Relate Community Church
Relate Community Church
Jesus's First Party Trick: From Empty Cups to Kingdom Glory
You may be one small act of obedience away from witnessing God's supernatural power transform your ordinary life into something extraordinary. When Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana—His very first recorded miracle—He demonstrated that nothing in our lives is too insignificant for His attention and intervention.
The wedding servants faced a seemingly pointless task: filling massive water pots when what they needed was wine. Their confusion likely mirrored what many of us feel when God's instructions don't immediately solve our problems. Yet their simple obedience to Mary's direction—"Whatever He says to you, do it"—positioned them to witness a miracle firsthand.
What speaks volumes is that Jesus chose this social predicament for His first miracle rather than something more dramatic like healing or resurrection. This reveals His deep care for what we might dismiss as "not important enough" to bring before Him. Your marriage struggles, parenting challenges, workplace frustrations, and personal doubts all matter to Him.
The pathway to experiencing God's miraculous intervention requires proximity—getting close enough to hear His voice amid life's noise. Many believers remain spiritually confused simply because they're not leaning in to listen. That still, small voice is speaking, directing you toward steps that may seem impractical but will ultimately reveal His power. Remember: you can't reach the impossible if you're not willing to do the impractical.
Are you holding that half-filled bucket, questioning why you should continue? Maybe you've been faithful in Bible reading, tithing, serving, or maintaining boundaries—yet seeing no results. Take heart and keep filling your water pots to the brim. Our responsibility is obedience; God's responsibility is the outcome. The miracle always looks foolish until it's finished.
Ready to see God work? Step closer, listen carefully, and do whatever He tells you—no matter how mundane it seems. Your miracle awaits.
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Today we're in the week number three of a series called God of Miracles and I'm excited about what God's doing because I'm asking you as well as myself. We're raising our expectation of what God can do between now, not just to see a big Easter, but I want to see God touch lives. God transform lives. There's no point in serving a God that's not supernatural. God transformed lives. There's no point in serving a God that's not supernatural. There's no point in serving a God that doesn't do miracles, because if he doesn't do miracles, he's not God. So, all right, we're going to bring it down for a minute. We're just going to slow down for a second and then we'll get right back to it. But first I want to say welcome. If you are a guest today, welcome. I love that we are a church that you can come and just kick the tires. There'll never be pressure for you to do. Sometimes God puts pressure on us, but you're not going to get pressure from me and you're not going to get pressure from our team. We call it our no-hassle guarantee. We're not going to pressure you to give or serve or do all those things, but you can do them when you're ready. The door is open to you and I'm thrilled that we get to do like. These are the seasons this season that we're in that I love so much we get to do things in the community and give away. Listen, almost nothing makes me more excited than free barbecue and free toys for kids, because there's going to be people here who would never go to church, they would never show up at a church, but all of a sudden they're going to come for barbecue and they're going to come for toys. It's almost like a bait and switch. We're going to give them hey, here's some toys, but Jesus also, here's some barbecue. Feed your whole family, but also you know what? Jesus will change your life. So that makes me so excited to be able to do those things and to be able to have a building that we can like.
Speaker 1:We struggled for almost seven years in portable spaces trying to find a place that would let us do God's work or we were willing to pay. But even still, I remember when we first decided to, we were trying to baptize people. We just wanted to baptize people and they told us under no circumstances at the theater can you baptize someone. And I said I think we can figure out how to do it. We were just trying to sneak away to baptize someone and we ended up doing it in just everywhere and just everywhere. I think we were baptizing people in bathtubs, swimming pools and the beach and lakes and the retention pond in some of y'all's neighborhoods. They told us we could not put a baptismal on the property at the theater. And we tried to. We put it on a trailer. Maybe Then it would just sneak it in. They wouldn't have it, they were watching. So I'm thrilled that we can do.
