Speaker 1: Good morning family.
Speaker 1: We're going to be in John, chapter 2 this morning and we are going to open up with a deeply spiritual question today.
Speaker 1: Are you ready for it?
Speaker 1: Yes, ok, I want you to think right now of a favorite place you like to eat at.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite place?
Speaker 1: Deborah's got one.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite place you like to eat at?
Speaker 1: Okay, if you do, I want you to think about it in your mind On the count of three.
Speaker 1: I want you to shout it out.
Speaker 1: You ready?
Speaker 1: One, two, three.
Speaker 1: Nobody said McDonald's.
Speaker 1: Right, nobody said McDonald's.
Speaker 1: Okay, because we got people available at the prayer.
Speaker 1: Next steps banners after the service, if we did.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: Wow, we got some size.
Speaker 1: So he got off the plane on Saturday Guess where he wanted to go, like the first place he wanted to go.
Speaker 1: He wanted to go to In-N-Out Burger because he had to get his In-N-Out craving satisfied.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: I've never stared at that sign and said, wow, that sign is amazing.
Speaker 1: The vivid colors, the arrow is just perfect and the shape of the arrow is just amazing.
Speaker 1: I'm like I've never done that.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because the purpose of a sign is to direct focus to something beyond itself.
Speaker 1: That's the purpose of a sign.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: It's to point to something beyond itself.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And what we're going to see today is the first of seven signs.
Speaker 1: Everybody say signs Ready.
Speaker 1: Seven miracles of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Jesus did seven recorded miracles in the book of John.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: The point of the miracles were not the miracles.
Speaker 1: Have you ever tried to tell somebody something?
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: In fact, the entire book of John was written so we would see and understand who Jesus is.
Speaker 1: In John chapter 20, verse 31,.
Speaker 1: We have verse 30, look at verse 31,.
Speaker 1: But these are written everything John says.
Speaker 1: All these things I've written so that you may what's that word?
Speaker 1: You may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, the forgiver of sin, the son of God, the Messiah, the anointed one, the forgiver of sin, the son of God, and that by believing you may have what's that word?
Speaker 1: You may have life, life in his name.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And the miracles were to show that.
Speaker 1: And in John chapter two he does his very first miracle.
Speaker 1: Now next week we're gonna be in John chapter three and John chapter four.
Speaker 1: Next week we're actually kicking off a new mini series entitled Conversations how to have Conversations that Change Lives.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And that's John 3 and 4.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: Now, what Jesus had done leading up to John chapter 2 is he had just made some new friends.
Speaker 1: He had called some people to follow him, made some new friends.
Speaker 1: He had called some people to follow him Peter, andrew, nathaniel Nathaniel's got a pretty good name, by the way Philip.
Speaker 1: These guys are with Jesus and they go to a place called Cana.
Speaker 1: Everybody say Cana ready?
Speaker 1: Oh, let's try that again.
Speaker 1: Everybody say Cana, ready, cana.
Speaker 1: And Cana, oh, let's try that again.
Speaker 1: Everybody say Cana, ready, cana.
Speaker 1: In Cana there's a party happening.
Speaker 1: You guys like parties.
Speaker 1: Some of you are like, am I allowed to say I like parties?
Speaker 1: In church there's a party, there's a wedding party happening and Jesus is about to do his very first miracle.
Speaker 1: So let's read about it in John chapter 2.
Speaker 1: If you're ready for it, would you say amen?
Speaker 1: It says in John chapter 2, verse 1, it says on the third day.
Speaker 1: What's the third day from?
Speaker 1: Third day from when he called Peter, andrew, philip, nathaniel to follow him.
Speaker 1: So this is three days.
Speaker 1: After that there was a wedding that was taking place in there's that place in Cana of Galilee.
Speaker 1: Jesus's mother was there.
Speaker 1: In verse 2, so we got mom here, we got a wedding here.
Speaker 1: In verse 2, jesus and his disciples.
Speaker 1: They were invited to come to the wedding as well.
Speaker 1: Verse number 3, it says when the wine ran out, jesus' mother told him they don't have any wine.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all read that first line.
Speaker 1: When the wine ran out, some of y'all were thinking that's a big problem.
Speaker 1: Okay, the wine ran out.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: They were days of length.
Speaker 1: They could last up to seven days.
Speaker 1: I mean, in this Jewish culture these folks knew how to par-tay.
