Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the message. Yeah, hey, y'all be praying for the
Speaker 2: worship team.
Speaker 1: They're going on tour this week.
Speaker 2: We want we want them covered and smothered in prayer.
Speaker 2: And uh, covered in smothered in prayer. We will see
Speaker 2: you in Boka. I won't be there, be clear, get
Speaker 2: sued or something like that. I bought a ticket, but
Speaker 2: you'll be in Boca ratone on Tuesday and other places.
Speaker 2: Where can we go to find out if there's tickets
Speaker 2: in our area? Elevation Worship dot Com there's still a
Speaker 2: few tickets left. Well, I can say that Elevation Worship
Speaker 2: dot Com. That's all they've got to do.
Speaker 1: That's all they gotta do. Come out worship with us.
Speaker 1: Many nights are sold out.
Speaker 2: If you are not, yep, Hey, how many of you
Speaker 2: have had our new album on.
Speaker 1: Repeat this week?
Speaker 3: Bet me.
Speaker 1: What is your favorite song on the new album? Tell
Speaker 1: me that's mine too. That's my favorite way. We tried
Speaker 1: to make that thing. Dang near skipless, no skips. What's
Speaker 1: the goal? And I pray that it's blessing you? You
Speaker 1: just we love.
Speaker 2: I speak on behalf of this incredible team of technical geniuses,
Speaker 2: musical geniuses, and as a songwriter for the people of God,
Speaker 2: I speak on behalf of all of our worship leaders.
Speaker 2: I speak on behalf of all of our givers. We
Speaker 2: love creating anthems for you so that you can draw
Speaker 2: close to God in your time of need.
Speaker 1: We consider that a privilege, and so.
Speaker 2: I figure everybody can't take Chris home with them for
Speaker 2: him to say miracle, have to miracle while you're cutting
Speaker 2: the grass and stuff like that. But this is our
Speaker 2: way to just be there with you, far beyond a
Speaker 2: Sunday morning context, and just remind you. I realize early
Speaker 2: in my ministry with the Word of God, that worshiping God.
Speaker 2: You know, there's the Word of God being preached to us,
Speaker 2: and then there's the worship that we give to God.
Speaker 2: That doesn't have to do with how we feel, that
Speaker 2: doesn't have to do with a style, but it has
Speaker 2: to do with our response to how good He's been
Speaker 2: that when those two things are in tandem together, you
Speaker 2: become dangerous to the devil, and you become an instrument
Speaker 2: in the hand of God.
Speaker 3: And so.
Speaker 1: Please, please, please, don't let.
Speaker 2: This be the only time in the week that you
Speaker 2: sing to your God. All right, don't let this be
Speaker 2: the only time of the week that you open your word.
Speaker 1: I desire for you to grow.
Speaker 2: And be strengthened and and.
Speaker 1: To receive everything God has for you. Wow.
Speaker 2: Today I stand before you, ready to preach, excited to preach.
Speaker 2: And the proof of that is Abby said, Dad, I
Speaker 2: saw you on the porch preaching to nobody at six
Speaker 2: am when I woke up. She said, I almost took
Speaker 2: a video of you so I would have proof for
Speaker 2: my therapist one day.
Speaker 1: She didn't say that last part, but I have.
Speaker 2: Been up early, and I was explaining to her that's
Speaker 2: not me preaching to the trees.
Speaker 1: That's God preaching it to me.
Speaker 2: And so then I now get the privilege to preach
Speaker 2: to you.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go to John chapter two.
Speaker 2: Please remain standing for one moment, John chapter two.
Speaker 1: This will be big.
Speaker 2: You might know this Bible story. On the third day
Speaker 2: a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus's mother
Speaker 2: was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been
Speaker 2: invited to the wedding. I love how Jesus is mentioned
Speaker 2: like a plus one and Jesus and his disciples. Verse
Speaker 2: three says when the wine was gone. When the wine
Speaker 2: was gone, Jesus's mother said to him, they have no
Speaker 2: more wine.
Speaker 1: Verse four, Woman, why do you involve me?
Speaker 2: Jesus replied, I practiced reading that verse about thirty times
Speaker 2: out aloud to try to say it in a way
Speaker 2: that didn't sound bad or disrespectful. There's no way for
Speaker 2: me to say that sequence of words being raised in
Speaker 2: the South that sounds right. Why do you involve me?
Speaker 2: I feel like she might slap me, and she's on
Speaker 2: the second row. She can't even reach me. Woman, why
Speaker 2: do you involve me? Jesus replied, My hour has not
Speaker 2: yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever
Speaker 2: he tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the
Speaker 2: kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding
Speaker 2: from twenty to thirty gallons.
Speaker 1: That's pretty big.
Speaker 2: Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water,
Speaker 2: so they filled them.
Speaker 1: So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them,
Speaker 1: now draw some out.
Speaker 2: And take it to the master of the banquet. They
Speaker 2: did so, and the Master of the banquet tasted the water,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't water anymore.
Speaker 1: He tasted the water that had been turned into wine.
Speaker 1: He did not realize where it.
Speaker 2: Had come from, though the servants who had drawn the
Speaker 2: water knew.
Speaker 1: Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, this is
Speaker 1: weird the way this normally works.
Speaker 2: Everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the
Speaker 2: cheaper wine after. The guests are too drunk to know
Speaker 2: the difference. But you have saved the best till now.
Speaker 2: But you.
Speaker 1: Have saved the best till now.
Speaker 2: There's something that the Lord wants to discuss with you today,
Speaker 2: and I want you to help me. Tell your neighbor
Speaker 2: the title of my sermon. Look at your neighbor and
Speaker 2: make a distinction for him.
Speaker 1: Tell him neighbor not now.
Speaker 2: Is not No, that was the wrong neighbor. Look at
Speaker 2: your other neighbor who feels rejected. Come on, put it
Speaker 2: in the chat. If you're not in the room, say
Speaker 2: neighbor own neighbor. In case you're disappointed. About something, struggling
Speaker 2: with something for a long time and think it's.
Speaker 1: Never going to come to pass. I want to remind
Speaker 1: you not now is not know. Clap your hands and
Speaker 1: put a praise on this word and advance.
Speaker 3: Not.
Speaker 1: No, it's not known.
Speaker 2: We say yes to your word, Lord speak. We're listening
Speaker 2: in Jesus' name. Amen, you may be seated. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: I've been waiting to appreciate this one.
Speaker 2: That's the hard part is holding it, getting it, getting
Speaker 2: ready to do it, doing it. Okay, all right, I
Speaker 2: need to set this sermon up by giving you a
Speaker 2: little personal anecdote from my life experience. I have never
Speaker 2: coached one of my children in sports. I just decided
Speaker 2: that my enthusiasm about being their dad shouldn't punish the
Speaker 2: other children on the team with my lack of expertise
Speaker 2: in sports. I think you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: I think you've all had that coach, cussed out that
Speaker 2: coach and complained about that coach. I always coached them
Speaker 2: personally on the sidelines. Graham said something so devious the
Speaker 2: other day because he's a good little wrestler, now good
Speaker 2: big wrestler. Now, it's not literally's same size as me,
Speaker 2: and he said, now that I look back, he said,
Speaker 2: Now that I look back, he said, I thought you.
Speaker 1: I thought you were so ope as a wrestler when
Speaker 1: I was little.
Speaker 2: But now that I look back and realize how little
Speaker 2: you actually knew about wrestling.
Speaker 4: It's amazed.
