FaithAct: Trust and Obey

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Good morning. If you're joining

us for the first time, we're in a series called

Faith Act. Everybody say faith. Everybody say

act. Fact. So, faith is incomplete unless it

is carried through, right? Faith, our actions

in faith, or what we do by our faith, are important.

And if you come to Alation Church a lot, you'll

realize we talk about faith a lot. We've preached

a lot of messages on faith. Faith is important

for every believer. Amen? Amen. All right. Well,

what do we mean by faith? But before we go too

much farther, I know Dad, you know, he had asked

me, like, to preach a little while back, and

I kept going back and forth. I said, well, do

I want to do it now? Do I want to do, you know,

like just one message? Do I want to do a series

or something like that? We went back and forth

with it, and finally Dad looked at me just a

little while ago. He was like, let's tag team.

Let's tag team a series. And I said, sure, let's

do it. It'll be fun. So he kind of tagged me

in. We're going to do it. Here we go. Boom! Woo!

So we're, and Siri's talking to me now, that's

okay. But yeah, this has been something that's

kind of been on our hearts. We've been talking

about this for a while, talking about the faith

that does. Faith has action. It's not just faith

in itself. It goes beyond that. And that's what

we're talking about. But as I was trying to figure

out, because I do all the visuals, Dad and I

work on that, I saw this picture of this little

baby holding this barbell. And I said, wow, that's

perfect for what we're talking about. As a Christian,

sometimes we, just in life, like if I walked

over my natural mind, if I saw a barbell like

that, I saw all that weight on it, I'm at the

point in my life I don't have to impress anybody.

I don't have anything to prove. I'm not even

going to touch it, right? I'm just going to look

at it and I'll be like, okay, I can't do that.

There's no way, right? But what I love about

this and this baby, he's just over there. He

has his hands on the barbell and he's just sitting

there like, okay. What are we going to do? What's

going to happen? He's just holding on to it.

Something that in my natural mind I would never

do, this baby just walks over to it and just

puts her hands to it. Puts her hands to it. And

then when I saw that, I kind of thought, I was

like, what are the things that maybe God's called

me to do, right, that look too big for me? He's

called me to put my hands to it, to do the work,

but yet I'm just going, I can't do it on my own

ability because I always want to think about

my natural self, right? I want to think about

my abilities on whether or not God can do something

through me. Are we tracking? Are we understanding?

This means yes. This means yes. Okay. Faith act.

Let's talk about faith. The Bible's full of verses

about faith. We're going to hit some of the highlights.

Ephesians 2 .8. It says this, for by grace you

have been saved through faith. Everybody say

by grace. Through faith. Through faith. What

is grace? Grace is God's acts of kindness and

favor towards you and towards me. It's grace.

It's by grace. It's what God has done. Not in

my ability. Right? And salvation is what God

has done on the cross. His finished work on the

cross is then applied to my life. And how is

God's finished work on the cross applied to my

life? Through faith. Everybody say, through faith.

Through faith. Galatians 3 .11, that no one is

justified by the law in the sight of God is evident.

For the just shall live by faith. Everybody say,

live by faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says this,

For we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by

faith. 1 John 5, 4 says, Every child of God.

Does it say some children of God? No, it says

every child of God defeats this evil world. And

we achieve this victory through our faith. Amen.

Do you have victory this morning, church? Do

you have victory in Christ and what he's done

for you? Say, yeah. We do have victory. Sometimes,

though, we feel a little beat up. The world beats

us up. The world beats us down sometimes. But

according to the Word, and that's where I'm going

to stand, is that every child of God defeats

this evil world, and we achieve this not because

we just avoid all the trouble in the world, right?

No, trouble comes. It rains on the just and the

unjust, the Bible says. No, we're all going to

face trouble. But we have victory through our

faith. Everybody say faith. Hebrews 11, 6. And

it is impossible to please God without faith.

Everybody say faith is important. Faith is important.