Speaker 1: This was something that was not just a quick thing and culturally, at these celebrations there were certain expectations, right.
Speaker 1: So you're invited and you expect there to be plenty of food and plenty of wine, all these different things.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: It couldn't run out.
Speaker 1: If you did, then that was like shame on the people.
Speaker 1: Here's the problem.
Speaker 1: The problem here is well, they ran out of wine.
Speaker 1: And well, jesus, his mom, tells him hey, they don't have any wine.
Speaker 1: And then, verse 4, this is his response to that he says what has this concern of yours to do with me, woman?
Speaker 1: Jesus asked he says my hour has not yet come.
Speaker 1: Now, when Jesus said and we'll read about it over the next several months in John, when he says my hour has not yet come, this is what he's talking about.
Speaker 1: He's talking about when his identity is fully revealed and he dies on the cross for all of the sins of humanity and he resurrects.
Speaker 1: And then he resurrects from the dead.
Speaker 1: That's when he says my hour has not yet come.
Speaker 1: That's what he's referring to, when he fully reveals his identity.
Speaker 1: Now, what Mary does in verse 5 is Mary basically pulls a mom card and Mary basically ignores everything that Jesus just said.
Speaker 1: Jesus just said hey, mom, my hour's not yet come.
Speaker 1: This is what mom says.
Speaker 1: Mom looks at the servants and says do whatever he tells you to do.
Speaker 1: You get the implication.
Speaker 1: Hey, jesus, you're going to tell the servants to do something.
Speaker 1: Get the implication, hey, jesus, you're going to tell the servants to do something.
Speaker 1: I'm pulling the mom card.
Speaker 1: Jesus just said my hour's not yet come.
Speaker 1: Do whatever he tells you to do.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: Verse number six.
Speaker 1: Now there are six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification.
Speaker 1: Now, when I think of a jar, I think of like a jar.
Speaker 1: Right, so you think of like a jar.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: A bunch of people come to your house or tea, if that's your thing, you know, and I think of maybe a jar.
Speaker 1: These were, these were not jars, these were jars.
Speaker 1: Y'all.
Speaker 1: It says they had been set there for Jewish purification.
Speaker 1: Each contained 20 or 30 gallons.
Speaker 1: That is not a small jar.
Speaker 1: And then in verse 7, what Jesus tells the servant?
Speaker 1: He says, hey, fill the jars with water.
Speaker 1: How many of y'all realize they didn't have any garden hoses at this time, when Jesus tells the servant fill these big jars with water.
Speaker 1: 20, 30-gallon jars fill them with water.
Speaker 1: How many of y'all know that's a lot of work?
Speaker 1: 20, 30 gallon jars fill them with water.
Speaker 1: How many of y'all know that's a lot of work?
Speaker 1: By the way, jesus wasn't part of the wedding party here.
Speaker 1: Jesus just tells the servants fill the jars with water.
Speaker 1: And now the servants are.
Speaker 1: You know, they kind of have a choice.
Speaker 1: What are they gonna do?
Speaker 1: Because Jesus just asked them to do something that doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: He just asked them to do something that doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: He just asked them to do something that was outside of their scope of their understanding.
Speaker 1: And it's like does Jesus even have the authority to do that?
Speaker 1: But look what happened.
Speaker 1: They listened, 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.
Speaker 1: And they did.
Speaker 1: Draw some out and take it to the head waiter, and they did.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: The servants who had drawn the water knew.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: Jesus did this, the first of his signs turning water into wine.
Speaker 1: In Cana of Galilee, he revealed his glory and his disciples.
Speaker 1: They believed in him, they trusted in him.
Speaker 1: It was because of this miracle that people realized oh, jesus is the son of God.
Speaker 1: Now, when we were reading this text here, did you guys notice that the names of the servants are not in there at all?
Speaker 1: I don't know if any of you guys were waiting for them.
Speaker 1: The names of the bride and groom are not in there at all.
Speaker 1: It's like what's the bride's name?
Speaker 1: Tell me about the family, give me more.
Speaker 1: What do you mean?
Speaker 1: There's just a wedding and then that, like, tell me about the family.
Speaker 1: Some of you guys are detailed people.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 1: You ask a bunch of questions, you're thinking like we don't know, we have no idea.
