Answered Prayer

Thank you, Bruce. I think the camp evidently did him a lot of good, didn't it? I mean, if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to the Gospel of John? John, chapter four? I've been this week, I've prayed with Barry as he had.

As he had surgeries, kind of emergency surgery, broke his ankle, which I understand is one of the most painful kinds of surgeries. So he's staying home today, and I don't know whether he's watching the British Open or whether he's listening to our sermon today, but I hope he's listening to our sermon. I'm sure he is. We need to pray for Jan. She's going to be mowing the grass for the next three months. Amen.

Now, I'm glad to be with you. Susan and I are glad to be with you today. We were in Gulf Shores yesterday, and Gulf Shores was just crowded as it could be. There's the Gulf fishing tournament that's going on. And there's also the angels, the Navy's angels that are flying in Pensacola.

And as they flew over this past week and practicing and all that, they had one of the flyers that they. And they have six in their flights, and one of the flyers, you know, you ever heard one of those aircraft come down, they just whoom. And they make all this kind of noise. But one of them buzzed the beach, and when he buzzed the beach, he turned over chairs and umbrellas and babies were crying and all this stuff. And the regulation was that you fly under 500ft.

It's against the law. FAA ruse. And so there were parts that wanted to censor them. And. And yet there were 300,000 people that were showing up to watch them fly.

They wanted to not only censor them, but cancel the program. And so as they looked at that, then Washington said, no, they will not be censored. In fact, the show will go on. The flowers will continue as the. As the spectators increase.

And that's their idea. And so they said this. Should we censor them or should we let them have it? Or should we let them go? And they decided, let them go.

And so they flew in their formations yesterday. And 300,000 fans were excited about that. There's a time to hold on, and there's a time to let go. And Scripture talks about that. In ECCLESIASTES in chapter three, the word time is used like 28 times.

There's a time for this and there's a time for that, and there's a time to hold on. And then there's a time to let go.

And making that decision makes a world of difference in the outcome that happens. If I let go of what I'm supposed to hold on to, then I will hold on to what I let go of. Did you get that? I didn't know whether I was going over your head or not.

The word time there appears so many times in Ecclesiastes.

What's the right time?

When I was pastor at First Baptist Church in Pharaoh, my secretary would put on the screen right in front of where I preached and she would put a screen on when I was getting to the end of my sermon and she would put a picture of an airplane coming in for a landing.

Are you with me? You got me there. So I look up at the screen and she was saying with that airplane picture, it's time to land this sucker. That's what she was saying.

Well, most of the time I just ignored her and just kept right on preaching. And since she'd put up another picture and the picture was the airplane crashing in the Runway.

So time, when's the right time? Don't want to miss those times.

And I think this is a time that this church has right now. And the question is, do we hold on or do we let go? And that's an important thing because it's right for one and you miss it if you miss the other one. When do you hold on and when do you let go?

When my oldest grandson was 10 years old, we took him to Washington and I enjoyed taking him. I thought he ought to have a picture of what Washington D.C. looks like to take Arlington Cemetery and see that, see all those graves that are out there and for him to know as a 10 year old what it was like for this country and the men and women who paid the price for this country.

I took him to the Washington Monument and all that there and the Lincoln Memorial and all those kind of things. I took him to the wall because the wall always has a place in my heart and it has a, it's a voice that speaks even though it doesn't say anything. And I have my picture with my grandson as we knelt down at the wall. We also went to the Washington Cathedral, which is a great place to be. But our next stop after the Washington Cathedral, National Cathedral was to go to the White House.

And so I started driving in that traffic in Washington, which is different from the traffic here in Selma, Alabama. I just want you to know that they have one way streets. And do you know what it feels like to go a wrong way in A one way street. You meet people coming this way and they blow their horns and they do upward signals. That's what they were doing.

They were not very patient up there in Washington D.C. when you're going the wrong way in a one way street. And so I got so frustrated. You haven't been that frustrated. So I handed my iPhone back to my 10 year old and I said, now get us to the White House from where we are. And so he said, granddaddy, tell me your password.

So I told him my password and he started guiding us to the streets that we went through and we finally got to the White House. Now I didn't trust him. I really didn't trust him. And often I had Questions about a 10 year old handling his iPhone, handling my phone, getting me to the White House.

But he got us there.

He was much better at that iPhone than I was. And I don't know, some of you know your grandchildren are better at dealing with the iPhone than I am or you are dealing with that iPhone. So he got us there and he's like 20 something years old now and I still call him. And first thing he wants to know, now tell me again your password. And I ask him all these questions as he has to help me deal with my iPhone.