It's impossible to please God. How many of you

want to please God? We want to please God. Anyone

who wants to come to him must believe that God

exists and that he rewards those who sincerely

seek him. So if we are saved through faith, if

we're called to live by faith, if we can only

experience victory through faith, if we can only

please God by our faith, we need to be men, women,

boys and girls of faith. Amen? Amen. We need

to be people of faith, actively living by faith,

actively standing in faith, and actively increasing

in our faith. A lot of people, we want to just

be passive. in our faith we just want to say

well i hear and i believe and i'm just and that's

it that's all the christian experience is well

i believe it well even the demons believe amen

even the demons believe that's what the bible

says so it's got to be more than just believing

it's got to be more than just hearing it we got

to be active in it That's why this series is

called Faith Acts. So we're looking at the faith

actions on how we live by faith, how we stand

by faith each and every day, how we increase

in our faith. So let's break it down. What is

faith? Where does faith come from? And how do

we have it? And how do we live it? Romans 10

.7 says this, So then faith... comes by hearing

and hearing by the word of God. That word of

God is divine utterance, meaning the word spoken

or written. So the Bible, right, we look at that,

we call that the written word of God. But the

Bible was first spoke. Right out the mouth, it

was written down. And so it's written for us

to speak it again, but we're not getting into

that. But it is the divine utterance is that

God is wanting to speak to you and to me each

and every day. If we're sensitive to his Holy

Spirit living on the inside of us, he's constantly

wanting to speak. He's constantly wanting to

show us and give us direction. He's wanting to

give us. He's wanting to just give us light to

our path, the Bible says. So it shows us where

we are, where we are at, so we can self -examine,

right? But then it also shows us where we're

going to go. It gives us direction into the things

in front of us. So if we are sensitive, and as

children of God, we should be sensitive to the

Spirit of God, right? But if we're sensitive

to his word, he'll give us direction. And that

comes through hearing, and that's by faith. So

the first step of faith is hearing a divine utterance

from God. Everyone say hearing. Hearing. Hebrews

11 .1, faith is the confidence that what we hope

for will actually happen. It gives us assurance

about things we cannot see. This hope here is

different from the world's definition of hope.

The world's definition of hope is like hope so.

Well, I hope it's not going to rain tomorrow.

I hope it's not, you know, I hope, you know,

whatever. I hope the hurricane don't hit us.

I hope something happens. We can't be assured

of these things that we just constantly use the

word hope for, right? But the word here, hope,

is different. The hope that the Bible talks about,

and when we see that, it's a confident expectation

in what? In ourselves? In the people around us?

No, it's a confident expectation that we will

see the goodness and promises of God fulfilled

in our life. We can expect that. We can expect

his good promises to be fulfilled. We can expect

God to do great and mighty things in this earth,

in and through each and every person here. How?

Because we can stand on God's word by faith.

And we'll see those things happen. So the second

step of faith is wholeheartedly believing and

having confidence in God's word. Believing, confidence,

not in ourselves, not in our own ability, but

in God. Faith is not the world's view of positive

confessions. It's different. You can't just manifest

things of your imagination into the reality around

you. That's not what this is talking about. That's

not the principle of faith. Now, you can think

on good things and apply biblical principles

outside, and a lot of people are just now catching

up to that. We have, you know, enrichment seminars

and things like that where you talk about just

thinking on good things does change your world.

Why? It's because God created everything that

way, and people and man is just now figuring

out, well, hey, if I just choose to laugh, It's

going to make me feel better. When the Bible

has said for a long time, laughter does us good

like a medicine. So we're just now catching up

and people are just now discovering the things.

But the sad part is we can do those things and

use the laws on how God created everything apart

from him. But it will change our life, but we're

not going to be connected to its power. We're

not going to see the full scope of how it can

really change your life. It's only going to be

a tip of the iceberg of all that what God has

in store for us. So it's not just the world's

view of positive confessions. We don't make up

what to do. Doing something without direction

is just presumption. We must act according to

God -given direction. Confessions are merely

words unless they are connected to the promise.

