The Gospel of St. John - Chapter 2, Part 1 - Bro. John "Ernie" Perez

Bro. Ernie continues this journey into one of my favorite books, The Book of John...get your pens, highlighters and notebooks ready!

A wedding is about to turn into a disaster, and Jesus fixes it without stealing the spotlight. We walk through the Gospel of John chapter 2 with our Simple Discipleship Unfiltered table crew, slowing down the story of Cana until you can feel the pressure in the room: the hosts are out of wine, Mary refuses to let shame take over the celebration, and Jesus responds with a firm but loving boundary about timing. Then the servants obey, the jars fill to the brim, and somewhere between the water pot and the cup, the impossible happens. 

We also dig into the background behind the six stone water pots, connecting the “purifying of the Jews” to Old Testament washing practices and what ceremonial cleansing means in real life. Along the way we talk mikveh, biblical archaeology, and why those historical details are not side quests but clues that deepen Christian Bible study and make the sign more vivid. 

From Cana, we move into the heart takeaway: humility is not weakness, it is self-control and obedience, and Jesus models it all the way to the cross (Philippians 2). We get practical about discipleship, authority, learning to receive instruction, and how God sometimes works miracles quietly for the people who are actually doing the carrying. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway from Cana. (*Recorded 6/15/2026)

Ways to Give at https://m3mi.org...Thank you for your seed!  :)

Transcript

Welcome And Study Setup

SPEAKER_05 0:19

Thank you so much for joining me on the turn into the next one. So let's open the word and see what Jesus has to say. Hey, welcome to Simple Simpleship Unfiltered. We're doing like a part two because we just got interrupted on one, so we're gonna redo it, right? So we're all together together again today. We get to study this Gospel of St. John. We're in chapter two, part one. So grateful to have y'all out. If you haven't seen the other studies on the Gospel of St. John, encourage you to go back and do the introduction in the part one. And we had three parts to part one as we jump into uh chapter two, part one. And also you can watch the video on a Simple Discipleship Unfiltered YouTube channel. And so grateful to have you here, and we're grateful to have everybody around the table. Uh we've got Sister Audia. Good afternoon, mama, good afternoon, brother Ernie, good afternoon, and sister Ann. Good afternoon. And again, those other ones just kind of squeaked out the door and had those quote unquote appointments today. So but we're grateful that you're with us and we're grateful that we get to be in the word together. It's always a good time, ain't it, brother, when we get to crack open the word and just go.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

I always enjoy reading the word of God. I've told you many times I learned to enjoy it.

unknown 1:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

I learned to study it. I didn't mind that, but it was always work. But I learned to enjoy it from my father-in-law, who knew how to leisurely digest the scripture and and rest in it and find comfort in it. And he he taught me that for myself.

SPEAKER_05 2:12

Yeah, and you know what? You've taught us that. You in turn have taught us that because I really love studying the word more because of your love that you show for it. And that's the truth. I'm not being corny. I really because you just you make it exciting and you make it, you know, something that I want to learn and to get into. And I don't think I ever in my life appreciated the word as much as I do since you guys have been in my life.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

I would have to say thank the Lord for dad.

SPEAKER_05 2:45

Yeah. We're thankful for it.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

The legacy begins with him.

SPEAKER_05 2:49

Amen. Amen. All right, let's get into the Gospel of St. John, chapter 2, and part one.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

All

Recap Of Early Disciples

SPEAKER_01 3:00

right. So getting us ready to move into the lesson. There's some territory I want to back up just a little bit. Remember, at this point so far as that we've studied, John the Baptist has twice declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God. The first time John the Baptist did this, he calls Jesus the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Always remember that. He took the sins away. Immediately after John the Baptist's declaration about Jesus, two of his own disciples start to follow Jesus. And before they can ask or say anything to Jesus, Jesus asked them, What seek ye? Or in today's lingo, what are you guys looking for? Isn't that just like Jesus? If you're really leaning into him, whether you understand it or not, there's some times when Jesus is there ahead of you so that when you get there, he says, Is this what you're looking for? What are you here for? And it helps guide you onto the right path. Now, their reply to Jesus is that they just want to know where he is staying. Really? John the Baptist has stated that Jesus is the Lamb of God. And this is terminology any Jew would or should understand. But these two avoid addressing the term. Instead, they address Jesus as rabbi, a team meaning term, sorry, meaning master, and often used to describe a specific teacher. Now, one of these disciples of John the Baptist is Andrew. He's the brother of Simon. And Andrew takes his brother Simon to meet Jesus. And upon meeting Simon, Jesus renames him Cephas or Peter. This is a new name for Simon, and it means stone or rock, as in the size of a stone or a rock you could hold in your hand. Next, Jesus meets Philip and says to him, Follow me. I think this harkens back to Matthew chapter 4, where Jesus looked at those first disciples and said, You follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. So I really in my mind, I hear the same thing happens with Philip. You follow me, Philip. And it's very easily I could hear him saying, I will make you. But regardless, the call to follow me is there. And Philip gets excited about Jesus. And he locates his friend Nathaniel. And when Jesus speaks to Nathaniel, he comments on Nathaniel's character. Now Nathaniel's response to that indicates Jesus has his undivided attention. Then Jesus stuns Nathaniel with his reference to the fig tree, the fig tree experience. He says to Nathaniel, I saw you when you were under the fig tree. That comment immediately hits Nathaniel's heart, and he says he believes Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Israel. And basically, Jesus' reply, if we put it in our vernacular, is you ain't seen nothing yet. You really haven't. Nathaniel, this is all it took. And when you go back and reread it, you know, it's like Nathaniel saying, How do you know me? But how does Jesus know any of us? There's none of us that Jesus doesn't see down into the core of our identity. He's a God of exposure. But his exposure is so that we can find repentance, we can find illumination, we can find a new path. Now, so John has named for us in his gospel four disciples. They are Andrew, his brother Simon, Philip and Nathaniel, and Nathaniel. And besides that, there is an unnamed disciple of John the Baptist who joined Andrew and following after Jesus. So we pick up John's narrative after that, and we're going to read through, I believe I said the first 12 verses. Yes.