Speaker 2: It's amazing to me how much you coached me knowing
Speaker 2: most nothing about the sport.
Speaker 1: That's funny. I try to coach my kids for the
Speaker 1: challenges of their life.
Speaker 2: Of course, you know, they didn't sign up to be
Speaker 2: on your team, so they don't care much to listen
Speaker 2: to your advice, and you can't kick them off, and
Speaker 2: so you are limited in your coaching. But I have
Speaker 2: found all joking aside, that to be one of the
Speaker 2: greatest and most stretching challenges and privileges of my life,
Speaker 2: just to be there for them, especially in those moments.
Speaker 2: My oldest son, Elijah, he called me from college and
Speaker 2: this is one of those moments last semester, and I
Speaker 2: think in the transition of being a freshman in college,
Speaker 2: he just wanted to hear my voice on a few things.
Speaker 2: But I could tell that he was down and that
Speaker 2: he was low, and that happens to.
Speaker 1: All of us.
Speaker 2: So after we push past that a little bit, I said,
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what I said. You want to call
Speaker 2: me back at like three o'clock and have something to
Speaker 2: write down with and I'll coach you up a little bit.
Speaker 2: I'll coach you as if you paid me to do it.
Speaker 2: And he said, I would love that.
Speaker 1: And so he called me at the schedule time of
Speaker 1: the appointment, and we did.
Speaker 2: We set up an actual appointment, and I said, Okay,
Speaker 2: what I think you're feeling right now is that you
Speaker 2: are feeling like all of the resources that you relied
Speaker 2: on when you lived at home, you're still resourced, and
Speaker 2: you still have us at college, but you know, everything
Speaker 2: is new to you. And so when I get in
Speaker 2: that place where I am my personal life feel like
Speaker 2: I have reached the end of my resources. And I
Speaker 2: get in that funk, and you know, the devil starts
Speaker 2: telling me the same things he's telling you as a
Speaker 2: college student, but he tells me.
Speaker 1: Them as a grown man.
Speaker 2: That I have nothing really to offer, or that my
Speaker 2: best is behind me, or that I am no longer relevant,
Speaker 2: or that the things that my critics have said about
Speaker 2: me are right, or that you know, just the list
Speaker 2: goes on and on, and I don't want to bore
Speaker 2: you with it. But when I get in that place,
Speaker 2: I've learned to make a list. And so I told them,
Speaker 2: I'm going to take you through this today of how
Speaker 2: to make a list when you feel low. So I said,
Speaker 2: one list that I, of course make that I've taught
Speaker 2: you about is gratitude.
Speaker 1: Things to be grateful for. You've heard about that.
Speaker 2: There's nobody who has a TikTok account who hasn't heard
Speaker 2: the importance of a gratitude list. But I said, there's
Speaker 2: another type of list that I like to make, and
Speaker 2: it's when I'm basically telling myself that I'm in this
Speaker 2: alone and that nobody is there for me. And I
Speaker 2: know that's not true, but it feels true emotionally. I say,
Speaker 2: I'll make a list of every person that is in
Speaker 2: my life that has in a past time or even
Speaker 2: recently said that they would be willing to help me,
Speaker 2: or that I think might be willing to help me,
Speaker 2: even in the smallest way, if they ever helped me before,
Speaker 2: or if I think they might help me, or if
Speaker 2: they mentioned one time that they would help me, I
Speaker 2: will just.
Speaker 1: Start writing a list.
Speaker 2: I said, Now the hardest part is going to be
Speaker 2: to start the list, because right now you're feeling like, well,
Speaker 2: nobody cares about me and nobody likes me. But that's
Speaker 2: just recency bias. That's just the last thing that happened
Speaker 2: to you posing as the biggest thing that happened to you,
Speaker 2: and it's not. And as you begin to write, what
Speaker 2: you're going to find is when you start writing with
Speaker 2: no discretion, with no editing, you'll have a hard time
Speaker 2: stopping writing the list. Don't qualify anything, don't ask risk anything,
Speaker 2: don't Yeah, but they might or but then if they
Speaker 2: do that for me, I got to do that for them.
Speaker 2: And then if you can't do that, how about somebody
Speaker 2: you could do something for y'all?
Speaker 1: Quiet, you'll like the first part of the list better.
Speaker 2: But I said, sometimes it's better to even say, like, well,
Speaker 2: who's somebody that I could just encourage, Who's somebody that
Speaker 2: I could just send a text to? I said, And
Speaker 2: when you start the list, don't don't stop until you'll
Speaker 2: have to stop yourself, because once you start, trust me.
Speaker 2: And so we do it together on the phone. And
Speaker 2: what I said happened happened because I'm a good coach.
Speaker 1: Just not at sports. And so he starts writing the
Speaker 1: list and he's like, this is crazy, this is amazing.
Speaker 1: You're right, this is crazy, and they know them.
Speaker 4: And I said, see how it happens.
Speaker 2: And now you've got to stop because now I'm going
Speaker 2: to tell you the next hardest part of this. I'm
Speaker 2: going to need you to act on at least one
Speaker 2: of them and reach out and.
Speaker 1: Reach out because you feel low.
Speaker 2: So I want you to. I want you to learn
Speaker 2: the pattern in your life that when you feel low
Speaker 2: on resource, reach in and then reach out. Reach in
Speaker 2: and then reach out, and you don't have to reach
Speaker 2: out to everybody on the list, and you don't have
Speaker 2: to ask them to do something, and you don't have
Speaker 2: to stand there and stare at the bubbles. Because the
Speaker 2: third hardest part of this, and the hardest part of
Speaker 2: all is after you reach out, need you to release
Speaker 2: your need for them to respond, because they might not.
Speaker 1: And if you predicate.
Speaker 2: Your happiness or your strength on their response, you could
Speaker 2: end up worse off after this exercise than you were
Speaker 2: before you did it, because now it will have served
Speaker 2: to have reinforced your insecurity that nobody is there for me.
Speaker 2: So I need you to everybody, repeat after me, Reach
Speaker 2: and release. Say it again, Reach and release. So that's
Speaker 2: what we're gonna do. And he did that, and I
Speaker 2: told him, I said, you might reach out to somebody
Speaker 2: and say, hey, can we get together? Hey, remember when
Speaker 2: we talked about hey, because he was in a state
Speaker 2: that we've all been there before, like I don't really
Speaker 2: have anything, and I don't don't I don't have that
Speaker 2: many people, and I don't have enough. And I said, well,
Speaker 2: the first thing you need to do is remind yourself
Speaker 2: of the resources you have and then reach, but then release,
Speaker 2: because they might get your text, but it's just a
Speaker 2: bad time. It might just be a bad time, and
Speaker 2: you might create stories in your mind that they don't
Speaker 2: like me, they don't care about me, something horrible happened
Speaker 2: that they didn't tell me about.
Speaker 1: They're dead.
Speaker 4: No, they're not dead, they're just asleep.
Speaker 1: Taking a nap.
Speaker 4: It might just be a matter of timing, timing.
Speaker 2: Everybody say, timing, timing, timing, timing. That's what I saw
Speaker 2: in John chapter two, this time that in all of
Speaker 2: my soljourns through this text, joining the milieu of students
Speaker 2: of the scripture through the millennia who have wondered.
Speaker 1: About this question, Why is Jesus.
Speaker 2: At a wedding when he's only got three years to
Speaker 2: change the world. You will recall that his life was
Speaker 2: cut short at the age of thirty three.
Speaker 1: You will recall that for the first thirty years.
