Water Into Wine: The Best Is Yet to Come

uh we we thought we' just before we get into the sermon today just share a little of our story and it's really exciting for me is I just look around and I see so many of you that have been a part of Journey in different seasons and different stages I I'm I mean Bobby and Katie and I just I I look back and I just say there there's some memories yeah that go back Beyond today cuz Kara We Didn't Start off Journey Church looking like this did we no no it it didn't look like this on day one yeah or day 200 or I'm telling you so we we thought we'd go back in time and just talk about when we started this church we started this church on February 21st 2010 you all remember that Great Recession that's a great time to start a church and we started a church at a time when people were losing their homes and

the government was trying to stimulate the economy uh some of us have forgotten how bad those times actually were but they were some pretty bad times and we I had this Vision that Carol we'd start a church for people who don't like church and right away I realized that there was just a little conflict with that starting a church for people who don't like church I Ed the illustration it's like opening up like a Primo steak restaurant and targeting vegetarians you know like hey we got something you want but you don't like and so at the end of the day we started this church for people who were far from God disconnected to church didn't grow up in church hurt by the church for one reason or another and even finding a place to meet was difficult before we launched do you remember that I do it was we got rejected over and over we did we tried to go all over the place and people they don't want you to rent a commercial space because it's not good for their business it's not a good return on investment and so we had a really hard

time finding a space and finally the principal of Ben High who was a believer in Jesus said come to Ben High we could use some more Jesus here yes and so we did that we went to Ben high school that's where we launched our first service February 21st 2010 in a 1500 seat Auditorium I we had some Big Dreams back then we did but there was not, 1500 people that showed up no no there was maybe 200 yeah maybe two those are Pastor numbers 200 I'm stretching those a little bit first service she tried to say no more like 125 but I'm like if you round up it's like 200 showed up that first Sunday I mean we we had friends and family show up that first Sunday and were you serving in kids that first Sunday I was I I held babies that day yeah just for the first 10 years I mean how many babies you think you H held I know a lot so all the babies she held 15

years ago now they're they're not babies anymore yeah in fact one of them is here I talked to them before the service they started coming very very early and wow she's 15 almost 15 now wow in fact we had babies when we launched this church yes we did that just made it easier didn't it we had a 5-year-old a three-year-old and a brand new baby and we were toting it around and I'll tell you when you start a new church it's hard because you don't have a track record and a history and you're trying to cast a vision for something that hasn't happened yet and uh it's it could be a scary thing I remember that first day leaving do you remember leaving Ben High School I do yeah I looked over at you and it's like well we did it and I looked over and you had tears streaming down your face and they weren't tears of joy but today today they're tears of joy today you've been crying and they've been tears of joy it's God's it's God's

Redemption I'm I'm telling you some things I you know the best things in life are hard that's just the truth I don't know we always want the easy way out we want to win the lottery we want to find our soulmates but I'll tell you anything that's worth it in life is hard anything including faith and so we we made it through that first Sunday and then right away just a couple months into meeting at Bend High one thing I could tell you and I could write a book on this one is I know how to grow a church smaller the church didn't get bigger those coming weeks it just kept getting smaller and then the school because that was during the Obama Administration and some of you got to go back in history and look this up look on the internet I'm telling the truth here uh the government was throwing money everywhere trying to stimulate the economy uh they were doing this thing like Cash for Clunkers if you had a car that was worth nothing it's like we'll give you lots of money for it and I mean they were just putting money into everything in fact they were trying to

give money to schools to get construction work going and and Ben High got a stimulus Grant to redo the auditorium because it was the biggest Auditorium in all Central Oregon in fact it was it was I think it was built in like 1802 and because the seats they were wooden they were wooden and there was carved things in there from the 50s 607s and they weren't like church greetings you know the you know they they weren't like worship sayings you know and so they they they redid the whole Auditorium which means we had to move you remember where we moved to yes we moved to the the Regal Cinemas in the Old Mills that's right which which actually was a blessing because there wasn't 1500 seats anymore uh there 80 people in 150 SE Auditorium feels a lot better and and and God started moving at Journey during that time in a way that we're still doing things today that we did because of the Regal Cinemas which you know today you got popcorn anybody

get any popcorn here come on thank God the Korn people isn't that good popcorn uh I mean we we used to have the smell and Aroma of theater popcorn but then one Sunday we had baptisms and we said after church if you want to walk with us just across the street to the river we're going to do baptisms and two or three people got baptized which was a big deal for a new church and I don't know what was in me that day like I didn't prepare it I didn't plan it but just something in me I just mused up the courage and a little profit came out of me the cold water was up to my hips and I just yelled if anyone here today wants to believe in Jesus that he died on the cross for your sins and he rose from the grave you will be saved now you need to get baptized if you want to get baptized come forward and I said it and there's only like 30 people standing on the side of the river and other people are watching walking by and floating by and

and and this one guy comes forward walks into the river and I baptize him in the [Music] river and then I followed him to the shore and I was like so were you at church today cuz you know in a theater it's dark and you don't see people people and I asked him you must have been at church and he's like no I'm actually visiting from out of town and I was walking by and you said this and and from that moment forward from that day forward every time we've done baptisms we've done what we call spontaneous baptisms that today if you weren't planning on getting baptized and you've never been baptized but if you want to believe in Jesus today's your day to get baptized but that's where that started it it did it set the trajectory for our church for the next now until now thousands of people have been baptized y so we fast forward we went back to the school and we really weren't growing and it just felt like empty I mean it felt

