WEBVTT 00:00:01.419 --> 00:00:04.440 Sharing good news of great joy to all people. 00:00:04.860 --> 00:00:09.919 Elation Church. Good morning. If you're joining 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:12.359 us for the first time, we're in a series called 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:15.740 Faith Act. Everybody say faith. Everybody say 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:22.239 act. Fact. So, faith is incomplete unless it 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:25.640 is carried through, right? Faith, our actions 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:30.780 in faith, or what we do by our faith, are important. 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:33.100 And if you come to Alation Church a lot, you'll 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:35.640 realize we talk about faith a lot. We've preached 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:38.020 a lot of messages on faith. Faith is important 00:00:38.020 --> 00:00:41.340 for every believer. Amen? Amen. All right. Well, 00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:43.539 what do we mean by faith? But before we go too 00:00:43.539 --> 00:00:46.439 much farther, I know Dad, you know, he had asked 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:49.979 me, like, to preach a little while back, and 00:00:49.979 --> 00:00:52.240 I kept going back and forth. I said, well, do 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:54.799 I want to do it now? Do I want to do, you know, 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:57.259 like just one message? Do I want to do a series 00:00:57.259 --> 00:00:59.799 or something like that? We went back and forth 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:02.939 with it, and finally Dad looked at me just a 00:01:02.939 --> 00:01:05.659 little while ago. He was like, let's tag team. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:08.579 Let's tag team a series. And I said, sure, let's 00:01:08.579 --> 00:01:12.640 do it. It'll be fun. So he kind of tagged me 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.359 in. We're going to do it. Here we go. Boom! Woo! 00:01:18.890 --> 00:01:21.969 So we're, and Siri's talking to me now, that's 00:01:21.969 --> 00:01:26.180 okay. But yeah, this has been something that's 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:27.900 kind of been on our hearts. We've been talking 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:30.540 about this for a while, talking about the faith 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:34.480 that does. Faith has action. It's not just faith 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:37.760 in itself. It goes beyond that. And that's what 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.180 we're talking about. But as I was trying to figure 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:42.280 out, because I do all the visuals, Dad and I 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:45.519 work on that, I saw this picture of this little 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.180 baby holding this barbell. And I said, wow, that's 00:01:49.180 --> 00:01:54.409 perfect for what we're talking about. As a Christian, 00:01:54.590 --> 00:01:57.670 sometimes we, just in life, like if I walked 00:01:57.670 --> 00:02:00.269 over my natural mind, if I saw a barbell like 00:02:00.269 --> 00:02:03.189 that, I saw all that weight on it, I'm at the 00:02:03.189 --> 00:02:04.989 point in my life I don't have to impress anybody. 00:02:05.689 --> 00:02:08.129 I don't have anything to prove. I'm not even 00:02:08.129 --> 00:02:10.569 going to touch it, right? I'm just going to look 00:02:10.569 --> 00:02:12.909 at it and I'll be like, okay, I can't do that. 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:15.550 There's no way, right? But what I love about 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:17.930 this and this baby, he's just over there. He 00:02:17.930 --> 00:02:20.030 has his hands on the barbell and he's just sitting 00:02:20.030 --> 00:02:23.340 there like, okay. What are we going to do? What's 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:25.120 going to happen? He's just holding on to it. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:27.939 Something that in my natural mind I would never 00:02:27.939 --> 00:02:30.780 do, this baby just walks over to it and just 00:02:30.780 --> 00:02:36.479 puts her hands to it. Puts her hands to it. And 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.139 then when I saw that, I kind of thought, I was 00:02:39.139 --> 00:02:43.979 like, what are the things that maybe God's called 00:02:43.979 --> 00:02:48.759 me to do, right, that look too big for me? He's 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:51.060 called me to put my hands to it, to do the work, 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:55.379 but yet I'm just going, I can't do it on my own 00:02:55.379 --> 00:02:57.840 ability because I always want to think about 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.000 my natural self, right? I want to think about 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.919 my abilities on whether or not God can do something 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:06.400 through me. Are we tracking? Are we understanding? 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:10.560 This means yes. This means yes. Okay. Faith act. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:14.000 Let's talk about faith. The Bible's full of verses 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:15.960 about faith. We're going to hit some of the highlights. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:19.939 Ephesians 2 .8. It says this, for by grace you 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:23.020 have been saved through faith. Everybody say 00:03:23.020 --> 00:03:26.919 by grace. Through faith. Through faith. What 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:29.979 is grace? Grace is God's acts of kindness and 00:03:29.979 --> 00:03:33.860 favor towards you and towards me. It's grace. 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:36.860 It's by grace. It's what God has done. Not in 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:40.009 my ability. Right? And salvation is what God 00:03:40.009 --> 00:03:42.210 has done on the cross. His finished work on the 00:03:42.210 --> 00:03:45.430 cross is then applied to my life. And how is 00:03:45.430 --> 00:03:47.629 God's finished work on the cross applied to my 00:03:47.629 --> 00:03:50.469 life? Through faith. Everybody say, through faith. 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:55.250 Through faith. Galatians 3 .11, that no one is 00:03:55.250 --> 00:03:58.710 justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:02.930 For the just shall live by faith. Everybody say, 00:04:02.990 --> 00:04:07.530 live by faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says this, 00:04:07.569 --> 00:04:11.449 For we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by 00:04:11.449 --> 00:04:15.629 faith. 1 John 5, 4 says, Every child of God. 00:04:15.870 --> 00:04:18.730 Does it say some children of God? No, it says 00:04:18.730 --> 00:04:22.129 every child of God defeats this evil world. And 00:04:22.129 --> 00:04:26.850 we achieve this victory through our faith. Amen. 00:04:27.970 --> 00:04:30.769 Do you have victory this morning, church? Do 00:04:30.769 --> 00:04:32.990 you have victory in Christ and what he's done 00:04:32.990 --> 00:04:36.230 for you? Say, yeah. We do have victory. Sometimes, 00:04:36.350 --> 00:04:39.230 though, we feel a little beat up. The world beats 00:04:39.230 --> 00:04:43.850 us up. The world beats us down sometimes. But 00:04:43.850 --> 00:04:45.790 according to the Word, and that's where I'm going 00:04:45.790 --> 00:04:49.170 to stand, is that every child of God defeats 00:04:49.170 --> 00:04:52.410 this evil world, and we achieve this not because 00:04:52.410 --> 00:04:55.829 we just avoid all the trouble in the world, right? 00:04:56.009 --> 00:04:58.529 No, trouble comes. It rains on the just and the 00:04:58.529 --> 00:05:00.949 unjust, the Bible says. No, we're all going to 00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:05.100 face trouble. But we have victory through our 00:05:05.100 --> 00:05:10.420 faith. Everybody say faith. Hebrews 11, 6. And 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:14.100 it is impossible to please God without faith. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:17.740 Everybody say faith is important. Faith is important. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:19.480 It's impossible to please God. How many of you 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:22.660 want to please God? We want to please God. Anyone 00:05:22.660 --> 00:05:25.560 who wants to come to him must believe that God 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:28.899 exists and that he rewards those who sincerely 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:34.040 seek him. So if we are saved through faith, if 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:36.620 we're called to live by faith, if we can only 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:39.600 experience victory through faith, if we can only 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:42.899 please God by our faith, we need to be men, women, 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:47.779 boys and girls of faith. Amen? Amen. We need 00:05:47.779 --> 00:05:52.259 to be people of faith, actively living by faith, 00:05:52.379 --> 00:05:56.000 actively standing in faith, and actively increasing 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.839 in our faith. A lot of people, we want to just 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:02.660 be passive. in our faith we just want to say 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:06.740 well i hear and i believe and i'm just and that's 00:06:06.740 --> 00:06:09.160 it that's all the christian experience is well 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:12.339 i believe it well even the demons believe amen 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:15.319 even the demons believe that's what the bible 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:17.600 says so it's got to be more than just believing 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:22.019 it's got to be more than just hearing it we got 00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:24.420 to be active in it That's why this series is 00:06:24.420 --> 00:06:26.639 called Faith Acts. So we're looking at the faith 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:29.459 actions on how we live by faith, how we stand 00:06:29.459 --> 00:06:33.079 by faith each and every day, how we increase 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:37.180 in our faith. So let's break it down. What is 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:39.980 faith? Where does faith come from? And how do 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:43.459 we have it? And how do we live it? Romans 10 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:47.459 .7 says this, So then faith... comes by hearing 00:06:47.459 --> 00:06:50.160 and hearing by the word of God. That word of 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:54.660 God is divine utterance, meaning the word spoken 00:06:54.660 --> 00:06:59.439 or written. So the Bible, right, we look at that, 00:06:59.459 --> 00:07:02.420 we call that the written word of God. But the 00:07:02.420 --> 00:07:05.370 Bible was first spoke. Right out the mouth, it 00:07:05.370 --> 00:07:09.189 was written down. And so it's written for us 00:07:09.189 --> 00:07:11.370 to speak it again, but we're not getting into 00:07:11.370 --> 00:07:13.870 that. But it is the divine utterance is that 00:07:13.870 --> 00:07:18.709 God is wanting to speak to you and to me each 00:07:18.709 --> 00:07:21.850 and every day. If we're sensitive to his Holy 00:07:21.850 --> 00:07:25.589 Spirit living on the inside of us, he's constantly 00:07:25.589 --> 00:07:27.949 wanting to speak. He's constantly wanting to 00:07:27.949 --> 00:07:31.430 show us and give us direction. He's wanting to 00:07:31.430 --> 00:07:38.360 give us. He's wanting to just give us light to 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:41.519 our path, the Bible says. So it shows us where 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:45.079 we are, where we are at, so we can self -examine, 00:07:45.259 --> 00:07:47.680 right? But then it also shows us where we're 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:50.360 going to go. It gives us direction into the things 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:53.720 in front of us. So if we are sensitive, and as 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:55.879 children of God, we should be sensitive to the 00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:59.019 Spirit of God, right? But if we're sensitive 00:07:59.019 --> 00:08:02.480 to his word, he'll give us direction. And that 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:04.939 comes through hearing, and that's by faith. So 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:08.319 the first step of faith is hearing a divine utterance 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:11.860 from God. Everyone say hearing. Hearing. Hebrews 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:15.860 11 .1, faith is the confidence that what we hope 00:08:15.860 --> 00:08:18.800 for will actually happen. It gives us assurance 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:23.300 about things we cannot see. This hope here is 00:08:23.300 --> 00:08:25.860 different from the world's definition of hope. 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.699 The world's definition of hope is like hope so. 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:30.959 Well, I hope it's not going to rain tomorrow. 00:08:31.100 --> 00:08:34.100 I hope it's not, you know, I hope, you know, 00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:36.059 whatever. I hope the hurricane don't hit us. 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:38.159 I hope something happens. We can't be assured 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:40.460 of these things that we just constantly use the 00:08:40.460 --> 00:08:43.159 word hope for, right? But the word here, hope, 00:08:43.299 --> 00:08:46.480 is different. The hope that the Bible talks about, 00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:48.799 and when we see that, it's a confident expectation 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:53.960 in what? In ourselves? In the people around us? 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:56.539 No, it's a confident expectation that we will 00:08:56.539 --> 00:08:59.600 see the goodness and promises of God fulfilled 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:05.899 in our life. We can expect that. We can expect 00:09:05.899 --> 00:09:08.600 his good promises to be fulfilled. We can expect 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:12.559 God to do great and mighty things in this earth, 00:09:12.620 --> 00:09:16.200 in and through each and every person here. How? 00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:19.840 Because we can stand on God's word by faith. 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:22.600 And we'll see those things happen. So the second 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:25.220 step of faith is wholeheartedly believing and 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:29.720 having confidence in God's word. Believing, confidence, 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:32.720 not in ourselves, not in our own ability, but 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:36.820 in God. Faith is not the world's view of positive 00:09:36.820 --> 00:09:41.740 confessions. It's different. You can't just manifest 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:45.320 things of your imagination into the reality around 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:48.690 you. That's not what this is talking about. That's 00:09:48.690 --> 00:09:51.889 not the principle of faith. Now, you can think 00:09:51.889 --> 00:09:54.250 on good things and apply biblical principles 00:09:54.250 --> 00:09:57.450 outside, and a lot of people are just now catching 00:09:57.450 --> 00:10:00.750 up to that. We have, you know, enrichment seminars 00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:03.470 and things like that where you talk about just 00:10:03.470 --> 00:10:06.450 thinking on good things does change your world. 00:10:06.470 --> 00:10:09.409 Why? It's because God created everything that 00:10:09.409 --> 00:10:12.070 way, and people and man is just now figuring 00:10:12.070 --> 00:10:16.559 out, well, hey, if I just choose to laugh, It's 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:19.700 going to make me feel better. When the Bible 00:10:19.700 --> 00:10:21.940 has said for a long time, laughter does us good 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:26.039 like a medicine. So we're just now catching up 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:27.940 and people are just now discovering the things. 