Because in the promise holds the power, holds

the manifestation of God in what he wants to

do. We do not have just faith in faith. A lot

of Christians just be like, well, I have faith.

Well, what does that mean? What does that mean

to you? Does it mean that you have faith if you

just come to church and you just, you know, have

this Christian life? Maybe you... read your Bible

a little bit, or you even believed. Is that all

that faith is? Does that mean, okay, I have faith?

No. Some people, they just say, well, I have

faith in myself. Can we really have faith in

ourself? No, because you'll let yourself down

time and time again, right? You don't know what

your abilities are. Sometimes you wake up in

the morning. I know when I hit 30 years old.

I woke up in the morning, I felt like Superman,

and then I turned 30. I tried to step out of

bed one morning, and I threw my back out. And

I said, oh, gosh, if this is what 30 looks like,

I don't want any part of it. I couldn't count

on myself in that moment, right? I can't have

trust in myself always. And like I said in Children's

Church last week, you can't trust other people

either, right? We can't have faith in other people.

People will let you down. We'll let ourselves

down. The people in your life, they will let

you down. And if you have your faith in someone

other than God, your faith is in the wrong place.

It's in the wrong person. You can have faith

in the church, the establishment, the organization

of the church, and the church itself will let

you down. That's why there's so much church hurt

and church pain, right? Because their faith,

people's faith is in... The establishment of

the body, right, and not in the body of God.

It's establishment about a preacher, right, who

had some sort of moral failure. You had faith

in the preacher, but you didn't have faith in

God. If all of a sudden the preacher makes a

mistake and you walk away from him, walk away

from church and Christianity and say, I don't

want anything to do with God anymore. Why is

that? Because your faith was misplaced. Faith

was misplaced. We can't have faith in just faith.

We can't have faith in ourselves. The Bible says

in Mark 11, 22, Jesus said to his disciples,

have faith in God. Have faith in God. It seems

so simple. It is. The word of God is simple.

It's a simple truth because everyone can understand

it. Everyone can understand the truth of God's

word. Have faith. in god james 2 26 faith without

works is dead that's pretty strong so you're

what you're what this verse is saying is that

i can hear and i can believe and if i don't act

what is my faith if not just dead The third step

of faith is acting in obedience. It's acting

in obedience. The faith that believes in God

is a faith that responds. It's a faith that does.

It's a faith that acts. We're not just passive

Christians. We're active Christians. We're actively

standing on the word of God. We're living by

the word of God, by faith. We are doing and being

the hands and feet of Christ in the earth. The

connection to the manifestation of the power

is when we act upon what God has said. That's

the connection point. We want to see God move.

We want to see God do. And God be who he was

for the people in the Bible. We want to see those

things alive and happening in our world today.

What's going to take some men, women, boys and

girls standing up and doing the things that God

says and acting in faith. To the point, not just

believing, but believing it so wholeheartedly

that we're just, yeah, I'm going to do it. Yeah,

I'm going to do what you say, God. It changes

my words. It changes my actions. It changes how

I give, changes how I talk, changes everything

in my world around me because I understand it.

I understand it and I truly believe it. So faith

is gained by hearing. It's held by believing,

but then it's lived by acting, by the actions.

And as Christians, we're real good at hearing.