Reading The Wedding At Cana

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Okay. After the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? An hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, fill the water pots with water. And they fill them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast, and they bear it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the servants which drew the water knew. The governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him. After this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples, and they continued there not many days. So as is our habit now, we're going to reread the scriptures just a few at a time, and I'll give you my simple commentary on this gospel, and uh hopefully you'll enjoy things enough that it will open your understanding, and you'll have a greater desire than ever to read God's word. Can everybody say amen?

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Back to chapter two, verses one through three. And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, three days later, and the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. I actually went one verse farther

Mary’s Request And Jesus’ Reply

SPEAKER_01 11:00

than I intended. All right, let's go back and look at it now. Three days later, after the encounter with the disciples of John the Baptist, three days later, Jesus and his mother, plus his disciples, attend a wedding in Cana of Galilee. So we suspect, since all of them were invited, somebody knew the bride and the groom and their family well. Because they didn't say you come, they just you come and you bring Jesus and you even bring his disciples. So they're all there to attend the wedding of Galilee. And we see Jesus' disciples, I'm stressing that again, were also called to the wedding, giving us a little look into the environment, a little bit better look into the environment. And during the wedding, there seems to be a crisis that threatens the celebration. The hosts are about to be embarrassed in front of the guest. There was a governor they called of the feast, we would call him a master of ceremonies, conducting the celebration. And he doesn't know yet that the hosts are about to be embarrassed in front of the guest due to the host family running out of wine. Now, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is simply not having this, giving us the indication that she's not just any guest. She's at least some sort of special guest. She says to her firstborn son, please take note. Mary never forgot what happened when the angel said to her, You're going to conceive a child of the Holy Ghost. I mean, what kind of though those things never left her mind. When Jesus was named at the temple and circumcised, and his name put on the register. Like, you know, women never forget when their children were born, when they put their little feet on the paper and ink and all these things. Mary's just like that. This is her firstborn son. And she says to him, You need to address this wine issue. What makes her step up to take control like that? Why does she think she can even do that? Because she knows who he is. And an indicate, yes, she knows who he is, but an indicator that she's and her family and Jesus' disciples are not just any guest.

unknown 14:03

They're prominent guests.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

They're prominent guests. And and she's not about to let it be a scene of embarrassment. So she says this to Jesus. And in verse 4, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Verse 5, his mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. So here's Jesus' response. It's not coarse, it's not crude like some people think. Jesus was not putting his mother in her place. Why? Well, you just remember this under the law of Moses, when a Hebrew son works a certain meet met a certain age, and we think it was 13, if he was rebellious against his parents, they were supposed to take him to the gates of the city and say to the elders, this our son, out of control, no longer respects us. We can't do anything with us. He's become the terror of the house and the rogue of the neighborhood. What happened? They stoned him to death. As we were teaching this to our children, I can remember Timothy saying to us one day, Yeah, well, I plan to live long. So Jesus tells her firmly, but lovingly, My hour is not yet come. Of course, his mother is not moved. Why? Because this is her firstborn son, also. Okay? And she looks at the wedding servants and she tells them, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. Can you get that? Get that picture. Jesus just said, Mom, don't ask me. I love you, but don't ask me. While this is going on, she turns to the servants who are watching the whole thing and says, Whatsoever he tells you to do, you do that. But he just said he will he was not but authority was in the atmosphere.

unknown 16:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

Mama spoke.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yeah. That is the God's honest truth. Mama spoke. So let's look now. We're going to continue reading. I'm going to start with verse six. And I'm going to read through verse 10, and then we'll come back and do our step-by-step commentary, okay? Verses 6 through 10. All right, here we go. And there were set there six water pots of stone after the man manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water, and they fill them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast, and they bear it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the servants which drew the water knew. The governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk that which is worse, then they get that. But thou hast kept the good wine