Just show of hands, how many of you have problems dealing with your iPhone? Would you raise your hand as you do that? Okay, most of you are old people if you have problems dealing with your iPhone. But it was time for me to let go and it was time for him to hold on.

That's an important place. It's a time to let go and it's a time to hold on.

And making the right decision at that place can make a world of difference in how things turn out.

Now if you have your bibles, it ought to be in John chapter four. And we'll look at verse 46. So in honor of God's word, would you stand as I read for us from verse 46?

Last week we looked at the fact of Jesus turning the water into wine, which was his first miracle. But it's more than the first miracle. It's a sign. And John likes to use signs. And we're going to look at the second sign.

Jesus had done a lot of miracles, but not every one of them. And John looked at it was a sign. And so we're going to look at the second sign. In this second sign, like the first sign, he takes the problem to the problem solver because that's the most important thing to do. And the only Prayer that Jesus does not answer is a prayer that's never offered.

And most of the time when we pray, we only pray as a kind of last resort, not a first resort.

And so here's a prayer that's offered. And he, like the person Mary did, he brings his problem to the problem solver. It's also the first time he heals from a distance. And the distance is there, 20 miles between Cana and Capernaum. And yet when Jesus said, your son lives instantly, it was done.

It's amazing to me when we text our son, who has been so much in the Middle east and all those things that's going on over there and really hurts. Two of our soldiers were killed yesterday, and There were some 13 casualties as they ran sending their rockets. But when our son's over there, all we want to do is hear him coming back to us. Give us a text. You don't have to be long.

Just give us a text. And this is what he does. I'm okay. Everything's safe.

We're trying.

And we text him back and we say, we're praying for you and we love you, and we're asking God to watch over you. And we hit the send button, and immediately that's in Saudi Arabia or Israel or where he happened to be. And that still amazes me how it goes that quickly. But that's also the way that God can answer our prayers. Sometimes he answers them now, sometimes he answers them later, sometimes he answers them now.

But we only experience the answer later. And that's what happens in this situation. There was an immediate answer, but the rich man or the man who was a political leader didn't experience that until later on. And so often that's the method that our Lord uses. It's also the first time that Jesus deals with death because all of us have to face death sooner or later.

Sooner or later, we're going to have to land the plane.

And we want him to be right there helping us as we land the plane in this life and move on into the next life.

I want my family to be there.

That's why I talk to them about their relationship, Susan and I, with the Lord, because I want them to be there. First time I shared with my dad, I talked to him about his relationship because I wanted my dad to be there. It wasn't easy sharing with my dad, but I am so glad I did. Now again, that's my introduction. God bless you.

Be seated. I'll just read scripture out of here. Okay. Susan told me last week that I Kept you standing too long. So amen.

And I listen to my wife. She's got some good. She's a school teacher. And school teachers will correct you. Amen.

They just have this gift of correcting you. So there you go. All right, look at chapter four. And we'll look at verse 46.

And if you have your Bibles, look at that with me. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee. And Cana of Galilee was where he turned the water and the wine. It's a small little village almost in the middle of nowhere. But there he does two miracles.

So he's in Cana of Galilee. His population has increased as. And he draws crowds in between these two miracles. He's been to Jerusalem. And he shared the message there of the Kingdom of God.

Some liked it, some didn't like it. Nicodemus searched him out because it touched something in Nicodemus heart. He leaves Jerusalem, comes to Samaria. And when he comes to Samaria, he runs into a lady. And he knew exactly that where she was.

He knew exactly that she was going to be there. And he met her by the well of Jacob. And there he met her, by the way. And she had had five husbands. The man she was living with was not her husband.

And for the first time, Jesus gave who he was, unveiled his identity. And he says, I'm the one that God has sent to just this lady who didn't have a promising future, didn't look like it. But with those two, he's building his kingdom of God, people who search him out. So now he comes to Cana of Galilee, which may have been the place where his mother lived, right above Capernaum. It's 20 miles from Capernaum to Cana of Galilee.

And there's a man that comes to find him because he's heard of him. If you look in verse 40, it was where the place that Jesus had turned the water into wine. That's what it says about that. And as that place that done a miracle, all of a sudden his reputation began to grow. And as his reputation began to grow, there were those who came and brought people that needed to be touched by Jesus.

And so he's having these crowds to draw, but it's in the place that where he turned water and wine.

And the more I studied that, the more I just find what he did.

They had a problem. They had run out of wine. It was an empty situation.

So he brings he, or at least Mary. Mary saw their problem. And so what Mary does is she brings it to Jesus.

It's the first prayer that Jesus answered. And he takes a problem, gives his solution, and a crisis in a wedding is avoided.

He takes a problem, gives a solution, and a crisis is avoided. It could have been different. That could have been a different story.

