> 00:20:08.195 Sometimes there are places in our life where we desire to grow spiritually, we desire community, we desire spiritual growth. 00:20:08.195 --> 00:20:16.973 God says, okay, I want to bless you with those things, but that comes when you get rooted in a local church, when you become a part of a local church. 00:20:16.973 --> 00:20:34.855 And can I just say I know coming to church sometimes is hard, waking up sometimes on a Sunday morning is difficult, but what God has done is God has designed his local church to be a place where we can grow and experience community and we can use our spiritual gifts to encourage each other. 00:20:34.855 --> 00:20:41.476 And guys, I don't say that because I'm a pastor, I say that because I've experienced these gifts in my life. 00:20:42.184 --> 00:20:55.750 And could it be that there's a place in your life where you have this internal dialogue happening or you have your anxieties or your fear and it's robbing you out of a blessing that God wants to do in and through you as you obey God? 00:20:55.750 --> 00:21:09.747 This past week, for the first time in a couple years, I went and saw a Christian therapist and I saw her and we were talking. 00:21:09.747 --> 00:21:20.291 I was just working through some fears in my life and just working through just like some things all up in my head, and as we were talking in the conversation. 00:21:20.291 --> 00:21:21.715 She said this. 00:21:21.715 --> 00:21:22.306 She said man. 00:21:22.306 --> 00:21:27.586 She said you have this internal dialogue that's happening in you right now. 00:21:27.586 --> 00:21:30.351 That's in your head. 00:21:30.351 --> 00:21:39.854 That's keeping you from trusting God and taking steps in your faith journey, and you're in a different season in your life right now. 00:21:39.854 --> 00:22:02.074 And as long as you just let this internal dialogue go over and over and over and you're replaying this again, again, again, again in your head, you're just going to be at a place where you're paralyzed and I wonder if some of you in the room are like me where there's this internal dialogue that's keeping you from trusting and obeying. 00:22:02.074 --> 00:22:05.373 There's something in your head that's telling you. 00:22:05.373 --> 00:22:06.887 I have this anxiety, I have this fear. 00:22:06.887 --> 00:22:08.132 I can't obey God in this way. 00:22:08.132 --> 00:22:09.275 I can't trust God in this way. 00:22:09.275 --> 00:22:10.185 I can't do this. 00:22:10.185 --> 00:22:11.249 My family's not doing this. 00:22:11.249 --> 00:22:12.112 Nobody else does this. 00:22:12.112 --> 00:22:13.154 Why would I do this? 00:22:13.154 --> 00:22:17.388 And God says listen, if you'll just trust me, I can do a miracle through you. 00:22:17.388 --> 00:22:24.415 I want to bless you in your life if you'll just obey me, if you'll just deny yourself and follow me. 00:22:24.415 --> 00:22:29.761 When we do this, when we obey, our obedience can produce a miracle. 00:22:31.464 --> 00:22:34.355 Now we think a lot of times when we read this text. 00:22:34.355 --> 00:22:42.313 We think that the miracle was the fact that the water was turned into wine, which that obviously was a miracle. 00:22:42.313 --> 00:22:43.711 We see verse number 10. 00:22:43.711 --> 00:22:48.827 But the greater miracle happened in verse number 11. 00:22:48.827 --> 00:22:55.799 It says this Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. 00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:59.813 He revealed his glory and his here's the miracle. 00:22:59.813 --> 00:23:10.566 His disciples believed in him Because, remember, the signs were not about the signs, the miracles were not about the miracles. 00:23:10.566 --> 00:23:15.575 And people believed because of this sign. 00:23:15.575 --> 00:23:21.890 And people believed because there were some servants that were willing to obey God. 00:23:23.633 --> 00:23:32.916 And I want to kind of wrap up this message this morning by encouraging some of you in the room that there might be a place in your life where God's leading you to take a step in your faith. 00:23:32.916 --> 00:23:42.253 There might be a place in your life where, man, you're just like filled, you're all up in your head, you're filled with doubts, you're filled with uncertainty and all these types of things. 00:23:42.253 --> 00:23:45.506 I want to talk to you just for a second One. 00:23:45.506 --> 00:23:51.839 Can I just say it's normal to and questions and uncertainties. 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:54.547 It's normal. 00:23:54.547 --> 00:24:09.938 It's normal Filled with people, with doubts and questions and uncertainties, filled with people. 00:24:12.704 --> 00:24:16.816 And some of us think, man, I have to have everything figured out and I have to have every. 