Purification Water Pots And Jewish Washing

SPEAKER_01 18:10

until now. So there is on the property, evidently, a good size cistern or a small well. Now, being that it's in the city, I'm thinking it it's a cistern, more than likely. And these people own a pretty big house because the wedding feast is going on there. And they got these jars in there that these jars are for cleansing. They're kept according to Levitical law. What do we mean by that? Well, after many offerings in the book of Leviticus, they're instructed to wash certain items or themselves in water. Now, to wash in water is different than to wash with water, right? When you wash in water, you're taking a bath. When you wash with water, you're taking a shower, or you're washing your hands or your feet. So after many different offerings, ceremonies, the Jews were commanded to wash certain items and/or themselves in water. And if the washing was not completed, the sacrifice in the order of sacrifice would be incomplete. Now we look at a couple of scriptures about this. We're going to look in the book of Exodus for the first one. We're going to go to Exodus chapter 30. And we're going to look, beginning at verse, let me see, 17. And we're going to read through 21. Here we go. And the Lord spake unto Moses. Oh, so this was the word of the Lord. This was not Moses' idea. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Thou shalt also make a labor of brass. Some translations say bronze. And his foot also of brass to wash withal. And thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water. Whenever they go in now, this is a generic statement. Or when they come near the altar to minister, oh, whenever they're doing that too. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not. God's gonna strike them dead. And it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him, Aaron, and to his seed throughout all their generations. Now, here's what I want you to catch. There is an object lesson here. If they fail to wash with water and try to enter into any kind of service in the tabernacle, even more specifically, it gets for sure, don't forget it at an offering. That you die not. Why was God so serious about this? Lesson that he was going to strike them dead if they failed to wash with water. Just hold on to that. Then we're going to look at first Kings. And we're going to look at First Kings chapter seven. And read verse twenty-three through twenty-six. Speaking of the work that went on when Solomon was having the temple built. And he made a molten sea. That's pretty big. Ten cubits from one end to the other. If a cubit is is roughly one and a half feet, how far is that? Ten cubits? Ten halves is five. That's fifteen cubits across. That is something. Now make a moltency ten cubits from one brim to the other. Yes, a cubit is about a foot and a half. So it was round all about. And his height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. Under the brim of it, around there were knobs compassing it. It was ornate. Ten in cubit, compassing the sea round about. The knobs were cast in two rows when it was cast. Beautiful to look at, very ornate. It stood upon twelve oxen. Oh gosh. How big the oxen were, I don't remember, but it stood upon twelve of them on their backs, three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, three looking toward the east, and the sea was set above them. So in order to access this tub that is called a sea, they would have had to go upstairs higher than the oxen, higher than the sea itself, the tub, to step down into it. And the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward, and it was a handbreadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with the flowers of lilies, and it contained two thousand baths. This thing is where the priests washed when they had to wash themselves in water. If they were merely washing with water, there was a laver. This gave birth to what is today known as a mikveh. Are you familiar with the mikveh? The mikveh is a sacred bath, and they dug, I think, one or two of them up in Jerusalem, archaeologists dug them up. They're sacred baths. They were like a public bath, but they were used so that people traveling from Jerusalem to the temple, before they went in to partake in any offering, sacrifice, or feast, they would go to the mikvah for spiritual cleansing. And they would go immerse themselves in that. So it's like a giant hot tub, only deep enough to immerse yourself in. And they did that signifying spiritual cleansing. Okay? Now, the water pots. Let's go back to the Gospel of St. John and talk about the water pots. Okay. Let me get back to that verse where we're at six, seven, eight, nine. Okay. So the water pots were after the manner of purifying of the Jews. So the water pots mentioned hold two or three fercins apiece. In this case, we discovered a ferkin is around nine gallons. So let's calculate. Let's average two and a half fercins per water pot. And then that by six, we have fifteen fercins. Multiply fifteen times nine, which is the number of gallons in a ferkin, and we get one hundred and thirty-five gallons of water. So this says to me that there was a very large cistern on the property because they were going to fill all the water pots. So you might enjoy looking on YouTube and finding out what you can about the mikvah, M-I-K-V-A, the Jewish bath that's used for Levitical or ceremonial cleansing. And Mama and I have happened to find a lot of very interesting stuff. Biblical archaeology, especially on YouTube. You can watch that for hours. Some of that stuff is so intriguing to you if you love the word of God, that stuff will pull you in. Now, Jesus commands the servants to do what? To fill the water pots. Verse 7, Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water, and they fill them up to the brim. Yeah, but Jesus just told his mother, please, mom, not now. And she listens like a brick and says to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. Now y'all are mothers. Okay. I once had the mother. And there's something about mama in the room with kids and her, my mother, when I'm 44, 44 years old, whatever, if she could see on my face, because sometimes my face is louder than my voice. And sometimes you don't want to say what you're thinking, you know, but my mother would read my face and say, I'm the mama. And that's the reason things are going to be done, because I'm the mama. I'm not going to tell you another woman who co-opted that phrase. You might know her. But she likes to say, I'm the mama. And that seems to be the end of a matter. These guys are filling up the water pots because Mary, the mama, had said to them, whatsoever he says to you, do it. You know, I used to pray to Mary. And when I learned that only Jesus should receive my prayers, I quit doing that. But I'm persuaded that if I could have had a conversation with her, looking at Scripture, she would have said to me, Whatever he says to you, do that. You want to listen to somebody? Listen to him. Mary wasn't crucified. Mary didn't rise from the dead. Mary wasn't the result of a virgin birth. Although she was powerfully used by God and has a place in history, no one else will ever have. Hallelujah. Now then, Jesus commands them to fill the water pots. So they had to find the cistern on the property. And I say that because I just don't imagine in my mind, and I could be wrong, a well on the property. But I guess if they were wealthy enough, there could have been. I think it was a huge cistern. Because they filled all the water pots. To the brim. Jesus saith unto them, verse 7, fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. That's a lot of water. And they filled these pots. Jesus said, fill them up this high. I don't know. I think he said that maybe. I can't read his mind, but maybe, so that they would look in the water pots and see only water. Water up to the brim. That's what it was. And he saith unto them, Draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it. So, all right, they