like those early days we weren't going to make it but I was up there like a car salesman we're going to make it there's hope for everyone you know like come on like we're going to do this and I mean we knew that we were reaching the right people in this city in fact some of you might be here today visiting for the first time there are way more people not going to church on Sunday than going to church so we our whole goal was not just to be another church trying to attract people from other churches our whole goal is let's see God move in this city and so so we but we had to figure that out and we looked everywhere for real estate and I finally found a prime location it was Primo it was much smaller it was downtown which is perfect it just happened to be underneath a nightclub that had strippers throughout the week and so we moved to this nightclub

maybe we have a picture of that yeah all we could afford was a banner at the time we couldn't afford a sign so we just slapped the banner up on the building so this is where Journey Church meets now and we are a church that grew even smaller I remember the no Mom wanted to bring her kids no the young mothers were telling me like I've had enough with this church but here here's what we did it once again we solidified we wanted to go where Jesus would go Amen to reach people Jesus would reach and so we went underneath that nightclub one one of my worst memories of that place yes are the leaks yes we had so manyak and it seemed like every Saturday night they would just be dumping of water I mean just water every Saturday night and our whole Space would just be flooded on Sunday mornings when we show up to do worship

because of the nightclub and that was an interesting season wasn't it it was and do you remember that what prior to actually moving upstairs into the nightclub we were able to have an Easter in the nightclub do you remember that oh man that's a great memory yeah that that was awesome that year we rented the nightclub so we paid them way too much money and said can we meet in there for Easter and then we could have the whole lower space for the kids and so we met up there they said yes you can do that but you've got to use our sound guys and stuff and what I remember with these sound guys is they were up all night from the nightclub the night before yes and the whole church service they were drinking Bud Lights do running the sound drinking their Bud Lights I'll never forget like the one thing I hadn't considered is that it would wreak of alcohol from the partying the night before so we had someone run to the store and they were running up and down the aisles with air fresheners you know like like trying to get the place not to

smell like a nightclub and that's a good memory but but that would be symbolic of then what God would do in that space is is he would give it to us that same year yeah that same year on Halloween day they were shut down by the OLCC The Liquor Control Commission yeah and the locks were changed they couldn't get in there and we will forever remember it because it was so dark yeah I mean it was set up for a Halloween party and it it was set up for a Halloween party that day and it was like stuck in time they got locked out and here we are so we the landlords at the time could could we move in we want to redeem this place and there was a lot of negotiations at first they said no and then over some time eventually and with a lot of prayer they said yes and we moved in and then we had all this alcohol now so we decided to throw a party just

kidding we didn't do that we did not do that uh just to delete that part what we did is we threw all the alcohol down the drain literally there was dozens of us and we would put all that alcohol probably more than $10,000 worth of alcohol down the drain uh and it was all week long we just kept pouring the alcohol down the drain and I don't know what I was thinking because that place smelled like alcohol for weeks I mean it just like lingered in the drains every time you flush the toy like you know like you just smell it but it was like the beginning of greater things to come people would visit like what is this church that meets in a former nightclub and this Sanctuary that turned into a different space I mean people that used to frequent the nightclub they they used to dance there we had security guards and a whole variety of different people and then they started getting saved and

we started growing and so we went from like decreasing to multiplying it was awesome and we went from one service to four Services I would lose my voice on Sunday yelling at everybody four Services a day and we kept growing until eventually we outgrew that building yes and we decided to sell the building not knowing where we would go which we sold it right before the pandemic uh we didn't see the pandemic coming but we sold it it was in escrow when the pandemic happened that's also the same year that we launched Journey Church in Redmond so today they're celebrating five years of God's faithfulness I got to preach there last week and now they're at four Services they're exploding and I'll tell you they

launched four weeks before the whole world was shut down most churches would never survive that but they didn't just survive they are thriving and today they're doing baptisms as well as we're doing baptisms I we're just getting to see God's faithfulness all over the place there so here we are we're we now sold the building we have no place to meet where are we going to go we found 30 Acres that we've purchased yes which by the way we we plan on building a campus so many of you ask like when are we going to build problem is it takes tens of millions of dollars to do the dreams that we want to do uh so we got to take it in appropriate steps right now we're in the praying praying praying praying phase uh just asking that God would get your hearts and your wallets ready um but right now we we decided to come to this space which worked out really well from a strip club to a strip mall uh and now people get to say the church next to goodwi you know right pretty soon they're going to say

Goodwill next to the church you know but uh here we are we've moved into the space Kara tell us where we are now we've got all this space that we've outgrown you could look around and you guys must love Jesus because I know those people weren't leaving as fast as I told them to for a service I said get out of here the people we really like 11:00 they're coming but they lingered and so thank you guys for sticking around I I just love it so where are we at now well let me just back up for a second I just want to I I just want to get testified to the faithfulness of God and and what he's done over 15 years uh this even just the story that we just said so quickly I mean that was years and years of of um petitioning and prayer and and hard work and um I I'll never forget you getting to the church when we were meeting underneath the strip club um 4:30 a.m. and and cleaning up puke every single Sunday um every

