By Invitation Only - John 2:1-12

[0:00] Hey guys, thanks for listening to our Calvary Chapel Charlotte podcast.! I will walk by faith and not by sight.

[0:48] Good morning, everyone. Man, it's not snowing and it's not raining. All right.

[1:00] Back to some southern weather. All right. I'm from upstate New York and for a little bit I thought I was back there. But the snow doesn't melt there. Like, I've never seen snow melt that fast.

[1:10] That was a beautiful thing. Turn to John chapter 2, if you would. Only took five weeks to get through chapter 1. So in John chapter 2, we will get through the first 12 verses, Lord willing.

[1:23] We're going to look at the marriage feast at Cana. We're going to look at that whole event. But where we've come from is Jesus has been down in the region of the Jordan, down near the Jordan Valley, near east of Jerusalem.

[1:38] The area of what was once Jericho. It was down there being baptized by John. And we saw last week as Jesus comes back into that area.

[1:49] I had my timeline mixed up a little. We're going to see today that in the beginning of chapter 2, it says, and three days later. So John is just continuing this narrative of day after day. Then he's going to say three days later.

[2:00] We'll pick up in chapter 2. It's because it's a three-day journey from the south of Israel up into the Galilee region. I had said last week that Peter and Andrew and James and John would be called by Jesus to come from their fishing job into full-time ministry, which they will be.

[2:20] But I said that was between these chapters, which it's not. It would be after this event in chapter 2. But what has happened subsequent to all of these events is Jesus would have been baptized.

[2:30] And if you remember, it says in Luke that he was straightway led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted how many days? 40. 40 days and 40 nights of the devil. So then he comes back, and that's where we pick up in John chapter 1.

[2:43] Essentially, Jesus would have been gone for over a month after baptism. Comes back, and then John says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So Jesus comes from the wilderness back into the Jordan area, filled with the Holy Spirit.

[2:56] He's baptized by the Holy Spirit, ready for ministry, and begins to grab disciples and call them to himself. That's the time frame then that John is pointing out and saying, there he is.

[3:06] It's the one that I baptized, and this is the one that I knew was the Messiah, the Lamb of God, because I saw the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. We looked last week at that word disciple because it was the first time that we ran across it in the Gospel of John.

[3:21] A disciple is a learner or a pupil, one who follows another's teaching, or practically speaking, one who disciplines himself according to the teachings and practices of another.

[3:33] One who's following another. The word following is used very broadly and quite often in our culture today. Everyone wants a follower of some type. And so a disciple is just one who patterns their life and their teachings, their beliefs, after someone's teaching.

[3:51] One of the beautiful things we saw about John the Baptist and Jesus in their disciple-making was that their disciples weren't distant. Their disciples were near to them. John was standing there, and it says his two disciples stood with him.

[4:05] Jesus had those two men come follow him, and they said, well, where do you dwell? He's like, you know what, come and see. Come and abide with me. A disciple is near to Jesus' word, near to Jesus' heart, and near to Jesus' body.

[4:21] I mean, all through the Gospels, the disciples are with Jesus. It's no different today. To be a disciple of Jesus, you have to be with Jesus. The interesting thing about a disciple of Jesus is they want to know what Jesus wants, and they want to do what Jesus wants to do.

[4:41] There are a lot of people today who will call themselves disciples of Jesus, but they're not really interested in what Jesus wants. It's about what they want, what they want to do, what their plans, what their programs.

[4:52] But a disciple of Jesus is very simple. It's just one that says, well, you have it your way, Jesus. What is your way? What's your method? What's your plans? What do you want to do? I think sometimes we can get caught in thinking that we're making disciples of Jesus, and I'm just making a disciple of myself, or my pet system, or whatever.

[5:14] But you look at the body. I mean, look around, guys. We're very varied. And it'd be really boring if we were all the same. But I think we need to cut ourselves some slack when we're ministering to one another.

[5:26] Like, hey, are you continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking bread, and a prayer? Are you near to Jesus' word, his heart, and his body? Fantastic. We're disciples. Great.

[5:37] A disciple answers the question that these men last week asked Jesus. I mean that Jesus, I'm sorry, asked these men when he said, what seek you? What are you seeking? A disciple, we answer that question for the world.

[5:50] We answer the question when we say to the world, what seek you? Well, we have an answer for that. We are simply signposts to point the way to Jesus, right? Someone comes to us.

[6:01] Well, what do I do? Well, we get to Jesus as quick as we can. And we talked last week how that may be as simple as just, hey, Jesus is over there. Oh, okay, I'm going to go over there. Or it may be, hey, come with me.

[6:13] I'll take you to Jesus. Or it may be, you know what? This is going to be a process. I'm going to stay with you as we go to Jesus. But either way, we're trying to get them to Jesus.

[6:24] John 8.31 says that Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Indeed, I think sometimes we think a disciple is like the second tier of Christianity.

[6:37] So there is being born again and then there is disciple, right? And it's like, well, I don't know if I want to take that next step. I'll just stay as a Christian, but not as a disciple. But according to Jesus, a disciple is simply those who believe and continue in his words.

[6:52] I say, have you continued in his word? Well, you're here. Have you rejected his word? Have you said, you know what? I'm done with the Bible and I'm done with Jesus. I'm out.

[7:03] Forget it. Well, then you're probably not a disciple. But if you continue in his word, you're his disciple. And my plan is to continue in his word until the word comes and takes me out of here.

[7:13] Amen. A disciple is one who continues to respond to the invitation of Jesus. Come and see. Come and see. He continues to invite.

[7:25] We continue to respond. Because our faith is by invitation only. You say, well, wait a minute. Last week there was those two guys who started to follow Jesus. Remember, they were unknown, unacknowledged.

[7:38] And one of those other unwords I can't remember right now. But then Jesus turns and he invites them. Our faith is by invitation. We can't choose. God, you will receive me.

[7:48] But he invites us. And that's what we're going to look at as we get into chapter two. This idea that our journey of faith is by invitation only. And I think it's a little more than what we have just said it is.

[8:01] And we'll see what that is in the scripture. So in John chapter two, we pick up in verse one. John begins now, not the ministry of Jesus, but the manifestation of Jesus.

[8:17] We're going to jump to verse 11. We're going to look kind of at the end here in the beginning. See, the point of ministry is to show a person. If you look at John chapter two, verse 11 with me.

[8:32] It says, This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee. What we're going to read about in a bit. This beginning of miracles where Jesus will turn the water to wine. And he manifested forth his glory.