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:31.919 But the sad part is we can do those things and 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.759 use the laws on how God created everything apart 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.220 from him. But it will change our life, but we're 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:41.759 not going to be connected to its power. We're 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.860 not going to see the full scope of how it can 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:48.259 really change your life. It's only going to be 00:10:48.259 --> 00:10:52.039 a tip of the iceberg of all that what God has 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.299 in store for us. So it's not just the world's 00:10:54.299 --> 00:10:56.899 view of positive confessions. We don't make up 00:10:56.899 --> 00:10:59.440 what to do. Doing something without direction 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.299 is just presumption. We must act according to 00:11:04.299 --> 00:11:07.720 God -given direction. Confessions are merely 00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:10.340 words unless they are connected to the promise. 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:15.279 Because in the promise holds the power, holds 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:18.080 the manifestation of God in what he wants to 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:23.340 do. We do not have just faith in faith. A lot 00:11:23.340 --> 00:11:25.159 of Christians just be like, well, I have faith. 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:28.159 Well, what does that mean? What does that mean 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.960 to you? Does it mean that you have faith if you 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.539 just come to church and you just, you know, have 00:11:33.539 --> 00:11:36.539 this Christian life? Maybe you... read your Bible 00:11:36.539 --> 00:11:39.460 a little bit, or you even believed. Is that all 00:11:39.460 --> 00:11:42.600 that faith is? Does that mean, okay, I have faith? 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:46.919 No. Some people, they just say, well, I have 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:51.399 faith in myself. Can we really have faith in 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:54.879 ourself? No, because you'll let yourself down 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:57.980 time and time again, right? You don't know what 00:11:57.980 --> 00:12:01.259 your abilities are. Sometimes you wake up in 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:03.279 the morning. I know when I hit 30 years old. 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:06.860 I woke up in the morning, I felt like Superman, 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:09.860 and then I turned 30. I tried to step out of 00:12:09.860 --> 00:12:12.019 bed one morning, and I threw my back out. And 00:12:12.019 --> 00:12:14.960 I said, oh, gosh, if this is what 30 looks like, 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.399 I don't want any part of it. I couldn't count 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:22.559 on myself in that moment, right? I can't have 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:26.720 trust in myself always. And like I said in Children's 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:28.539 Church last week, you can't trust other people 00:12:28.539 --> 00:12:31.960 either, right? We can't have faith in other people. 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:35.919 People will let you down. We'll let ourselves 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.879 down. The people in your life, they will let 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:41.059 you down. And if you have your faith in someone 00:12:41.059 --> 00:12:45.519 other than God, your faith is in the wrong place. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.460 It's in the wrong person. You can have faith 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:50.879 in the church, the establishment, the organization 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.639 of the church, and the church itself will let 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:55.639 you down. That's why there's so much church hurt 00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:58.299 and church pain, right? Because their faith, 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.309 people's faith is in... The establishment of 00:13:01.309 --> 00:13:04.669 the body, right, and not in the body of God. 00:13:05.669 --> 00:13:09.350 It's establishment about a preacher, right, who 00:13:09.350 --> 00:13:11.769 had some sort of moral failure. You had faith 00:13:11.769 --> 00:13:13.490 in the preacher, but you didn't have faith in 00:13:13.490 --> 00:13:15.769 God. If all of a sudden the preacher makes a 00:13:15.769 --> 00:13:18.490 mistake and you walk away from him, walk away 00:13:18.490 --> 00:13:21.250 from church and Christianity and say, I don't 00:13:21.250 --> 00:13:23.529 want anything to do with God anymore. Why is 00:13:23.529 --> 00:13:27.289 that? Because your faith was misplaced. Faith 00:13:27.289 --> 00:13:30.470 was misplaced. We can't have faith in just faith. 00:13:30.570 --> 00:13:33.129 We can't have faith in ourselves. The Bible says 00:13:33.129 --> 00:13:36.190 in Mark 11, 22, Jesus said to his disciples, 00:13:36.389 --> 00:13:42.129 have faith in God. Have faith in God. It seems 00:13:42.129 --> 00:13:45.909 so simple. It is. The word of God is simple. 00:13:46.110 --> 00:13:49.309 It's a simple truth because everyone can understand 00:13:49.309 --> 00:13:53.450 it. Everyone can understand the truth of God's 00:13:53.450 --> 00:13:58.600 word. Have faith. in god james 2 26 faith without 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:05.840 works is dead that's pretty strong so you're 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:07.899 what you're what this verse is saying is that 00:14:07.899 --> 00:14:10.940 i can hear and i can believe and if i don't act 00:14:10.940 --> 00:14:18.799 what is my faith if not just dead The third step 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:22.240 of faith is acting in obedience. It's acting 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.940 in obedience. The faith that believes in God 00:14:24.940 --> 00:14:28.159 is a faith that responds. It's a faith that does. 00:14:28.259 --> 00:14:32.139 It's a faith that acts. We're not just passive 00:14:32.139 --> 00:14:34.600 Christians. We're active Christians. We're actively 00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.779 standing on the word of God. We're living by 00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:41.840 the word of God, by faith. We are doing and being 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:46.980 the hands and feet of Christ in the earth. The 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:49.200 connection to the manifestation of the power 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:56.960 is when we act upon what God has said. That's 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.860 the connection point. We want to see God move. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:04.450 We want to see God do. And God be who he was 00:15:04.450 --> 00:15:06.750 for the people in the Bible. We want to see those 00:15:06.750 --> 00:15:09.690 things alive and happening in our world today. 00:15:10.009 --> 00:15:12.649 What's going to take some men, women, boys and 00:15:12.649 --> 00:15:15.230 girls standing up and doing the things that God 00:15:15.230 --> 00:15:19.629 says and acting in faith. To the point, not just 00:15:19.629 --> 00:15:22.450 believing, but believing it so wholeheartedly 00:15:22.450 --> 00:15:25.710 that we're just, yeah, I'm going to do it. Yeah, 00:15:25.769 --> 00:15:28.360 I'm going to do what you say, God. It changes 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.419 my words. It changes my actions. It changes how 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:34.340 I give, changes how I talk, changes everything 00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:37.320 in my world around me because I understand it. 