Sunday every Sunday that's every Sunday yes Faithfully um but that created a habit Kara that I wouldn't see happening so many years later I had to do that because I don't know why they always puked next to our doors for church every Sunday and there was always empty cheap beer cans because a lot of times this is what people do at nightclubs because I know you guys wouldn't know this but they drink before they go in so they drink the cheap beer before they go buy the expensive beer uh and so they would leave empty cans everywhere and then new people would come so I'd go clean up all that but what that did is it solidified me now I still wake up that early on Sundays and now I come to the church early and pray alone I mean I prayed for you guys just this morning every Sunday I get here before anyone else does I I pray a canopy of protection over this ask that the glory of God would be in this place that even when you're just driving on the property that there'd be

something different about God's house so here's God took something bad absolutely and he turned it for good and that's what I was going to say is the picture of the Redemption of of of we call it stripped Club to Sanctuary was a picture of God's heart it's a picture of his Redemption his restoration it's what he does so it was a physical picture of what he's done over the last 15 years in Hearts uh we measures success here at journey by stories of transformation and the stories of transformation of God transforming lives Hearts marriages generational lines is beyond what we could have ever imagined we are so thankful for his faithfulness amen I I might just have you preach today can we just vote on which preacher you want today put it up on I'm still working hard to get her to do that so here we are so many yes but I

could I could say now where we are here what you asked me um so we have least 10,000 square feet behind us uh to grow and we are in the final push with the city the the city is um reviewing our hopefully prayerfully if you would link arms with us in prayer our final um submitt into to get our permit so we're just waiting I'm hoping to hear back this week maybe next um from them with a go so please pray yes please pray all we're asking for is approval so if you don't know what to pray approval we want that approval that failed sign is the worst sign to get from the city of bent and we've gotten many many many of those and we so we come back with revisions but I I'm praying that this was our final round of revisions and we're going to get to go ahead to push the sanctuary back and and develop the bunch of new

kids classrooms wow yes we're close amen we're close as we just wrap up this time as we're going to get into the word in just a moment uh I just want to testify you're you're so right Kara God is in the redeeming business yeah we were talking this week about this service and we were looking it's like the numbers where we are today on a Sunday they're more than 10 times what we were that first Sunday yeah and just to think of God's faithfulness that in 15 years he could do 10 times now if you think about that now in 15 years I know that seems like eternity and for kids they're like 15 years I'll be an old person you know like that's it goes really fast just think about 15 years what can happen in the city when we say Central Oregon shall be saved it's possible because we have a God that does the impossible we would have never seen you guys here 15

years ago and we're humbled we're grateful we're honored I mean we were just praying for you right before we came up here just God gets all the glory he gets all the glory this isn't by Talent OR credentials or it certainly wasn't by money I want to thank so many of you that are generous givers here at Journey Church because when you give your giving to God it's a stewardship everything is his and when you trust God with what he's given you he can he can then entrust you with more yeah and all that you see here is because of the faithfulness of a church of so many generous givers and I'm just in awe of that so thank you for being you for being generous I tell you when you take that step of faith and you seow seeds you cannot outgive God you cannot amen we have given so much money to this

church you know why I know that I've seen our numbers and I I've looked at how much money we've given and I'm not going to say it maybe one day I will say it but I look at it and say that's a lot of money Kara that we could have invested into the stock market but instead we invested it into the kingdom and I'm so blessed and grateful because it's been worth it and so thank you to those of you who SE financially if you notice in 15 years we've never passed a bag or a bucket or a plate if you're familiar with with church some people have a view of Catholic church or different backgrounds of church experiences we don't want money to be an obstacle to Jesus and so when people give here they give because they want to give to God you know and we have ways to give on Sundays and online and all of those different things and even today it's weird ways crypto currency and stock markets and everything else so if you want to give to the Lord do it but

do it for the right reasons and God will bless it and I would like to testify that that this church has never God has always provided and we were reminiscing on this a little bit there was one time that I can remember in all of our 15 years it was I think it was in our first year yeah when our office manager at the time said the bank account's getting low I don't know if we can pay rent and I'll never forget your response this never ever forget it his response was well we're going to pray and in my mind I was I was 15 years previous to this my faith is not was not then what it is now I've seen God do Miracle after Miracle after Miracle back then I was like what do you mean we're just going to pray we need to do something so I I want to give a shout out to you for your fath um for for pioneering this um you're an incredible leader thank you Carol and you've done it by

faith I will get vulnerable and honest as we get into God's word as pastors can't lie uh I I'm not sure how much faith I had back then but I will say this God's word says if you would just have faith like a mustard seed you could stay to that mountain and be moved and so I I I'm not just so you know I'm probably not the man of faith that some times Kara and Brandon can make a pastor sound like but all you need is just a mustard seed amen and you got to put it into action you got to declare to that mountain be moved in the name of Jesus uh because it's not you that does it it's your faith so let's just praise we I also can I just give one quick shout out to our kids I just have to shout out our kids they have been with us from day one I've got one of them in the room I think at least maybe two uh one of them is uh our son runs the cameras here he all the switching on the screens you see that's Colton running servant of Jesus um ell our 15-year-old