[8:43] And his disciples believed on him. The point of the ministry is to show a person. To show forth Jesus. The point of Jesus' ministry wasn't, Well, I'm here to heal.

[8:55] I'm here to raise the dead. I'm here to cast out demons. I'm here to make life better. No, he's here to present himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's the point of ministry. This is the point of why we're here.

[9:06] We're here because we want to see Jesus. We want to know him more. And the result of that was his disciples believed in him. You know, wait a minute. Didn't they already believe in him?

[9:18] I mean, last week we see how it says that Philip, he knew the Bible. He knew the word. And he says, hey, this is the one we found that Moses and the law and the prophets spoke of. He seemed to believe in him.

[9:30] Nathaniel comes and Jesus' response to Nathaniel believing in him. He says, because I said, I saw you under the fig tree, believest thou? So he believed. What is this?

[9:42] Now they believe in him? Did they believe before? They did believe before. Of course they did. This is not a beginning of belief, but a continuation. The wording is they believed in him and they believed in him all over again.

[9:56] Do you believe in people? Are there people you believe in? You know, we use that term. We believe in them. You're watching a movie, right? An action movie. And the main character, the protagonist, he's down, he's out.

[10:07] And then the girl comes and says, I believe in you. And he's like, I can do it. And he goes and he does whatever he needs to do, right? Defeats the bad guy. I believe in you. That's all he needed. That's the idea.

[10:18] You're believing in the nature, the character, the ability, the heart. And so it's saying here, and the disciples, they believed in him. Jesus now in John chapter two, he comes back to begin his ministry.

[10:32] For what end? To show forth who he is. And what we're going to see today is the first of seven signs that John writes about in the gospel of John.

[10:44] That's why he says there, this beginning of miracles or beginning of signs did Jesus begin to do? If you remember in our introduction to the gospel of John, there are seven signs, miracles that John will highlight.

[10:58] Now, there's many other things Jesus will do, but he says, I'm writing these seven to you. Remember at the end of the gospel of John, in John chapter 20, John says, the reason I'm writing this is that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.

[11:11] The son of God and that believing you might have life through his name. That's the reason he's writing this book. So he says, here are these seven signs. The point is that you might believe in this person.

[11:21] You might believe in him. So as we hit each one of these, the result at the end should be believing in Jesus, continuing that walk of believing in him.

[11:33] So we will just look at the first sign today. Jesus was fully God and fully man. But he was a man who lived not as a man would if he was God.

[11:46] I think we think that sounds like, well, Jesus was a man who was God. No, you don't want that. We don't want a man becoming God. Could you imagine a man living as God? We don't want that. A man with all of his fallen nature and his egocentrical desires and living as God.

[12:03] Jesus was not a man that lived as God. But he is what God would be if he lived as a man. Jesus was a man who lived as God would if he was man.

[12:14] So as we see Jesus, we think, what would God be like if I could talk with him in the flesh, if I could live with him? That's Jesus. That's what we're going to see here with Jesus. So we want to see how does this account of Jesus at a wedding feast, how does it encourage our faith?

[12:28] How do I believe in Jesus more because of this sign? In what way can we believe in him all over again, just as the disciples did? And what principles of faith could we possibly draw from a wedding feast?

[12:42] And Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. So as we continue in his word as disciples.

[12:54] Verse 1 of chapter 2. The third day, again, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. So where are we? We've been down in Bethany beyond Jordan.

[13:05] So there's a Bethany, the one where Lazarus, Mary, and Martha lived in, which is about 15 miles outside Jerusalem. A day's walk or day and a half. And then there's Bethany beyond the Jordan, which would be down in the Jordan Valley.

[13:17] And this is where John the Baptist is baptizing. Now Jesus is from Nazareth, which is up in Galilee. We know that Andrew and Philip and Peter are from Bethsaida, which is also on Galilee.

[13:29] And they're going to go to Cana of Galilee, which is very close to Nazareth, up in the hills above the Sea of Galilee. I've been to Israel when I was much younger.

[13:41] I hope to go back someday. And it is a beautiful area. And John is going to focus most of his attention through this book in Jerusalem. Other Gospels are focused up in Galilee.

[13:54] But we do get this snapshot of Jesus going up to Galilee. And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. And we're told this right off. The mother of Jesus was there. John tells us Mary is present.

[14:06] But she's not prominent. It's not like she's co-equal with Jesus or co-redeemer or that she's, this is the mother. She's present, but not prominent. John had a lot of respect for Mary.

[14:18] John the Apostle, it's believed, wrote all of his books, the Gospel of John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John in Revelation, towards the end of his life. And the man lived till like 90 years old.

[14:29] So at this point, all the other Gospels would have been written. That means you had Mary's account of when Gabriel comes, of when she's told that she will conceive and bear forth a child.

[14:41] You have the account of his birth. You have in Luke where Jesus, when he's 12 years old, goes back to Jerusalem with his family. So I think at this point, all that's been written. But John has something special with Mary.

[14:51] Because when Jesus was hanging there on the cross, he made sure to take care of his mom. So John, for the last decades, until Mary has passed away at this point as an old man, he's looking back and he's writing.

[15:27] And he has a lot of respect for Mary. They had a special relationship. He essentially took her into his home. And I think this section of Scripture is John's way of honoring Mary.

[15:38] Saying, hey, you know, we all saw her at the beginning, but look at this. Look at the faithfulness. Look where she's at all of these years later. John presents Mary as Jesus' mother.

[15:50] And as special. But as special as that relationship is, it is nothing more than that. It's nothing more than the mother and son relationship.

[16:01] He doesn't make anything more of it. If you remember when Jesus is, I believe it's in Peter's house in Capernaum. It says that he's teaching his disciples. And someone comes and says, your mother and brothers are without.

[16:12] And they want to talk to you. And Jesus looks around and says, who are my mother and my brothers? And guys are like, well, I just told you they're outside. And he looked at his disciples. He said, these are my mother and my brethren.

[16:25] Those who do the will of my father, which is in heaven. How would you like being that guy to go back out and tell Mary and the boys that? So he's not going to come out. But you can go in.

[16:35] Jesus is changing the relationship here that he's had with Mary, as we're going to see through this text.

[16:47] But John is honoring Mary. And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. The word called means to be invited. It's just an invitation. This is invitation only.

[16:58] They were invited to a marriage feast. You know, a marriage feast is very prominent in Jesus's parables throughout the teachings and the epistles. And then ultimately, when we get to Revelation, the marriage supper of the lamb.

[17:11] Matthew 22. I'll just read it to you. Beginning in verse one. Jesus answered and spake unto them a parable and said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son.