How Water Became Wine

SPEAKER_01 30:50

fill the water pots with water. And they're commanded. I got these pictures in my mind, you know, like mama puts her son tea in the pitcher, handheld pitcher. If you are old enough, you remember the Kool-Aid commercial with the jug, the talking Kool-Aid, the handle. Probably wasn't shaped just like that, but it was something that was handy for them to carry. So they're using some sort of handheld pitcher, and somewhere between dipping the pitchers into the water and pouring out to the master of ceremonies in his cup, in his glass, the water turned into wine. I asked myself, was it turning while they made the journey? Did it turn immediately after they had it in their hands? Or did it turn? They watched water pouring out and wine going in. But somewhere in there the water turned to wine. When the master of ceremonies tasted that, it was the best wine. When the ruler of the feast, verse 9, had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was. In other words, this is we're not supposed to have this wine at this point. Not that they're not supposed to have wine, they're not supposed to have this wine. Why? Well, the servants who drew the water, they knew about it. But there's no record anywhere that they told anyone. So if you were not one of the apostles who was there, if you were not Jesus and Mary and the servers, you didn't know where the water came from. And I don't think the apostles knew until after the wedding when they had time to sit down and talk about it. Now, Jesus does not announce the miracle. Verse 10, and he saith unto them, the master of ceremonies says unto him, unto the servant, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine. And when men have well drunk that which is worse, or I'm sorry, to the host, that which is worse is brought out. But thou hast kept the good wine until now. My dad had a friend, Frankie Martinez, who worked for Hiram Walker Whiskey. He's a salesman. I remember him telling my dad one day, he said, John, I put on these feeds all the time. And it's really good for my sales rep. Gets my reputation out. People really buy whiskey from me. What I do is I serve them mixed drinks with the whiskey, really potent. And after four or five drinks, I serve the food. And the food is the cheapest food I can buy. But it's brought by caterers. And they're eating it. They're going, oh, this is the best food. He said, but really, their mouths are coated by the drinks that I've made them. They're starting to get a little buzz, and they can't tell. All they know is I'm getting full. I like being full. They're happy. I'm happy. And then, you know, I serve them cheap whiskey afterwards. And they all go home happy. But they're great customers. It's odd for me the first time I read this in scripture, but I remembered that. And the master of ceremonies is saying to the host of the wedding feast, How in the world would you what you know this isn't done? But Jesus does not announce how the miracle took place. Mary nor the servants are recorded as announcing the miracle. So the master of ceremonies, the bride and the groom, the guest, no one knows that this miracle has taken place. I will readily confess to you, there are miracles that have happened in my life that I've never told anybody about. Why? Because to them it wouldn't be a miracle. To them it would be coincidence. To them, it would be something to ridicule. Jesus said, Don't cast your perils before swine. Recognize the miracles that God has done in your life that were solely for you to understand. His love for you, his knowledge of where you are, and his wisdom and how to reach out and touch you in that moment. God will never ever leave you or forsake you. And when nobody else understands the miracle going on, you and Jesus will know it. So the bridegroom gets the credit, or the host of the wedding feast gets the credit for doing something so very different and so wonderful, saving the best for the last, which is never done, when everybody got a buzz, and it didn't matter what the wine tastes like. The best wine that anyone ever tasted. I'm thinking it would taste like new wine. New wine was not, new new wine was not alcoholic, was not inebriating, intoxicating, because it hadn't started fermenting yet. But it would be the most best, tasteful, and precious of the wines.

