Dealing With Your Problems

As I was praying about what to share with you

today and discerning what message to bring today, I was

reminded that not too long ago, I heard a message

from Pastor Max Lucato, and this sermon spoke to me,

and it encouraged me so much that I thought, I

want to share with you what I've learned. And so

I want you to know that much of the message

I'm sharing today has been borrowed from Max Lucato. But

I want to start by telling you about my week Christmas.

This was our first Christmas with Shepherd. He's eleven months old,

he'll be one next month, and we just had a

blast celebrating Christmas for his first time. And let me

tell you something, this little boy is spoiled and his

grandparents are to blame for that. We visited Pennsylvania a

few weeks ago to celebrate Christmas a little early with

some family, and Shepherd got so many presents, so many gifts.

I always wonder as an adult, when do I stop

receiving gifts from my parents? Well, this is now that

I have a child. Is happening one of and I'm

not making this part up. He got all of these

gifts he brought a truckload, a carload of gifts and

presents and toys home with us, And I'm not making

this up. When we pulled in the driveway back here

in Indiana, the front step was full of packages and

Amazon boxes of more toys and more gifts from other relatives.

Just for Shepherd. One of his grandparents gifted him this

toy that he can push. He's learning how to walk now,

and he's taking some steps, and so he has this

toy that can help him push and walk behind it,

and so he walks in then he'll stumble a little bit.

But Shepherd doesn't know how to turn. He just goes

full steam ahead forward in a straight line until he

bumps into the wall or into some furniture, and he

doesn't know how to back up. He doesn't know how

to turn. And when he pushes his toy into the

wall and he gets stuck, he looks back at me

as if it's my fault that he's stuck, and then

he lifts one little pudgy finger and points at me.

He doesn't say anything, he doesn't make a noise. The

pointing finger does all the talking. He wants me to

come and move his toy. He wants me to come

and fix his stuckness and get him unstuck. Today, I

wonder what do you do when you get stuck in life?

What do you do when you're moving along, cruising along

in life, things are falling into place, and then bam,

you hit a wall. How do you respond when everything's

happened in the way that you want, and then there's disappointment, grief, loss,

a surprise, and you can't turn left or right, you

can't go backwards? How do you respond when you get stuck?

Some of us get stuck when our career is not

advancing the way that we want. Some of us might

be stuck in a degree program or in school. There

are some who are stuck in grief. There are others

who are stuck in a relationship issue or a family situation.

And I know that there are some of us listening

who are stuck in a health condition or in a

serious financial need. What do you do when you get stuck?

How do you respond? Some of us we get depressed

when we get stuck. We get depressed, we shut down.

Others of us when we're stuck, we get angry, we

get frustrated, and sometimes just like Shepherd points his finger

at me when he's stuck. Some of us we point

a finger. We point a finger at somebody else. We

point a finger at our circumstance, and we blame them

for our problems. Today, I want to encourage you when

you feel stuck or when you have a problem, because

God invites us to bring our problems to him. He

wants you to bring your troubles to him. Today, we're

going to open the Bible to John chapter two. And

in John chapter two, we read a story about Jesus

when he's a guest at a wedding. And while he's

at this wedding, Jesus discovers a problem. Well, actually, his

mother Mary brings the problem to Jesus's attention. So let's

take a look at John chapter two. Starting in verse one,

it says on the third day a wedding took place

at Cana in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there, and Jesus

and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

It's ironic that we're reading about a wedding, because just

yesterday on Saturday, I helped officiate a wedding for a

family in our church. We stood right here in this room.

These seats were filled with guests and family. I stood

on this platform with the groom and the bride as

they exchanged their vows right here, just twenty four hours ago.

And it was a beautiful wedding. It was a happy celebration.

And you, if you've been a part of a wedding,

you know that weddings have a lot of preparations. There's

a lot of details that go into a wedding. The

imitations have to be sent, the RSVPs have to be

tracked down, Gotta buy the flowers, gotta get the dress,

get the venue, all of these things, the menu and

the food, all of these details have to come together. Now.

It's likely that in this story, in this wedding in

John two, that Mary, Jesus's mother was involved in preparing

this wedding. Some Bible scholars believe that she was working

behind the scenes, she was helping make the preparations. It's

also possible that the bride and the groom could have

been childhood friends of Jesus, since he was also an

invited guest. Yesterday, after the couple in the wedding exchanged

their vows, they and their guests and family went to

dinner and a reception, just like most weddings typically do.