[17:23] And he sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding. He sent forth those to call the ones that were invited. Hey, you received the invitation. You had to save the date. It's time. But they wouldn't come.

[17:36] I mean, then the scripture gives a whole bunch of reasons why they couldn't. They excuses. Why they said they wouldn't come. And then said he to his servants, the wedding is ready.

[17:47] But they which were invited were not worthy. Go you therefore into the highways and as many as you shall find, invite them to the marriage. Invite them to the marriage. Which ultimately Jesus is pointing forward there.

[18:00] Revelation 19. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife has made herself ready. And her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.

[18:13] For the fine linen is a righteousness of the saints. You see, all disciples of Jesus are invited to a wedding feast. Every one of us are invited to a wedding feast as disciples of Jesus.

[18:25] We will all be there at that feast. But what is that feast? What is it in the context here of this chapter? You know, when we were in Revelation 19 on Wednesday nights, we looked at different cultures across the world and how they do marriage.

[18:42] You know, a wedding. A wedding is just the commencement of a marriage. Just the beginning. You know, my favorite was the German tradition where the bride and groom had to cut a log with a two-person saw to represent their first difficulty they had to work through together in marriage.

[18:58] That was great. The Greek one was cool, too. There's a Greek tradition, the money dance. The bride and groom dance and everybody sticks dollars to them. I like that. I wish they did that in my way. Not Greek, but, you know.

[19:09] I wish the Italians did that. So what is a Jewish wedding? What is this feast? Is it at the beginning? Well, a feast, the feast in the context of the ancient Jewish wedding, it's at the end of a seven-day period.

[19:22] A seven-day period in which, before that, the groom has gone and retrieved his bride, as he promised her, after he made the covenant with her of engagement. He said, I will come again and receive you to myself.

[19:34] And he brought her to where he is, his house or the father's house. And at that point, they consummate the marriage and they have like a seven-day mini honeymoon. Or, you know, they go into the bridal chamber.

[19:46] At the end of the seven days, they come out as man and wife and then they celebrate. They have this feast. So Jesus and the disciples and Mary, they're all invited to this feast. Jesus now, as we've said at this point, he's been baptized.

[19:59] He's gone into the wilderness. And he said those famous words that we all like to hold on to. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father. He's anointed for ministry.

[20:11] He's calling disciples to himself. He's ready. And the first thing the Lamb of God, the Word made flesh does, is he goes to a wedding reception. Well, Jesus, what about healing the lame?

[20:23] What about raising the dead? A wedding? You just started your ministry. And the first thing that John the Apostle is going to put in front of us, and the first sign of seven signs that he says, this man is worthy to be believed in, is a wedding feast.

[20:39] Go to a wedding. Why? Why would he do that? Remember in John chapter 1, verse 38, the disciples, when they said, or I mean, sorry, Jesus, when he asked the disciples, what seek you, what did they want to know?

[20:58] Where do you dwell, Jesus? Where is it that you dwell? John 2 is the answer. It's the same answer we saw in John 1, 14.

[21:11] He dwells among us. He dwells among men. Where do you dwell, Jesus? Must be someplace exciting. Must be way out there, probably a crystal palace or something, you know? No, I dwell among men.

[21:24] I dwell among people. Jesus did not come to hold himself apart from all that is human, but he came to bring God into our human experience.

[21:35] And Jesus will go wherever he's invited. He'll go wherever he's invited. Wherever he goes, he brings the fullness of God into that experience. But we got to invite him. Remember in Matthew chapter 9, it says that Jesus was sitting at meat in the house, probably again, Peter's.

[21:52] He spent a lot of time there, whatever house he was in. And many publicans and sinners, they came and sat down with him and his disciples and the Pharisees. They go over to the disciples. I think they're kind of realizing, you don't talk to Jesus.

[22:04] He's going to give you an answer that you can't talk back to. We'll ask the disciples. Hey guys, how come he eats with unwashed hands? And they're probably like, you know, well, I don't know.

[22:17] It says Jesus hearing that, he said to them, they that behold do not need a physician, but those that are sick. Go you and learn what this means.

[22:28] I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. In other words, no amount of sacrifice can make up for a lack of mercy. I'm here for the sake of mercy.

[22:40] You think that by the way you're living your holy sacrificial lives, it can make up for the fact that there is no mercy in your life. And I'm with those who need mercy. That's what Jesus came for.

[22:52] As many as received him, to them gave he power. Become the sons of God. Now, Jesus has been invited to a place where you have completely different levels of understanding. You have Mary's understanding of Jesus.

[23:05] You have the apostles, the disciples are just beginning to come and spend time with Jesus. They're understanding. Whoever he knows that's part of this bridal party or bridegroom party. And then there's people there don't have any idea who he is.

[23:17] They all have different understanding of Jesus. But our first principle of belief is invite Jesus into every situation. No matter what your understanding is of him, invite him in.

[23:29] Invite him into every situation. Did these people know how this would work? Can you imagine the guy who sent out the invitation to Jesus? Little did he know how this would turn out.

[23:41] Did they know? No. But if you believe in Jesus, then you know what he does is going to be good. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, they have no wine.

[23:53] So she comes to him. They've run out of wine. The idea is that someone went back into the kitchen and they're like, Oh, we don't have any left. What are we going to do? And she goes to Jesus and says, Hey, they've run out.

[24:05] So let's address this. Is this wine or is this grape juice? It's wine. It's what it is. Did Jesus drink wine? Jesus, it appears, drank wine. When he took the cup and he said, This is the cup of the new covenant sealed in my blood.

[24:19] As often as you do this, do this remembrance of me. He said, I will not again drink this until I drink it anew in my father's house. For myself, I'm good not drinking it until I do it in his father's house either. And Paul tells us pretty clearly in Timothy that for those who are leaders and elders and pastors in the church, alcohol is not for them.

[24:36] Ephesians 5.18 says, And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. I can tell you this. Jesus was never drunk and Jesus was never tipsy. It's only one spirit that motivated Jesus and controlled Jesus.

[24:47] And it was the Holy Spirit. But at this time, you couldn't just go and drink from the river. It was contaminated. So there would be wine. Yes, it was a lower alcoholic wine.

[24:57] I mean, the children drank it and others drank it. But we're told all through Proverbs, hey, beware of the dangers of wine. You know, we live in a day and age today where it's not a necessity.

[25:09] It's not something that's needed. And for me, it seems that the pitfalls of it are greater than whatever benefits I could derive from it. That's just myself. And also I grew up.