Speaker 1:And, guys, I got to tell you all a testimony. We've been trying to buy a baptismal tank and for seven years I've been trying to get a specific baptismal tank. And about three months ago a pastor told me look, I have one of those. If you want to, you have to come and pick it up, but you can have it. And so two weeks from now I'm going to pick up our $5,000 baptismal tank. It doesn't really matter what it's in, but it is thrilling whenever you see God show up and answer prayers and I said I want this specific one. We have a portable hot tub that's about this tall and anytime someone gets in we have to dunk them three or four times to make sure they get all the way underneath the water. I better go or else we'll never get through the message today, but I'm so excited about what God is doing. I feel like every time we turn around, god is answering your prayers and mine, and we're reaching to see more and more and more people transform.
Speaker 1:If you guys remember, we started the beginning of this year and we had a word that I told you was God's word for us, and what was it? Stretch. We're believing that God is stretching us for more, for our emotional intelligence, for our spiritual depth, for our faith to be stretched, for God to do more in us. That's what this series is about. We're in week number three, so I'll give you our theme verse here in John, chapter 20, verse 30. If you're a note-taker which I hope you are because we are a note-taking church pull out your notes.
Speaker 1:John 20, 30 says Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book, but these are written to reasons that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Everybody say so that I'll believe. He wants you to believe, he wants your faith to stretch, that you can believe that he's the messiah and that by believing you may have life in his name. God has more for me. Say that out loud. God has more for me. So wherever you are at in your faith, wherever you're at in your belief that god can use you, touch you, answer your prayers, the the things that he has for you, you just have to understand that he has more for you.
Speaker 1:So there are 37 recorded miracles that Jesus did and we only have a very small window into his life. In the 1,255 days or so that we know he was three and a half years that he did ministry, we only have about 50 of those days can be accounted for. 30 to 50 of those days can be accounted for. We have 37 actual miracles recorded in the four gospels and my hope is that during this series, you're grabbing a hold of these miracles. You're grabbing a hold of the signs and making them yours and putting them in your heart and carrying them with you so that your faith is lifted, so that we can expect miracles for our own lives and around us. We can inspire others. So, if you weren't here, for the last two weeks we've talked about a few different miracles, but today we're diving into the water to wine.
Speaker 1:Miracle Jesus' very first miracle at a wedding in Cana. And so we're just going to start reading. Very first miracle at a wedding in Cana. And so we're just going to start reading and go through. I'm going to take you through the passage and then we're going to unpack it a little bit and figure out what it means for us. So John, chapter 2, first miracle of Jesus. The book of John, chapter 2, verse 1. You got your Bibles. You can open them.
Speaker 1:On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. So first things first. This was an important moment. This was a big day for someone. We all know that. My daughter is 21 years old and she's getting married in November. And Jackson sitting right here. They're going to get married and that is her day. Jackson, don't let anybody fool you, it's her day. It and that is her day. Jackson, don't let anybody fool you, it's her day, it's the bride's day. But listen, it was a big day for a lot of people.
Speaker 1:In fact, in those days, the Jewish tradition was a seven-day wedding ceremony, feasts and celebrations. And on the third day this is the third day that we're coming into it and we know that Jesus' mother was there. Jesus was there and his disciples were there. So theologians and people who study this will give us this idea that it could have been someone important's wedding. It could have been someone, a celebrity of the time or someone from the temple or someone that was important, but it also could have been one of the disciples, because it was unlikely that maybe all the disciples and Jesus and his mother would have all been there. So this is someone. This is a big moment for the community for them to all be there.
Speaker 1:And then something terrible and scandalous happens on day three of a seven-day program Watch this, john, chapter 2, verse 3 and verse 3, and when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him watch this, they have no wine. Jesus said to him watch this, they have no wine. Now I could tell you from experience. I didn't used to know this. I've learned this. I've been married for 25 years and before I got married I didn't know this, but now I've learned it, and I've learned it well, because I have a wife of 25 years, I have a mother-in-law that just moved in with us, which I love, and I have a daughter that just moved out, who's 21, and a bunch of other women in my life, and I know that sometimes they say something and they mean something else and all the men in the house said amen, y'all know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:She said they have no wine, but I imagine she gave them a little look because she knew this either meant that the people who were putting on the wedding didn't prepare well, like they knew they were going seven days but they only prepared for three days, or it's likely that maybe some of them partied like some of you party, and they did seven days worth of partying in three days and all of a sudden they're out of wine. I don't know, for some reason they were out, but in that moment Mary says something to her son, jesus, because she knows that he's capable of more than meets the eye. She has an expectation that's up here. Everybody else's expectation is here, and when she says they have no wine, she actually means something else that I was thinking this week of all the things that my wife and other women in my life have told me and I knew that's not what they meant Including, sometimes on a Sunday morning, my daughter, who has somehow become my fashion expert. She oh, are you wearing that, dad? Are you wearing that? That's not what she means, right? She's not asking are you wearing that? So I can say, yeah, I was going to wear this because I picked it out myself. What she actually means is don't wear that.