We're real good at believing. We did a whole

message on even saying, and saying is a part

of that action, but we're real good at these

things, hearing and believing, but we often really

lack when it comes to doing, acting in obedience

to his word and to the things that he said. So

that's why this series is called Faith Act. That

was my little introduction there, and then we're

going to move into today's message. And we're

talking today, the title of today's message is

Trust and Obey. Trust and Obey. Real simple,

real easy to remember. Trust and Obey. We're

talking about childlike faith. We're going to

talk about miracles and how those two things

interact with one another. Okay, just so we're

all on the same page. But listen, anyone, everybody

say anyone. I need you to get this. I need you

to get this today. Anyone can experience a manifestation

of the power of God. Do you believe that? I say

it and you look like I just, you know. Do you

really believe anyone can experience a manifestation

of the power of God? Do you believe that God

wants everyone to experience that power? Do you

believe that? Anyone can have faith that pleases

God. Anyone. Romans 2 .11, for God does not show

favoritism. Amen. Aren't you glad God doesn't

show favoritism? Right? He's no respecter of

persons, another translation says. For God does

not show favoritism. Faith is simple. That's

why it's so simple. It's a simple concept. Anyone

can get a hold of it. And the truth of God is

simple. We can all take a hold of it. And it

can all change our lives. It can all impact everything

that we do, think, and say. Faith is simple.

So simple. A child can do it. A child can live

it. A child can stand in faith. And often, often

a child will just simply believe something that

an adult will not. When God's just really requiring

us to just trust and obey, often children will

trust and obey. But it's us adults that have

a hard time. Faith is simple. Matthew 18, 1 through

4. I love this. It says, about that time, the

disciples came to Jesus and asked, who is the

greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Who's the

greatest, God? Tell us. Tell us who's the greatest.

Maybe they were looking at it going, which one

of us is the greatest, God? Look around. Is he

my greater? No, maybe not. And Jesus did this.

He called the little child to him. He said, come

here. He didn't answer their question. He just

said, he looked over, he was like, come here.

Put the child among them. And then he said, I

tell you the truth. Unless you turn from your

sins and become like little children, you will

never get into the kingdom of heaven. So anyone

who becomes as humble, I'm going to say humble.

Humble as this little child is the greatest in

the kingdom of heaven. Humble. Opposite of humility,

I would say, would be pride. When we get older,

that little stronghold of pride gets even more

and more in our lives. We think we know more.

A lot of times we say that word pride, we go,

ooh, I don't want to have pride. No, I'm not

prideful. But it's just that little bit of, well,

I know better. I know more. I have a little bit

more understanding about this. You know, let

me think about this for a little bit, right?

But there's a time when a child will just simply

believe and do whatever someone tells them. Especially

if they trust them, of course. It's not just

like a stranger. I'm not talking about anybody.

And I'm not talking about all children. But most

children, if like a parent or maybe a peer, something

like that, that they look up to, something, you

know, if they tell them, hey, let's go do this,

they'll just go do it. They don't think through

the process. They don't have to understand why

they're going to do it. They just sort of do

it. And the proof here is this phrase. How many

of you have been told this phrase before? I've

been told this phrase a few times. I remember

my blank here, you know, is Rush Darnell. There's

only one person in the room who knows who Rush

Darnell is, and I guarantee you he's not listening

today, so don't be afraid. I'm just throwing

out names here. If mine was, my mom looked at

me, she said, well, if Rush Darnell told you

to jump off a bridge, would you do it? The answer

was, yeah, probably, probably. I had no fear

as a little kid. Nothing scared me. I didn't,

I didn't, I don't know. It was just one of those

people. Now I would never do some of the things

that I would do when I was little. But I looked

up to Rush. I thought he was cool, you know,

because he was always doing all these crazy things.

And, you know, he had dirt bikes and he had all

this stuff that I didn't, wasn't accustomed to.

And, you know, we'd go over there and get in

a little bit of trouble or just happy to be alive

today, you know, because we made it. But I remember

after church, the kids, we were playing on the

playground and all of a sudden, hey, let's go

play hide and go seek, right? Let's go play hide

and go seek. Rush looks at me, taps me on the

shoulder, and says, come with me. I got the perfect

place. So what do I do? Yeah, okay. Let's go.

We go over here. He jumps on top of the AC unit

to the church. They were pretty big units out

back. Jumps on top of that, scales the gutter,

and gets to the roof of the church building.

Now, it wasn't sloped too much where it was like

too big of a thing, but it was pretty steep.