who was a just a baby when we started this church is on the merch team today and the social media team McKenna serves in every way possible sometimes she's up here singing I just want to say thank you to our kids who have praise God thank you Carol amen praise God cuz as Pastor Brandon said planting and starting and pastoring a church is not always easy and pastor's kids get a bad rap but we've got the best kids just like we've got the best church and uh we are extremely grateful for that if you ever want to hear behind the scenes stories we actually have a podcast called confessions of the pastor that you can go download and um we just do this on the side just to tell stories about what God's done because he's done great things but there's The Good the Bad and the Ugly but God gives the glory let's pray Lord we thank you for this time that we could just reminisce and just remember your faithfulness your goodness God we love you and it's not

too much to ask you for more we want to take you at your word and we want to declare promises over this region over our families over this state I I intercede right now for our governor Tina kotek and I say Lord would you just reform her heart would you have your will in your way I I I just ask that this state would be known for you Jesus that it wouldn't be known for the weirdness the the the wokeness but we would be known for a movement of God in such a great way you you have brought this church for this re reason and we pray a multiplication that many more Journey churches would be planted that many more churches would happen we love you Jesus in your name we pray so be it and amen well hey let's turn our attention to the screens let's see some people declaring how God's worked in their lives here at Journey [Music]

I have had the privilege and honor of being part of Journey Church for about nine years and really in those nine years um God has just blessed me so much with Community I found a home and a family I feel very well loved here and I'm just so grateful for these nine years that I've gotten to be a part of that through Journey the Lord has rescued me from isolation brought me into community and giving me specific words for people in this place so I just praise God for that we've been here for almost 13 years my heart has changed from coming to church to be fed to uh God saying I'm going to send you to church to feed others I turned towards Jesus coming in the doors here and was saved in 2022 Jesus saved me and I'm born again and on fire for Jesus I'm so

grateful to the Lord for Journey Church I was baptized in the river by Pastor Keith and has totally changed my life um but it's just one one Miracle after another I think God's changed my life through journey by feeling more connected with the people here um I've actually been a part of roted and was able to experience and be reminded that God is with me no matter what the trials I've gone through no matter what trials may come since coming to journey I was delivered from depression and I just thank Journey for all of the support they've given me through these last few years growing to my confidence and my faith in God and just seen him move in ways in my life that I just never thought would be possible and I know it's only possible through him I have been coming to joury church for seven

years I love this church and I love everyone that it comes through those doors I thank God for bringing us here to Journey Church God has done so many things in my life throughout this church um he's redeemed me from past troubles and continues every day to show his Mercy for me a few weeks ago I got baptized at Journey Church and we accepted God in our life Journey has impacted mine and my husband's lives with an amazing community of people driving us towards Jesus encouraging us I'm basically a testimony of the Redemption of the Lord his goodness learning True Fellowship the goodness of serving and ended up getting married Journey Church just embodies what it really means to be a part of a community to have people to

pour into you and love you and just to get to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit happy 15th Birthday happy Birthday Journey we are so blessed to be a part of Journey Church it's our family now thank you we love you and we want you to be family as well this is a place where we believe there's hope for everyone and it's not just it's not hype this is not hype we have a say in here here's where the hope is found it's all about Jesus we want you to know that if you're visiting here for the first time or you're new here at Journey Church we're right now studying and looking at the greatest life that's ever lived that is Jesus Christ we're looking at the Book of John if you have a Bible turn with me

get in there quickly we only got about two minutes for the sermon today so I need you to work with me work get get your mind ready we're going to Dive Right In we're in John Chapter 2 as we're looking at the life of Jesus Through the lens of the author John he's an apostle a disciple which means a student of Jesus Jesus he walked with Jesus talked with Jesus he touched Jesus and he writes about the life account of Jesus from a unique perspective today we look at the first miracle of Jesus John uses the word sign it's a symbol of his power and what he's able to do now what's unique about John are the Miracles that he records there are four life accounts of Jesus in the Bible Matthew Mark Luke and John and John records eight miracles of Jesus some argue seven but really there's the eighth where he defeated death he defeated defeated sin he defeated the

devil that's the eighth Miracle the resurrection now of those eight Miracles six of those Miracles are unique to the Book of John you do not find them in Matthew Mark and Luke including the sign the miracle that we're going to look at today which tells me that John intentionally chose Miracles that he wants us to see to reveal something special about Jesus we know that Jesus did many more because John tells us in John chapter 20 at the end of the the book verse 30 and 31 now Jesus did many other signs he did many other miracles in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book so he did more but he tells us but these are written so that you point to your neighbor and say you you may believe

that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name that's the aim of this book that you would believe in Jesus it's not enough to have information you can study the Bible you can come here to church and hear a sermon that's just information but when you believe it and you apply it to your life that's transformation and that's our aim today is that you would believe in Jesus that you would see what Jesus has done for you now today this first miracle takes place at an interesting uh wonderful place of all all things not at a political rally not at a Jewish holy day in front of religious people rather this first miracle takes place at a wedding