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:42.820 I understand it and I truly believe it. So faith 00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:45.980 is gained by hearing. It's held by believing, 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:49.399 but then it's lived by acting, by the actions. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.580 And as Christians, we're real good at hearing. 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:56.000 We're real good at believing. We did a whole 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.620 message on even saying, and saying is a part 00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:01.059 of that action, but we're real good at these 00:16:01.059 --> 00:16:05.779 things, hearing and believing, but we often really 00:16:05.779 --> 00:16:09.039 lack when it comes to doing, acting in obedience 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:13.419 to his word and to the things that he said. So 00:16:13.419 --> 00:16:17.139 that's why this series is called Faith Act. That 00:16:17.139 --> 00:16:19.120 was my little introduction there, and then we're 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:22.000 going to move into today's message. And we're 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.759 talking today, the title of today's message is 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:31.840 Trust and Obey. Trust and Obey. Real simple, 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:38.000 real easy to remember. Trust and Obey. We're 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:41.139 talking about childlike faith. We're going to 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:44.500 talk about miracles and how those two things 00:16:44.500 --> 00:16:47.289 interact with one another. Okay, just so we're 00:16:47.289 --> 00:16:51.009 all on the same page. But listen, anyone, everybody 00:16:51.009 --> 00:16:55.710 say anyone. I need you to get this. I need you 00:16:55.710 --> 00:16:59.830 to get this today. Anyone can experience a manifestation 00:16:59.830 --> 00:17:06.269 of the power of God. Do you believe that? I say 00:17:06.269 --> 00:17:10.289 it and you look like I just, you know. Do you 00:17:10.289 --> 00:17:13.950 really believe anyone can experience a manifestation 00:17:13.950 --> 00:17:20.559 of the power of God? Do you believe that God 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:26.799 wants everyone to experience that power? Do you 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:33.960 believe that? Anyone can have faith that pleases 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:41.700 God. Anyone. Romans 2 .11, for God does not show 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.720 favoritism. Amen. Aren't you glad God doesn't 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:50.259 show favoritism? Right? He's no respecter of 00:17:50.259 --> 00:17:54.460 persons, another translation says. For God does 00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:58.519 not show favoritism. Faith is simple. That's 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:01.980 why it's so simple. It's a simple concept. Anyone 00:18:01.980 --> 00:18:05.059 can get a hold of it. And the truth of God is 00:18:05.059 --> 00:18:08.319 simple. We can all take a hold of it. And it 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:11.440 can all change our lives. It can all impact everything 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.259 that we do, think, and say. Faith is simple. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:21.109 So simple. A child can do it. A child can live 00:18:21.109 --> 00:18:27.329 it. A child can stand in faith. And often, often 00:18:27.329 --> 00:18:30.609 a child will just simply believe something that 00:18:30.609 --> 00:18:35.829 an adult will not. When God's just really requiring 00:18:35.829 --> 00:18:40.430 us to just trust and obey, often children will 00:18:40.430 --> 00:18:43.730 trust and obey. But it's us adults that have 00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:49.170 a hard time. Faith is simple. Matthew 18, 1 through 00:18:49.170 --> 00:18:53.710 4. I love this. It says, about that time, the 00:18:53.710 --> 00:18:57.289 disciples came to Jesus and asked, who is the 00:18:57.289 --> 00:19:01.390 greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Who's the 00:19:01.390 --> 00:19:05.329 greatest, God? Tell us. Tell us who's the greatest. 00:19:05.809 --> 00:19:07.789 Maybe they were looking at it going, which one 00:19:07.789 --> 00:19:11.750 of us is the greatest, God? Look around. Is he 00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:17.339 my greater? No, maybe not. And Jesus did this. 00:19:17.339 --> 00:19:20.640 He called the little child to him. He said, come 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:23.680 here. He didn't answer their question. He just 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:25.339 said, he looked over, he was like, come here. 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:30.980 Put the child among them. And then he said, I 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:34.079 tell you the truth. Unless you turn from your 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.299 sins and become like little children, you will 00:19:37.299 --> 00:19:40.539 never get into the kingdom of heaven. So anyone 00:19:40.539 --> 00:19:42.839 who becomes as humble, I'm going to say humble. 00:19:44.199 --> 00:19:48.500 Humble as this little child is the greatest in 00:19:48.500 --> 00:19:53.240 the kingdom of heaven. Humble. Opposite of humility, 00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:56.740 I would say, would be pride. When we get older, 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:02.259 that little stronghold of pride gets even more 00:20:02.259 --> 00:20:05.059 and more in our lives. We think we know more. 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:07.039 A lot of times we say that word pride, we go, 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:10.480 ooh, I don't want to have pride. No, I'm not 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:14.089 prideful. But it's just that little bit of, well, 00:20:14.150 --> 00:20:17.829 I know better. I know more. I have a little bit 00:20:17.829 --> 00:20:20.450 more understanding about this. You know, let 00:20:20.450 --> 00:20:22.509 me think about this for a little bit, right? 00:20:25.329 --> 00:20:27.369 But there's a time when a child will just simply 00:20:27.369 --> 00:20:31.420 believe and do whatever someone tells them. Especially 00:20:31.420 --> 00:20:33.420 if they trust them, of course. It's not just 00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:35.119 like a stranger. I'm not talking about anybody. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:38.079 And I'm not talking about all children. But most 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:42.039 children, if like a parent or maybe a peer, something 00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:44.799 like that, that they look up to, something, you 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:47.160 know, if they tell them, hey, let's go do this, 00:20:47.299 --> 00:20:49.619 they'll just go do it. They don't think through 00:20:49.619 --> 00:20:52.180 the process. They don't have to understand why 00:20:52.180 --> 00:20:54.339 they're going to do it. They just sort of do 00:20:54.339 --> 00:21:00.759 it. And the proof here is this phrase. How many 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:05.480 of you have been told this phrase before? I've 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:09.920 been told this phrase a few times. I remember 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:14.859 my blank here, you know, is Rush Darnell. There's 00:21:14.859 --> 00:21:17.759 only one person in the room who knows who Rush 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.539 Darnell is, and I guarantee you he's not listening 00:21:20.539 --> 00:21:22.740 today, so don't be afraid. I'm just throwing 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:29.799 out names here. If mine was, my mom looked at 00:21:29.799 --> 00:21:32.019 me, she said, well, if Rush Darnell told you 00:21:32.019 --> 00:21:36.779 to jump off a bridge, would you do it? The answer 00:21:36.779 --> 00:21:41.079 was, yeah, probably, probably. I had no fear 00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:44.640 as a little kid. Nothing scared me. I didn't, 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:47.380 I didn't, I don't know. It was just one of those 00:21:47.380 --> 00:21:49.420 people. Now I would never do some of the things 00:21:49.420 --> 00:21:53.099 that I would do when I was little. But I looked 00:21:53.099 --> 00:21:55.039 up to Rush. I thought he was cool, you know, 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.119 because he was always doing all these crazy things. 