Speaker 1:Or if she says if your wife, jackson, pay attention, you need this decoding of the female, you need this decoding of the female vernacular, here we go. Do you like my hair now the way it is or the way it used to be before I got it cut? Y'all know what the answer is. The answer is always I like it now much better. I like what you've done with it. The color is great. You cut it so short, but it's beautiful with it. The color is great. You cut it so short, but it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:If she says, of course I'm not mad at you, she actually means of course I'm mad at you. You fool. If she says I'll be ready in 10 minutes, kenny, come on man. She don't mean I'll be ready. She never means 10 minutes. It's 45 minutes if you're lucky, and the last one, no, of course I don't mind if you cancel our date night and go out with your friends tonight instead, if you hear that, you just better. That's not what she means. She means we had plans and I'll never, ever, ever let you forget it if you don't keep our plans together, because I've been thinking about it and planning for it for days now.
Speaker 1:So sometimes we say things that mean a different thing, and that's what happens here, because Mary says they have no wine. That's what happens here, because Mary says they have no wine. And I want you to pay really close attention to what Jesus' response is. Because, men, this is what you say when your wife tells you something, or a woman tells you something that you don't quite know what the answer is. Jesus gives us a great rationality here. He says Jesus said to her Woman what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. I will just tell you, write it in your notes do not say that unless you're the son of God. That's the only. Don't say that. But he tells his mom because why? Because he's been. It's almost like Jesus has been in hiding. Jesus has been in preparation. He's been growing in strength and wisdom and being prepared for the moment when his ministry will begin.
Speaker 1:And Jesus is saying this is not my time, but something happens in between, when mom says, hey, they have no wine, and she gives him the look, and then Jesus says, woman, this is not my time, I can't do this right now. You know what I could do, but I can't do it right now, and I imagine this is not in the Bible. But I imagine she gives him a look that I've seen so many times. She gives him a look and it's like she doesn't have to say anything, she just looks at him and then she says do something. And then she turns to the servants, and I think this is where all of us have to pay attention. This is what I want you to take with you today. I want you to put this phrase in your heart what she says to the servants, his mother said to the servants whatever he says to you, do it. Whatever he says to you, do it. Some of y'all are getting it. Whatever he says to you, do it.
Speaker 1:If I could tell you today that God wants to tell you some things, the Lord's speaking into your heart, I hope that by the time you leave this place, anytime you're in this place, anytime I'm speaking, anytime you open up the Bible, I hope you're not hearing me. I hope that you're listening, for the Holy Spirit and His voice is telling you something and you're prepared to do it, because it's not about the songs that we're singing or the scriptures that I read. It's about what the Holy Spirit Listen. We have a Next Steps team, a Next Steps program. We have systems and programs and outreach and a whole bunch of things that happen, but nothing is more important than when the Spirit of God tells you something and you do it.
Speaker 1:He's got some things, some steps for you to take, and some of us are just sitting around thinking, well, I guess I wish he would tell me to do something. Can I tell you? He is telling you he's got some steps for you to take and, as much as I can tell you, it doesn't matter what I say, it matters what he says. So if he says, hey, it's time for you to give something, it's time for you to date this person. It's time for you to dump this person. It's time for you to get your phone out and delete someone's phone number. It's time for you to text someone. It's over. It's time for you to start something or stop something or say something or shut your mouth when the spirit of God and listen, jesus, is not going to hurt your feelings. I can hurt your feelings, but the Holy Spirit just whispers into your spirit and if you're not listening and you're not paying attention, you can ignore it and he can tell you. Listen, I know you want to defend yourself, I know you're right and you want to stand on your right and stand up and tell everybody how right you are. But I just need you to be quiet right now. Sometimes you just have to listen to what he has to say and what he says. She said whatever he tells you, do it. Y'all getting it.