In the first century Jewish culture, a wedding celebration typically

lasted for seven days. I didn't get that wrong, didn't

I didn't misspeak seven days of wedding celebrations. Now, our

American weddings, they might last seven hours on a Saturday

with the ceremony and the reception. No seven days. And

this is because so many relatives would travel long distances

to be there. So many relatives and friends might travel

on foot or by animal, and they couldn't always exactly

predict that they could arrive at a certain day at

a certain time, so the wedding would just last. And

if they were traveled so far on foot, they weren't

just going to stay for one day and turn back

and go back the next day. They were gonna stay

for some time. Some of these weddings were like family

reunions for a long distance, and so in Jesus's culture

was common for a wedding to last for seven days. Well,

in this story, the wedding festivities are happening. Everything seems

to be going well until there's a problem. We read

in verse three. When the wine was gone, Jesus's mother

said to him, they have no more wine. This is

a major problem. It was the responsibility in this culture

of the host family to provide all the food, all

of the wine, all of the needs for their guests.

Because remember they're traveling from long distances, they've been on

the road, they're going to be staying for several days.

So it was the responsibility of the host to provide.

And this is a major problem for two reasons. First

it's just embarrassing to run out of food or wine,

and secondly, this could damage the reputation of the newlywed couple.

They would start their marriage out at being known as

the wedding that ran out of wine. Now I brought

something to show you today. This is a jar of

barbecue sauce. This is from my wedding more than ten

years ago. We got married on friends farm and we

had a big tent on the farm and served all

of our guests a big barbecue buffet. Lauren's dad is

a master barbecue expert, so he did a lot of

the barbecue for our wedding, and this jar of homemade

barbecue sauce was our wedding favor. This was what all

of our guests got as party favors. And we had

so many guests that took these home. And I remember

even seeing some guests who had stayed later collecting extras

and walking out with an armful. And some of my

friends told me months later that this was the best

barbecue sauce that they had ever had and wondered if

they could get some more. Now this is eleven years old.

I have never opened it, and I probably never will

open it. I don't know what the market value is

of eleven year old barbecue sauce. But I could not

imagine at my wedding running out of barbecue. I could

not imagine running out of barbecue sauce or food for

my guests. So this couple in this in this story,

they would have been embarrassed if they ran out of wine.

It would have damaged their reputation. You know, some of

the guests would say, man, you remember that couple that

ran out of wine. What poor hosts, you know, what,

what terrible planning. You know, maybe maybe they have maybe

they have money problems, you know, and could couldn't afford

to take care of all their guests. It was bad

and so what does Jesus's mother do? She brings the

problem to Jesus. She says they have no more wine.

She shares the problem with Jesus. Essentially, what Mary's doing here,

Mary is saying a prayer. This is a simple prayer,

And this is my message today. The one thing that

I want to share with you is that prayer. Prayer

is presenting your problems to Jesus. Prayer is presenting your

problems to Jesus. Isn't that what Mary's doing here? She's saying,

here's the problem. It's a prayer. Whether knowingly or not,

she's praying to Jesus. Prayer is presenting your problems to Jesus.

At its basic level, at its fundamental level, this is

what prayer is. Of course, prayer can also involve things

like thanksgiving and worship and intercession and contemplative prayer and

listening to God of course all those things. But at

the fundamental, basic understanding of what prayer is, it is

saying God, I have a problem and I need your help.

This is what prayer is. It's as simple and as

childlike as when Shepherd points at me when he's stuck.

He's saying, Dad, I've got a problem. Prayer is presenting

your problems to Jesus. And so Jesus's mother presents this

problem to Jesus. They have no more wine. She doesn't

tell Jesus what to do, she doesn't demand something or

beg him. She just presents the problem, and we keep reading.

In verse four, woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied,

my hour has not yet come. His mother said to

the servants, do whatever he tells you. Isn't this what

prayer is. Prayer is presenting your problems to Jesus and

then being willing to do whatever he tells you. Now,

when we read Jesus's response here in our English language,

it kind of sounds like Jesus is being a little

rude and a little bit dismissive, you know, the way

we read it in English. I want to clarify that

in this context, in this passage, the word woman is

actually a term of respect. It could be compared to

our modern term like lady or miss or ma'am. Is

what Jesus is saying. So he's not dismissing his mother.