[25:20] I had friends that were conservative Christian families that I grew up with. And their parents, you know, had a glass of wine and that's cool for them. But at a very young age, my friends knew that that was okay.

[25:33] And they couldn't handle it. And I have some now that are not walking with the Lord and they're alcoholics. And they could have still ended up that way. You know, I just don't want to be responsible for stumbling someone.

[25:45] And in a position of ministry, you know, it's not going to do good when it's like a Friday, late Friday afternoon. You know, and I get a call. Hey, you know, my loved one, they're just in a bad accident. They're at the hospital.

[25:56] We don't know how long they're going to last. Could you come pray with the family and just minister to them? And you just had three beers? That's, I don't really want to be in that situation. Right? So for me, it's just like, you know what?

[26:09] I don't need it. I'm good. But yes, it was wine. And yes, Mary was coming to Jesus and saying, they don't have any more Jesus. Now, whatever Mary knew of Jesus or expected of him.

[26:19] I know she's not coming going, oh, I got Jesus. Do that thing you do. Turn it into wine. This is his first miracle. No, he didn't do anything when he was younger. Whatever she knew, she knew enough of Jesus that he was one who acted upon need.

[26:35] She knew Jesus acted upon need. If I tell Jesus there's a need, he'll act upon it. Now in the village of Nazareth, if someone broke a leg or broke an arm and Jesus was available there, did he run over and heal them?

[26:49] No, he did not. Because he did not begin that until now. But do you think he was there helping? Do you think he was one who helped in need? I'm sure he was. I'm sure they knew that Jesus could be counted on in time of need.

[27:01] 1 Peter 5, 7 says, We are to cast all our care upon him because he cares for us. He knows when we're in need.

[27:12] Invite Jesus into every situation, especially into your need. Especially invite him into your need. Running out of wine at this time would have been a social disaster for this young groom.

[27:26] Because an invitation in that culture, it meant that the invited party, if you and I were the invited party, we were adequately prepared for, and we would be adequately cared for.

[27:37] That the idea is, if I'm inviting you, I'm taking care of you. So to run out of wine would have showed either a lack of care or ability. And here, this young couple is beginning their life together in this town.

[27:50] And it was the groom's job. It was his job to supply. We're going to see there's this term, the governor of the feast, or ruler of the feast. Essentially, the groom places everything in the disposal of his friend and says, Hey, you run the show.

[28:02] I don't want to worry about all that. But he supplied it all. Now, in scripture, wine, and in the ancient cultures, it says a couple of symbols. As we saw, it's already linked with the Holy Spirit.

[28:14] Now, we know when Jesus says that no man puts new wine into, say, an old garment. They don't do that either. They put new wine into an old wineskin, because the wine will ferment and expand and burst it.

[28:28] But he puts new wine into a new wineskin. So speaking of the newness of the Holy Spirit, the newness of the new covenant. Do not be drunk with wine. Don't be animated by an alcoholic spirit. Be animated by a Holy Spirit.

[28:39] So in scripture, a lot of times we see wine as a symbol of joy, symbol of the Spirit. And Jesus, more than anyone, understood the importance of joy.

[28:51] Speaking to his disciples in the upper room, he said, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain with you, that your joy might be full. Interesting, he doesn't say that my joy might be full.

[29:02] He didn't say, I left my joy so that my joy might be full. He said, no, I left my joy with you, because I want you to live in fullness of joy. What is joy? Well, it's not something that's extra.

[29:14] It's an essential. It's something that's completely independent of my circumstances. Mary knew where to go when joy was lacking. She went to Jesus. And Jesus says to her, Woman, what have I to do with you?

[29:28] He didn't say it that way, but, you know, tongue in cheek. You know, we may say that in our culture, woman, what do you need? Woman in the Greek is actually a very honoring term.

[29:38] It means my lady. So it'd be more as if he said, my lady, what is it you want of me? What do you need me to do? What is it? Mine hour is not yet come.

[29:51] What does that mean? Well, Jesus uses that a lot to refer to him going to the cross. He's saying his hour of ministry isn't yet come because it is. I think what he's saying is, Mary, what you're looking for from me, what Gabriel promised you, that I would be a king, that would have an everlasting kingdom.

[30:05] It's not come yet, Mary. It's not time for that yet. Jesus is referring to her with a title that is honoring, but is no longer familiar. It's not in a term of familiarity.

[30:16] He didn't say, hey, mom. He said, my lady. He's establishing with her a new relationship, a relationship that has now changed. You see, it was not his mother he must consult before acting, but his father that he would now begin to consult.

[30:33] And Jesus answered and said, truly, truly, I say unto you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do. For what things so he does, these also does the son likewise.

[30:47] Now, Jesus seems like he's telling Mary no, and then he goes and does it. Well, what's happening? Well, he is honoring Mary's. He's going to honor her request because Mary's request lined up with the heart and purposes of his father.

[31:01] What he's telling her is, Mary, there is a higher purpose now. There is a different relationship you and I must have. I have to now begin to operate according to my father's will. You understand when Jesus said, I did not come to be peace, but a sword.

[31:15] You understand when Gabriel said, a sword to Mary, a sword shall pierce through your own soul, Mary. There's a division that happens when we say, I have to follow my father, as opposed to my earthly, familiar, natural relationships.

[31:30] Whatever Mary understood about Jesus and his timetable, she was not going to rush him into ministry or into his purposes. And that is our second principle of belief.

[31:44] We'll have seven of them today. Await Jesus's timing. Await his timing. Invite him into every situation, but then await his timing. Especially when you invite him into your need.

[31:56] Mary had to await Jesus's timing and the father's approval. Verse five. Now his mother, I love this. She's like, okay. And she turns to the servants that are there, you know, the help that are helping at this, you know, at the pastor's conference in the kitchen.

[32:13] She's like, Hey, whatever he says to you, look at, we've, we've run out of pulled pork, whatever. Well, Jesus, they wouldn't have been eating pulled pork back then guys. That would definitely be a Gentile scenario at the church.

[32:26] Stick to your nose, Jared. His mother said to the servants, whatever he says unto you, do it, do it. Did she know exactly what Jesus was going to do? Guys, he's going to turn this water into.

[32:37] No, she had no clue, but she learned by experience that doing what Jesus said is always a good thing. Hey, whatever Jesus said, do it, do it.

[32:48] It sounds like a command, but what she's doing is she's inviting. She's giving an invitation. She's saying, Hey, come and experience the word made flesh. Whoso keeps his word in him, verily is the love of God perfected says first John two, five.