Speaker 2: Of his ministry, there is no record of his ministry activity,
Speaker 2: meaning that everything we have that was written about him
Speaker 2: other than him getting lost at the temple one time
Speaker 2: and sitting around with the older teachers, well, it's simply
Speaker 2: isn't there.
Speaker 1: For our records?
Speaker 2: And so the question becomes, Jesus, do you really have
Speaker 2: time to stop buy a wedding when you only have
Speaker 2: three years to change the world? And I'm your discipleship
Speaker 2: team is not exactly executive, world class material.
Speaker 1: You got a lot of work to do with these boys.
Speaker 2: Are you sure you want to take them to a
Speaker 2: wedding on the first week that they're your disciples? Did
Speaker 2: you know that this is the first week that they're
Speaker 2: following Jesus?
Speaker 1: Yeah, where the Bible says show them verse.
Speaker 2: One, Because everything in the text makes me think about
Speaker 2: the timing of Jesus. On the third day a wedding
Speaker 2: took place, and you're like, oh, yeah, the third Day Resurrection.
Speaker 1: Not yet.
Speaker 2: We still got a long way to go till Jesus
Speaker 2: gets up from the grave. He hasn't died yet. He
Speaker 2: hasn't healed blind Bartimaeus. Yet, he hasn't taught the Pharisees
Speaker 2: and the Sadducees with authority and rebuked them for their
Speaker 2: stiff neck adherence to traditions of men rather than the
Speaker 2: ways of God.
Speaker 1: None of that has happened to yet. And it says
Speaker 1: on the third day.
Speaker 2: He went to a wedding, the third day of what
Speaker 2: the third day after he selected his disciples. For years
Speaker 2: I read this and thought it was the third day
Speaker 2: of the wedding feast, because in these days they would
Speaker 2: party for a week at a wedding. So I thought
Speaker 2: it meant the third day of the wedding. That's not
Speaker 2: what it means. Put it back up. On the third
Speaker 2: day a wedding took place at Cana. So we realized
Speaker 2: from the very beginning of this text, it's not happening
Speaker 2: on our timeline. It's happening on his. Thank you Holly, exactly,
Speaker 2: It's happening on his. Tell somebody, it's happening on his
Speaker 2: not your schedule, is happening on his Yeah, it's happening
Speaker 2: on his It's happening on his.
Speaker 1: That is one of the.
Speaker 2: Most difficult lessons for us to learn that sometimes when
Speaker 2: we believe a promise from God, we expect that promise
Speaker 2: to happen according to our plan.
Speaker 1: But it's not happening according to my plan.
Speaker 2: It's not happening on my say So, it's not happening
Speaker 2: according to my preference. Is happening according to his purpose.
Speaker 2: That being said, don't you want to kind of tell
Speaker 2: Jesus to read a leadership book and learn how to
Speaker 2: say no.
Speaker 1: Read the scripture.
Speaker 2: It says on the third day a wedding took place
Speaker 2: Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and
Speaker 2: his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
Speaker 1: So you're running Jesus's scheduling.
Speaker 2: You're his administrative assistant, and you're going through all of
Speaker 2: the possible things that the Son of God, the perfect
Speaker 2: Word of God that was made flesh and dwelled among us,
Speaker 2: the one who through and buy whom and for whom
Speaker 2: all things were created that were created. And he's sitting
Speaker 2: down to plan the week and they say, Jesus, we've
Speaker 2: got this wedding in Cana But I told him no,
Speaker 2: and Jesus said, no, actually we're going. No, but Jesus
Speaker 2: is a wedding and we've got to change the world. Yeah, No,
Speaker 2: we're going. And what I took from that that I
Speaker 2: want to pass on to you is that you might
Speaker 2: be surprised where Jesus would show.
Speaker 1: Up if you would invite.
Speaker 2: Him, Because we do think that we got.
Speaker 1: To be almost going under to cry out to him
Speaker 1: for help and then he'll come.
Speaker 2: We do think that we have to be going through
Speaker 2: the fire of hell to call and then he'll come.
Speaker 2: But what if he wants to join you in your
Speaker 2: moments of celebration to make them even sweeter. I don't
Speaker 2: mean you gotta be weird and stop at the ball game.
Speaker 1: Lord, we thank you for that base hit.
Speaker 2: For God, you are the basis of every base hit,
Speaker 2: and on Christ the solid rock. No, just shut up
Speaker 2: and in your heart, have a moment. Tell somebody, have
Speaker 2: a moment, just a moment. What God can do in
Speaker 2: one open moment might change the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: But if you are waiting on what you perceive to
Speaker 2: be a God moment, which means, you know, I can
Speaker 2: call on him in the prison cell. Why not call
Speaker 2: on him and ask him to come to the wedding feast?
Speaker 2: Do he has time for this? And I think that's amazing.
Speaker 2: I think it's amazing that he came to the wedding.
Speaker 2: I think it's amazing that he took the time to
Speaker 2: stop by.
Speaker 1: I think it's.
Speaker 2: Amazing that we don't even know whose wedding it was,
Speaker 2: because who was at the wedding becomes even more important
Speaker 2: than who was married at the wedding. Jesus goes from
Speaker 2: the plus one to the miracle worker in the eyes
Speaker 2: of the disciples. That is where we pick up he
Speaker 2: was invited to a wedding, and verse three says, can
Speaker 2: we just study this verse by verse for a moment? Yeah,
Speaker 2: can we just study this verse by verse for a moment? Okay,
Speaker 2: when the wine was gone. When the wine was gone,
Speaker 2: it would seem to me that if he was already
Speaker 2: at the wedding and he intended to replenish the supply,
Speaker 2: it would have been better to do it when the
Speaker 2: wine was getting a little low. He did not step
Speaker 2: in when the wine got low. It seemed to me
Speaker 2: that if he was coming to the wedding, and he
Speaker 2: is God in the flesh, that he could have brought
Speaker 2: wine to the wedding because he knew they would run out.
Speaker 1: If he's omniscient, and here.
Speaker 2: In lies one of the great mysteries of the mercy
Speaker 2: of God, that he lets the human supply completely run
Speaker 2: out before he steps in.
Speaker 1: Just because you've run out doesn't mean he won't still
Speaker 1: step in.
Speaker 2: I could preach a whole revival of that, because I'm
Speaker 2: preaching to somebody out of energy, out of answers, out
Speaker 2: of ideas, out of innovations, out of people to call,
Speaker 2: out of people to text. I made my list, I
Speaker 2: went through my list. Nobody hit me back. I'm out
Speaker 2: of time, I'm out of opportunities.
Speaker 1: I'm out.
Speaker 2: Just because you're out doesn't mean he won't step in.
Speaker 1: And now you know why.
Speaker 2: We were singing that he's always on time earlier, because
Speaker 2: even though there are some times where he didn't show
Speaker 2: up right when we wanted him to, there were also
Speaker 2: some times that we learned some things in the lag
Speaker 2: time that we would not have learned. Well, I gotta
Speaker 2: break this down, I gotta break this down. If he
Speaker 2: had stepped in immediately. If the wine never ran out,
Speaker 2: it would have been about the wine. If the job
Speaker 2: never dried up, it would have.
Speaker 1: Been about the job. If the relationship would.
Speaker 2: Have always stayed intact and always been easy, it would
Speaker 2: have been.
Speaker 1: About that person.