Why The Miracle Stayed Quiet

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Now, verse 11. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him. This is what John records as the first of Jesus' miracles. This is the beginning of miracles. It was done in private. I think the disciples didn't know it till Jesus or Mary whispered it in his ears because it's not known throughout the feast. There's no talk of it. So I think Jesus probably sat down with them and said, You know what those servants are doing? They'll never forget this day. Those servants won't. They had to tote all that water from the cistern in handheld water pots.

unknown 37:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

To fill up all of these water pots, 135 gallons. It's a big waving, huh?

unknown 38:04

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

And they they don't drool over it like that, Ann. You're delivered from that. And so they they they weren't talking about it. They dipped the pot in there, and when they poured it out, it was wine. I can almost hear the disciples laughing about it.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Lord Jesus, did you really do that?

SPEAKER_01 38:30

How come we didn't get to see it? Well, which we could have been in the back room in there where you were doing all that.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

Yeah, he went ready for that.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

But this is what John records as the first of Jesus' miracles. It was done in private because it was not yet time for his glory to be made public. But like a good son, the firstborn son, he found a way to honor his mother's request. Regarding the character and nature of Jesus as the Son of God, as the Son of Mary and Joseph, let's turn to Scripture of Philippians. Philippians chapter two. And we're going to get at Philippians chapter two, and we're going to read verses five through eight. Paul encouraging the Philippian church. Excuse me. Let this mind be in you. Which also was in Christ Jesus. Oh, I need to have the mind of Christ. This is what he's telling the church. You need to think like Jesus, okay? Who being in the form of God? In other words, when people looked at Jesus, they were supposed to see God. But he was the son of Mary and Joseph. Yes, he was. But he was more than that. He was the form or the reflection or the image of the God who is invisible and fills all time of space. Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. We're going to see that the Pharisees and the scribes realized that and they hated it. But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, as was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient. You think you're called to ministry? If you cannot humble yourself and be obedient, you're fooling yourself. Jesus set the example for everyone who's ever called to ministry. And he humbled himself and was obedient to his mother and to his father, and was obedient to the word of God that was written. He was obedient to all the laws of the Jews. He kept all the ceremonies. The Pharisees and scribes, they thought they had him talking to him about the Sabbath, and he said, I'm Lord of the Sabbath. I make the Sabbath. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. Humility is not weakness, it is strength. It is self-control. It is when you can make yourself accept and do the thing that is right, even when you don't like the way it feels or like the way it looks or disagree with the results. Humility is strength. It means you have self-control. A person with no self-control is weak indeed. And he became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. How obedient are we? If we are called upon for martyrdom, are we going to be obedient? The Bible is full of it. You obey the Lord no matter what it costs you. Why? Because in your humility before God, he gives you strength to do what no one else believes you can do. He takes care of it. Verse 12. After this, he went down to Capernaum. He and his mother and his brethren and his disciples. And they continued there not many days. So they stayed there just a few days. What'd they talk about?

unknown 42:54

Probably what?

SPEAKER_01 42:57

Yeah, it was a buzz, wasn't it? Yeah, and they they weren't buzzing because they had too much wine either. It was a recognition of what Jesus did. And I wonder, myself, I know when they poured it it was wine, but I wonder, was it turning into wine while they were pouring? Because what that would have done to the mind of the servants. See, the master of the ceremonies, or the people expecting a cup of wine, they saw wine. But the servants, when they tilted that water pot, were they still looking at water? But it filled up that when it went into the cup, when it broke the lip of the cup, or left the spout of the water pot, it was wine. Wonder Jesus was surprised. I don't think we surprised Jesus with anything. Oh, it was his first public miracle, and he really was hesitant to do it. Right. So wonder. But to show you. That humility is a necessity, even for the Son of God. And his mother knew it because right after he says that, she looks at the servant and says, Whatever he says to you, do it. She knew that boy's gonna do what I say. She was secure in the fact that this is an obedient son. Lord, be that secure with us that we are obedient sons and daughters. That's how we want to live. That's how we can have the mind of Christ. Think like him. Think that I will be obedient, Lord, to whatever it is you ask me to do. Well, that that's it for this lesson. And our next lesson we'll pick up with John chapter 2, and we'll start with verse 13 and see how far we progress. Thank you for your time. I always enjoy this. I enjoy the Word of God immensely. I hope you've enjoyed it also.

SPEAKER_05 44:58

You know, I often I often

Humility, Obedience, And Authority

SPEAKER_05 45:00

think about you're talking about Mary and what she, you know, told Jesus, you know, just she don't tell him you're gonna do it or nothing like that. She just she just, like you say, gives instructions to the servants. I always see it as like that mother bird, you know, that kind of nudges the little bird out of the nest, you know what I'm saying? Just the eaglet. It's time it's time to to fly, you know, and and whether you think it is or not, mama's no, you know what I'm saying? Mama no.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

How many times have I heard that? Mama no.