[33:02] That's our third principle of belief. That's kind of an obvious one. Do whatever Jesus says. Invite him into every situation. Await his timing and do what he says.

[33:13] We don't have many words of Mary in scripture other than, you know, what they call her, uh, magnificent, make, magnificent where she, um, when she goes and she meets Elizabeth.

[33:27] And then it says that, you know, John the Baptist leapt in Elizabeth's womb. And she's in Elizabeth says, what is this that the mother of my Lord should come to me? And then Mary just as love and just pours out praise to the Lord.

[33:39] We don't have a lot. We have in, when Jesus is 12, she says, didn't you know that your father and I would be looking for you? And we've been worried out of our mind. I mean, we lost Jesus. We just lost the Messiah. Okay.

[33:50] It's not good. That's probably, Joseph died an early age because it's just stressed and we won't see Joseph. We won't. We don't see him. It seems like he's removed from the picture.

[34:00] He's probably passed on. Um, but believe our third principle of leave, do what he says. Mary doesn't have a lot of words, but 30 years after Gabriel's pronouncement of Jesus is miraculous birth.

[34:13] She has lived with Jesus now all this time. And she tells us two things, bring your needs to Jesus and do whatever. He says, take your need to Jesus and do whatever he says.

[34:27] You know what? I hope at that point in my walk as a disciple and I'm sun setting. And my last words are essentially take it to Jesus and do what he says.

[34:39] And between now and then, I want my words to be the same. These servants now have a choice. They have a choice of whether they were healer, whether they will hear and obey to hear and obey Jesus.

[34:50] Not yet. Hear and obey Mary. Mary, like Andrew and like Philip, Andrew, who invites Peter, Philip, who invites Nathaniel. They are inviting someone.

[35:01] She is inviting these servants to come and see, or in this case, to come in here. Hey, do what he says. And how many times do I miss out? I'm hearing the words of Jesus because I won't first hear the words of his disciples.

[35:16] Because the disciple comes and says, and I said, well, yeah, but that's just you. You know, I mean, I'm going to wait till the Lord says it to me. And the Lord's like, I got a lot I would say to you. But man, if you're not going to listen to him, you're not going to listen to that sister.

[35:28] If you're not going to listen to that person. If you're not going to listen to my disciples, you're not going to listen to the master. How many times do I refuse to hear the words of Jesus or never even get to them because I won't hear the words of his disciples.

[35:41] And there were there six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews containing two or three firkins apiece. What is this? These six pots.

[35:53] Well, they were for the purifying of the Jews. If you remember Matthew 15, again, the scribes and Pharisees, they come to the disciples and they say, Oh, Oh my word.

[36:05] You're transgressing the tradition of the elders because you're eating with unwashed hands. This time they asked Jesus, Why? How come you let them do that? They're eating bread without washing their hands. And it wasn't that they said dirty hands and the Pharisees were so concerned about germs.

[36:20] It was there's a ritual, a ceremonial cleansing where you would use this water that was purified and you would dump it over your hands. You'd let it kind of run off of your elbows. It would be a very specific way that you would show that you are ritually clean to eat and you would not contaminate yourself ritually.

[36:35] So it's connected with the law. It's a ceremonial cleansing. And it's stone. In Leviticus, stone is one of the items that cannot be contaminated. So if you have leprosy and you're, sorry, you're oozing sore, gets into your clothes, the clothes are to be burned.

[36:54] You can't cleanse them. But if it's stone, it can be ceremonially cleansed again because it doesn't absorb. And we also see here, how many are there? Six, which is the number of incompletion, number of man.

[37:07] There's these six pots of stone. And they have two or three firkins. How many of you use firkins still today? Nope. That's about 20 or 30 gallons a piece. So 160 to 180 gallons total of water when filled up.

[37:22] And it says here that they are at hand. They are set there. That literally means they are at hand. Jesus uses what is at hand to meet need. Mary comes and says, there's, there's no wine.

[37:34] Do whatever he says. All right, guys, run to Harris Teeter. Here's the, here's the church card. Let's now that may be the thing at hand. And that is for us. It's right over there. But Jesus just uses what's at hand.

[37:47] You see, Jesus is never limited by lack. There is no lack with Jesus. They lacked fill in the blank. And Jesus wasn't like, Oh no, I need resources.

[37:58] No, he's never limited by lack. Philippians 4, 19, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches. They are always at his disposal.

[38:09] And they are not dependent on anything that's here. They're in glory by Christ Jesus. We're not too surprised when Jesus does the extraordinary. He's Jesus. We expect him to do the extraordinary.

[38:22] What is surprising is how often he does the extraordinary through the ordinary. They're out of wine. Well, there's some water. I wonder what I can do with that.

[38:33] Jesus, Jesus, these people send them away so they can find something to eat. Hey, bring that kid's lunch here. Some loaves and fishes. Jesus healed with a ritual, with a magic potion, just a touch, just a word.

[38:51] Something so ordinary. Jesus removed sin with the broken and crucified body of a criminal. Something so commonplace, so ordinary.

[39:03] And look around guys, because we're pretty ordinary. No, I think you're pretty extraordinary in Christ, but we're just ordinary people in this world. And yet he's making disciples.

[39:14] Jesus takes something ordinary and he turns it into the extraordinary. Jesus says unto these servants, fill the water pots with water. Well, that's pretty logical. And they filled them.

[39:27] How far? To the brim. And that is our fourth principle of belief. Obey Jesus to the max. Obey him to the max. Remember in second Kings chapter four, of course, y'all remember that, right?

[39:40] Or in Elisha's ministry, this woman comes to him and she says, Hey, I am of a widow of the sons of the prophets. Elisha had made a Bible school, set up a school to like pass on and teach the sons of the prophets.

[39:52] And this woman, she was, you know, she was living on a profit salary. It's not much. And he passes away and she had all these debts. And in that time, the way that you would clear your debts is they would come and take your kids into indentured servanthood as a bond servant.

[40:07] She says to Elisha, you know that my husband was a faithful servant of the Lord. What do I do? He says, what do you have in hand? What do you have in the house? And she's like, well, I was hoping you just write me a check.

[40:19] What do you have? And she's like, I just got a pot of oil. He's like, all right, go and borrow from all of your neighbors. And he says, and borrow not a few. Don't just get one or two.

[40:31] Now, if she had gotten one or two, what would have happened? She would have filled those one or two pots. They would have miraculously filled and she could have sold them, but it wouldn't have been enough to meet the need. He says, borrow not a few.