Speaker 2: So he let it get hard, so he let it
Speaker 2: run out. So we let it run dry, So we
Speaker 2: let it lag a little bit so that when he
Speaker 2: stepped in there would be a revelation. And now there's
Speaker 2: a conversation between Mary, the mother of Jesus and Jesus,
Speaker 2: the Son of God. And this is humorous, and you
Speaker 2: have to see the humor in it, because I really
Speaker 2: can't tell what's going on at first. I really can't,
Speaker 2: because she turns to Jesus verse three and says, they
Speaker 2: have no more wine.
Speaker 1: Two words in Greek. No wine.
Speaker 4: It's a it's a very it's a very strange thing
Speaker 4: for her to say.
Speaker 2: She's not exactly asking him to fix it, but I
Speaker 2: think she's implying that he should. It's one of these
Speaker 2: it's like no wine. And he goes woman, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: what he said, woman, Why do you involve me?
Speaker 1: This is hilarious to me? No wine? Woman? What does
Speaker 1: that have to do with me.
Speaker 2: I watched this statement because we're talking about ti, we're
Speaker 2: talking about time.
Speaker 1: Everybody say time, put it in the chat, say time.
Speaker 1: He said, my hour has not yet come. Okay.
Speaker 2: So she's not exactly asking him to fix it, but
Speaker 2: she's implying that he could. He's not exactly refusing to
Speaker 2: do it, but he's.
Speaker 1: Implying that he might not.
Speaker 2: And I can imagine all of the responses that married
Speaker 2: the Mother of Jesus would have had in this moment
Speaker 2: if she had had an attitude.
Speaker 1: Like many of us. Because what's what he said, It's
Speaker 1: not my.
Speaker 5: Time, not your time. Son, I was a virgin. Think
Speaker 5: about this, that's your time. You came in my womb,
Speaker 5: you talk about not time. And then I carried you nine.
Speaker 2: Months and I was going to Bethlehem for a.
Speaker 1: Census, and no, you couldn't wait for me to get
Speaker 1: back home.
Speaker 2: I was on that donkey behind Joseph, and here you
Speaker 2: came in a barn and you want to talk about
Speaker 2: your time.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about time.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's not a problem. Maybe maybe it's not a controversy.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's not an argument, Maybe it's not a debate.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's not a manipulation. Maybe it's not reluctant. Maybe
Speaker 2: it's a pattern here.
Speaker 4: Let's see a pattern.
Speaker 2: He's he's asked to do something. Okay, there's a request,
Speaker 2: there's a refusal, and then there's a revelation.
Speaker 1: There's a request, there's a refusal, and then there's a revelation.
Speaker 2: John chapter seven. Jesus' ministry is really thriving. In John
Speaker 2: chapter seven, many miracles have already been performed. Many blind
Speaker 2: people have already received sight, many of the death have
Speaker 2: been able to hear.
Speaker 4: And Jesus is popular.
Speaker 2: His brothers come to him and say, now, if you
Speaker 2: really want to do this thing right, you need to
Speaker 2: get to Jerusalem where the festival is, because they'll see
Speaker 2: at the festival. And Jesus says something interesting. He said, uh,
Speaker 2: not now, not now. And the Bible says that Jesus's
Speaker 2: brother's winning. Jesus showed up with some sunglasses on a
Speaker 2: little bit later in the week, got there when he
Speaker 2: wanted to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's weird, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Because they said you need to go to Jerusalem and
Speaker 2: show everybody who you are.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm gonna show.
Speaker 4: Him on my time.
Speaker 1: So he told them no.
Speaker 4: But what he was really saying, is not. Now there's
Speaker 4: a difference.
Speaker 2: There were two sisters in a place called Bethany in
Speaker 2: John chapter eleven. Often they would host Jesus at their home.
Speaker 2: One of them loved to cook and one of them
Speaker 2: loved to listen. Jesus could speak and eat, and speak
Speaker 2: and eat. He was in heaven in their home. Eventually,
Speaker 2: their brother Lazarus, whom many believe, had a physical impairment,
Speaker 2: and that is part of the reason that Jesus loved.
Speaker 1: Him so much.
Speaker 2: But we know that whatever the case of his physical
Speaker 2: condition at birth, he was sick and to the point
Speaker 2: of dying.
Speaker 4: So the messenger sent a text to Jesus.
Speaker 2: Modernizing, they sent a message to Jesus, and since there
Speaker 2: was no communication via text message or internet, it took
Speaker 2: a look little while for them to get to Jesus.
Speaker 2: And it took a little while, and he got worse.
Speaker 2: And it took a little while and he got worse. Now,
Speaker 2: the moment that the message arrived in John chapter eleven
Speaker 2: to Jesus, he could have gone to Bethany.
Speaker 1: He did not. He must not have loved them very much.
Speaker 2: You say, no, the Bible says, because he loved them
Speaker 2: he stayed where he was two more days. So here
Speaker 2: comes the message, now heal him. It's a request, and
Speaker 2: here's the response of Jesus. He stays where he is.
Speaker 4: He refuses to move where he is needed the most.
Speaker 1: Why. They've seen him heal.
Speaker 2: They've seen him take a sick person and reach down
Speaker 2: and raise them up. They've seen him speak the word,
Speaker 2: and his word was so powerful that his word went
Speaker 2: where his body did, not in heal, but in his
Speaker 2: Lazarus died.
Speaker 1: That's the man's name, Lazarus. He died because Jesus delayed coming.
Speaker 2: And when he got to the place finally late Martha
Speaker 2: was upset about it, saying, Lord, if you would have
Speaker 2: been here John, chapter eleven, verse twenty one, check this out.
Speaker 1: My brother would not have died.
Speaker 2: Why did we refuse a request Jesus that would have
Speaker 2: resulted in a healing? You could have done something?
Speaker 1: Da have anything in.
Speaker 2: Your life today that you feel like secretly God could
Speaker 2: have done something about and he didn't.
Speaker 1: Because many times it can be.
Speaker 2: Painful to praise God for being on time when you
Speaker 2: feel like He just stood back and watched stuff happen
Speaker 2: to you that didn't happen to others, watch stuff happen
Speaker 2: to you that you know evil, What stuff happen in
Speaker 2: your life that he could have stopped. She said, Lord,
Speaker 2: if you would have been here, he wouldn't have died.
Speaker 1: And Jesus verse twenty two, here's these words from Martha.
Speaker 2: But I know that even now, God will give you
Speaker 2: whatever you ask.
Speaker 1: What's she talking about. It can't be resurrection.
Speaker 2: We've never seen a resurrection before. But she understands something
Speaker 2: about Jesus. She's heard and teach, She's watched him work,
Speaker 2: she's seen him move, she's felt his presence. She has
Speaker 2: understood that he has this propensity when you get in
Speaker 2: his proximity, to make things possible that seemed otherwise impossible.
Speaker 1: And she said, I.
Speaker 2: Don't know why you said no when we ask you
Speaker 2: to come, but I know what I know that even
Speaker 2: now I need you to high five somebody and say
Speaker 2: I know what I know. I don't know why God
Speaker 2: didn't do it, but I know what I know.
Speaker 1: He can still do it.
Speaker 2: Right now, I find somebody else.
Speaker 1: Say I know what I know. I don't know where
Speaker 1: it's gonna come from, but I know what I know.
Speaker 1: God's got what I need.
Speaker 2: He can't supply it even still.
Speaker 1: I feel God on that sys. I know what I know.