at a wedding of all places of all the places Jesus could expose who he is and what he's able to do now I know weddings really well because our oldest daughter is getting ready to be married and I know the energy and the time that it takes to do is I witness her work 24 hours a day seven days a week getting ready for that few minute ceremony but I also know the price it pays for a wedding as her mother and I give up all of our life savings for this wedding as weddings are important it solidifies the sacredness of the Covenant that God has created marriage it means so much that we find marriage in the opening book of the Bible Genesis all the way in the last book of the Bible Revelation which the author John himself writes as well the revelation of Jesus Christ and we're told in Revelation chapter 19 that all

of this life is the culmination of what is described in Revelation 19 as the marriage supper of the Lamb this is an interesting term but it's a description of Jesus as the groom and the church as the bride and one day we will be United in this Covenant relationship forever so marriage is meant to be more than just this relational thing that we debate about today what is marriage who can get married and what does that look like no marriage is meant to reflect the relationship between God and his people but not all marriage marriages end up well fact we see this even in the Bible there's a book of the Bible called Hosea which describes the story of a prophet named Hosea whom God tells to marry a prostitute it it's an interesting story and Hosea obeys God and he marries this

prostitute and right away she's Unfaithful and she's Unfaithful over and over in fact it's implied that their kids are not even his children but rather this prostitute goes back to her old lifestyle and eventually God gets so real with us that he tells us this is what it's like to have a relationship with my people they're Unfaithful and God is constantly faithful in his love towards us he never stops loving us he constantly Longs for us to be faithful back with him and of all the places for this first miracle it takes place at a wedding we're going to Dive Right In if you brought your Bible it's John chap 2: 1 through 11 if you're able would you just stand for the reading of God's word and I'm going to read this and then we'll better understand the application John 2:1 on

the third day there was a wedding at canaa in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there and Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples when the wine ran out the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine and Jesus said to Heroman what does this have to do with me my hour has not yet come his mother said to the servants do whatever he tells you now there were six Stone water jars there for the Jewish rights of purification each holding 20 or 30 gallons Jesus said to the servants fill the jars with water and they filled them up to the brim and he said to them now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast so they took it when the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine and did not know where it

came from though the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him everyone serves the good wine first and when the people have drunk freely then the poor wine but you have kept the good wine until now this the first of his signs Jesus did at canaa in Galilee and manifested His glory and his disciples believed in him the word of the Lord you can be seated let's just pray briefly to ask the Lord to speak to us through this Lord I'm asking in the mighty name of Jesus Christ that your Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts that we would see clearly what you've done for us and be forever changed we love you and thank you that you can do that in Jesus name amen so we've got the stage set here for

the story it's at a wedding we're told it's on the third day we don't know if this is chronological from chapter one when he says there's one day and then there's the next day and now we have the third day or if this is just the manner of the days of the week in the Jewish calendar they would describe it as the first day the second day the third day the first day of the week is Sunday that is the day that we celebrate the Lord was raised from the grave and then the second day of the week is Monday and the third day would be Tuesday now we've got to recognize that this was written long ago 2,000 years ago in the Middle Eastern culture this is a Jewish wedding unlike the weddings today today weddings last a few minutes the reception's a few hours and then it's over but back in the day weddings were a big deal arguably the greatest day of someone's life it marked them in fact weddings would be done as a community so Kaa is about 7even miles north of Nazareth it's a

village the entire Community or or town would get involved in the wedding they would all eat day after day they would last not a few hours but it would last a few days up to a week and what's so significant about this story that in the Jewish culture you would provide the food and the wine for your guests food represents a bounty it represents God's provision wine represents joy and celebration so if you were to run out of food or wine it would be a social disaster it was such a big deal it could Mark you for life you would forever be remembered it was a complete embarrassment if you ran out of either food or wine because people would always remember for it was actually considered a curse if you were out of those things imagine starting your marriage off with

no joy with no celebration without God's provision and so we have this this this stage set that this is happening at a wedding we're told it's in canaa just 7 miles north of Nazareth where Jesus was raised we're told not only is Jesus there but his mother is there as well some have speculated this could be the wedding of a relative of Jesus perhaps maybe one of his brothers like James or maybe it was the wedding of one of the disciples we don't know exactly whose wedding it is but we do know it's happening at a wedding and we do know that God loves us and at this wedding we're told in verse three that the wine ran out and the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine she didn't tell Jesus what to do she didn't question Jesus what are you going to do about this she's simply stating the facts this is the same woman that bore Jesus this

is the same woman that as a young girl she was visited by the angel Gabriel that as a virgin she would carry the Son of God the Messiah the anointed one and when she asked how could these things be in Luke chapter 1 the answer is by the power of the Holy Spirit God's going to do this work in you you don't have to figure it out it won't be someone else figuring out and eventually the angel Gab told her for nothing will be impossible with God that was the promise she received as a young woman and I believe that promise is for you as well when you don't know how it's going to happen when you don't know when it's going to happen you can be determined of this nothing is impossible with God Mary learned this early and Luke tells us in chapter two that she treasured these things in her heart she remembered these