It was a little uncomfortable for me. But if

Rush did it, right, I can do it. I can do it.

So I just jumped up there. We're on top of the

roof with our game of hide and go seek, which

turned into extreme parkour. And now we're on

top of the building. And, you know, is anything

going to go wrong? Nah. Absolutely not. Nothing's

going to happen. Everything was fine. That was

the longest game of hide and go seek I ever played

because no one ever found us. So was Rush correct?

Yes, he was correct. And we did really win, I

think, maybe. But we actually lost at the end

of the day because as I'm standing there, the

church let out. So guess who comes out into the

parking lot? And as you escape farther from the

building, you can see what? More of the roof.

And here's me and Russ standing on the roof going,

hey! Yeah, that was a lot. We won't go past that

point in our little story here. Huh? Yeah, we

went to the correction stage. Yeah, the correction

point. There was some repercussion for my actions.

And this phrase was definitely used. If Rush

Darnell told you to jump off a bridge, would

you do it? Come on, son. Oh, yeah, that's good.

That's good. God simply wants us to trust and

obey. Everybody say trust. Everybody say obey.

Obey. Anyone can act in faith and see a miracle

happen. Anyone can act in faith and see a miracle

happen. God is a miracle working God and still

performs miracles each and every day. When I

went to school for way too many years, There's

a camp of people that would say something like

this, well, miracles happened during the times

of the Bible, when the Bible was being written,

but miracles are not happening today. We just

don't see them in the same capacity. We don't

see them in the same extravagance as we do written

in the Bible. And they would just discredit miracles.

They would talk about things and we would look

at different examples and all that kind of stuff.

But I'm here to tell you this morning, we're

not going to dig into all that. But I'm here

to tell you this morning, God is a miracle working

God. And if you don't believe miracles are going

to happen, you don't have to worry because you're

not going to see any. You're not going to see

God do things for you unless you believe that

he can do something for you. God is a gentleman.

He's not going to force things on you in the

same way that he's not just going to zap miracles

on you. Some people just sit around and they're

just like, well, I'm just going to let go and

let God. Jesus, take the wheel. That's not the

way God works. And I would go so far to say that

those things are just a lie from the enemy. We're

just eating it up as the body of Christ. We're

just eating it up. And we get to that point where

we just beg God for things that he's already

promised for us. And God's already given us solutions

to the things that he wants in our lives. He's

given us solutions in his word, but yet we just

don't read it. We don't care. And then the big

thing is we're not willing to do. We're not willing

to do what he tells us to do. We want his hand,

we want his manifestation, we want his miracle,

but yet we're not willing to do. God has not

changed. Everybody say, God has not changed.

Jesus Christ, in Hebrews 13, 8, Jesus Christ

is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What

God has done back then, He is still doing today.

Amen? Amen? I'm glad He's the same. He's the

same God who died on the cross for my sins. And

what He did and His finished work on the cross

can be applied to what I've done today, what

I've done, what I will do in the future, right?

And if I can believe that, I know that God's

the same at every time in my life. When I was

a child, right now, and when I grow old, he's

the same God. Amen. And today, our main passage

is going to be Jesus' first miracle. This is

something that, like, recently I've always just

read over. I've not went into much detail. I

just kind of, like, I read it. I said, oh, that's

fun, and just kind of moved on. You know, I was

like, wow, that's a weird thing to include, but

we'll just keep going. I've never really gave

it much thought until just recently one day it

just sort of came alive. Dad and I, we were talking

about it. We've been talking about this series.

And as we're studying and we were just talking

with one another, it came alive to me. And I

saw something that I'd never quite seen before.

But we're talking about Jesus' first miracle,

and that's sort of the way these things work,

right? We don't always recognize the spiritual

things happening in our world enough. They are

not always as big, as flashy as we think they

should be. And if we're not walking in the Spirit,

if we're not living by the Spirit of God, I believe

we can just miss some things, not be thankful

for some of the small things that God does in

our life each and every day. But there's miracles

constantly happening. Do you not say it's a miracle

that if I cut my finger this afternoon, next

week it'll be healed? That's amazing, right?