Mary could have come to the leader of the wedding, the kind of ruler of the wedding, and she could have said, you made the wrong kind of decisions. You should have done this right.

And the groom could have come to the guy who was in charge of the wedding, and he could have said, you know, I gave you good money and you left us with cheap wine that didn't last.

The bride could have said, man, he's got so much anger, I. I don't know if I want to marry a guy can't even control his anger.

And she could have called off the wedding.

And what could have been. What could have been a different kind of result would have had Jesus standing over here saying, if you had brought that to me and we had worked it out with my help, it could have had a different result.

But it had a good one because they followed that kind of routine in handling a crisis. That's the way you handle a crisis. If you look at verse, verse 47, there's a nobleman whose son was sick and his son was. We learned later on that his son was at the point of death.

The man is a man of high standing. He has a political leader. So he has a lot of influence. Probably had this political position. And as he had this political position, he was used to telling what people what to do, and they would follow him in what he would tell them to do.

But here is in a different situation.

No matter how much he has, no matter how much money he has, something comes out of nowhere that he never planned on.

His son is sick, and he has watched his son go down and down and down until he couldn't watch it anymore.

And so he does something desperate for a man of his high standing. He could keep watching his son keep going down and down and down, or he could come the 20 miles to Cana and find Jesus and asked Jesus to help him. So it said. Then when he was come into Galilee, well, excuse me, I got the wrong one. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him.

And the word besought in the King James man, he is not. He is begging. That's a word that's in a continual kind of sense. He is. He may be a great man, he may be a high standing, but his son is sick.

And so he begs him. He's all the way unto death. He's just one step away from death. Verse 48. Then said Jesus unto him, except you see miracles and wonders, then you will not believe.

This is the first time that word believe is mentioned in this segment.

It's almost like it's a sermon to this crowd.

Because there's a difference in getting a miracle and there's a difference in commitment.

And there were a lot that were around him asking for a miracle, but they didn't want to give him commitment.

And there are a lot of people that want to follow Jesus until they find out where he's going and he's going to the cross.

So as he gives this kind of rebuke, this politician, this man in high standing could have said, I don't have to take that.

I can turn around and walk away.

And he could have, but he's got his son to think about.

And so instead of walking away, he comes back at Jesus.

Sir, come down. Before my son died, so desperate. And I like the way he starts his prayer. The word sir. It comes from the Greek kurios.

Lord, come down. Before my son died. That was an awesome moment. What do you do at that place? Did he hold on to asking Jesus, or did he just let go and go home?

But he decided to hold on and he said, sir, come down. Now he still tries to control it. He says, sir, come down, because he still wants him to do what he wants Jesus to do. Because oftentimes what we do when we pray, we tell Jesus, now, this is what I want, and this is how I want it.

But you can't do that with the Lord. You got to take it and give it to his hands and say, you answer this the way it needs to be answered. And so Jesus said this under verse 50, go your way.

Your son is healed.

So what does he do with that?

Give me a pledge. Would you sign a statement about that? Would you give me something to hold on to? Did Jesus answer his prayer? Did Jesus answer his prayer?

Because he didn't go down with him?

All this man had was Jesus words.

Jesus didn't walk with him. All he had to hold on to was Jesus promise.

And that's all we have to hold on to, is Jesus promised.

So he turns around and he walks towards Capernaum. That's where his office and home was. And as he goes about halfway down in the street, and you can imagine his words as he's going on, he doesn't know that that prayer has been answered, all he has to hold on to is that promise. And as he walks down that road, all kinds of things kind of invade your life. I mean, you've made that.

You've asked God for this to happen and you just haven't seen it happen.

Maybe it's happened in Zacharias, in the first part of Luke, in the Christmas story, he was told that he would have a son. You will have a son. But yet the time between having the son and the prayer being answered was such a time that he almost became a skeptic. And he did become a skeptic, and he didn't believe.

Because sometimes between the prayer offered and the prayer answered, sometimes we get so discouraged and we don't know if the Lord is with us or not.

Is he really going to answer that prayer?

Even though we know because we read the Scriptures that that prayer has been answered and yet we haven't experienced it at that moment in our life. And so many people have walked down that road and have let go when they should have been holding on.

They let go when they should have been holding on.

Last time when I was here, I used to look down the pictorial of this, of our church, our First Baptist.

And it had a lot of people who used to be here, but no longer come.

And somehow down that road where they pledged to follow the Lord, they let go.

Well, they still believe, but their commitment has somehow left their hearts.

It tells us, as the man was walking along, all of a sudden his servants got up to him in verse 52 and said, you know, he lives. They brought him the news. He lives. And he says, what time was it? And he says, exactly at one o'.