things may I encourage you remember the promises of God because there's going to come a moment you have a problem and you got two options you're going to either pray the problem or pray the promise and when you pray the problem people will know it you'll be the Debbie Downer you'll be the Negative Nancy people will hear the problem but today we see she simply presents the problem but she knows who Jesus is she knows his character that he loves people he cares for people at this point she's never seen him do a miracle for we learn this was the first miracle Jesus has ever performed or or that we see a sign a symbol of his power and and glory and the response of Jesus is a curious one if we don't understand the context Jesus said to her woman what does that have to do with me just kidding isn't it

interesting that in life 50% of it is tone or attitude he doesn't bark at her woman in fact if we are to really understand this Jesus has been raised by this woman he's now introduced himself as the Christ the Messiah there's a Crossroads here where he he is no longer going to be defined by the relationship of a mother and a son he's not speaking down to her he's simply noting the reality that he's begun the ministry woman it's the same statement or title that he gives her on the cross he's recognizing that he also is her savior her Lord her Messiah what does this have to do with me my hour he says has not yet come that statement's important as you read the book of on we

see it frequently woven throughout the life of Jesus about the hour that's to come in fact when Jesus was to be arrested or even there was a coup to kill Jesus John says it could not happen because his hour had not yet come what he's implying here is that you can't take the life of Jesus he gave his life willingly he knew the hour as Solomon would state in Ecclesiastes there's a time for everything you can't rush the sovereignty of God he's never late and he's never early and Jesus came he was a man on a mission when his hour would be revealed and it was all about the cross that he who is without sin would take your sin and this is so important it's not just for the Forgiveness of your sins it's for a reshift of God's

righteousness in your life that you would be who God created you to be that God would restore that which sin has wrecked he would reverse the curse at that right hour that Jesus in John chapter 17 prayed his final prayer as he enters into the cross when Jesus had spoken these words he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour has come the hour that he would willingly go to the Cross to reveal his glory glorify your son that the son may glorify you since you've given him authority over All Flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given and and this is eternal life that you may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent Jesus points forward in this second

chapter to his own mother of what he would do there is an hour that he's going to be revealed for who he is but the response from Jesus to his mother was not offensive for we see Mary's response to the servants she tells the servants do whatever he tells you to do she could have coined the phrase early just do it you don't need to question him you need don't need to figure figure this out you don't need to wait for another day or a better day like so many of us do when we barter with God we try to think well someday I'm going to get my life someday I'm going to do what God someday do whatever he tells you to do we ought to hear and heed the same counsel that Mary gave those servants do whatever he tells you to do you don't have to have it figured out just obey the word of God Jesus will later say

this if you would just abide in me and if my word would abide in you you will bear my much fruit you have as much of God as you want you're never too young to do what God tells you to do you're never too old the world will tell you you got to have it figured out you got to be smart enough you got to go to Bible school you got to get rid of certain things in your life no you just have to obey the word of the Lord if you would just obey you get to see the Miracles and there's times when you obey God's going to ask you to do things that just don't make sense he will tell you to fill up these jugs full of water it's not up to you to figure it out just do what he tells you to do you fill it up with water he'll turn it to Wine there's going to be times that he's going to tell you to walk around the walls of Jericho and that's where you're going to get the victory you don't need to figure it out how God's going to give you Victory just walk around those walls and

he's going to make them fall down there's going to be times that you're trying to fish and trying to provide for your family and you throw those Nets over day after day night after night and it's empty and he'll tell you to throw it out on the other side just do what he tells you to do he's going to be the one that provides the fish it doesn't have to make sense you don't have to have it figured out he's God Almighty and when he tells you to do it just get ready for a breakthrough but that only happens in obedience he's got the answer before you even ask the question he's got the solution before the problem even comes Mary seems to be on to something do whatever he tells you to do I'll tell you today if we would do the same thing we would understand what John says about Jesus in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was

God he was there in the beginning which tells us what he's able to do all things John says in John 1:3 all things were made through him if he can make the heavens and he can make the Earth imagine what he can make with your life and I'm here to testify Psalm 139 says he made you he formed you in your mother's womb and he did a good job when you give back your life to the one that made you he could do more with your life than you could do in a million lifetimes but you got to start doing what he tells you to do so what does he tell them to do it's something strange I'll tell you God will sometimes ask you to do strange things like talk to a stranger to pray over people when you feel like you don't have the power to pray he's going to ask you to love people that are unlovable to forgive people that are unforgivable to

give generously when it it's stretches you and it makes you uncomfortable he'll ask you to do strange things but if you would just do it you're going to experence experienced the miracle there were six Stone water jars someone shout six six six Stone water jars there for the Jewish rights of purification let me just explain this quickly six in the Bible is a representation of man we see this repeatedly six represents man so six Stone water jars represents mankind seven represents God it's the completion it's Perfection six is the number of man it's the mark of the beasts during the end time six six six we've got to recognize man doesn't have the answer we ought not put our hope in the government or any man we shouldn't be arguing about these things our hope is in the Lord