That your body constantly works towards healing

itself? One time I flipped a scooter and I had

some gravel in my knee. And my body, years later,

my body pushed out little gravel pieces out of

my knee. Like, that's incredible to think that

your body does those kind of things. Right? It's

constantly fighting. It's constantly working

towards healing. But yet, when we need healing

or we have something big, we go, well, that can't

happen. Can't happen. But anyways, we don't recognize

the spiritual things enough. And I think sometimes

that's why we need the Holy Spirit. All the times,

that's why we need the Holy Spirit. Because when

we're reading through this word, sometimes we

just read it, but we need God's word to come

alive. We need the Holy Spirit to lead us into

the truth of it. That's why it's important to

pray before you read your Bible. That's why it's

important to pray. Pray for understanding. The

Bible says to pray for certain things, and one

of those is to pray for discernment. And as Christians,

we need to be doing that. We need to pray for

the discernment, for the wisdom of God to be

revealed, to come alive, to impact our lives.

We need that more than ever. When I'm in a conversation

talking with someone and I just don't quite know

the answer, I need to be in the back of my head

going, God, give me the words to say. God, I'm

listening, but at the same time, help me. Speak

your word. Speak your truth for me. Give me understanding

in this issue because I'm not just going to stand

out here by myself on my own. But we need to

recognize the spiritual things. And so let's

turn in our Bibles to this story. It's John 2,

1 through 11. I have it on the screen, but let's

read together. We're going to dissect it a little

bit. So the next day. There was a wedding celebration

in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother

was there. And Jesus and his disciples were also

invited to the celebration. Everybody say there

wasn't strangers, right? There weren't strangers

in this place. You don't just show up to some

strange wedding, right? You know, we don't really

know what kind of connection. Maybe they were

just friends. Maybe they were kin. We don't know.

But they're there. They're at the wedding. And,

and here's the issue in verse three, the wine

supply ran out during the festivities. Jesus,

his mother told him, Jesus, they have no more

wine. They have no more wine. That's why I just,

I discredited this whole thing. Like I never

really looked at it because I'm looking at this

story and going, okay, so Jesus is doing, you

know, party tricks. Okay. You know, he's, he's,

just doing this simple little thing, but it's

just party supplies. It's just party supplies

is what this whole miracle is talking about.

It's just party supplies. They ran out of wine.

Maybe trying to save, you know, the people some

embarrassment maybe, but it'd be like if you

threw a dinner party and said, oh, the chips

ran out. Oh, excuse me, the chips ran out. You

know, you just continue on, right? It's not that

big a deal. It's just party supplies. And I like

this, John. 2 verse 4, Dear woman, that's not

John 2:4

our problem. That's not our problem. Jesus replied,

My time has not yet come. But right here is where

it gets interesting. Right here is when everything

changes. Because Jesus' mother says something

very profound. I know you're reading ahead of

me, but she says something really profound right

here. Very simple. But his mother told the servants,

do whatever he tells you. Do whatever he tells

you. This is the blueprint for miracles. This

is the blueprint for miracles, as we've seen

over and over again. You know, the faith with

action involved. But it's do whatever he tells

you. Do whatever he tells you. Faith gets ready.

When she said that to the servants, they immediately

were on call. There was a part of that. There

was a part of this is anticipation, going, okay,

well, what is Jesus going to say? We're all waiting

around. We're wondering what he's going to do,

if he's going to do anything. But all of a sudden,

they've just been told. They were just saying,

okay, do whatever he tells you to do. So they're

waiting around, waiting for the instruction.

And in that environment of anticipation is where

miracles happen. When we're expecting in hope

to see the goodness and promises of God fulfilled

in our lives. When we're not waiting, just passively

waiting, just like whatever will be will be,

whatever hits me, whatever thing comes my way.