00:24:16.816 --> 00:24:18.219 I have to understand everything. 00:24:18.219 --> 00:24:23.400 I have to have all my ducks in a row, I have to have all my t's crossed, all the i's dotted. 00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:43.730 Once my kids get a little bit older, once life calms down, once I get the better job, then then I'm gonna take this step, then Then I'm going to get more involved, then I'm going to do this in my faith, once I understand it all and we say we want understanding, but often what we want is control. 00:24:43.730 --> 00:25:01.346 And what God says is if you will just trust me through the doubts, through the questions, through the insecurities, if you'll just trust me, this is what's going to happen. 00:25:01.346 --> 00:25:04.583 Number two You're going to please God. 00:25:04.583 --> 00:25:12.305 That's what this is all about, like pleasing God and glorifying God. 00:25:12.305 --> 00:25:19.582 And when you choose to trust God, when you don't have it all figured out, you're pleasing Him. 00:25:19.582 --> 00:25:29.145 And one last way, one last thing I hope this encourages your heart is that your step of faith is bigger than you. 00:25:29.145 --> 00:25:39.119 It's not just about you. 00:25:39.140 --> 00:25:40.563 The servants obeyed. 00:25:40.563 --> 00:25:56.942 They filled the water jugs, the big old water jars, and not only were people at the wedding blessed, but people believed Like they trusted. 00:25:56.942 --> 00:25:59.683 They saw that because of their obedience. 00:25:59.683 --> 00:26:24.881 I was talking to a guy just a few weeks ago and he's middle-aged and just recently God has just done a great work in his heart and his life has just done a great work in his heart and his life has just been open to Jesus and he's been just devouring scripture and devouring Christian podcasts and just growing so much. 00:26:24.881 --> 00:26:51.982 And in the conversation we were talking about this, this individual brought up somebody on more than one occasion in our conversation, brought them up about how this person's life had impacted them, about how they saw this person walk through trials, how they saw this person walk through tribulations, how they saw this person take steps of faith and, for years, the person sharing this with me. 00:26:51.982 --> 00:27:09.306 They didn't want anything to do with it, but now, as God has moved in their heart and God has brought this person to them, that person says well, that person, they impacted me, that person's life, there was something about it. 00:27:09.306 --> 00:27:17.907 Their obedience influenced a miracle happening in this person's heart. 00:27:19.675 --> 00:27:25.628 And I wonder, if you're here this morning and maybe you feel like giving up. 00:27:25.628 --> 00:27:29.759 Maybe a question if you can just take another step. 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:40.242 Maybe you've decided in your life that you're just going to settle for a mediocre, consumer-based Christianity that the New Testament knows nothing about. 00:27:40.242 --> 00:27:44.022 And can I just say that God has so much more for you. 00:27:44.022 --> 00:27:49.182 Can I just say that God wants to do miracles in your life and through your life. 00:27:49.375 --> 00:28:00.166 If you will be somebody that will say, I'm gonna take a step of obedience in my life, and if we will be a group of people that will take steps of obedience, who knows what God can do with us? 00:28:00.166 --> 00:28:02.615 Who knows what God can do? 00:28:02.615 --> 00:28:05.742 Who knows what God can do in the life of your family? 00:28:05.742 --> 00:28:08.156 Who knows what God can do in your workplace? 00:28:08.156 --> 00:28:13.977 I'm talking about the knucklehead that you work with, that's so closed off, has no desire for God. 00:28:14.017 --> 00:28:17.663 The individual I was talking to they said for years they just blasphemed God. 00:28:17.663 --> 00:28:23.719 Now God's changed this person and God used somebody else. 00:28:23.719 --> 00:28:29.363 So let's be that people and you be that person and see what God can do in us and through us. 00:28:29.363 --> 00:28:33.180 Let's bow our heads and close our eyes While the message has ended. 00:28:33.180 --> 00:28:38.760 What God's doing in your heart is not. 00:28:38.760 --> 00:28:42.057 What I want to invite you to do right now is just to respond to the message. 00:28:42.057 --> 00:28:45.727 Are you like me or you may be all up in your head in some way? 00:28:45.727 --> 00:28:48.599 Is there insecurity? 00:28:48.599 --> 00:29:11.086 Is there just thoughts that have been swirling around that are not from God, and you know they're not from God, and maybe God says, hey, trust me through those, trust me in spite of those. 00:29:11.086 --> 00:29:12.413 Take some time and talk to God.