Jesus Christ there were six Stone water jars representing mankind they Stone these aren't jars the of clay These Are Made of Stone they were carved out which means that these would not have been used for oil or wine they were for the Jewish rights of purification it was a ritual that the Pharisees created not in the word of God but it's a an imagery here of a man-made ritual or we could say religion man loves to come up with rules to try to make our way to God that's called religion God loves a relationship with us that's Liberty that's Freedom Jesus says take those six Stone water jars used for Jewish rights of purification here's the best way I could describe it it's like a bathtub they would dunk themselves in it they would immerse their hands in it their arms in it they would they would get clean in these these these six Stone

water jars holding 20 to 30 gallons of water that's a lot now Jesus tells the servants fill them up with water we don't know how they did that if they got the jars over to the well or if they'd have to bring the water from the well to the stone water jars but this would have been arduous this would have been strange this would have been hard to do sometimes God asks you to do some hard things they would have to bring the bucket down or bring the wine skin down collect the water bring it up from the well bring it over to the stone water jars and it says that they just didn't fill it up halfway or half-heartedly they filled it to the brim may I say if you're going to do something for God you might as well do it with all your heart you might as well serve him and just see what's going to happen you maybe don't know what's going to happen next but he said fill the bathtub up go ahead and fill it to the brim because that's

exactly what this was this was like a a washing place they filled it to the brim and they they filled it up and I want us to recognize that in our lives these Stone jars represent our lives physically see Paul when he writes to the church in Corinth he says but we have the this treasure he's referring to Jesus the gospel we have this treasure in Jars of Clay which is our bodies to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us we have these vessels in our lives and all of us fill up our lives with something we fill it up with something for some people it's Pride greed gluttony it might even be anger or unforgiveness sexual immorality we've all filled our lives with something and what the gospel is is God

takes that which is in our lives and he doesn't make bad things better let's just be clear on that God's not looking for bad people to make them better he takes dead things and makes them alive he he takes a Heart of Stone and replaces it with a heart of Flesh and it's in this story that we see God says fill this up with water if you consider what water is water isn't exactly valuable water isn't exactly precious water even at this time would carry bacteria and but they they've not run out of water at this wedding they've run out of wine and it's in this place we want to recognize that what Jesus is doing is he knows that he's going to take something and transform it into something greater the pots didn't change the content changed and when you believe in Jesus your life on the outside may not look any different it's what's on the inside

that changes and what's on the inside changes for the glory of God he said now draw some out verse 8 says and take it to the master of the feast the master of the feast is what we would call an MC they were to run the show you're out of food bring in some more food out of wine bring in some more wine it's like the head waiter if you will they were in charge to say what should be done they would be a somaler they would understand wine they would understand the good the bad they've done this before and it's here that Jesus says now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast and here's what's incredible about the servants so they took it here's what happens when you obey Jesus you get to see the miracle just you showing up today is a miracle you didn't have to be here you could have found any other excuse to do any other thing but they took it they did what Jesus said to do

may I say when you take what you have in your life and give it to Jesus that's where he gets to work when you Just Surrender your finances when you surrender your relationships when you surrender your life and say I'm just going to do it they did that they brought it to the master of the feast this was a risk by the way when they brought it to the master of the feast he tasted the water which was now one and he didn't know where it came from because it was so good but the servants got to see the miracle don't you want to be a servant of Jesus and know where the miracle came from it's a lot better to be a part of the process that's why I want to always invite you to Pursuit nights here on Thursday it's 1 hour 6:30 7:30 we pray we worship and we get to see Miracles we don't always know when it's going to happen but they happen and

here he is he tastes the best wine not the rest the best he knows this is the best there's a difference between good wine and bad wine and this guy knew the difference and this was at at the end this was this this was long into the wedding and he says he brings over the groom and says wait a second most people serve the best first when then when people can't tell the difference they're drinking the rest but you saved the best for last now we know the groom had nothing to do with this I want to declare this over your life God always Saves The Best For Last that's why we will declare till we're blue in the face or till Jesus returns The Best Is Yet To Come if you think your best is something you've already experienced you're missing what God can do he takes people that look like it's the end of their life and that's when

he's just getting started he will take people that look like the they have no Provisions financially and he says you're the one I want all you have to do is say Here I Am send me you just you say yes and God will use what you give him and it's in this place now the water has turned to wine God has saved the best for last listen it didn't look like this from the beginning this looked like it was bathtub water could you imagine filling up your bathtub with water you didn't even clean the bathtub and you've got guests coming over and God just Whispers in your ears just take some and go give it to your friends it might sound a little strange but this is the image of what God God does with us I can testify today

it's not because of something I've done it's because of what God's done inside of me water is available to anyone water is weak water is invaluable or may I say water is cheap but if we look at what God does wine is strong wine is expensive wine is so much different than water water water is tasteless wine is intoxicating there's a big difference and the story here is about the six it's about you God wants you to see your value in his eyes that he could take you from who you were to who he sees you to be he's in the business of

transformation from an orphan to a child to recognize you are the miracle in the hands of Jesus this we're told is the first of his signs Jesus did at canaa and Galilee now if you take 30 gallons and times that by six how many gallons is that that six time 30 6 time 30 180 180 gallons of water thank you I knew that I'm challenging you all right you chose 180 the right answer now if you