Speaker 1:Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews so it was their tradition for cleaning and preparing and purification containing each of the water pots contained 20 to 30 gallons. A few buckets or pitchers at a time from the well would have taken some time to do, because the water pots were inside and you're not carrying a 30-gallon water pot out. You got to go and you got to make trips and you have to go to the well, which is probably either at the center of the city, at least outside the house. And so Jesus put the servants to work. Everybody say I'm a servant. Jesus put the servants to work and in that moment I can tell you that it probably didn't make any sense. The party's over. We've run out of wine. Seven days has been cut short to three.
Speaker 1:The, the, the servants and the household are trying to figure out. Hey, I bet their heads were spinning, scrambling, trying to figure out. Hey, I bet their heads were spinning, scrambling, trying to figure out where can we get wine? And then Jesus says hey, go bring some water. So what do they do? And then he gives them additional instruction Draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. And when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, he did not know where it came from. But the servants who had drawn the water knew. The master of the feast called the bridegroom.
Speaker 1:Before we go on to the next verse, I want you to imagine that you are that servant and you're supposed to be keeping the household going, keeping the party, the celebration, the wedding. I keeping the household going, keeping the party, the celebration, the wedding. I don't want to ruin this for the bride. Jesus is here, his disciples are here, his mom's here, Everybody's here. What can we do to salvage this, to fix this?
Speaker 1:And now I've got to do something. That makes no sense. How long is this going to take me to fill? This might take hours, this might take days. So I have to stop what I think needs to be done. I could run to town and figure out where there's some more wine. Maybe we have to go buy some more. But I have to stop what I think is important and do water, which makes no sense. And then I have to, at my own peril, draw out water and take it to the master and present it to him. Like, hey, I know you're looking for wine, but Jesus just told us to bring this water and draw some out and take it to you. So it was crazy. But they obeyed.
Speaker 1:And then watch what he says. He said to them every man at the beginning said this is in the wedding. In those days they would set out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk not are well drunk, then the inferior. So they'd put out the good wine and the good wine was gone. Then the inferior wine would come and he says you have kept the good wine until now. This is speaking to the quality of the miracle that Jesus had performed. He didn't just make it a little bit like wine, it was the best wine that they had had.
Speaker 1:Yet Can I point out to you this? You might want to write this down this is not like Jesus had already healed a bunch of people. His first miracle was turning water into wine, and he didn't choose his first miracle to be healing the blind, or healing the lame, or the deaf or the leper. He didn't do any of those things which we would think would be like life and death, and someone's life is hanging in the balance and someone's dying. Can you please bring them back to life?
Speaker 1:His very first miracle seems like it's just an insignificant moment in an inconvenience for a wedding. You know what that tells me? That tells me that there are a lot of things in my life that I think are insignificant, that God cares an awful lot about. There's some things in your life that you've been holding on to and holding at the back of your heart and your heart broken over it, but you think that no one else cares and that God doesn't care because it's too insignificant, that I don't matter. But it's amazing that he chooses this moment to do his first miracle, to show that. I don't want to do this, but it matters that you matter. So in your life, whatever you think is so insignificant that you've been holding it and you've been hiding it. You've been keeping it and not letting anyone else see it, because either you're embarrassed or ashamed or it's no big deal. Don't worry about me, I'm okay. And yet inside you're suffering. If he's big enough to speak the universe into existence and yet slow down enough to take care of mom and this wedding and bring wine to keep the party going, he cares about you.
Speaker 1:So in the time that I have left, which is about 18 minutes, I'm going to give you three points. We're going to unpack them, three keys that we can derive from this passage, things that matter to us. I think that will help stretch our faith if we're willing to challenge ourselves. And the first one is this that God's vision for me gets clearer when I get closer. Would you say that out loud? That God's vision for me gets clearer when I get closer?