And then Jesus says that his hour has not come.

What he's saying here is that Jesus he's not ready

to publicly declare that he is the son of God.

He's not ready to do a supernatural public miracle and

draw all this attention to himself. He's not prepared to

disclose his identity yet. And so we keep reading. His

mother said, to the servants, do whatever he tells you.

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by

the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to

thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, filled the jars

with water. So they filled them to the brim. Then

he told them, now draw out some and take it

to the master of the banquet. They did so, and

the master of the banquet tasted the water that had

been turned into wine. He did not realize where it

had come from, though the servants who had drawn the

water new. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said,

everyone brings out the choice wine first, then the cheaper

wine after the guests have had too much to drink.

But you have saved the best until now. What Jesus

did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of

the signs through which he revealed his glory, and his

disciples believed in him. The master of the banquet was

astonished at the quality of this wine. He had no

idea that Jesus had performed this miracle behind the scenes.

He thought that this was some special wine, some exclusive

wine that had been saved and reserved. He was astonished

that this was good stuff. It's not cheap, it's not

bottom shelf it's not something you just dig up in

the basement. It's fresh, it's good. He admires the flavor,

the viscosity. It's the good stuff. And what I want

to say to you today is that God does not

give you his leftovers. God does not give you his leftovers.

God does not give you something that is half baked

and poorly prepared. God gives you his best at the

right time, in his way, in his timing. Because what

God does in your life is for your good and

for His glory. Whatever problems you're facing today, there is

a God size solution for your problems. Remember, prayer is

simply presenting your problems to Jesus. I want to make

a few observations from this story. First observation, the master

of the banquet didn't know where the wine came from.

He didn't know that Jesus turned the water into wine.

Jesus was working behind the scenes. He didn't want to

steal the spotlight from the bride and the groom. He

didn't want to draw attention to their embarrassment. Jesus was

doing a miracle behind the scenes. I'll tell you how

I've seen God work behind the scenes in my life.

I've shared some parts of this story, but maybe not

quite in this detail. And I'm gonna mention a few

dates in this story that might be helpful. So when

I moved to Indianapolis more than five years ago, I

wanted to buy a house here when we moved, but

in order to do that, I needed to sell my

old house in Pennsylvania. And so we put our old

house up for sale in June, and we waited all

of June, we waited all of July, we waited most

of August until a buyer came and made an offer

that we accepted. And we had a buyer in August.

Then we moved to Indianapolis. And then just days after

we moved here in Indy, the buyer of the old

house canceled the deal. All told there would be I

think four different buyers that would make offers and then

cancel for one reason or another, and so we felt

a little bit stuck. See, my plan was to sell

the old house, take that equity, buy a new house.

And I thought, Okay, my plan. I'll stay a couple

of weeks in Indy with friends until we can move

into the new house. This was my plan. But God

had a different plan, and so we waited all of

August no buyer. We waited all of September, we waited

all of October, We waited nearly all of November trying

to figure out how we could sell this house so

we could buy a new house. In November, here in Indie,

a house came on the market for sale, and it's

the house that we live in now. We went and

visited this house the day after it was publicly listed.

We got a tour, we checked it out, we even

met the owner. The owner had actually bought this house

and renovated it completely, and so it was all brand

new appliances and floors. It was just moving ready. We

just had to turn the key and just move in.

It was all ready for us, exactly what we wanted,

and so we bought that house, and then we moved in,

and then shortly after that we sold the old house.

But let me tell you how God was working behind

the scenes. We listed the old house for sale in June.

I didn't find out until that the owner of the

Indie House bought that house to renovate the same week

in June and worked all of June, renovating, all of July,

remodeling all of August, putting in floors, all of September,

getting the appliances, preparing the new house. God was working

behind the scenes. God was preparing our home even though

I didn't know it. Even though I didn't couldn't see it.

You see, if I sold the old house in August

like I had planned, then I would not have found

the house that God was preparing for me. It was

his timing, in his way. God was working behind the scenes.

God is working behind the scenes in your life, even

if you can't see it. Even when you doubt that

God here's your prayers. He's working. Even when you fear

that he doesn't care about your problems. God is working.

You just might not be able to see it. Your

God is faithful, Your God is sovereign. Your God loves you.