take 180 gallons I did this math this week if you were to make that into a modern bottle of wine today like we would buy at the grocery store that's conservatively 900 bottles of wine now was Jesus hoping that everyone in can would get wasted no the Bible says in Ephesians 4 that you should not get drunk on wine this is not an endorsement of being drunk or being loose with wine uh this is a symbol of what would still be to come on the cross Jesus on the night he was betrayed he took a cup of wine he said this is the blood this is a new covenant his blood would be shed for the Forgiveness of all of our sins he wasn't hoping that they would get wasted this is this is a picture of provision we have a god of

abundance that when you think it's empty I'm here to tell you he's just getting started and I declare that over your life when you can't see it listen imagine if you will he's got all this the groom of the wedding's now got all this extra wine that's going to be a blessing for days and weeks and months to come this was meant to show you that we have a god of abundance we have a God that never runs out of resources when Jesus was on the cross he died he cried his last breath to tell Esty it is finished and to show that he was dead they took a spear and they pierced his side and the Bible says out of his side came water and blood it would be by his water and his

wine that we would be saved that we would look forward and say I can't save myself but Jesus came left his throne came to this earth and did what no one else has done before lived a perfect life and he had you on his mind when he went to the cross that he died died for every one of your sins every sin that would be done to you every sin that you've done he died so that you no longer have to carry that weight anymore and when you give your dirty water to Jesus he turns it into wine meaning this from ashes comes Joy he take takes your mourning turns it into gladness today if you've never given

your life to Jesus he'll take your sin and give you his righteousness but you must believe in him you must do what they did at that first wedding they invited Jesus you've got to invite him into your life and when you do it's just the beginning of greater things doesn't mean your life will be easy but it means you know who to keep coming to because you know the potential you know the promise you keep coming back to Jesus I want to give you that invitation today for some of you it's the first first time and when you believe in Jesus he gives you the free gift of eternal life which means when your heart stops beating you get to spend forever with God in his presence there's a real separation from God it's described as hell it's a separation from the presence

of God God doesn't send anyone there it's only reserved for those that reject the grace of God if you refuse God's forgiveness you refuse God today you can have the hope of Heaven the hope of Salvation that happens by believing in your heart that Jesus is Lord and died on the cross for your sins but you've also got to be willing to confess it with your mouth testify to the goodness of God in your life be unashamed I follow Jesus now I believe in Jesus now when people challenge you you don't have to have it figured out you just have to say Jesus did it I'm not God he is and from this day forward keep trusting in we're just at the beginning of the book of John he's going

to do much more but today I want to just ask you in the seriousness of this moment could you just focus on him close your eyes if we just have all eyes closed I want to just ask you where you are with the Lord if you want to be forgiven of your sins today you want to confess Jesus as Lord of your life you just raise your hand and keep it up high I want to see who's making that decision yes praise God he's been waiting for this moment in your life keep it up we're going to give you a little book awesome praise God let's go keep your hand up all over the place young men women praise God all over the place praise God he's stirring on your heart right now yes you are forgiven you are loved God's not finished with you yet praise God families are being changed right now let's go praise God praise God praise

God everyone who did not raise their hand just keep your eyes closed everyone who did raise your hand could you open up your eyes and just look at me this is the best decision you could ever ever make this is it from this day forward you can know with confidence you are saved from this day forward you do what God tells you to do from this day forward when you have a problem you bring it to God and he's able to turn it around it may not happen the way you thought it was going to happen but it's going to happen so congratulations to those who said yes because he's going to do a great work in your life there just all eyes close once again I want you to repeat a prayer with me it's not the prayer that saves you it's Jesus and anyone who's believed in Jesus would you pray this with those praying for the first time prayer is talking to God is getting real you can do that anywhere at any time let's pray together Lord Jesus

today I believe in you forgive me of my sins change my heart I receive the Holy Spirit I receive eternal life help me to follow you all the days of my life in Jesus name amen and amen come on let's celebrate the Lord today praise God praise God we are almost done with our service today what a celebration this has been we've got this baptism tank that's full of water this represents what Jesus did for us he died he was buried which is a symbol of going under the water and when you come up out of the water he rose from the grave it represents that you have two stories in your life you were dead but now you're alive in Jesus if you've never been baptized today's your day we'll give you a bag to put your

stuff in and you can go take that with you out to the lobby we have a gift for you and then you could change in the bathrooms if you're wondering well I came unprepared well we've got some some sweatpants we'll give you a t-shirt we'll even give you a towel that you can take home with you here's who baptism is for baptism is for those who have believed in Jesus you don't need to get baptized over and over again you get baptized one time because you want to declare an allegiance with Jesus Christ if that's you today what's stopping you some of you believed in Jesus long ago but you've never been baptized today would be a great day to do that for some of you you raise your hands for the first time maybe this is your step of obedience forward I don't want to manipulate anyone I want this to be a decision between you and the Lord so that we would celebrate together if that's you get up out of your seat and go right down here we've got some

pastors that will meet with you and then you come up and we're going to celebrate with you come on over let's go you go right over right now we're going to celebrate and as we celebrate baptisms we're going to sing over these together you chose the song so let's sing over these baptisms and C celebrate together what God has done just make your way right down here to some pastors here we go come on yes yes there's [Music] power is in the name of [Music]

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