Speaker 1:Why, mary told the servants hey, you got to listen. Whatever he says, do it. That means that they had to be close enough to him and stay close to start filling the water, and if that means that God tells you today, hey, I want you to stop dating or start dating, or if I have some, do you understand that God has some ideas about your career? God has some ideas about your language. God has some ideas about what you should do and shouldn't do, and it's not just about the 10 commandments. God cares about the things that concern you because you are a part of his plan. When Mary says, whatever he says, you do it. She was telling the servants that your proximity matters a lot more than your talent and your personality and the things that you bring to the table, because you might not be able to solve all of the problems. But if you're close enough to the word of the Lord, if you're close enough to the Word of the Lord, if you're close enough when he speaks that you can hear it and do it, then he can do a miracle. So the question is can you hear Him when he's speaking to you?
Speaker 1:I've found that some of the most confused Christians are the ones that aren't listening for the voice of the Lord. Some of the most confused people are the ones that are listening to voices like Google and social media. Well, I have chat GPT right here in my pocket and it can answer any question that I have and solve any problem that I could even think of and create a strategy with 10 points, and I can do all those. Listen, how about we start asking God what do you think about this? How about we start listen? When I'm talking about proximity, I'm talking about something we say all the time but we don't do very often, and that's leaning into the presence of God so that we can hear that still small voice when he says hey, just stop that, start this, go talk to this person. I want you to give this, I want you to open up your wallet and I want you to write this person a check, because they're about to be homeless.
Speaker 1:God knows a lot more than we do and if you can just get close enough to hear it. James, chapter 4, verse 8, says draw near to God and he will draw near to you. What does that mean? That means that if I'm leaning in, we think it takes a lot. Well, pastor, I've tried that before. I tried going to church, I tried going to small groups, I tried reading my Bible every day. It just didn't make sense to me. I didn't understand what I was reading. It wasn't changing, nothing was changing, and I got this problem. There comes a moment where you just need to get close enough to Him so that you can hear what he has for you. We should be deciding in this season I don't care how things are in your season right now, how busy they are, how powerful your problems seem or how big the mountains in front of you seem your efforts and my efforts as children of God, as the church, we should be leaning into his presence, saying I'm going to be closer to God right now than I've ever been. And listen, I know I'm about to step on somebody's toes, but I'm not going to look at anybody. I'm just going to tell you I'm going to look right up here.
Speaker 1:Some of us are making excuses for why we're not leaning into God by saying oh, it's my spouse. My spouse, I just can't get there as often as I'd like to, or my kids just have so many things to do, or I'm so busy because it's springtime, and just wait until summer, pastor, and we'll Listen. If I'm your pastor, can you hear me tell you this? Stop making excuses and let's get close to God. We can point fingers at the government and say how corrupt and how broken that is, and we can point fingers at the church and other churches and other church people and hypocritical people and say they're broken and how come they can't be close to God and they should do better. How about you and I do better? How about we stop making excuses for our own spiritual laziness and say, okay, I'm going to get close to God, I'm going to read my Bible like I never have before. I'm going to worship like I've never worshiped before. I'm going to pray like I've never prayed before and if I'm not doing anything, I'm just going to start. So I'll just tell the church, all of us together. Don't think I'm thinking. I promise you some of y'all are going to walk out of the room saying he was saying that because we had this conversation last week. I'm not. I'm not talking about anyone in the room in particular. I am telling you that the body of Christ, the Big C Church, all of us need to get our act together. Thank you.
Speaker 1:What happens whenever we can get close to God? What happens whenever we actually hear His voice? So what if I said this, jackson? I need to tell you something. Jackson's sitting right over there. I need to tell you something, and I'm just going to give you a still small voice. It doesn't help, though, because I have a microphone right.
Speaker 1:I want to talk to the people on the back row, actually the back two rows. You all are pretty far away. Some of you all in the front row can hear it, but we want God to turn the microphone on so I can hear God. Just tell me out loud. Smack me if you have to. That's not how God works. God's whispering. He's not in the fire, he's not in the wind, he's not in the earthquake. He's in a still small voice, and he's trying to tell you some things, and you're not listening. But watch what happens whenever we do listen. Just imagine you couldn't hear me, but I'm going to keep the microphone on this time. Who wants the Starbucks card? That's all I said, but raising your hand. Okay, god, if you could just do a miracle, god, if you could just bring, there's going to be a. So just give us an ark. That's not how he works. He says get to work. I'm still going to ask again who wants the Starbucks card? You're still raising your hand.