Speaker 2: I don't know what kind of things you're able to
Speaker 2: do that we haven't seen yet. And my brother is
Speaker 2: in the ground, and my kid is on drugs, and
Speaker 2: my life is really in tatters, and I'm in recovery,
Speaker 2: and I got a brother in prison, and I'm in
Speaker 2: the middle of this custody battle, and I get some
Speaker 2: legal problems, and I got an addiction.
Speaker 1: I can't quit. I don't know what you can do
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 4: But I know what I know.
Speaker 2: Yo here right.
Speaker 1: Now, see it?
Speaker 6: Lord?
Speaker 2: What f fife? Everybody in your section say, I know
Speaker 2: what I.
Speaker 1: Know, know what I know. I don't know why he
Speaker 1: said no. I don't know why.
Speaker 2: My roommate got an engagement ring and she's a hellion
Speaker 2: and I'm pure and single. I don't know, but I
Speaker 2: know what I know. One day in his courts, one
Speaker 2: day in his house is better than anywhere else. And blessed,
Speaker 2: this is a man who does not walk in the council. Y'all,
Speaker 2: calm down. I'm trying to teach a first five first
Speaker 2: Bible study on a god who turns water into why
Speaker 2: somebody said the other day. You know what they said
Speaker 2: about you on this blog. I said no, but I
Speaker 2: know what I know. It doesn't matter. I know what
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know what I know.
Speaker 2: The mystery of this text is just as much of
Speaker 2: a message as the lesson.
Speaker 1: Let me say that again. The mystery of this.
Speaker 4: Text is just as much of a message as the lesson.
Speaker 2: Because the consumers didn't know how the miracle happened.
Speaker 4: The servants did.
Speaker 2: This is where I think when I sat down with
Speaker 2: my son, you know, and or got on the phone
Speaker 2: with him and said, I want to give you.
Speaker 4: I want to give you a process that.
Speaker 1: You can do.
Speaker 2: You know, if he was having a bad day, I
Speaker 2: probably could have cash after him some money and he
Speaker 2: would have been happy. But he would have got the money,
Speaker 2: he would have spent the money, and now he feels
Speaker 2: worse because did you really need three? I'm realizing something
Speaker 2: about Jesus, because how many of you I'm not even
Speaker 2: gonna look at you when I asked this, wait, just
Speaker 2: raise your hand for your ow accountability. How many got
Speaker 2: something in your life right now that's taken longer than
Speaker 2: it should if God is bid? Okay, how many got
Speaker 2: something in your life right now? That you feel like
Speaker 2: God must be telling me. No, he might, he might,
Speaker 2: he might one time in the Bible, David King David
Speaker 2: he wanted to build a temple for God.
Speaker 1: Who better to do it? He wrote all the songs?
Speaker 2: Why not build the house that would house the songs
Speaker 2: that he wrote for God?
Speaker 1: But he didn't get to do it.
Speaker 2: In fact, the prophet told him, go ahead, do it, man,
Speaker 2: that sounds good. And God stopped the prophet in his tracks,
Speaker 2: and the prophet had to pivot and turn back and say,
Speaker 2: I went home and prayed about that thing, and dude,
Speaker 2: I love you so much, and you are so amazing,
Speaker 2: and you are so incredible as a leader. I thought, well,
Speaker 2: surely God will let him do it, and God will
Speaker 2: say yes to you. I mean, you want to build
Speaker 2: God a temple. Why wouldn't God get behind that? It
Speaker 2: is a good thing in your heart. But the Lord said, well,
Speaker 2: he didn't say no. He said not you. That's hard
Speaker 2: to hear.
Speaker 3: Not you.
Speaker 2: He said, your son Solomon is going to do it.
Speaker 2: You got too much blood on your hands. But I'm
Speaker 2: still going to do it through you. And David spent
Speaker 2: the rest of his life storing up the materials to
Speaker 2: hand over.
Speaker 1: For a project.
Speaker 2: That he would never person suddenly receive the benefit from him.
Speaker 2: This is the part of the sermon that you leave
Speaker 2: out if your goal is a shout. But my goal
Speaker 2: is not to just give you a shout in church,
Speaker 2: because if you shout, what do you have a sore throat.
Speaker 4: What we have to learn to.
Speaker 2: Do is realize that Jesus is a miracle worker. Yes,
Speaker 2: Jesus is the savior who paid for our sins on
Speaker 2: the cross, and that is the purpose he came for
Speaker 2: to rise from the grave, to have dominion over death
Speaker 2: so that we could call on his name and be saved. Yes,
Speaker 2: he is also a teacher, and a good teacher knows
Speaker 2: when to go.
Speaker 1: Maybe he is going.
Speaker 4: Slow because he wants to show you something.
Speaker 2: I hired a guy to teach me guitar years ago,
Speaker 2: and I went to one lesson. He seemed more interested
Speaker 2: in impressing me with how fast he could play it
Speaker 2: than showing me how I could. I thought, this won't work.
Speaker 2: If your whole goal is showing me how much you
Speaker 2: can shred. I leave knowing nothing, and you feel good
Speaker 2: about yourself. The proof that you are good at this
Speaker 2: is that you can slow it down enough that I
Speaker 2: can watch and say, huh, so I do third thread,
Speaker 2: fourth thread, sixth thread, first spread. I mean, if he
Speaker 2: really wanted to teach me, he asked to slow it down.
Speaker 2: We asked Jesus to teach us things, and we're surprised
Speaker 2: when he slows it down. We asked him to teach
Speaker 2: us to be more loving. We are surprised when he
Speaker 2: slows it down. We asked him to give us patience.
Speaker 2: Bad idea. You have seven days of traffic to look forward.
Speaker 1: To the worst traffic of your life.
Speaker 2: You are gonna have Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 1: Traffic in Waxaw.
Speaker 2: If you pray for patience, God will stack the deck
Speaker 2: to give you a jazz for and he'll slow it down.
Speaker 1: I wanted to learn.
Speaker 2: When I was in high school, I had some friends
Speaker 2: on the step team.
Speaker 1: I thought that looked really cool.
Speaker 2: I said, teach me just a simple thing on the
Speaker 2: step team, And so they.
Speaker 1: Went real fast. They went something like I see if
Speaker 1: I remember, like.
Speaker 2: See how fast I did. That took about four months.
Speaker 2: I could just do it now.
Speaker 1: It's been like thirty years now.
Speaker 2: But I swear we were going uh uh.
Speaker 1: Not because they couldn't do it because I couldn't do it.
Speaker 2: God's not going slow because he can't do it.
Speaker 1: But somebody who knows what I'm talking about, Let's get
Speaker 1: in this. Let's get in this. Yeah. Yeah. God didn't
Speaker 1: say no because he can't. God said slow because you
Speaker 1: can't yet. But if we can do it.
Speaker 2: I still remember this all those years because.
Speaker 1: They slowed it down for me.
Speaker 2: You gotta go slow for Steven. Steven can't do all
Speaker 2: that real quick. He's got a good heart, but he
Speaker 2: needs it real slow. Peter's real slow. John's kind of slow,
Speaker 2: Nathaniel's kind of slow. The Disciples are kind of slow.
Speaker 2: How many are willing to admit it may take God
Speaker 2: slowing this down in my life, and it might not
Speaker 2: be giving it to me when I want it out
Speaker 2: of kindness. God making it convenient isn't always kind. I
Speaker 2: think it would be amazing, right if he said, okay,
Speaker 2: y'all are out of wine. Okay, and Mary says they're
Speaker 2: out of wine, and Jesus says, I already got that
Speaker 2: taken care of.