SPEAKER_05 45:35

Mama knows. And so, um, you know, and and I think that that's what's so awesome about when Jesus said he's never gonna leave us or forsake us, and that they sent us the promise. That's the Holy Spirit's job.

unknown 45:48

Amen.

SPEAKER_05 45:48

Is to nudge us into our next thing. And even though we don't feel like we're ready or we're prepared or we're qualified, he's gonna say, just do whatever that you know, just do it.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Also, also, yeah. For those you think you're training up into ministry, if they can't have the ability to humble themselves and take instruction. Instruction, sometimes people mistake instruction for correction. There is such a thing as correction. There's some people you can't give them instruction. If you remember when there when you were in school, there were some kids you couldn't, the teacher couldn't tell them what to do.

unknown 46:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

I mean, I know that because I was one of them. You know, and it wasn't always correction, it was instruction. Time to get out your notebook, time to go open to this page, time to do it. And I'm thumbing through. I know they're not talking to me. You know, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. We want to be careful because believe it or not, when and when you when then when you're going back through the gospels, pay attention to when Jesus has to reiterate himself to the disciples.

SPEAKER_05 46:54

Have I not been with you so long? Precisely that one. Yeah, Philip!

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Philip, you're the guy who said you gotta be the king of Israel, you gotta be the son of God. I've been with you all this time, Philip, and you don't know.

SPEAKER_05 47:10

Yeah, he's still.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

So, you know, we're disciples who are just human too.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

Yeah. So as we're being schooled into ministry, I can tell you for myself, all these years in ministry, I've never ministered the word of God, not even as a pastor or a missionary, when obedience to someone wasn't required of me. Yeah. There has always been an authority I've had to answer to. There's gotta be. You've got to be able to look past the authority and see the hand of God shaping you. If you don't like what they say, you may even be right. But speaking from the point of a marriage, being right is not always the most important thing. You can deal with being right later. Make sure someone always knows that they're being loved. And if you have to come back with, I was right, this should have been done this way, you can do that later. You don't have to escalate the issue by demanding that you be right. Sometimes you can just be quiet. Because you want to be sure that your being right is never perceived as more important than your being loving and and your being forgiving and your being understanding. This this is where humility is strength. I know when we were in in school, you wouldn't believe that. If a kid pushed you or said something to you, you're supposed to pop him in the face right away. You are not supposed to show humility because we were taught that was weakness. But humility is strength, it is self-control. The the best definition I ever read of humility, I hope I can remember it right, is in a game called Character Clues that that we bought at an institute in basic youth conference conference early, 40 years ago. And the game it asked you to define humility. And if I remember correctly, it said humility is the ability to believe that no water happen, no, no matter whatever happens to you in life, God is still in control. What if I don't like what's happening in my life? God is still in control. What if I don't like what the Supreme Court said? God is still in control. What if I don't like what the governor said or the president said? God is still in control. We have to grasp God's humility.

SPEAKER_05 50:02

You know, a lot of us just said, we just won't buy that game because I don't even know if we have it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

This is still up there. I don't want to get in all no, there's too many boxes. I don't want to do it. I'm sure it's up there. I'm sure it's up there. Oh, you can be quiet. Okay, so Google care the game character clues and see if you can buy you one.

SPEAKER_05 50:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll we'll we'll do that. Uh, there are you looking, so you know, we'll see what it says. All right, so it's been a good, very good study. I love, I just love going into John, but but I always have had that thought in my mind about Jesus got pushed out of that little baby nest by Mary, you know. So I think that's just just so good and so relevant.

SPEAKER_01 50:51

So, how much time do we have left?

SPEAKER_05 50:52

We we don't, but that's too bad. Might you got something real quick?

SPEAKER_01 50:56

No, I was just we could just I wanted to hear what everyone has to say today about the lesson, but we can do it even if you have to sign off.

SPEAKER_05 51:03

Oh, go ahead. Just go ahead and let it.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

So, uh Audia, was anything in the lesson in particular surprising or left a question or maybe just an observation?

SPEAKER_02 51:16

I think the thing that I get out of it the most is that Jesus was almost at a point where he knew it was time to step up, but he needed that push because he was still the man, wasn't he? Yeah, but he didn't want it's almost like well, you know, like I said, nobody knew it happened. He didn't want to make a spectacle.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

He who was more than wonderful decided I will not be the object of this wedding.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

He didn't want to overshadow anyone. I think that was the whole deal is like all of a sudden the focus would be on him, and he wanted to focus on the bridegroom.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

And you know he wants to focus on you, right?

SPEAKER_02 52:11

No. He does not.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

If he didn't, you wouldn't be here. That's right. That's right. So, what about you, Mama? Was there anything you thought about that was new?

SPEAKER_04 52:24

Well, I did notice that I probably never thought about it, that when they left the wedding, uh-huh, it was not only Jesus and his disciples, but also his brothers.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

His brothers and his mother. Reminds me of one they showed up at some place where he'd been traveling for a while and they said, Hey, your mother and brothers out there. He said, Who's my mother, my brother? Them did do my will. You know, they had to not like that. But Jesus had to die alone.