Speaker 2:Okay, right here, thank you.
Speaker 1:But you notice what happened. When she started coming toward me, I came toward her. We think it's going to take an awful lot of work for us to get close to God, and so we don't even try. We just stay back. I already tried to do that before. The moment you decide to take a step towards the Lord, he starts moving toward you and he closes the distance that you think it's going to take you forever to get back where you used to be. I've come so far away from where I used to be, but if you'll just take a step towards the Lord, he starts to close the distance. All right, I'll go back. I can't leap onto the stage like some of these young guys can. So what does that mean? Leaning into God's presence, reading my Bible.
Speaker 1:Some of y'all need to enact and start that first 15. When you wake up in the morning, if you're not doing anything, don't decide. I'm going to read my Bible for two hours tomorrow morning. You're not going to do that. I know you and you know you. Just start with 15 minutes. I'm going to read my Bible for five minutes, I'm going to pray for five minutes and I'm going to worship for five minutes, and that 15 minutes will turn into 20, 30, an hour. But you have to start somewhere. And if you can't do 15, start with five.
Speaker 1:But sometimes the hardest thing is the starting. Isaiah, chapter 30, verse 21,. Your own ears will hear you. Right behind you, a voice will say this is the way you should go, whether to the right or the left, and you're waiting on God to speak to you and show you. God, which way do I go? He wants to tell you, he wants to lead you. He wants you to follow his voice and another you will not follow. He is our good shepherd. He wants to lead you step by step, from pasture to pasture. But you got to be willing to listen and we're too focused on all the other voices. So God's vision for me gets clearer when I get closer. And if you're confused you don't have vision. You don't know what God's plan for your life is. You just got to get closer to his voice.
Speaker 1:Number two obedience in the mundane leads to operating in the miraculous. We totally undervalue and ignore all of the Monday. This is too boring. I need something that challenges me and gives me a spark. Listen, sometimes you start reading your Bible and it doesn't make sense for a little while. Sometimes you have to keep going to church and keep going to the Bible study and keep worshiping and keep spending time in prayer so that your spiritual roots can get deep enough for you to get nourishment. And before you say, well, I just need something that really feeds me, or I just need something that keeps my attention.
Speaker 1:Listen, some of us are so in tune with Facebook and Instagram and TikTok that we're like little kids watching Cocoa Melon and every eight seconds it changes and all we want to say is next, next, next, next. And you can't read your Bible for five minutes because you just need next. You're looking for the next thing. I don't always preach like this, but I need y'all to hear me. If we want more from God, we have to expect more from ourselves, and what we expect from ourselves is not that we just have to. We have to expect more from ourselves, and what we expect from ourselves is not that we just have to I have to come up with some kind of miracle. No, you need to be willing to do the mundane things that God called you to do, the meticulous everyday, the discipleship, the discipline program that God has for you, if you embrace it and walk in it and put one foot in front of the other foot and not get bored and leave. I think it's a little bit less.
Speaker 1:There are some people in the church that are too good to do anything. There's some Christians. There may have been some servants that, even though they heard Mary, they're like listen, jesus, I know you need these water buckets filled, but I already graduated from filling buckets. I already did that. I'm not going back to doing it. So if you give me a better job, what can I do? I know how to do that. Let the other servants do that. There's some church people that feel that way, but I think it's a smaller percentage.
Speaker 1:People who are ignoring the, the mundane job and never getting to the miraculous is more people is people who are saying something like Jesus, I filled this bucket halfway. Didn't I do a good job? Didn't I do amazing? Jesus, I filled the bucket halfway and I'm almost there. If you could just give me like a little pep talk and tell me why I'm doing this and help me stay motivated, because we get too bored doing things that just seem meticulous and mundane. And why am I even doing this? You know, I just woke up one day and I couldn't figure out why I was even at that church, or I couldn't even figure out why I was hanging out in that small group or why I was reading my Bible. Nothing was changing. Sometimes the change that you see either hasn't come about yet or it's working behind the scenes, in a way that you're like the frog in the pot boiling and you just don't know you're boiling yet.