00:21:57.240 --> 00:21:59.920 And, you know, he had dirt bikes and he had all 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:02.420 this stuff that I didn't, wasn't accustomed to. 00:22:02.940 --> 00:22:05.019 And, you know, we'd go over there and get in 00:22:05.019 --> 00:22:08.039 a little bit of trouble or just happy to be alive 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:11.079 today, you know, because we made it. But I remember 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:14.259 after church, the kids, we were playing on the 00:22:14.259 --> 00:22:16.019 playground and all of a sudden, hey, let's go 00:22:16.019 --> 00:22:17.980 play hide and go seek, right? Let's go play hide 00:22:17.980 --> 00:22:20.519 and go seek. Rush looks at me, taps me on the 00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:22.700 shoulder, and says, come with me. I got the perfect 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:26.880 place. So what do I do? Yeah, okay. Let's go. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:32.140 We go over here. He jumps on top of the AC unit 00:22:32.140 --> 00:22:35.299 to the church. They were pretty big units out 00:22:35.299 --> 00:22:38.940 back. Jumps on top of that, scales the gutter, 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:43.039 and gets to the roof of the church building. 00:22:43.630 --> 00:22:45.910 Now, it wasn't sloped too much where it was like 00:22:45.910 --> 00:22:48.130 too big of a thing, but it was pretty steep. 00:22:48.190 --> 00:22:51.150 It was a little uncomfortable for me. But if 00:22:51.150 --> 00:22:54.849 Rush did it, right, I can do it. I can do it. 00:22:54.849 --> 00:22:56.809 So I just jumped up there. We're on top of the 00:22:56.809 --> 00:22:59.470 roof with our game of hide and go seek, which 00:22:59.470 --> 00:23:02.970 turned into extreme parkour. And now we're on 00:23:02.970 --> 00:23:06.470 top of the building. And, you know, is anything 00:23:06.470 --> 00:23:09.920 going to go wrong? Nah. Absolutely not. Nothing's 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:12.619 going to happen. Everything was fine. That was 00:23:12.619 --> 00:23:15.119 the longest game of hide and go seek I ever played 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:17.460 because no one ever found us. So was Rush correct? 00:23:17.940 --> 00:23:21.799 Yes, he was correct. And we did really win, I 00:23:21.799 --> 00:23:26.319 think, maybe. But we actually lost at the end 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:28.319 of the day because as I'm standing there, the 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:32.619 church let out. So guess who comes out into the 00:23:32.619 --> 00:23:35.220 parking lot? And as you escape farther from the 00:23:35.220 --> 00:23:37.779 building, you can see what? More of the roof. 00:23:38.299 --> 00:23:40.920 And here's me and Russ standing on the roof going, 00:23:40.980 --> 00:23:53.579 hey! Yeah, that was a lot. We won't go past that 00:23:53.579 --> 00:23:59.420 point in our little story here. Huh? Yeah, we 00:23:59.420 --> 00:24:01.759 went to the correction stage. Yeah, the correction 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:05.559 point. There was some repercussion for my actions. 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:09.680 And this phrase was definitely used. If Rush 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:11.880 Darnell told you to jump off a bridge, would 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:18.740 you do it? Come on, son. Oh, yeah, that's good. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:24.000 That's good. God simply wants us to trust and 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:27.680 obey. Everybody say trust. Everybody say obey. 00:24:28.539 --> 00:24:35.920 Obey. Anyone can act in faith and see a miracle 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:39.839 happen. Anyone can act in faith and see a miracle 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:46.000 happen. God is a miracle working God and still 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:51.660 performs miracles each and every day. When I 00:24:51.660 --> 00:24:56.430 went to school for way too many years, There's 00:24:56.430 --> 00:24:59.670 a camp of people that would say something like 00:24:59.670 --> 00:25:02.829 this, well, miracles happened during the times 00:25:02.829 --> 00:25:04.549 of the Bible, when the Bible was being written, 00:25:04.650 --> 00:25:07.269 but miracles are not happening today. We just 00:25:07.269 --> 00:25:09.690 don't see them in the same capacity. We don't 00:25:09.690 --> 00:25:15.930 see them in the same extravagance as we do written 00:25:15.930 --> 00:25:19.960 in the Bible. And they would just discredit miracles. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.119 They would talk about things and we would look 00:25:22.119 --> 00:25:25.099 at different examples and all that kind of stuff. 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:27.079 But I'm here to tell you this morning, we're 00:25:27.079 --> 00:25:29.640 not going to dig into all that. But I'm here 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:31.700 to tell you this morning, God is a miracle working 00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:34.960 God. And if you don't believe miracles are going 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:36.700 to happen, you don't have to worry because you're 00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:40.839 not going to see any. You're not going to see 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:42.779 God do things for you unless you believe that 00:25:42.779 --> 00:25:44.880 he can do something for you. God is a gentleman. 00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:48.920 He's not going to force things on you in the 00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:51.240 same way that he's not just going to zap miracles 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:54.200 on you. Some people just sit around and they're 00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:56.099 just like, well, I'm just going to let go and 00:25:56.099 --> 00:26:05.319 let God. Jesus, take the wheel. That's not the 00:26:05.319 --> 00:26:10.720 way God works. And I would go so far to say that 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:13.750 those things are just a lie from the enemy. We're 00:26:13.750 --> 00:26:15.890 just eating it up as the body of Christ. We're 00:26:15.890 --> 00:26:19.069 just eating it up. And we get to that point where 00:26:19.069 --> 00:26:21.430 we just beg God for things that he's already 00:26:21.430 --> 00:26:25.849 promised for us. And God's already given us solutions 00:26:25.849 --> 00:26:31.109 to the things that he wants in our lives. He's 00:26:31.109 --> 00:26:33.390 given us solutions in his word, but yet we just 00:26:33.390 --> 00:26:37.650 don't read it. We don't care. And then the big 00:26:37.650 --> 00:26:43.279 thing is we're not willing to do. We're not willing 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:48.339 to do what he tells us to do. We want his hand, 00:26:48.460 --> 00:26:51.019 we want his manifestation, we want his miracle, 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:57.200 but yet we're not willing to do. God has not 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:00.339 changed. Everybody say, God has not changed. 00:27:01.319 --> 00:27:04.180 Jesus Christ, in Hebrews 13, 8, Jesus Christ 00:27:04.180 --> 00:27:09.539 is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What 00:27:09.539 --> 00:27:12.619 God has done back then, He is still doing today. 00:27:13.299 --> 00:27:17.319 Amen? Amen? I'm glad He's the same. He's the 00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:23.420 same God who died on the cross for my sins. And 00:27:23.420 --> 00:27:26.119 what He did and His finished work on the cross 00:27:26.119 --> 00:27:28.839 can be applied to what I've done today, what 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:31.660 I've done, what I will do in the future, right? 