Clock. And that's exactly the time that Jesus gave that promise that he should live.

And when he heard that, he believed. He believed before, but didn't have that kind of commitment to it. But now he has assurance. Now he has that prayer and the answer of that prayer. He had to hold on for such a long time, but then he got the answer to his prayer and.

And that was a gracious time. And he believed. But that's another level of belief. That's a deeper level when you have that assurance. Because there's times that we just need assurance from the Lord.

And help me with that time of assurance because I'm about to lose it. So please give me that assurance.

Now he has that assurance.

But the prayer, the segment here is not over. He takes it to his house and this is what he says. And the whole household believed.

The whole household believed that's a really good segment. What his belief helped the whole household to come to the point where they believed.

Great thing is when my family believe, my family make that commitment to follow Jesus Christ because they've heard the story and anytime they've heard the story of how it happened to mom and dad and how mom and dad can carry to them the story of their belief and they can come to the point of their belief, you can't make that belief for them, but you can show them a life that follows the Lord and has seen felt God move so many times in their lives and see God do some things with that family and they believe.

Had the privilege of baptizing my three sons, and then I had the privilege of baptizing a couple of my grandsons. Three of my grandsons. I put them under the water the way Baptists put them under the water. That is, you put them under until they bubble. Amen.

That's a Baptist way.

I can't tell you how awesome that was.

I brought them up and we talked about being baptized, but we talked about more about inviting Christ into your life.

Time to hold on.

Time to let go. This official held on and he got to see his entire family come to know Christ as their savior.

Are you holding on or do you want to let go?

Wayne Cook is. I know Wayne Cook. Wayne and I played football against each other. In fact, we played out here at Memorial Stadium and Lanier tied us my senior year. And sometimes when I used to run over there at the stadium, I would go down to that one yard line where we were trying to hold them on fourth down and Lanier scored and they ended up tying us 14 to 14.

I still remember that one of the members of that team was a guy named Wayne Cook. Wayne played defensive end for Lanier at that game. And he and Billy Johnson, who is another good friend of mine, played at University of Alabama. And Wayne was roommates, in fact, with Billy. Billy and Wayne were roommates.

And Coach Bryant had one of those sessions. And one of those sessions was they had lost a game that Saturday night. And so the next morning, Sunday morning, Coach Bryant had him out doing sprints that morning.

And so Wayne said, I've had enough.

I'm not going to do this anymore.

So he started packing his bags to go out the door. And as he was going out the door, Billy called Coach Dye. Coach Dye was a coach then at Alabama. And Coach Dye stood in the doorway and said, the only way you can get out here and leave here and is if you run over me.

And Wayne Cook decided to stay.

It was one of those hold on or let go kind of moments. Wayne became the starting end for Alabama. He played on the national championship team. He was named the captain of his team.

What's the best moment of your life, Wayne? When I decided to keep going rather than letting go.

There's a time to hold on and there's a time to let go. One more story that I hope is part of my heart, and I wonder if it's a part of your heart. Let me share. Beth Moore is one of the best preachers I've ever heard. She is.

She knows how to take scripture and glean that scripture and bring some inspirational points out of that scripture. They said, wow, God just put this on our heart. And I preached a lot of her sermons. I plan on preaching some more of her sermon. But Beth Moore grew up in a kind of hard kind of family life.

She had a lot of issues that came out of that family life. And she would have insecurity just plagued her life. And oftentimes this is what would happen. She would just have mood swings and get angry sometimes, and they'd come out. And a lot of times they were directed towards her husband.

Her husband was kind of a Texas cowboy, kind of a John Wayne kind of person. He had a stubbornness about him. His name was Keith. Now, how many of you women know a stubborn man? Would you raise your hand if you.

No, you better not. Close to that. We'll let that one go. Okay.

So she and Keith clashed.

She said she has chose to love him 32 times. I don't know if she was counting all those times, but she chose to love him something like 32 times. And I am so glad Susan has chosen to love me. I just appreciate that very much.

But when she was sitting on the second row, in fact, they've been married something like 30 something years. But when she was sitting on the first, second row and her daughter was coming down the aisle in Keith's arm, her daughter was getting married.

Methmore said God just touched her heart.

And said, I'm so glad we held on.

Holding on and letting go has a promise that only Christ could give.

Now would you bow your heads with me just a moment?

My plane is landing.

You with me.

But there are still decisions that need to be made.

Life is going to happen to me and you. The way life happens, it's going to happen.

It's going to happen to this church. The way life happens, it's going to happen to your marriage. The way life happens, it's going to happen to your children the way life happens.

God give us the strength to hold on and to see our promise happen.

Only you can deliver it.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Be.