Speaker 1:So realize this too that Jesus, up until this point, had never done a miracle. So when he said fill the pots with water, they probably looked at him like why we don't need more water, we need wine. At this point he had never done it. Mary knew he could do a miracle. They knew he was preaching things they had never heard before. The disciples were there, but they had never seen him do something public and miraculous, so they didn't expect it. But they had to just keep doing. So you can't get to write this down. You can't get the impossible if you're not willing to do the impractical. You can't get the impossible if you won't do the impractical.
Speaker 1:We know that Moses was told he was facing the sea and the soldiers standing in the middle and he's crying out to God save us. We need to be rescued. And what was God's answer? He says I want you to do something mundane, something impractical. Just go stand over there and raise up your staff. Well, what's that going to do, god? But Moses had known long enough that I don't know how or why, but it will change something.
Speaker 1:Ezekiel. God told him to lay on his left side for 390 days and then, after that, turn onto your right side for 40 days. Well, god, that makes no sense. Can I tell you that God wants you to do some things that don't make sense, and it might take 390 days. That's why we have a 90-day tithing challenge, because sometimes nine days is not enough to see the blessing. Sometimes you have to stay plugged in and say I'm going to spend the rest of 2025 doing everything God asked me to do, and I promise you, by the end of the year, you're going to turn around and look at your life and not recognize it. I promise you, by the end of the year, you're going to turn around and look at your life and not recognize it. It may be boring, you might get criticized, it may be thankless that well, I'm just filling this water pot. I don't know why. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1:The party is shut down and I don't know how to keep it going. Let's go back real quick to verse 8. And he said to them draw some out now, take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. I'm going to ask my guys for some help real quick. And when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it had come from. But the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom and then he told them you've saved the best for last. So I want you to imagine this. I need my picture.
Speaker 1:They're given a job that makes zero sense and what do they do? They have to go back and forth and maybe outside the house and down the street or to the center of the town, but they had to continue to bring back water. I'm supposed to be filling up, I'm supposed to be going into town to find some wine, but they told me just to fill up this water. It doesn't make any sense. There's probably some other servants on the side over there saying why are you still doing that? Why are you still going to church? Why are you still going to that small group? Why are you still tithing? Why are you still giving your money to God? Why are you still doing all that?
Speaker 1:Has God answered your prayer? No, I don't pray. God didn't do anything for me. I don't need that. Why do you need that? And we just keep going, one after another?
Speaker 1:There's some of us in the room here today that you already know the thing that God asked you to do and you've left your picture. You've walked away from it because it didn't make any sense to do it. What is that thing that God is urging you, the Holy Spirit, saying come on, I already told you. You don't have to ask me for the next step. You were at the back of your mind. You already knew what it was. So finally, point number three and then we'll close is this Our responsibility is obedience.
Speaker 1:God's responsibility is outcome. There's a place that you're standing where you need God to do some things, where you want to be, where God has the power to do miraculous. He can change everything with just a word. But you have to be willing to walk in obedience and not think about well, how's this going to work out and how am I going to get to where I'm supposed to be and what about my education, and what about, like, okay, all those things, god cares about all those things. But you've got to be obedient and there's some things in your heart that you've held and thought God don't really care about that. But he does, because sometimes the obedience is far more important than the scripture says. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Speaker 1:You're thinking, well, I know I probably should have done that, but I've done this. But we got to stop making excuses and we got to pick up our tools as servants of the Lord and go back, go back to the well and get a refill. Keep going, it says. They filled it to the brim and I wanted you to imagine.
Speaker 1:The reason I brought this big bucket today, this big barrel, is because I need you to understand that there's some things that God's given you that might feel like it never gets full, like how many times would it take me to go back and forth? There's some things that you, that God's, put into your hands, and you're thinking I've been doing this for years. I've been I don't understand. Listen, there's some things that you're not going to understand until we get to heaven. You may never understand, but that doesn't change that obedience matters. That doesn't change that God's put purpose in front of you and a plan for you to keep putting one foot in front of the other foot and continuing to walk, because lives are being changed and he's working behind the scenes. But if you don't pick up your picture and work, it doesn't get done. Maybe it's why did I ever start homeschooling these kids? Why did I start writing that book?