00:27:32.740 --> 00:27:35.160 And if I can believe that, I know that God's 00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:39.559 the same at every time in my life. When I was 00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:43.380 a child, right now, and when I grow old, he's 00:27:43.380 --> 00:27:50.740 the same God. Amen. And today, our main passage 00:27:50.740 --> 00:27:54.039 is going to be Jesus' first miracle. This is 00:27:54.039 --> 00:27:56.880 something that, like, recently I've always just 00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:59.539 read over. I've not went into much detail. I 00:27:59.539 --> 00:28:02.779 just kind of, like, I read it. I said, oh, that's 00:28:02.779 --> 00:28:05.720 fun, and just kind of moved on. You know, I was 00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:08.240 like, wow, that's a weird thing to include, but 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:10.660 we'll just keep going. I've never really gave 00:28:10.660 --> 00:28:14.200 it much thought until just recently one day it 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:16.599 just sort of came alive. Dad and I, we were talking 00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:18.880 about it. We've been talking about this series. 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:22.059 And as we're studying and we were just talking 00:28:22.059 --> 00:28:25.700 with one another, it came alive to me. And I 00:28:25.700 --> 00:28:28.259 saw something that I'd never quite seen before. 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:32.660 But we're talking about Jesus' first miracle, 00:28:32.740 --> 00:28:34.680 and that's sort of the way these things work, 00:28:34.779 --> 00:28:36.799 right? We don't always recognize the spiritual 00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:40.059 things happening in our world enough. They are 00:28:40.059 --> 00:28:43.279 not always as big, as flashy as we think they 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:45.940 should be. And if we're not walking in the Spirit, 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:48.759 if we're not living by the Spirit of God, I believe 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:51.599 we can just miss some things, not be thankful 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:54.400 for some of the small things that God does in 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:57.319 our life each and every day. But there's miracles 00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:00.380 constantly happening. Do you not say it's a miracle 00:29:00.380 --> 00:29:04.759 that if I cut my finger this afternoon, next 00:29:04.759 --> 00:29:08.720 week it'll be healed? That's amazing, right? 00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:11.640 That your body constantly works towards healing 00:29:11.640 --> 00:29:15.299 itself? One time I flipped a scooter and I had 00:29:15.299 --> 00:29:18.930 some gravel in my knee. And my body, years later, 00:29:19.009 --> 00:29:21.170 my body pushed out little gravel pieces out of 00:29:21.170 --> 00:29:23.410 my knee. Like, that's incredible to think that 00:29:23.410 --> 00:29:25.750 your body does those kind of things. Right? It's 00:29:25.750 --> 00:29:27.569 constantly fighting. It's constantly working 00:29:27.569 --> 00:29:31.609 towards healing. But yet, when we need healing 00:29:31.609 --> 00:29:34.210 or we have something big, we go, well, that can't 00:29:34.210 --> 00:29:38.329 happen. Can't happen. But anyways, we don't recognize 00:29:38.329 --> 00:29:41.250 the spiritual things enough. And I think sometimes 00:29:41.250 --> 00:29:45.380 that's why we need the Holy Spirit. All the times, 00:29:45.380 --> 00:29:48.119 that's why we need the Holy Spirit. Because when 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:50.660 we're reading through this word, sometimes we 00:29:50.660 --> 00:29:53.059 just read it, but we need God's word to come 00:29:53.059 --> 00:29:56.319 alive. We need the Holy Spirit to lead us into 00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:59.160 the truth of it. That's why it's important to 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:02.259 pray before you read your Bible. That's why it's 00:30:02.259 --> 00:30:04.420 important to pray. Pray for understanding. The 00:30:04.420 --> 00:30:07.900 Bible says to pray for certain things, and one 00:30:07.900 --> 00:30:12.000 of those is to pray for discernment. And as Christians, 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:14.630 we need to be doing that. We need to pray for 00:30:14.630 --> 00:30:17.450 the discernment, for the wisdom of God to be 00:30:17.450 --> 00:30:20.529 revealed, to come alive, to impact our lives. 00:30:20.890 --> 00:30:24.710 We need that more than ever. When I'm in a conversation 00:30:24.710 --> 00:30:27.470 talking with someone and I just don't quite know 00:30:27.470 --> 00:30:29.809 the answer, I need to be in the back of my head 00:30:29.809 --> 00:30:34.970 going, God, give me the words to say. God, I'm 00:30:34.970 --> 00:30:39.109 listening, but at the same time, help me. Speak 00:30:39.109 --> 00:30:42.930 your word. Speak your truth for me. Give me understanding 00:30:42.930 --> 00:30:45.869 in this issue because I'm not just going to stand 00:30:45.869 --> 00:30:50.809 out here by myself on my own. But we need to 00:30:50.809 --> 00:30:53.369 recognize the spiritual things. And so let's 00:30:53.369 --> 00:30:56.069 turn in our Bibles to this story. It's John 2, 00:30:56.230 --> 00:30:58.970 1 through 11. I have it on the screen, but let's 00:30:58.970 --> 00:31:01.609 read together. We're going to dissect it a little 00:31:01.609 --> 00:31:05.529 bit. So the next day. There was a wedding celebration 00:31:05.529 --> 00:31:09.470 in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother 00:31:09.470 --> 00:31:12.670 was there. And Jesus and his disciples were also 00:31:12.670 --> 00:31:16.309 invited to the celebration. Everybody say there 00:31:16.309 --> 00:31:18.650 wasn't strangers, right? There weren't strangers 00:31:18.650 --> 00:31:20.829 in this place. You don't just show up to some 00:31:20.829 --> 00:31:23.650 strange wedding, right? You know, we don't really 00:31:23.650 --> 00:31:26.289 know what kind of connection. Maybe they were 00:31:26.289 --> 00:31:28.849 just friends. Maybe they were kin. We don't know. 00:31:29.369 --> 00:31:32.049 But they're there. They're at the wedding. And, 00:31:32.089 --> 00:31:35.190 and here's the issue in verse three, the wine 00:31:35.190 --> 00:31:39.609 supply ran out during the festivities. Jesus, 00:31:39.690 --> 00:31:43.230 his mother told him, Jesus, they have no more 00:31:43.230 --> 00:31:50.029 wine. They have no more wine. That's why I just, 00:31:50.089 --> 00:31:52.289 I discredited this whole thing. Like I never 00:31:52.289 --> 00:31:54.150 really looked at it because I'm looking at this 00:31:54.150 --> 00:31:57.890 story and going, okay, so Jesus is doing, you 00:31:57.890 --> 00:32:01.190 know, party tricks. Okay. You know, he's, he's, 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:03.839 just doing this simple little thing, but it's 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:07.920 just party supplies. It's just party supplies 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:10.500 is what this whole miracle is talking about. 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:12.759 It's just party supplies. They ran out of wine. 00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:15.660 Maybe trying to save, you know, the people some 00:32:15.660 --> 00:32:18.559 embarrassment maybe, but it'd be like if you 00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:21.059 threw a dinner party and said, oh, the chips 00:32:21.059 --> 00:32:23.960 ran out. Oh, excuse me, the chips ran out. You 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:26.500 know, you just continue on, right? It's not that 00:32:26.500 --> 00:32:29.539 big a deal. It's just party supplies. And I like 00:32:29.539 --> 00:32:34.490 this, John. 2 verse 4, Dear woman, that's not 00:32:34.490 --> 00:32:40.109 our problem. That's not our problem. Jesus replied, 00:32:40.410 --> 00:32:46.730 My time has not yet come. But right here is where 00:32:46.730 --> 00:32:51.490 it gets interesting. Right here is when everything 00:32:51.490 --> 00:32:55.970 changes. Because Jesus' mother says something 00:32:55.970 --> 00:32:58.559 very profound. I know you're reading ahead of 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:01.200 me, but she says something really profound right 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:04.839 here. Very simple. But his mother told the servants, 00:33:04.980 --> 00:33:10.980 do whatever he tells you. Do whatever he tells 00:33:10.980 --> 00:33:15.980 you. This is the blueprint for miracles. This 00:33:15.980 --> 00:33:17.900 is the blueprint for miracles, as we've seen 00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:21.400 over and over again. You know, the faith with 00:33:21.400 --> 00:33:25.059 action involved. But it's do whatever he tells 00:33:25.059 --> 00:33:31.549 you. Do whatever he tells you. Faith gets ready. 