[40:42] And when you come into your house, close the door upon you and your sons and pour out the oil. And so she took her one jar and just kept pouring it out and pouring it out until everyone was filled. And when the vessels were full, she said under her son, bring me another one.

[40:56] And he said, there are no more. And then the oil stayed. As long as she kept supplying a vessel, it kept filling. Obey Jesus to the max.

[41:08] Be a vessel that says, come on, Jesus, fill me again. Use me again. And he said under her, there is not another vessel. And so the oil stayed. And then she came and told the man of God.

[41:19] And he said, go and sell the oil and pay your debt and live you and your children off the rest. So she goes and sells it, pays her debt, whatever's left. She now has got an olive oil shop, you know, where she's selling and living off the rest.

[41:34] How sad if she had just grabbed one or two pots and said, well, I don't know. We'll see what happens. How sad if one of these servants or the servants, all of them were like, well, there's enough water in there.

[41:47] Fill them up to the brim. We know what's going to happen. They don't have a clue. They've just been told by Jesus who married. Well, they're told by Mary, obey him.

[41:58] So like I said, this is a town that's close to knit community. It's close to Nazareth. They seem to know who Mary is. They're going to listen to her. But in reality, guys, what is 180 gallons of water going to do to help me to lack of wine?

[42:12] Nothing. What is prayer going to do? I have needs. You just want to pray for me and give me some money, do something, heal me, help me.

[42:23] What is 180 gallons of water going to do? Jesus does so much with something that seems so normal. And he said unto them in verse eight, draw out now and take it to the governor of the feast.

[42:39] And the most remarkable text sentence in this whole text is, they bear it. very often, the moment of crisis for our faith is when it's tested before others.

[42:51] It's easy to obey when it's just you and Jesus easy to obey. When it's maybe you, Jesus, and those that are in the know, right? Right? But am I prepared to obey?

[43:03] When Jesus asked me to draw out my faith before those who are not in the know, when I'm being asked to do something where there's no evidence, faith is a substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.

[43:15] That's our fifth principle of belief today. Obey Jesus. When all evidence is to the contrary, that's faith.

[43:26] That's faith. Obey. When all evidence is to the contrary, what is the evidence that we need? And that we have, it's his word. It's his word. We are to obey Jesus.

[43:36] Even when what he says does not make sense or have understanding to us. These men and women, whoever was there as servants, it's remarkable that they would draw out and bear.

[43:54] When did it turn to wine? Was it in the pots when they filled it? He said, draw it. They look in the, it's wine. Wasn't they draw it out and they poured it in? And they're going to turn to the cup. It's wine. No, it could be, could have been.

[44:06] Cause it's going to say, um, essentially they're going to come back to it and give everybody this. So is it just the servants that are coming back and scooping out water and handing people wine?

[44:17] And every time they're going, it worked again. Or did the whole thing turn to wine? Or was it all water until they handed it to the guy? And then it all turned to wine. I don't know, but I like to think because I think of myself and how slow I am to respond to the Lord's words sometimes.

[44:34] And you scoop it out and it's water and you put it in the cup and it's water. And Jesus says, now go give it, go give it to that guy. Who has no idea what's going on. Like, Lord, this, this is my job on the line.

[44:47] This is my reputation. This it's water. Can I, can I taste it? And he goes and he's carrying it and he gives it to him. And I picture him in one of the reasons I think it didn't change right away to wine.

[44:59] Cause you don't see the servants going, you won't believe what just happened. This is the water to wine. I think they're like, I think they probably said, Hey, there's a guy over named Jesus. He said to give this to you, you know, here.

[45:11] And the guy drank goes, wow, this is the best wine ever. Give me that cup. Really? It's just, I don't know. The timing, the direction all belong to Jesus.

[45:23] What belongs to the servants? What belongs to us? The action belongs to us. The timing, the direction is all Jesus is. He said, bear out.

[45:34] It's his direction. And they bear out. He said, draw out. I'm sorry. Draw out now and take it. Now, Jesus, now. The timing and direction is all Jesus is.

[45:47] Why? Because we're waiting on him. We're waiting his timing. But when he says, obey, let's obey to the max. And when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not where it came from, but the servants, which drew out the water knew.

[46:03] The governor of the feast then calls the bridegroom. Those who served, they alone understood the source of fulfillment. They alone understood where this came from.

[46:15] Was the, were the guests blessed? Yeah. Was the bridegroom blessed? Sure was. Was the governor of the feast? They all received the blessing. They all received the fullness, but none of them knew where it came from.

[46:26] Only those who chose to serve knew. Obedience brings understanding. We are to obey Jesus, even when we don't understand, but he doesn't leave us without understanding.

[46:39] He simply says, I want you to believe in me. I want you to believe in me and obey me in response to that. Understanding will come. Hebrews 10 36, one of my favorite scriptures of a list of, I don't know how many, for you have need of patience that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

[46:58] Boy, I wish it was the other way around. You might receive the promise first, then go and do the will. Lord, just give me everything I need. Show me it's going to work out and we'll go and do it.

[47:09] After you've done the will of God, be patient. How many times do I bail? Cause God, I did your will and I just don't see it coming to pass. I got to figure out a way to make this happen. And I got to step in and do this myself.

[47:22] He might receive the promise. Then Hosea 6 3 says, then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. Understanding will come, but it comes after obedience.

[47:36] Obedience brings understanding, opens the door for understanding. It was those who heard those who believed and those who've obeyed. They received more than just a blessing.

[47:46] They also received understanding. It's not enough. To just have understanding. If that leads to a lack of obedience, a lack of belief.

[48:02] So yeah, yeah, I've studied for years. Oh, what great. How are you involved with the body? Oh, I don't go to church. I'm not involved anyway, but I'm a good disciple. Well, a disciple of Jesus is kind of close to Jesus.

[48:13] His heart, his word, and his body. The results of serving Jesus. I love this. This is one of my favorite parts of this whole thing. And he said, every man at the beginning does set forth good wine.

[48:24] And then when they have well drunk, then that, which is worse. Cause yeah, the more you drink, the less you're going to know what you're drinking, but you've kept the good wine until now. He calls the bridegroom over.

[48:36] Jesus did the miracle. Jesus is the one who supplied all this. These men serve Jesus. And the result of serving Jesus was that the bridegroom received the praise. Bridegroom receives the praise.

[48:48] I want the result of my service to Jesus. Be that the bridegroom receives the praise. I don't care if someone knows. Well, like we said last week, no one's giving John the Baptist credit.