Speaker 1:You got stuff that you just ideas and thoughts and dreams that you started putting down on paper and you just left it. It's time to go back. Maybe it's a business that God gave you an idea that you were supposed to step out on. Maybe it's reading your Bible and not understanding. It's time to go back and dig in. Maybe it's Bible school. Maybe it's saving yourself for marriage.
Speaker 1:Why am I doing this? This is not what everybody else is doing, living for God. It feels like it's pointless. Nothing's changing, but it matters. Why am I being generous? Why am I doing all these? Listen, if you'll just keep doing what God said to do, then he can work. The last thing I want you to write down the miracle always looks foolish until it's finished. So no matter how long you've been going, no matter how hard it feels, no matter how unfinished it feels like this is never going to get done and this is pointless. And I don't even know why I'm trying. What's the point of even waking up tomorrow? Why am I even still here?
Speaker 1:You've got to put one foot in front of the other and you've got to keep filling the bucket Until our time is done. Last verse, philippians 1, 6,. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work. Everybody, just put your hand on your heart and say God, continue the work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ returns. Our work doesn't end when we think it ought to end. You got to keep filling the bucket and we're going to keep working. This church is going to keep working.
Speaker 1:Dads, moms, you got to keep fighting for your kids, even when it looks like a lost cause. You got to keep fighting for that thing that God's put into your hands. You got to keep working. You got to keep joining with other people. Grab somebody by the hand and say I will not stop. Whatever he asks me to do, I'm going to keep doing it. Would you stand up on your feet and we're going to close in worship, but for just a moment, and then we're going to pray. I want you to just take this moment and whatever God has asked you to do, if it's something mundane, if it's something that you need to be obedient in, what is that thing that you need to step out in? Where is that area that you need to lean into God and get closer to Him?
Speaker 2:Let's take a moment, then we'll come back and pray, to do whatever you want to To do whatever you want to, and I will make room for you To do whatever you want to, to do whatever you want to Sing it again, I'll make room. I will make room for you To do whatever you want to, to do whatever you want to. Hallelujah, thank you. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Your wings now Shake up the ground Of all my tradition, break down the walls Of all my religion. Your wings now, your wings now, and I will make room for you To do whatever you want to, to do whatever you want to, and I will make room for you to do whatever you want to, to do whatever you want to, to do whatever you want to, lord.
Speaker 1:I'd like you to just open your hands in front of you as a sign of surrender to God, and let's just take a moment and give Him, hand over to him the margins and the moments, the circumstances, situations in life that we're struggling with our future. This is that moment where we just lean in. Would you pray with me, God? We just thank you that you are moving in this place and calling us to a higher plateau, to a higher level. God, let this be the year that we are closer to you than we've ever been, that, as we stand here today, God, with our hands open. If there are among us those who have, at one point, we were closer to you, let us, God, have the determination to get closer than we've ever been. This is the year, this is the season that you require of us to be your people and stand up, hear your voice, be obedient. We trust you with our lives, God. We trust you with our children and our finances and all of the things, so we ask you to move in Jesus' name. Before we go, I want to give every person in the room an opportunity those listening to the podcast and watching online. If you've never given your life to Jesus and never started a relationship with him. All it takes is one step of faith where you move toward him and then he moves toward you.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We're going to say a prayer, a confession of faith, and from this moment forward you get to walk with him and follow Jesus and you become a disciple. But it starts with just one step. You don't have to fix everything right now. All you have to do in your heart is believe and confess and start that journey of faith with just this one step. So I'll give you an opportunity, Would you just everyone in the room?
Speaker 1:You can bow your head and close your eyes wherever you are, and I will not embarrass anyone or call you forward, but I would invite you to say this prayer with me out loud, as the first step in the rest of your life. Would you say these words God, today I give you my life. I believe you sent your son to die on a cross for my sin. So today, today, I'm coming to you with my heart open. I surrender my past, my present and my future. Forgive me of my sin, Forgive me for living the way I wanted to live and from this moment forward I will live for you and I will follow you with all of my heart and with all of my strength. So forgive me of my sin. In Jesus name, amen. Would you put your hands together for everybody who has said that prayer?