Speaker 1: I found the will. Because y'all picture this miracle like
Speaker 1: they had a water hose. This water was not ionized.
Speaker 1: There is no faucet.
Speaker 4: Picture the miracle. Picture the miracle, Picture the miracle.
Speaker 2: They said, we're out of wine. Now we're running out
Speaker 2: of wine, not we're gonna be out of wine in
Speaker 2: a couple hours. Let's do something about it. Now we're
Speaker 2: out of wine, when now we need wine whin?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 2: This is us frustrating about this kind of preaching, right,
Speaker 2: It's like wonderful, awesome, glorious Gray, You're.
Speaker 1: Doing steps on the stage.
Speaker 2: But I'm just struggling through things that are real in
Speaker 2: my life and I don't have time for that right now. Well, well, well,
Speaker 2: maybe there is something that Jesus wants to do in
Speaker 2: the process that will teach you where to go back
Speaker 2: when you need it again, because I'm thinking he would
Speaker 2: have the power to go out to the well wherever
Speaker 2: they're getting the water from.
Speaker 1: I need to slow this down one more.
Speaker 2: Time, just to get my point across. Okay, Jesus, they
Speaker 2: have no more wine, What does that have to do
Speaker 2: with me? Right, We've got a request, a refusal, and
Speaker 2: then a revelation. Well, what's the revelation? Of course, he
Speaker 2: is the new wine. There's an old covenant represented by
Speaker 2: the water. There's a new covenant that will be made
Speaker 2: in his blood and ratified by his death, and he's
Speaker 2: showing us that to be filled with his spirit. All
Speaker 2: of that is symbolized in the text. But simply put,
Speaker 2: this would have took a while to do what he
Speaker 2: told him to do. I love what Mary said in
Speaker 2: verse five. Do whatever he tells you. Maybe that's the
Speaker 2: lesson he's been trying to teach us, y'all, because we've
Speaker 2: been doing all kinds of math in our life about
Speaker 2: this and that, and this needs to happen and that
Speaker 2: needs to happen. And Mary goes, do whatever he tells you.
Speaker 1: That's the math.
Speaker 2: A few months ago, we were online talking about girl math.
Speaker 2: You remember that, And then Holly showed me one the
Speaker 2: other day called mom math. It was when you're calculating
Speaker 2: all the times we need to be there at seven,
Speaker 2: so we need to have our shoes on by six fifteen,
Speaker 2: so that means we need to wake up by It
Speaker 2: was hilarious.
Speaker 1: I saw it. I said, oh, well, this week.
Speaker 2: I'm preaching about Mary math and Mary math goes like this,
Speaker 2: We got no wine and a lot of people. Do
Speaker 2: whatever he tells you. Stop letting the math distract you.
Speaker 2: I'll have enough time. I'll have enough years. Yet I'm
Speaker 2: not old enough to do that. I'm not young enough
Speaker 2: to do that. Don't let the math distract you. Don't
Speaker 2: let the math distract you. For as we will see,
Speaker 2: five loaves and two fish can feed five thousand if
Speaker 2: you do what he says. Now, if you don't do
Speaker 2: what he says, you're on your own. Get your calculator
Speaker 2: and good luck. But if you do what he says
Speaker 2: in each moment, if you'll get attuned to the process
Speaker 2: instead of just being a consumer, you will not need
Speaker 2: God to give you something external to produce something wonderful.
Speaker 2: For the Bible says that when Mary activated the presence
Speaker 2: of Jesus, what changed. They're out of wine that has
Speaker 2: nothing to do with my hour has not yet come.
Speaker 2: When he's that's my hour, he's talking about his death.
Speaker 2: He's not saying I won't do it because there's not
Speaker 2: time yet. He's re establishing the big picture. There's a request,
Speaker 2: a refusal. That's where some of you are today. The refusal, Well,
Speaker 2: life won't let me, Well, they won't let me. Will
Speaker 2: I tried that. I've been trying that for years. The refusal,
Speaker 2: And then there.
Speaker 1: Is get ready a reset. He reminds her, my hour
Speaker 1: is not yet calm, this is not my ultimate destination.
Speaker 2: And then she realizes there's nothing that she needs to
Speaker 2: convince him to do. All she has to do is
Speaker 2: convince them to do what he says the moment, she says,
Speaker 2: do whatever he tells you. It's like me with Graham
Speaker 2: and wrestling. She doesn't know much, but she's coaching.
Speaker 1: Good you hear me. You don't have to know that much.
Speaker 2: You just have to get going in the next thing
Speaker 2: he tells you to do, which meant for this miracle,
Speaker 2: which meant for this moment, which meant for this occasion
Speaker 2: that they had to go out get the water from
Speaker 2: the well. Why did Jesus not just bless the well
Speaker 2: and everything that came out of it was wine? Why
Speaker 2: are we taking bucket after bucket after bucket, putting it
Speaker 2: down in the well, drawing it out of the well,
Speaker 2: carrying it into the house, finding the jars. We've dumped
Speaker 2: a bucket. Do you know how big these buckets were?
Speaker 2: Two gallons? Do you remember how big the jars are?
Speaker 1: Thirty? That's like, Hey, let me do some preacher math
Speaker 1: real quick. What's that like?
Speaker 2: Fifteen ish, Yeah, twenty to thirty gallons, so there's some variants.
Speaker 1: But and now I got to do this two gallons
Speaker 1: at a time. But that seems pointless.
Speaker 2: If you're Jesus, go out bless the well and then
Speaker 2: we'll just take it in.
Speaker 4: But the real revelation to me was in this.
Speaker 1: I think you missed this when I read. I think
Speaker 1: you missed it when I read it.
Speaker 2: While they were going out to the well and back
Speaker 2: and forth, there wasn't just two gallon bucket, thirty gallon,
Speaker 2: fifteen fillings.
Speaker 1: Which would have taken a while.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, in verse chapter seven, Jesus said to
Speaker 2: the servants.
Speaker 4: Watch this very carefully, very carefully.
Speaker 2: Now I'm coming to the point of the message that
Speaker 2: I preached all the way here to get you to,
Speaker 2: because I see you in your life struggling with some stuff,
Speaker 2: and I see you in your life dealing with some things,
Speaker 2: and I see you in your life going through a
Speaker 2: process that at this maybe this intersection of your life
Speaker 2: seems a little pointless. The Bible says, Jesus said to
Speaker 2: the servants, fill the jars with water.
Speaker 1: So they filled them to the brim. Read again, he
Speaker 1: said fill.
Speaker 2: The jars with water, so they filled them to the brim.
Speaker 1: Verse eight. Then he told them, now draw some out.
Speaker 2: What's your point, pastor you're really slowing down here. Do
Speaker 2: you have a purpose or struggling on how to close?
Speaker 2: Or do you just want the parking lot to be
Speaker 2: chaotic between services today?
Speaker 1: Are you sadistic?
Speaker 4: Huh?
Speaker 2: I'm slowing it down to show you something. I'm slowing
Speaker 2: it down to show you somethingting verse some of them there.
Speaker 2: Then you said to them, fill the jars with water.
Speaker 2: So they filled them to the brim, which is fine,
Speaker 2: but this is an emergency. We have no wine and
Speaker 2: a lot of people in this culture that was the
Speaker 2: ultimate shame because I know what some of you are thinking.
Speaker 2: It was probably good that the alcohol got cut off
Speaker 2: at this point in the week long wedding.
Speaker 1: Maybe that was God making them run out of wine.