Speaker 1: So this tells us that these people were probably regular people Like you, like me, regular, normal people.
Speaker 1: These are not the religious elites.
Speaker 1: These are not the people that are like crazy rich, millionaires or billionaires.
Speaker 1: I mean they ran out of wine.
Speaker 1: These are normal people and this is what Jesus does.
Speaker 1: Jesus comes to these people, he comes to their wedding, he gives them attention and he shows them love.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever realized this or you've thought about this, but Jesus does his greatest works through normal, ordinary people, through normal, ordinary people.
Speaker 1: Fill the jars with water, verse 7.
Speaker 1: Who's he talking to?
Speaker 1: He's talking to the servants, normal, ordinary people.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And the rich people, the pretty people and the powerful people are seen as successful people 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.
Speaker 1: But this is what we see time and time and time again in scripture is Jesus stepping over unapologetically the cultural dividing lines?
Speaker 1: In John, chapter 5, there's a lame man that had been forgotten about and had been outcasted.
Speaker 1: You know what Jesus does.
Speaker 1: Jesus comes to that man and talks to him.
Speaker 1: There's a woman later on in John.
Speaker 1: She has an issue of blood.
Speaker 1: She is filled with shame.
Speaker 1: She has no belonging.
Speaker 1: Nobody wants anything to do with her.
Speaker 1: She is an outcast.
Speaker 1: Jesus looks her square in the face.
Speaker 1: He says daughter.
Speaker 1: In John chapter 11, people are emotionally distraught because they just lost a loved one.
Speaker 1: Jesus steps over the cultural dividing line.
Speaker 1: He doesn't preach them a sermon, he sits there and he weeps with them in their emotional hardship because somebody died.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And what Jesus does is Jesus comes to those who are humble.
Speaker 1: Jesus comes to those who realize that they don't have themselves together.
Speaker 1: He comes to those that maybe are feeling a lot of shame in their life.
Speaker 1: Maybe he comes to the person.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: Can I just say that Jesus comes to those that will just humble themselves and say I don't have enough in me.
Speaker 1: He comes to the ordinary and the humble people that will admit that they need him.
Speaker 1: That's what he does, that's who he is.
Speaker 1: So we don't have to act like we have ourselves together.
Speaker 1: We don't have to act like we never make mistakes.
Speaker 1: We don't have to act like we're strong enough.
Speaker 1: We don't have to act like we're powerful.
Speaker 1: We don't have to put on this facade that we don't make any mistakes and we're perfect.
Speaker 1: We can put down our self-righteousness and be real with God, because God comes to those who are real with him.
Speaker 1: Jesus does miracles through obedient, humble people.
Speaker 1: He comes to those who are obedient, those who are humble.
Speaker 1: If we're humble, he'll come to us and then he does miracles in us and through us.
Speaker 1: You know we read this text John, chapter 2.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all have been in church for a while and you guys already knew that.
Speaker 1: When Jesus said, fill up the jars with water, you guys already knew what was going to happen.
Speaker 1: You're like oh, turns the water into wine.
Speaker 1: I know this is going to happen.
Speaker 1: I knew this story.
Speaker 1: The servants didn't know that story.
Speaker 1: You know how many recorded miracles there are up until this point.
Speaker 1: Cedro, yes, I'm a Spanish major.
Speaker 1: No, I'm not at all.
Speaker 1: Nada, nada.
Speaker 1: Not one miracle was recorded that it happened up to this point.
Speaker 1: And now Jesus tells these servants to fill up these massive jars with water.
Speaker 1: If you're the servant, what are you thinking?
Speaker 1: Yes, why, if I'm the servant, I'm like, you're not the groom, I ain't got to listen to you.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking why don't you just go hang out with your mom and your friends that you just met?
Speaker 1: Jesus is asking them to do something that doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: It's outside of their understanding, it's outside of their experience, it's outside of what's even rational experience.
Speaker 1: It's outside of what's even rational.
Speaker 1: And because they chose to obey, they had one of the greatest blessings they've ever had in their entire life.
Speaker 1: They literally were a part of a miracle because they obeyed and some of us talk ourselves out of our own blessing.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: That's on the other side of your obedience.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And I could give you all the reasons why I shouldn't be a pastor.
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 1: And if you would have.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And what I would have done if I wouldn't have taken steps of obedience to follow the Lord in that place of my life is I would have robbed myself from some of the greatest blessings of my life.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And this is what God says.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: Some of us in our lives, we have bitterness in our lives and we refuse to forgive.