[49:00] You know, Hey, I found him. The disciples, they're all leaving to follow Jesus. That's great. That's wonderful. The result of serving Jesus is that the bridegroom received the praise. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him.

[49:14] For the marriage of the lamb has come. It's his honor. It's all for him. The bridegroom was responsible to invite the guest to supply for his guests and to get his bride.

[49:26] And all honor is due him. And the ruler of the feast or whoever is probably like his best man. He's like, dude, you didn't tell me you were going to do this. This isn't what we usually do.

[49:40] What does it say here? Every man, every man at the beginning, man, but Jesus wasn't just a man, was he? Jesus was different than man.

[49:51] No matter how well intentioned man can never make better. And yet with Jesus, there's no worse. Man can never make better. He tries to maintain, but man can't make better.

[50:02] It always goes down. And yet in Jesus, there is no worse. And that is our sixth principle of belief. With Jesus, the best is yet to come.

[50:13] The best is yet to come. He said, whoa, I didn't know you were going to do. You saved the best for last. I didn't know this was coming, but you have kept the good wine until now.

[50:27] Those who have believed Jesus, followed Jesus, and obeyed Jesus, they can always be assured that there will come a now for them as well.

[50:39] You see, there may be good things in our lives that we feel are being withheld. Now. We feel like, God, why is this being withheld now?

[50:49] Why is this good thing now? Why is it, is it being saved for later? I mean, why can't I have it now? But there will come a now. There will be a now. Those who believe Jesus, follow Jesus, and obey Jesus, there will be a now where Jesus brings fulfillment.

[51:04] But we await his timing. Psalm 84, 11, for the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing. Will he withhold from them that walk up rightly?

[51:17] He will not withhold it. He might put it off a little. For our good, for our blessing, for our benefit. But he will not withhold it.

[51:29] And here in our text this morning, we see that the good wine, the new wine, it was kept until now. Because only Jesus can take something both clean and pure, but what could not fulfill the water of the law, and turn it into something that brings both joy and fulfillment, the new covenant of grace.

[51:50] Jesus begins to manifest himself forth. He said, hey, that old, unfulfilling, ceremonial, it's clean, it's pure, it's good, but it's not going to fulfill. Jesus, the new wine, is kept until now, because he alone can institute that new covenant.

[52:09] And yet, remarkably, he didn't use his own hands. Fill it with water, guys. Thank you. I'm going to go and give this to the governor of the feast. He didn't use his own hands to administrate this joy.

[52:22] He didn't use his own hands to bring this fulfillment. He invited those who served to take part in this new service, not of ceremony, but of grace, of unlooked for blessing, joy and fulfillment.

[52:35] It's like, hey, you, you go and take it. I want you to experience this. Oh, it's going to be amazing. Now, it doesn't say this, but I imagine we're going to get to the kingdom someday. And at that marriage feast of the lamb, we're going to be like, you were one of the servants, weren't you?

[52:49] You follow. Oh yeah. I followed Jesus after that for sure. You know that they, some of those guys ended up. Romans seven, six says, but now we are delivered from the law that being dead, wherein we were held, that we should serve.

[53:05] We should serve in newness of spirits, a new wine, and not in the oldness of the letter. It was a good thing. It was a pure thing, but it's based on ceremony. Now we have a relationship, relationship where in Galatians four, seven, we're told that we're no more servants, but we're sons.

[53:26] And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. And this beginning of miracles, beginning of signs, did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and he manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him.

[53:42] I guess they did. What was his glory? Do you remember? We beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten son of the father, full of grace and truth.

[53:54] And he manifested forth his glory. Grace and truth were displayed at a marriage feast by the word of Jesus, the work of Jesus, and the willingness of those who chose to believe, follow, and obey.

[54:07] Jesus displayed his grace, his glory. It's no different today. Grace and truth can be displayed through us, through the most simple of things. A wedding feast. I'll bring your lunch to church Sunday.

[54:19] To those who believe, follow, and obey. You know, this beginning of Jesus's glory, this manifestation, it took part in something that was completely unnecessary.

[54:32] It was part of something that wasn't necessary. Was wine necessary? Did Jesus need to do that? This person's going to die. It was, it was kind of superfluous. It was kind of just like extra, but it's full of compassion.

[54:44] It was to save someone's reputation. It was to bring joy. It involved the cooperation of others. It was a blessing to believer and unbeliever alike.

[54:55] Not everybody there was a believer in Jesus. Jesus will bring joy, and he will manifest his glory into the most trivial of things in our lives.

[55:06] He's only waiting for an invitation. We invite him in, he will bring glory. He will manifest his grace and his truth, and he'll bring joy and fulfillment into the most trivial things.

[55:17] Jesus, shouldn't we be marching on Rome? Shouldn't we be putting down the Pharisees? Shouldn't we be, no, let's just go and make this day a blessing for all involved, for the couple that are getting married, for those that are there, for these servants.

[55:32] Let's blow their minds. Did the disciples believe before this? Yes, as we said in the beginning, of course they did. This is not a beginning, but just a continuation of belief. The disciples, along with these servants, they learned our seventh principle of belief.

[55:52] Believing in Jesus, it gives us opportunity for working with Jesus. When we put our faith in Christ, he will give us opportunities to be part of what he's doing, to work with him.

[56:03] For him? Yes, but it's with him. We are with him and he's with us. How wonderful to be there and have Jesus tell you, do this in this time and in this way to that person.

[56:16] Whoa! That would make ministry great. But he does that in our lives if we let him. Now he may do it through the voice of a disciple that we got to be willing to listen to.

[56:28] Hey, you know what? Have you thought of doing it this way? You know, I haven't thought of that. I don't really understand that or see the evidence of that. But I feel like the Lord, I just think the Lord's telling me to step by faith in that.

[56:41] Second Timothy, Paul writes to his young protege at the end of his life and he speaks to him kind of hearkening back to this vessel used in the law, this ceremonial vessel and he says, if a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and ready for the master's use and prepared unto every good work.

[57:04] We can be those vessels prepared for his use, his timing and in his way. Purge just means to cleanse, means to be washed and Jesus can do an awful lot with water.

[57:18] And after this, our last verse for today, he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples and they continued there not many days. Matthew chapter four tells us the same thing in verse 13.

[57:31] And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zebulun and Nephtalem. So Jesus now goes down. The wording there is such that he went down to Capernaum and so everybody followed him.

[57:45] His whole family followed him. It says, they continued there not many days, meaning they didn't stay there very long. And we know from the other gospels, Jesus will be in all over Galilee doing ministry.