SPEAKER_05 52:53

Yeah. But my mom would have still brought the flip-flop, you know. Yeah. What'd you say?

SPEAKER_01 52:59

The chunklet.

SPEAKER_02 53:01

You know, and that is the thing. His brothers probably had to know when that happened.

SPEAKER_01 53:10

Yeah, but you read that his brother didn't believe in him until after the resurrection.

SPEAKER_04 53:15

But this is a family affair. And so she took the whole family. Sisters probably was there too.

SPEAKER_05 53:21

Do you know the chosen? They show when they do that scene. It's it's pretty it's pretty much well done. They show that Mary come Mary comes first, and it's her friend Dinah, right, and it's her son.

SPEAKER_04 53:35

Right.

SPEAKER_05 53:35

And so it's a family friends, you like you just like yeah, and so all the family comes because it's a big to-do, you know.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

And they're prominent guests. And they're prominent guests. I like the way they imagine that because to me it flows with scripture.

SPEAKER_05 53:49

Right. And even though we don't actually know what happened, it made sense, you know, and and why everybody was there and why, you know, Jesus would come. Because Jesus then had an entourage. So then, yeah, you know, here come the disciples with him, you know. And so yeah, so that's cool. That's cool. Anyone else?

SPEAKER_01 54:08

And what what about you, Ann? Briefly, don't give us that evil chort.

SPEAKER_03 54:17

I can just see Jesus standing there watching the servants pour this water to wine into the MC's mug. And the servants are going, ooh, Jesus standing over there in the core going, I did that. It's a wonder he didn't break out and say, How do you like me now? Yeah, you know, he you know, he's trying to be humble, but he's like But he's still a human being, right?

SPEAKER_01 54:50

Right. He's still a human being. I mean, you you might be right. He he might have been over there giggling at himself, you know, right? Watching the servants saying, Yeah, got you there, didn't I?

SPEAKER_03 55:01

Well, you know, when they play that scene in The Chosen, he spots his mother in the crowd and she's looking at him and and she goes, mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 55:14

Yeah, give me the nod.

SPEAKER_03 55:15

Yeah, yeah. So you're like, Yeah, mom knows.

SPEAKER_01 55:19

Yeah, we'll have to beat you tonight, son. You're okay.

SPEAKER_03 55:22

Mom had the feeling, you know, that he was ready to start doing wondrous things.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

You know, and I wish there's sometimes when they're telling these stories, I wish we had more insight. You know, yeah in a lot of ways. Because I think one of the things I want to ask his brothers when I get to heaven is so what was it like run up with him?

SPEAKER_01 55:48

The amazing thing is John says, beloved, it doth not yet appear, but we shall be. But what we know when he appears, we shall be mindful. This is a mind blower for me. And the prayer that Jesus prayed that we'd be one with the Father and one with him, like he's one with that is a mind blower. Because he is the reflection, like you're looking in a mirror at a reflection. That's what he said. Everything you see the Father doing, I'm doing. Why? Because he is the reflection. You look in the mirror, whatever you do, your reflection is doing it. And we we're gonna be like him. And my mind explodes with all kinds of good things when I try to think about knowing God like that.

Heaven Hope And Worship Joy

SPEAKER_01 56:41

How we are going to relate to omnipotence. Yeah, that's awful. That's yeah, so in that sense, I'm ready for heaven.

SPEAKER_02 56:54

Yeah, yeah, I'm ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 57:03

Yeah. Yeah. When when I read about the city four square, me and Mama talk about this often, the city four square and the gates and the pearls and the streets of pure gold. I say to her, This is John's vision. But I don't know if he saw the vision of reality or if he saw a vision where God was saying, I want you to comprehend in earthly terms. Yeah. Because if you had gold that was so pure, it was like glass, and you could see through it, and you used it for sidewalk, how rich are you?

SPEAKER_04 57:41

Yeah. Or think about the gates. Oh, twelve gates of pearl, one pearl pearl.

SPEAKER_05 57:47

I don't want to see the clan, but I said I don't want to know that clam, my own side of the club.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

But but isn't God the greatest thrill you ever had?

SPEAKER_05 58:06

The greatest anticipation.

SPEAKER_02 58:07

Yeah, yeah. It boggles my mind to think that I'll be standing there and looking at all that.

SPEAKER_01 58:17

Yeah. It's why about three weeks into the marriage, Mama points her bony finger at me one day across the room. And I'm suffering from newly wet I guess, you know? She breaks out with that. Now you know if it's ever a choice between you and Jesus, you know it's Jesus, right? I'm thinking, I know it, baby, but you, you know, you ain't got to put it out there like we're honeymooning. I mean, come on. Man, alive. Yeah. The there was a song by Dottie Rambo. The Hills of Heaven. The Holy Hills of Heaven called me to mansions brought across the thing. This morning I was singing in the city where the Lamb is the light, and uh on the top of Mount Zion and land of unclouded day. And I was just getting all holy roller fish.