Speaker 1: And I understand forgiveness at times is irrational and it makes no sense.
Speaker 1: But what you desire in your life is freedom.
Speaker 1: And freedom is, on the other side of forgiveness, the blessing of freedom.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there are places in our life where we desire to grow spiritually, we desire community, we desire spiritual growth.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And guys, I don't say that because I'm a pastor, I say that because I've experienced these gifts in my life.
Speaker 1: 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?
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: 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, she said this, she said man, she said.
Speaker 1: You have this internal dialogue that's happening in you right now.
Speaker 1: That's in head.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: There's something in your head that's telling you I have this anxiety, I have this fear.
Speaker 1: I can't obey God in this way.
Speaker 1: I can't trust God in this way.
Speaker 1: I can't do this.
Speaker 1: My family's not doing this.
Speaker 1: Nobody else does this.
Speaker 1: Why would I do this?
Speaker 1: And God says listen, if you'll just trust me, I can do a miracle through you.
Speaker 1: I want to bless you in your life if you'll just obey me, if you'll just deny yourself and follow me.
Speaker 1: When we do this, when we obey, our obedience can produce a miracle.
Speaker 1: Now we think a lot of times when we read this text.
Speaker 1: We think that the miracle was the fact that the water was turned into wine, which that obviously was a miracle.
Speaker 1: We see verse number 10.
Speaker 1: But the greater miracle happened in verse number 11.
Speaker 1: Hop in.
Speaker 1: In verse number 11, it says this Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee.
Speaker 1: He revealed his glory and his here's the miracle.
Speaker 1: His disciples believed in him Because, remember, the signs were not about the signs, the miracles were not about the miracles.
Speaker 1: And people believed because of this sign.
Speaker 1: And people believed because there were some servants that were willing to obey God.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: I wanna talk to you just for a second One.
Speaker 1: Can I just say it's normal to have doubts and questions and uncertainties.
Speaker 1: It's normal Filled with people, with doubts and questions and uncertainties, filled with people.
Speaker 1: And some of us think, man, I have to have everything figured out and I have to have every, I have to understand everything, I have to have all my ducks in a row, I have to have all my T's crossed, all the I's dotted.
Speaker 1: Once my kids get a little bit older, once life calms down, once I get the better job, then I'm going to take this step, then I'm going to get more involved, then I'm going to do this in my faith, once I understand it all.
Speaker 1: And we say we want understanding, but often what we want is control.
Speaker 1: And what God says is if you will just trust me.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: Number two you're going to please God.
Speaker 1: That's what this is all about, like pleasing God and glorifying God.
Speaker 1: And when you choose to trust God, when you don't have it all figured out, you're you're pleasing Him.
Speaker 1: And one last way, one last thing I hope this encourages your heart is that your step of faith is bigger than you.
Speaker 1: Your step of faith is bigger than you.
Speaker 1: It's not just about you.
Speaker 1: The servants obeyed, 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.
Speaker 1: They saw that because of their obedience.
Speaker 1: 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 been open to Jesus and he's been just devouring scripture and devouring Christian podcasts and just growing so much.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: That person's life, there was something about it life there was something about it.
Speaker 1: Their obedience influenced a miracle happening in this person's heart and I wonder, if you're here this morning and maybe you feel like giving up, maybe a question if you can just take another step.
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: And can I just say that God has so much more for you.
Speaker 1: Can I just say that God wants to do miracles in your life and through your life.
Speaker 1: 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?
Speaker 1: Who knows what God can do?
Speaker 1: Who knows what God can do in the life of your family?
Speaker 1: Who knows what God can do in your workplace?
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the knucklehead that you work with that's so closed off, has no desire for God.
Speaker 1: The individual I was talking to, they said for years they just blasphemed God.
Speaker 1: Now God's changed this person and God used somebody else.
Speaker 1: So let's be that people and you be that person and see what God can do in us and through us.
Speaker 1: Let's bow our heads and close our eyes while the message has ended.
Speaker 1: What God's doing in your heart is not.
Speaker 1: What I want to invite you to do right now is just to respond to the message.
Speaker 1: Are you like me or you may be all up in your head in some way.
Speaker 1: Is there insecurity?
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: Take some time and talk to God.