Speaker 1: It's symbolic.
Speaker 2: It's a culture of honor and there is shame present,
Speaker 2: and so Jesus is stepping in not to deal with
Speaker 2: their alcoholic consumption situation.
Speaker 4: He's dealing with their shame. And one thing that feels
Speaker 4: really bad.
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but I hate the feeling
Speaker 2: in life like I've fallen behind, the embarrassment of thinking
Speaker 2: I should know how to do that by now and
Speaker 2: I don't. The embarrassment of feeling like I should have
Speaker 2: my family here by.
Speaker 1: Now and I don't.
Speaker 2: The embarrassment of going I should have whipped this six
Speaker 2: years ago and I didn't. Now, the fear of falling
Speaker 2: behind has been combined with the reality of being at
Speaker 2: the bottom. There is no wine. This is an emergency.
Speaker 2: This is urgent. So why would it Jesus let them
Speaker 2: fill one jar and start distributing it.
Speaker 1: Why read the text.
Speaker 2: It says they had to draw out the water and
Speaker 2: fill them to the brim. That means they had to
Speaker 2: fill all six before anything changed.
Speaker 1: It wasn't as if.
Speaker 2: They poured the water and the water became wine, because
Speaker 2: that would have made sense. And if it made sense,
Speaker 2: then maybe they would have been addicted to it instead
Speaker 2: of believing in him. So they're pouring water. Water doesn't
Speaker 2: turn to wine. I don't care how much of it
Speaker 2: you pour. There's no grapes in this situation. There is
Speaker 2: nothing to suggest this is going to work. So the
Speaker 2: service pouring and pouring and sweating and pouring and sweating
Speaker 2: and pouring and checking anything.
Speaker 4: Happened yet if you didn't getting wine, did he bring
Speaker 4: the wine?
Speaker 1: And not yet?
Speaker 4: And so now imagine they.
Speaker 1: Get the first jar full.
Speaker 2: That's fifteen that's fifteen buckets full. There's plenty to demonstrate that.
Speaker 2: I take you seriously. And and and the head the
Speaker 2: head server comes over and says, uh, Jesus, can.
Speaker 1: We take some over to the people now?
Speaker 2: Kind of get them calmed down a little bit because
Speaker 2: there's no wine, and you know how even give we
Speaker 2: just say one over there and we'll keep one up
Speaker 2: the others. He said, no, no, no, not now. Fill the
Speaker 2: next one, fill the next one. But can we take
Speaker 2: this one? No, not now, not now.
Speaker 1: It was not.
Speaker 2: Until every jar was filled to the brim and the
Speaker 2: water was drawn out of the last filled jar that
Speaker 2: it became Why.
Speaker 1: Why did God make every jar have to be filled?
Speaker 2: Why has God allowed you to pray about this for
Speaker 2: so long? Why has God not just waved his wand
Speaker 2: over our situation? Why did he reset in order to reveal?
Speaker 2: It is only after the jars are filled. It is
Speaker 2: only after I'm telling you what I know from my life.
Speaker 2: It is only after you have done it and done
Speaker 2: it and done it and I can't speak for everybody
Speaker 2: in the room, but somebody online needs to hear this.
Speaker 1: Give me my camera please.
Speaker 2: It is sometimes when I am almost done trying that
Speaker 2: at that moment in time, that's when God says, now
Speaker 2: it's almost It's not when i'm fresh. It's not when
Speaker 2: I feel like I got this.
Speaker 1: It's not when it makes sense.
Speaker 2: It's not when it should have happened on a human schedule.
Speaker 1: It's at that.
Speaker 2: Moment where I'm like, if I have to pour one
Speaker 2: more two gallon bucket, if I have to do this
Speaker 2: one more time, and nothing is happening, but everything is
Speaker 2: changing in your life. For every time you pore when
Speaker 2: your eyes can't perceive, it.
Speaker 1: Is a building of your.
Speaker 2: Faith that is producing within you the strength to know
Speaker 2: where your help comes from, the strength to know where
Speaker 2: grace comes from. The strength to know that there is
Speaker 2: a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. Now
Speaker 2: you can take it.
Speaker 1: Some of the things that you thought in your life were.
Speaker 2: Rejection were not rejection.
Speaker 1: You just weren't ready.
Speaker 2: God is speaking to somebody today who has been told no,
Speaker 2: or so you thought.
Speaker 4: The Lord didn't even say no.
Speaker 1: He said not now, not now.
Speaker 2: For the one who lost a loved one, and you're
Speaker 2: playing God, your prayer has been, will you help me
Speaker 2: understand why this happened? We may never understand certain things
Speaker 2: on this side of heaven.
Speaker 4: God said, not now.
Speaker 2: Now we know in part. Now we see in part.
Speaker 2: Now we prophesy in part. But when what is incomplete
Speaker 2: has been made complete, then we will know. Then we
Speaker 2: will know. Then we will know.
Speaker 1: Then we will know.
Speaker 2: And your job in the meantime is not to understand.
Speaker 2: It is to obey and do whatever he tells you.
Speaker 2: Because I'm telling you, man, some of the stuff that
Speaker 2: God is doing in your life don't happen till all
Speaker 2: the jars are full. And I understand that you fill
Speaker 2: three jars. I understand that you've worked on it for
Speaker 2: four years. I understand it you went back five times,
Speaker 2: but sometimes you got to fill all six.
Speaker 1: In order to see who he is. Because the key.
Speaker 2: Verse of this passage has nothing to do with when
Speaker 2: they drank the wine. It's verse eleven of John chapter two.
Speaker 2: Bible says this was the first of the signs that
Speaker 2: he performed, and.
Speaker 1: He revealed his glory.
Speaker 2: He revealed his glory, He revealed his glory. He refused
Speaker 2: the request so he could reveal his glory, so that
Speaker 2: he reset your expectation, so that he could reveal his glory.
Speaker 2: Because if he just gave you the wine, you'd be
Speaker 2: a consumer. But if he teaches you to trust him,
Speaker 2: you'll be a producer. And there is a process for joy.
Speaker 2: There is a process for trust. There is a process
Speaker 2: for confidence. There is a process. That's what the pouring is.
Speaker 2: It's the process. This is his first son. He will
Speaker 2: do many more, but first you must poor. And Jesus
Speaker 2: is so awesome that the man who tasted the wine said,
Speaker 2: normally they switch out the cheap stuff at this point,
Speaker 2: but you did something different.
Speaker 1: I came to announce.
Speaker 2: Get ready for God to do something different in your life,
Speaker 2: different than you thought, different than you plan, different than
Speaker 2: you hope, different than you put on your list.
Speaker 1: You saved the best till now.
Speaker 2: There are some things in your life that in a
Speaker 2: previous season you were not ready to receive it. But
Speaker 2: God brought you under this word today. Why because it's
Speaker 2: a now moment. It's a now moment. God said, now
Speaker 2: draw it out. Now the jars are filled. Now now
Speaker 2: somebody shout, now, now over.
Speaker 1: Your mental health. Now, over your.
Speaker 2: Business, now over your dream now now it wasn't about you.
Speaker 2: You weren't rejected, you weren't ready yet. I remember when
Speaker 2: I first wanted to write a song with Matt Redman.
Speaker 2: He's the greatest worship songwriter that you could ever meet.
Speaker 2: From the UK or maybe anywhere else in the world.