SPEAKER_00 59:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:20

You know, and you know the great thing is you can have that at home, you can have that in your car, you can have it at a conference too. Yeah, yeah. You can have it in a revival, but I'm so glad he's my savior and my God, and I can have it wherever I need it.

SPEAKER_04 59:38

We were going down Highway 80, not 30. 30, and I don't know where we were coming from or where we were going, but the car pulled off the road, stopped, a lady got out, and she was just uh shouting and she was worshiping God and dancing.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

And I told mom, I said, we missed it. We should have pulled over and went over there, you know. But we was you're going so fast and it's a freeway, so yeah, but then she she was having an apostolic fit, or as Peppy used to say, a apostolic fit.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:13

Yeah, but the sad thing about that, if you really thought it about it, is how many people drove by and said, That lady is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:23

Or something's gone wrong. Something's wrong, and she's losing it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:27

Yeah, yes, but everybody filled with the Holy Ghost went by, and we got killed. Yes, Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:34

Yes, yeah. It was funny last night we started at BBS over at the Jesus house, and and they started with worship, and boy, they had this worship that was just really had you going, you know, and they had all these dance moves, and all the adults, and there was probably 15 of them in there with the kids, were dancing just as much as the kids were. And in the Baptist church, yeah. Pastor Tommy was sitting by me and I said, You didn't know you had some Pentecostals in here. He said, I don't think they know they are. When we were in It was really cold.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:12

When we were in Australia, the Torres Islanders and the Aborigines dance. If you've ever seen Aborigines in a movie, dance is how they pass on their history. It's like sign language, right? Well, the Torres Islanders are the same, and sometimes they worship together in certain places. And for every hymn they sang in church, they had a dance. And I and they weren't just, you know, like, okay, this is two steps left, two steps. No, no. They didn't forget any of the dance, but you could see the joy and the expression in their face because culturally that this what this dance was how you communicated history. And this hymn is so important with the words of Jesus. We're they were communicating praise and worship so effectively. I didn't know the moves, but I was dancing.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:08

We saw a Christian dance group on Saturday night, and they were doing a dance to Force Frank's songs. Who we always had to dance to go with his his songs, and those kids were so full of the Holy Spirit. They were it was like you wanted to jump up and join up.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:30

What was the name of her thing? We'll give her a shout. Something works.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

I can't remember. Dance works. It was not dance works, it was like was it impact works or it was something? I can't remember, but she's really good. Oh my gosh, her testimony and what she's teaching these kids

Closing Blessing And Ways To Connect

SPEAKER_02 1:02:50

was so praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:52

Yeah, yeah, it was really good. It was really good. Well, I uh we got y'all are awesome. You gotta close up. But uh man, what a good day in the word today. We're so blessed. We're so blessed by you, brother and I know you don't like uh kudos, but for you and mama to come week after week and and you don't make anything, we don't pay you.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:14

You know, we just pays me. We get bad, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:17

Jesus pays us. It's it's all good.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:20

Yeah, but I mean to just pour into the people and you know, and I just I just want to pray just extra blessings upon y'all. I pray that the things that you're praying for come to pass and and and that your heart's desires would be met by the Lord. And and I know that it's not wrong to pray that because I know that he cares about that. I know you're praying about your son and his future and and things like that, and things that you know, health in your body. I pray strength over you, brother, because we're not done with you yet. And and just God knows.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:54

Yeah, it's come out I don't want to die. Y'all embarrass me at my funeral race. We really will.

unknown 1:03:58

We really will.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:00

No, you beat us up. That ghetto part of you would come back out. We're not too back up.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

I'm just gonna be sitting there going, answer me this.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:13

Well, yeah, fortunately for me, I didn't live in the ghetto as much as I played in the ghetto. You'd be like, uh Yeah, y'all don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:25

I would I think I can just see all these people up there trying to write you.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:32

I'm gonna be one of them. I'll be glad you're gone up there. You'll be trying to get rid of me. Because I know you'll be happy, yeah. What a great day. I wouldn't make anybody come back from that, right? Right. So let's uh close with our slogan as we go. To go make sure we show some love, show some compassion and give mercy and be Jesus today. Hey STU family, if you have enjoyed this podcast today, would you please like, follow, and share our podcast link? And we would love to hear your feedback and your podcast topic suggestions. To do that, simply go to our website at www.m3mi.org, scroll to the more tab, and select contact us. Also, if STU has been a blessing to you, you can also go to our website and select sow a seed. There are several ways that you can give, whether it's Zel, Venmo, Cash App, or there's an address to send a check or money order. All your gifts are tax deductible, and we thank you so much for sowing your seed with us. I want you to remember this. A wise person once said that a person has given you their time, they have given you their most precious gift because they can never ever get it back. Thank you for sharing this day with me. We love you, we'll see you soon.