00:33:33.890 --> 00:33:36.950 When she said that to the servants, they immediately 00:33:36.950 --> 00:33:39.710 were on call. There was a part of that. There 00:33:39.710 --> 00:33:43.069 was a part of this is anticipation, going, okay, 00:33:43.190 --> 00:33:46.230 well, what is Jesus going to say? We're all waiting 00:33:46.230 --> 00:33:48.150 around. We're wondering what he's going to do, 00:33:48.170 --> 00:33:50.549 if he's going to do anything. But all of a sudden, 00:33:50.569 --> 00:33:52.069 they've just been told. They were just saying, 00:33:52.230 --> 00:33:55.470 okay, do whatever he tells you to do. So they're 00:33:55.470 --> 00:33:58.049 waiting around, waiting for the instruction. 00:33:58.750 --> 00:34:03.309 And in that environment of anticipation is where 00:34:03.309 --> 00:34:07.849 miracles happen. When we're expecting in hope 00:34:07.849 --> 00:34:11.269 to see the goodness and promises of God fulfilled 00:34:11.269 --> 00:34:14.730 in our lives. When we're not waiting, just passively 00:34:14.730 --> 00:34:17.369 waiting, just like whatever will be will be, 00:34:17.449 --> 00:34:19.889 whatever hits me, whatever thing comes my way. 00:34:19.909 --> 00:34:23.699 No, we're literally expecting to see. Miracles 00:34:23.699 --> 00:34:26.559 happen every day. There's a big difference. And 00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:28.900 miracles happen in this environment of expectation, 00:34:29.099 --> 00:34:35.079 this willingness to be on this sensitivity to 00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:38.300 his spirit to say, okay, what do you have to 00:34:38.300 --> 00:34:41.079 say with this? Okay, I'm going to do it. Whatever 00:34:41.079 --> 00:34:43.440 you say, God, I'm going to do it. I'm ready. 00:34:43.559 --> 00:34:48.139 I'm listening. I'm waiting for you. We're waiting. 00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:52.860 We're at a sense of... Just steadfast bulldog 00:34:52.860 --> 00:34:57.840 tenacity waiting and knowing that God's going 00:34:57.840 --> 00:34:59.760 to do something in each and every situation. 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:02.219 I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll say, 00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:09.639 I'll go, I'll give whatever. We're ready. Continuing 00:35:09.639 --> 00:35:12.659 on, verse 6. Standing nearby were six stone water 00:35:12.659 --> 00:35:16.550 jars used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each 00:35:16.550 --> 00:35:20.010 could hold 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus told the servants, 00:35:20.150 --> 00:35:23.630 fill the jars with water. That's his first instruction 00:35:23.630 --> 00:35:27.670 here is to fill the jars with water. Now, as 00:35:27.670 --> 00:35:30.489 I read this, you know, I've always read it. I 00:35:30.489 --> 00:35:33.449 just never thought anything of it. But think 00:35:33.449 --> 00:35:36.030 about it. Think about what their problem was, 00:35:36.170 --> 00:35:39.110 right? Think about what their problem was. Jesus 00:35:39.110 --> 00:35:40.949 says, fill the jars with water. What's their 00:35:40.949 --> 00:35:44.309 need? Their greatest need is wine. They need 00:35:44.309 --> 00:35:47.750 wine. So why are we messing with water, right? 00:35:47.949 --> 00:35:50.150 Let's see how much they had to do. This was not 00:35:50.150 --> 00:35:53.829 an easy task. One gallon is around roughly 8 00:35:53.829 --> 00:35:58.510 .34 pounds. So one of these pots, if it weighed 00:35:58.510 --> 00:36:01.190 at the maximum of like 30 gallons, would be around 00:36:01.190 --> 00:36:04.670 250 pounds of water for each pot. They had six 00:36:04.670 --> 00:36:10.630 pots, 180 gallons, 1 ,500 pounds. And all what? 00:36:12.250 --> 00:36:14.789 That's going to require some effort on my part. 00:36:14.909 --> 00:36:16.789 If I was one of the servants, I would have been 00:36:16.789 --> 00:36:21.929 like, Jesus, I don't want to do this. This is 00:36:21.929 --> 00:36:25.949 just way too much time. I'm thinking through 00:36:25.949 --> 00:36:28.670 my head, why? And you know, as kids do that same 00:36:28.670 --> 00:36:30.530 thing too, they get to that point where they 00:36:30.530 --> 00:36:32.409 think they know better or know more. All of a 00:36:32.409 --> 00:36:35.610 sudden they get to that, why? The dreaded why. 00:36:36.269 --> 00:36:38.989 Why is this? You tell them to do something, why? 00:36:40.170 --> 00:36:46.889 Why? Tie your shoe. Why? Then you fall over and 00:36:46.889 --> 00:36:54.489 you're, that's why, you know? That's why. But 00:36:54.489 --> 00:36:56.630 we get to that dreaded why stage. And as adults, 00:36:56.710 --> 00:36:58.590 we just do that. And I think it's like when pride 00:36:58.590 --> 00:37:02.590 sneaks in. We quit being humble. We quit just 00:37:02.590 --> 00:37:05.449 trusting and obeying. We just, we fall into that. 00:37:05.550 --> 00:37:07.789 But their need, their greatest need's one. Why 00:37:07.789 --> 00:37:09.809 are we messing with water, Jesus? Did they say 00:37:09.809 --> 00:37:13.639 that? No. Is it recorded anywhere? No. They were 00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:17.440 just told to do whatever he told you to do. And 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:22.460 he says, go fill up these jars with water. And 00:37:22.460 --> 00:37:27.480 what did they do? Like a child, they went, okay, 00:37:27.659 --> 00:37:32.000 let's grab our jar, a smaller jar, and let's 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:34.860 go down. It's not like they could go to Walmart 00:37:34.860 --> 00:37:38.760 or the nearest Publix on every corner. Good gracious, 00:37:38.840 --> 00:37:40.739 how many more publics are we going to build in 00:37:40.739 --> 00:37:43.639 Florida? It's ridiculous. Anyways, but, you know, 00:37:43.659 --> 00:37:45.840 they grabbed their little jar probably and went 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:48.300 down to the stream, filled it up, came back, 00:37:48.539 --> 00:37:51.159 poured it in the thing, and Jesus is going, yay, 00:37:51.440 --> 00:37:55.239 good job. Do it again. I'll do it like 27 million 00:37:55.239 --> 00:37:58.679 more times. You know, and they just keep going, 00:37:58.739 --> 00:38:01.860 and they're just doing whatever he says, like 00:38:01.860 --> 00:38:06.079 children. They're just. Going, okay, get the 00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:09.699 bucket, okay, fill it up, fill it in the jar. 00:38:09.880 --> 00:38:12.219 Maybe they did a little bucket brigade, did a 00:38:12.219 --> 00:38:14.780 little thing, passing it, whatever, but it took 00:38:14.780 --> 00:38:18.820 some effort. It took some effort. And, you know, 00:38:18.940 --> 00:38:22.519 we look at that, and if I was a servant, I'd 00:38:22.519 --> 00:38:24.619 definitely be asking why, and that's the biggest 00:38:24.619 --> 00:38:28.420 enemy to a miracle right there. We saw that with 00:38:28.420 --> 00:38:30.659 Naaman, too, last week. If you were here, we 00:38:30.659 --> 00:38:33.230 saw that with Naaman. He was going, why do I 00:38:33.230 --> 00:38:37.130 need to do this? It makes no sense to me. It's 00:38:37.130 --> 00:38:40.130 illogical. It's irrational. Why do I need to 00:38:40.130 --> 00:38:45.010 do that? It makes no sense. And that's the enemy 00:38:45.010 --> 00:38:47.429 to the miracle. It's reasoning. It's analyzing. 00:38:47.710 --> 00:38:51.849 It's logic. Because sometimes what God asks you 00:38:51.849 --> 00:38:55.369 to do is not necessarily directly correlated 00:38:55.369 --> 00:39:02.440 with what you're wanting to see. The servants 00:39:02.440 --> 00:39:04.599 did not have to understand why. Why am I doing 00:39:04.599 --> 00:39:07.199 this? Why am I doing this busy work? They simply 00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:10.159 did whatever they were told to do when they were 00:39:10.159 --> 00:39:12.159 told to do it. And that's why it just immediately 00:39:12.159 --> 00:39:15.099 says in verse 6, when the jars had been filled, 00:39:15.260 --> 00:39:20.000 he said, he said, now dip some out and take it 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.460 to the master of ceremonies. Everybody say second 00:39:24.460 --> 00:39:28.969 instruction. Second instruction. Here, sometimes 00:39:28.969 --> 00:39:32.289 we see by this that there can be multiple actions 00:39:32.289 --> 00:39:36.389 required to see the miracle, to see things happen. 