[57:56] The calling of Jesus will eventually pull him further away from his family. It will ultimately create this divide between him and his family, but it will also give opportunity to bring them back in a relationship closer than they've ever had with him, with an understanding that they've never had before.

[58:14] But I like this because God's work is done with grace, with consideration and understanding. Jesus didn't just say, see you mom, bye bros, I'm out of here. No, he's still kind of caring for the family.

[58:27] He's still, okay guys, I'm going to Capernaum. You come with me. God works in stages. He's so gracious. He has such consideration and understanding as he begins this ministry. Now Jesus wouldn't stay long, not because he didn't want to be with his family, but because he knew he was called to go and offer an invitation to all who desire to be part of a heavenly family.

[58:49] He says, hey, I can't, I can't stay with you long. I love you, but I have a greater calling. I have to go and offer an invitation to a heavenly family. This morning, guys, Jesus has invited us to be part of his life, part of his work, and yes, part of his marriage.

[59:06] Jesus has invited us. Revelation 22, 17, and the spirit and the bride say, come, and let him that hears say, come, and I love it, ties it all together with the water, and let him that is a thirst, and whoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

[59:23] It's not in a stone jar. It comes from a living source, a living fountain that will well up within us unto everlasting life. Our faith is by invitation only, but the question of invitation for the disciple, it's not awaiting a request from Jesus.

[59:42] The invitation request is not from Jesus. That's been given. We've responded. The question of invitation that's waiting is from us.

[59:53] Will I invite Jesus in my life into my life and walk? Will I, like the disciples, continue to believe in? Will I continue to invite him in?

[60:04] A disciple is one who continues to respond to the invitation of Jesus to come and see. Jesus says daily in my life, Jared, come and see. I invite you, come and see. Well, am I willing to turn around and say, hey Jesus, will you come and see about this?

[60:20] I don't know what to do here. Will you come into my situation? Lord, I have a need. I don't see anything at hand that can fix it, that can help. I don't know how this could even work.

[60:33] Can I invite you into this situation, Jesus? Can you do something remarkable with something so ordinary? this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifest his glory and his disciples believed in him.

[60:53] How did they believe in him? How did this manifestation of Jesus' glory, his grace and truth, how did they believe in him? A wedding feast resulted in faith? I think it did.

[61:05] I think through this, the disciples saw that they should invite Jesus into every situation. I think the disciples saw that they should await Jesus' timing.

[61:17] I think they believed in him again and said, we're going to do whatever Jesus says and by golly, we're going to do it to the max. And guys, that's definitely something we have to continue in because we're going to see these disciples are all over the place and as a disciple, I am too.

[61:31] One day I'm obeying to the max and the next, I'm in the max of despair. Nothing can help this situation. Obey Jesus when all evidence is to the contrary.

[61:44] There will come a point where Jesus will say after he's spoken regarding his own body and he'll say, hey, unless you take eat of this, my body, you have no part in me. And the disciples following him, the multitude of disciples, they'll say, this is a hard saying.

[61:57] Who can know what he's talking about? And at that time, many of them began to turn and leave and not follow. And he turns to his 12 and he says, are you also going to go away?

[62:10] And Peter said, look, Lord, where else are we going to go? You have the words of life. We don't understand what you say half the time, but they're words of life.

[62:21] I don't found any anywhere else. Where am I going to go? We're going to obey you and all evidence is to the contrary. And with Jesus, the disciples learned, man, the best is yet to come.

[62:33] Best is not behind us. It's yet to come. It doesn't matter what it was in the past. It doesn't matter how good the past was and how bad things seem right now. The best is still yet to come in Christ.

[62:46] Believing in Jesus does something that nothing else would ever do. You can't go and sign up for it. You can't convince God to hire you because of your resume. Only believing in Jesus gives us opportunity for working with Jesus.

[63:00] And I think the last word that Jesus would speak to us today is, and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. God wants us to live in fullness of joy.

[63:12] How do we do that? By continuing to believe in him. He's worth believing in. Amen? Amen. You know, if this morning you find yourself at a crossroads in any one of these seven points, it's so simple.

[63:35] It's so simple. As Mary said, hey, take it to Jesus and do what he says. Whatever it is, take it to Jesus and do what he says.

[63:49] Whether you understand it, whether you can figure it out, believe in him. Faith comes not by hearing. I mean, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God.

[63:59] We do not see to believe. We believe because we know if God has said it, we're going to see it. So I can believe it. Amen. Father, as we close now on this wonderful section of scripture, Lord, this beautiful account, Lord, of you beginning your signs.

[64:20] Lord, it just shows us how wonderful your word is, how deep and how rich and how alive it is. Because Lord, at a quick glance, you can read through those 12 verses in about five to six minutes. How does this show anything about Jesus?

[64:35] And Lord, as we begin to look in it and tear it apart and we see this heart of a man, not who became God, but a God who became a man. And he shows us a heart that responds to need, that's considerate and compassionate, that wants people to live in joy that recognizes not everybody understands, but everybody has need.

[65:03] Who loves us so much that not only would he give his life, but he would give his time and his energy to something that seemed like it didn't even need to happen.

[65:15] But I don't know in everyone's life here what that thing is that needs transforming this morning. You do, Lord.

[65:29] Lord, if you can turn water to wine and you can turn a hard heart into a living heart, Lord, what can we not bring to you, give to you, and let you transform?

[65:43] Would you please do that transforming work in us, Lord? And Lord, as we go about our weeks this week, our days this week, that we'd be filled with fullness of joy, that our joy would be full because you've given us your joy.

[65:55] And Lord, you give it to the max. Thank you, Jesus. We love you. In Jesus' name. Amen. You know, I think the Lord has one final word for us.

[66:06] And I think it's this. Whatever you just gave to him, you gave it to him to do what he says, he wants to do a transforming work just as he turned the water to wine.

[66:18] But the next step is to draw and bear. See, as disciples, that's what we do. We take what Jesus gives us, what he's transformed, and we go and we give it to someone else. So I don't know what that is, but I know the word is, man, take what you have, what Jesus has given you, and be prepared to draw it out.

[66:37] Sometimes you gotta draw it out and give it to someone else who needs it. Amen. If you want to have lunch and you haven't brought lunch, go next door. We don't got water and he's turning in anything, but we got peanut butter and jelly.

[66:52] And the Lord can turn that into something wonderful. He can turn it into a moment where maybe a connection with a disciple is just what you needed, right? The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

[67:04] The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace and fullness of joy. Amen. God bless y'all.