No, we're literally expecting to see. Miracles

happen every day. There's a big difference. And

miracles happen in this environment of expectation,

this willingness to be on this sensitivity to

his spirit to say, okay, what do you have to

say with this? Okay, I'm going to do it. Whatever

you say, God, I'm going to do it. I'm ready.

I'm listening. I'm waiting for you. We're waiting.

We're at a sense of... Just steadfast bulldog

tenacity waiting and knowing that God's going

to do something in each and every situation.

I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll say,

I'll go, I'll give whatever. We're ready. Continuing

on, verse 6. Standing nearby were six stone water

jars used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each

could hold 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus told the servants,

fill the jars with water. That's his first instruction

here is to fill the jars with water. Now, as

I read this, you know, I've always read it. I

just never thought anything of it. But think

about it. Think about what their problem was,

right? Think about what their problem was. Jesus

says, fill the jars with water. What's their

need? Their greatest need is wine. They need

wine. So why are we messing with water, right?

Let's see how much they had to do. This was not

an easy task. One gallon is around roughly 8

.34 pounds. So one of these pots, if it weighed

at the maximum of like 30 gallons, would be around

250 pounds of water for each pot. They had six

pots, 180 gallons, 1 ,500 pounds. And all what?

That's going to require some effort on my part.

If I was one of the servants, I would have been

like, Jesus, I don't want to do this. This is

just way too much time. I'm thinking through

my head, why? And you know, as kids do that same

thing too, they get to that point where they

think they know better or know more. All of a

sudden they get to that, why? The dreaded why.

Why is this? You tell them to do something, why?

Why? Tie your shoe. Why? Then you fall over and

you're, that's why, you know? That's why. But

we get to that dreaded why stage. And as adults,

we just do that. And I think it's like when pride

sneaks in. We quit being humble. We quit just

trusting and obeying. We just, we fall into that.

But their need, their greatest need's one. Why

are we messing with water, Jesus? Did they say

that? No. Is it recorded anywhere? No. They were

just told to do whatever he told you to do. And

he says, go fill up these jars with water. And

what did they do? Like a child, they went, okay,

let's grab our jar, a smaller jar, and let's

go down. It's not like they could go to Walmart

or the nearest Publix on every corner. Good gracious,

how many more publics are we going to build in

Florida? It's ridiculous. Anyways, but, you know,

they grabbed their little jar probably and went

down to the stream, filled it up, came back,

poured it in the thing, and Jesus is going, yay,

good job. Do it again. I'll do it like 27 million

more times. You know, and they just keep going,

and they're just doing whatever he says, like

children. They're just. Going, okay, get the

bucket, okay, fill it up, fill it in the jar.

Maybe they did a little bucket brigade, did a

little thing, passing it, whatever, but it took

some effort. It took some effort. And, you know,

we look at that, and if I was a servant, I'd

definitely be asking why, and that's the biggest

enemy to a miracle right there. We saw that with

Naaman, too, last week. If you were here, we

saw that with Naaman. He was going, why do I

need to do this? It makes no sense to me. It's

illogical. It's irrational. Why do I need to

do that? It makes no sense. And that's the enemy

to the miracle. It's reasoning. It's analyzing.

It's logic. Because sometimes what God asks you

to do is not necessarily directly correlated

with what you're wanting to see. The servants

did not have to understand why. Why am I doing

this? Why am I doing this busy work? They simply

did whatever they were told to do when they were

told to do it. And that's why it just immediately

says in verse 6, when the jars had been filled,

he said, he said, now dip some out and take it

to the master of ceremonies. Everybody say second

instruction. Second instruction. Here, sometimes

we see by this that there can be multiple actions

required to see the miracle, to see things happen.

Sometimes we get complacent. We say, well, I

did this one thing. God, you told me to do this,

and now I want to see this. I want to see some

breakthrough in my life, whatever it is. But

sometimes there's multiple steps, right? When

we looked at Moses, it's like quit crying and

move. And then all of a sudden he has to raise

his staff, right? He's got to do something else.