00:39:36.949 --> 00:39:39.730 Sometimes we get complacent. We say, well, I 00:39:39.730 --> 00:39:42.750 did this one thing. God, you told me to do this, 00:39:42.750 --> 00:39:46.989 and now I want to see this. I want to see some 00:39:46.989 --> 00:39:51.110 breakthrough in my life, whatever it is. But 00:39:51.110 --> 00:39:55.179 sometimes there's multiple steps, right? When 00:39:55.179 --> 00:39:57.079 we looked at Moses, it's like quit crying and 00:39:57.079 --> 00:39:59.380 move. And then all of a sudden he has to raise 00:39:59.380 --> 00:40:03.820 his staff, right? He's got to do something else. 00:40:05.500 --> 00:40:08.139 There's sometimes multiple steps, multiple stages. 00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:13.159 But what did the servants do here? They followed 00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:16.119 his instructions. They trusted, they obeyed. 00:40:16.199 --> 00:40:19.659 They just simply did what was asked of them to 00:40:19.659 --> 00:40:25.480 do. John 2, 1 through 11. When the master of 00:40:25.480 --> 00:40:27.900 ceremonies tasted the water, that was now wine. 00:40:31.500 --> 00:40:38.099 Get this. So they go, they go through all this 00:40:38.099 --> 00:40:41.019 trouble to fill up the water, right? They get 00:40:41.019 --> 00:40:43.659 all that done. Now Jesus is saying, now dip some 00:40:43.659 --> 00:40:48.400 of this water out, put it in a cup, and now take 00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:52.559 it to the master of ceremonies. That's pretty 00:40:52.559 --> 00:40:55.599 gutsy, right? Hopefully he just needed water. 00:40:55.699 --> 00:40:59.219 Hopefully he wasn't expecting wine. But still, 00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:01.320 that's kind of a weird thing for a servant to 00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:03.599 just like, okay, we're going to do this and I'm 00:41:03.599 --> 00:41:05.239 going to take it. And the whole entire while 00:41:05.239 --> 00:41:07.340 they're looking at this cup going, okay, this 00:41:07.340 --> 00:41:14.380 is just water. It's just water. And when the 00:41:14.380 --> 00:41:18.159 master of ceremonies tasted the water, that was 00:41:18.159 --> 00:41:25.239 now wine. This is incredible. This is incredible. 00:41:26.440 --> 00:41:29.260 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water 00:41:29.260 --> 00:41:31.280 that was now wine, it turned to wine. He probably 00:41:31.280 --> 00:41:33.960 looked at it and it was water and he puts it 00:41:33.960 --> 00:41:36.460 to his mouth and it becomes wine. Not knowing 00:41:36.460 --> 00:41:38.400 where it had came from, though of course the 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:41.179 servants knew, he called the bridegroom over. 00:41:42.059 --> 00:41:45.059 A host always serves the best wine first, he 00:41:45.059 --> 00:41:48.440 said. Then when everyone has had a lot to drink, 00:41:48.940 --> 00:41:51.880 He gets the box wine at 7 -Eleven and brings 00:41:51.880 --> 00:41:56.079 it out. No, he brings out the less expensive 00:41:56.079 --> 00:42:00.159 wine. But you have kept the best until now. Jesus 00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:03.019 and God wants to do the best in your life. When 00:42:03.019 --> 00:42:05.760 something happens, he wants the best for you. 00:42:06.679 --> 00:42:09.340 He's going to exceed your expectations. I talked 00:42:09.340 --> 00:42:12.199 about that all week. It's not just what we expect 00:42:12.199 --> 00:42:14.559 him to do always. Sometimes we pray for him to 00:42:14.559 --> 00:42:16.440 like, oh, I just, you know, this is what I want. 00:42:16.579 --> 00:42:19.320 This is what I need. God's going to exceed your 00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:22.940 expectations abundantly more, right, than we 00:42:22.940 --> 00:42:26.800 may ask or even think. He's in that kind of business, 00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:30.659 amen? That's who God is. That's what he does. 00:42:31.690 --> 00:42:34.070 And sometimes as Christians, I sit here and I 00:42:34.070 --> 00:42:35.829 look at this and I go, sometimes as Christians, 00:42:35.889 --> 00:42:42.829 we believe God can speak a word into the blank 00:42:42.829 --> 00:42:47.650 void of the cosmos and see galaxies formed and 00:42:47.650 --> 00:42:50.829 see stars shine. But then when we look at this 00:42:50.829 --> 00:42:54.449 cup in my hand, I don't believe that he can turn 00:42:54.449 --> 00:42:59.599 water into wine. The little things. The little 00:42:59.599 --> 00:43:03.920 things God cares about. He cares about what you 00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:08.480 have, what you don't have. He cares about you. 00:43:08.599 --> 00:43:11.360 He cares about what's going on in your life. 00:43:11.420 --> 00:43:13.519 But sometimes we go, well, God's not, he's not 00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:16.079 concerned about this. This is not his party. 00:43:16.139 --> 00:43:25.940 This is just party supplies. Just party supplies, 00:43:26.400 --> 00:43:29.949 right? God don't care about this. Don't even 00:43:29.949 --> 00:43:32.349 inquire for him to get involved about it. Like, 00:43:32.349 --> 00:43:36.590 don't even ask. Like, but here we are. We believe 00:43:36.590 --> 00:43:38.730 we can hold on to all these great and precious 00:43:38.730 --> 00:43:40.869 promises, but then we don't believe that he can 00:43:40.869 --> 00:43:49.530 do the simple things for us. When these things 00:43:49.530 --> 00:43:51.989 happen, they go beyond what just immediately 00:43:51.989 --> 00:43:57.380 we see. John 2. 11 says this, this miraculous 00:43:57.380 --> 00:44:01.179 sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus 00:44:01.179 --> 00:44:04.940 revealed his glory. It's the first time Jesus 00:44:04.940 --> 00:44:09.760 revealed his glory. And his disciples believed 00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:20.260 in him. They believed in him here. The result 00:44:20.260 --> 00:44:22.679 was far greater than stopping the host from being 00:44:22.679 --> 00:44:24.659 embarrassed from running out of party supplies, 00:44:24.940 --> 00:44:27.579 right? The result goes way beyond that because 00:44:27.579 --> 00:44:30.139 when we act in faith, when we are willing to 00:44:30.139 --> 00:44:34.820 do what God tells us to do, we'll see things 00:44:34.820 --> 00:44:37.380 change around us. And especially when the manifestation 00:44:37.380 --> 00:44:42.480 of God is here, when it comes to be, it changes 00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:45.079 everything. It reveals the glory of God, but 00:44:45.079 --> 00:44:47.760 then it also increases the faith of everyone 00:44:47.760 --> 00:44:50.559 around you. It increased the faith of the disciples. 00:44:50.800 --> 00:44:53.500 It increases your faith and everyone around. 00:44:55.440 --> 00:44:59.719 So, does God need your faith actions? I hope 00:44:59.719 --> 00:45:02.199 at this point we would say yes. God needs us 00:45:02.199 --> 00:45:05.219 to act in faith, to be believers who are not 00:45:05.219 --> 00:45:07.699 just passive in what we believe and what we hear, 00:45:07.820 --> 00:45:10.480 but believers who are willing to do whatever 00:45:10.480 --> 00:45:14.260 he tells us to do. He needs those things. He 00:45:14.260 --> 00:45:16.639 needs us to be men, women, boys, and girls who 00:45:16.639 --> 00:45:20.059 stand, who actively fight the good fight of faith. 00:45:21.480 --> 00:45:23.500 You know, that's the only thing that God tells 00:45:23.500 --> 00:45:26.900 us to fight for, is to fight the good fight of 00:45:26.900 --> 00:45:31.139 faith. You don't sit down and fight. You don't 00:45:31.139 --> 00:45:33.480 just say whatever will be will be if you're in 00:45:33.480 --> 00:45:36.980 a battle. You have to actively put on the armor, 00:45:37.179 --> 00:45:41.960 right? You have to actively stand upon his word 00:45:41.960 --> 00:45:47.380 to see the miraculous things happen, to see the 00:45:47.380 --> 00:45:50.300 manifestation happen. To see the power of God 00:45:50.300 --> 00:45:52.739 in your life, you have to stand on the word and 00:45:52.739 --> 00:45:56.820 be willing and obedient to do what he tells you 00:45:56.820 --> 00:46:00.280 to do. It's not all up to God, but he has chosen 00:46:00.280 --> 00:46:03.460 to involve us. He's chosen to involve each one 00:46:03.460 --> 00:46:07.039 of us. You can hear, you can believe, and you 00:46:07.039 --> 00:46:11.519 speak and still not receive if you don't act. 00:46:12.880 --> 00:46:15.480 This online worship experience was brought to 00:46:15.480 --> 00:46:18.119 you by the friends and partners of Elation Church.