Speaker 2: I said, write a song with me, write a song
Speaker 2: with me, write a song with me. He was very
Speaker 2: British and polite. He was very passively, kindly affirmative in
Speaker 2: his not now miss yeah mate, we should do that
Speaker 2: one day. Yeah may.
Speaker 1: I'm like, will you could call me mate and write
Speaker 1: a song with me? I want to write a song
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 2: This was very early when I was writing songs with
Speaker 2: our team, and I got kind of mad at him
Speaker 2: because I thought, you don't want to write a song
Speaker 2: with me.
Speaker 4: You think I'm just a preacher.
Speaker 1: You don't think I can write a song. I can
Speaker 1: write a song. I'll show you I don't write a song.
Speaker 2: And in the meantime, in the meantime, every said meantime, meantime, meantime, meantime, meantime.
Speaker 4: Along with the incredible team, we wrote songs. We wrote
Speaker 4: songs we wrote songs.
Speaker 1: We wrote songs. We wrote songs. I send them to
Speaker 1: mad I say, art Thee's good, won't you write with me?
Speaker 1: Artie's good? Won't you write with me?
Speaker 4: Once?
Speaker 1: You write with me? And you know what Matt did.
Speaker 2: One day I was preaching and I was up on
Speaker 2: the stage at a big conference, thirty thousand people. He
Speaker 2: was there leading music, and I said a statement in
Speaker 2: my sermon. I was preaching on don't stop on six,
Speaker 2: which I could preach that from the stone jars too.
Speaker 2: And then the line that I said was the promise
Speaker 2: still stands. And he came up to me after my session.
Speaker 1: He goes mate. I said, yes, it was an amazing
Speaker 1: message and that should be a song.
Speaker 2: The promise still stands, And I said, will you write
Speaker 2: it with me? He said yes, so I'm gonna share
Speaker 2: with you. He wasn't saying no, he was saying yes,
Speaker 2: not yet. And I'm glad he told me no because
Speaker 2: it made me go back and dig to find out
Speaker 2: what I had. Chunks, who was my very first person
Speaker 2: who joined the church right after Holly joined it, he
Speaker 2: was there and he heard it.
Speaker 4: We had three hours before we had to fly three hours.
Speaker 1: He said, y'all go right this.
Speaker 4: I said, no, we'll do it.
Speaker 2: We'll do it another time. He said, no, you bear
Speaker 2: to do it now. He might not want to write
Speaker 2: with you after he forgets that sermon. He said, I'll
Speaker 2: get some chicken wings from room service, bring it up
Speaker 2: to the room, and y'all can eat. In the worst
Speaker 2: case scenario, you'll hang out for a couple hours. I
Speaker 2: get everything thing care of. I make sure we don't
Speaker 2: miss the flight. I'll come get you exact lasts moment.
Speaker 2: I come at a very last minute, and I'll get you.
Speaker 2: And we sat there and we got almost nothing. The
Speaker 2: only thing we came away from that that I remember.
Speaker 7: Is walking around these walls. I thought, by now they fall, Well,
Speaker 7: you have never failed me yet. And then we had
Speaker 7: to leave, eat some chicken wings, got on a plane.
Speaker 7: He would text me from.
Speaker 2: Time to time.
Speaker 4: I would text him, and he got He was very persistent.
Speaker 2: He's like, we should work on that thing with the walls,
Speaker 2: and the promise still stands. And we didn't even have
Speaker 2: the line that made him want to write it in
Speaker 2: the song at.
Speaker 4: That point, I don't remember.
Speaker 1: We kept going.
Speaker 2: One day I sent him a thing and went, uh,
Speaker 2: like don don don, that's what it did. And he
Speaker 2: sent it back, and he sent it back, but don
Speaker 2: don Dunn, don don down town. You did it twice
Speaker 2: months more go by, nothing, nothing, nothing, this song.
Speaker 1: And then Chris, you remember Chris, we're finishing up a song,
Speaker 1: the fabled Mountain House. I wish we'd have bought that house.
Speaker 4: We wrote some good songs in that house, and we should.
Speaker 1: Have bought that house.
Speaker 2: But he said, you know, I don't know what you
Speaker 2: want to work on next, but we still have that
Speaker 2: thing with you in Redman.
Speaker 1: I said, the promised dance thing. He said, yeah, and
Speaker 1: start playing it. And something came up.
Speaker 8: I've seen you move, you move the mountains, and I
Speaker 8: believe I'll see you too.
Speaker 1: Okay, now, think about this.
Speaker 7: I thought by now bade fall right.
Speaker 2: You thought by now you'd be different. You thought by
Speaker 2: now would be easy. You thought by now they would
Speaker 2: have apologized. You thought by now they would be productive.
Speaker 2: You thought by now it would have turned around. You
Speaker 2: thought by now it would have lifted. I think it's
Speaker 2: amazing that we wrote a.
Speaker 1: Song together.
Speaker 2: About God in his infinite faithfulness, from a relationship where
Speaker 2: I actually felt I had been rejected and I wonder
Speaker 2: is there an area in your life where you have.
Speaker 1: Called it rejection?
Speaker 2: But now God has been using it to get you ready. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because you thought, well, there's something wrong with me.
Speaker 1: That's why. That's not why he's teaching you something. He's
Speaker 1: teaching you how.
Speaker 3: To fill the jar by faith, say it, Phil, the
Speaker 3: jar by faith. You fill it two gallons at a time,
Speaker 3: and every two gallons you carry and.
Speaker 1: You feel it and it's still water. That's how you
Speaker 1: learn who God is, by gallon by gallon, by gallon.
Speaker 2: I feel like preaching God by the gallon, but I
Speaker 2: don't know who.
Speaker 1: Is for because it's not gonna come all at once.
Speaker 2: But when it happens, when it happens, you'll be saying,
Speaker 2: now he's saved the best till.
Speaker 1: Now getting rain. So yeah, stand up and I'll close
Speaker 1: this thing.
Speaker 2: I can't preach short when I'm talking a message called
Speaker 2: not now. But I want to tell you it was
Speaker 2: not God saying no, it's Jesus.
Speaker 1: I was tossed in a lot.
Speaker 2: Kind of scary for a second, but I never went under.
Speaker 1: Because you.
Speaker 7: Always, well, I love it, Jesus.
Speaker 1: You sing it when I went through the fire.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, always you never left me.
Speaker 1: Hold up, I got one, Jesus.
Speaker 6: All I got is some pots, but I'll fill.
Speaker 2: Them with water.
Speaker 6: You can turn it to wine, Jeeesus, because I still
Speaker 6: got a god turned.
Speaker 4: Water to wine.
Speaker 1: That doesn't make no sense. Water to wine.
Speaker 2: Wine has the age to get good, not when Jesus
Speaker 2: does it. Nah, he don't work on your time schedule.
Speaker 2: Some of the best stuff in your life is still coming,
Speaker 2: some of the best stuff. I'm the horse forward, the
Speaker 2: devil Stawar he told to go home, give up, it's
Speaker 2: over now. The best stuff is still coming. It's still coming.
Speaker 2: He's at your wedding and it's coming.
Speaker 1: He's coming to Sita.
Speaker 2: I was using the.
Speaker 1: Same bet, the same when golf events on the homes.
Speaker 9: Shes winter read through this cut it cut a closs,
Speaker 9: but you.
Speaker 1: You were close too soon.
Speaker 2: I'm a Testimoni said.
Speaker 9: It's kind of been a dame, never been a big
Speaker 9: never been a moment hs your reading. He's got a
Speaker 9: been in town, but you didn't see has got off house.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
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Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.