There's sometimes multiple steps, multiple stages.

But what did the servants do here? They followed

his instructions. They trusted, they obeyed.

They just simply did what was asked of them to

do. John 2, 1 through 11. When the master of

ceremonies tasted the water, that was now wine.

Get this. So they go, they go through all this

trouble to fill up the water, right? They get

all that done. Now Jesus is saying, now dip some

of this water out, put it in a cup, and now take

it to the master of ceremonies. That's pretty

gutsy, right? Hopefully he just needed water.

Hopefully he wasn't expecting wine. But still,

that's kind of a weird thing for a servant to

just like, okay, we're going to do this and I'm

going to take it. And the whole entire while

they're looking at this cup going, okay, this

is just water. It's just water. And when the

master of ceremonies tasted the water, that was

now wine. This is incredible. This is incredible.

When the master of ceremonies tasted the water

that was now wine, it turned to wine. He probably

looked at it and it was water and he puts it

to his mouth and it becomes wine. Not knowing

where it had came from, though of course the

servants knew, he called the bridegroom over.

A host always serves the best wine first, he

said. Then when everyone has had a lot to drink,

He gets the box wine at 7 -Eleven and brings

it out. No, he brings out the less expensive

wine. But you have kept the best until now. Jesus

and God wants to do the best in your life. When

something happens, he wants the best for you.

He's going to exceed your expectations. I talked

about that all week. It's not just what we expect

him to do always. Sometimes we pray for him to

like, oh, I just, you know, this is what I want.

This is what I need. God's going to exceed your

expectations abundantly more, right, than we

may ask or even think. He's in that kind of business,

amen? That's who God is. That's what he does.

And sometimes as Christians, I sit here and I

look at this and I go, sometimes as Christians,

we believe God can speak a word into the blank

void of the cosmos and see galaxies formed and

see stars shine. But then when we look at this

cup in my hand, I don't believe that he can turn

water into wine. The little things. The little

things God cares about. He cares about what you

have, what you don't have. He cares about you.

He cares about what's going on in your life.

But sometimes we go, well, God's not, he's not

concerned about this. This is not his party.

This is just party supplies. Just party supplies,

right? God don't care about this. Don't even

inquire for him to get involved about it. Like,

don't even ask. Like, but here we are. We believe

we can hold on to all these great and precious

promises, but then we don't believe that he can

do the simple things for us. When these things

happen, they go beyond what just immediately

we see. John 2. 11 says this, this miraculous

sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus

revealed his glory. It's the first time Jesus

revealed his glory. And his disciples believed

in him. They believed in him here. The result

was far greater than stopping the host from being

embarrassed from running out of party supplies,

right? The result goes way beyond that because

when we act in faith, when we are willing to

do what God tells us to do, we'll see things

change around us. And especially when the manifestation

of God is here, when it comes to be, it changes

everything. It reveals the glory of God, but

then it also increases the faith of everyone

around you. It increased the faith of the disciples.

It increases your faith and everyone around.

So, does God need your faith actions? I hope

at this point we would say yes. God needs us

to act in faith, to be believers who are not

just passive in what we believe and what we hear,

but believers who are willing to do whatever

he tells us to do. He needs those things. He

needs us to be men, women, boys, and girls who

stand, who actively fight the good fight of faith.

You know, that's the only thing that God tells

us to fight for, is to fight the good fight of

faith. You don't sit down and fight. You don't

just say whatever will be will be if you're in

a battle. You have to actively put on the armor,

right? You have to actively stand upon his word

to see the miraculous things happen, to see the

manifestation happen. To see the power of God

in your life, you have to stand on the word and

be willing and obedient to do what he tells you

to do. It's not all up to God, but he has chosen

to involve us. He's chosen to involve each one

of us. You can hear, you can believe, and you

speak and still not receive if you don't act.

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