Your God is in control. Do not doubt him, even

if you doubt yourself, even if you doubt your situation,

even if you doubt the circumstance around you, do not

doubt that your God is working behind the scenes. And remember,

prayer is simply presenting your problems to Jesus. And so

Jesus did a miracle behind the scenes. Did you notice

in the miracle how large the jars were that Jesus

used in verse six, nearby stood six stone water jars,

the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each

holding from twenty to thirty gallons. These were large. I

thought of it this way. I recently had a new

water softener tank installed in my home. In these water

softener tanks, they're pretty large. They take up some space,

and they filter the water. The water comes into the

water softener tank, and then it goes into my hot

water tank. And the hot water tank is large. It's

about forty gallons. When I stand next to my water tank,

I'm barely taller than that tank. It's pretty large. So

for context, Jesus is filling up six water tanks and

turning them into wine. After Jesus fills, has them filled up,

he turns them into wine. This would be like one

hundred and twenty to one hundred and eighty gallons. Think

about that. The average home water tank holds forty gallons.

Jesus did a miracle and produced one hundred and twenty

up to one hundred and eighty gallons of wine. You

see what Jesus wasn't just giving everybody one last refail.

This wasn't just one last call. This was Jesus providing

an abundance so that this party would not run out,

so that the bride and groom would not run out.

There was plenty because of Jesus's miracle. Your God does

not give you leftovers. Your God does not run out.

Your God's love does not drive up. You have access

to the storehouses of heaven. You have access to abundance.

You may lack the resources you think you need, but

your God does not run out. You may lack the

funds in the bank, but your God does not go bankrupt.

You may lack the courage or the strength to forgive someone,

but Jesus will give you that strength. You may want

to give in, you may want to give up, but

God's gonna give you what you need. When you think

that you don't have what it takes to go through treatment,

to go through the to the doctor's office, to go

through surgery, remember your God is the great physician, and

there is an abundance for you. Prayer is presenting your

problems to Jesus, and he has an abundance for you.

Is let me encourage you today to present your problems

to Jesus by being specific. Pray specifically when we come

to God, pray specifically. Mary was specific when she came

to Jesus. They have no more wine. That's specific. A

friend of mine was facing a big decision in his life,

life altering decision. It would have implications for his whole family.

It might involve moving, it might involve a job change.

It was a big decision, and as I was talking

with him about it, I asked him, how do you

want me to pray for you? And he said, pray

for clarity. Sometimes when you're stuck, you need God to

clarify what's going on. You need God to clarify how

to pray. But other times it's very clear what the

problem is. There's no question about the need. It's clear.

In some scenarios. It's clear you need this amount of

money for that bill, you need this miracle for that

health condition. It's clear you need this God to do

this or God to do that. You need a response

to the email, you need an answer to the question.

It's very clear. So why not pray specifically? Max Lucato says,

you honor God when you offer him a specific request.

Pray specifically. Ask God to help you with this, Ask

him to help you with that, to give you the

strength to forgive, to give you the faith to wait

for his timing. Pray specifically. Prayer is presenting your problems

to Jesus. A few weeks ago, many of us came

together here in this room for a night to pray

for healing. And we were praying specifically. We were praying

for treatments, we were praying for pain, we were praying

specifically for conditions, and praying for cancer to go away,

very specific And I brought Shepherd with me, my son,

because Shepherd's been fighting a cough for several months and

it gets irritated when he goes to sleep at night

and it disrupts his sleep. And I'm praying specifically that

God would heal him. Pray specifically, there is no problem

too small that God is not interested in, and there

is no problem too great that he cannot solve. Prayer

is presenting your problems to Jesus. In the story in

John chapter two, Mary presents the problem to Jesus and

then Jesus responds to the problem with an incredible miracle.

But there is another version of this story, and his

version goes like this. Instead of Mary taking the problem

to Jesus, Mary takes it out on the master of

the banquet. She gives him a big lecture for being

ill prepared, psizes him for not planning well. Then he

becomes defensive, he becomes combative and they're arguing, and then

the groom notices this argument, and the groom gets angry

and he gets involved. And now the bride sees the

groom's anger and she's embarrassed in front of all the

guests and family, and she leaves the ceremony in tears,

and the music stops and they guests just kind of

look at each other and people start to disperse, and

Jesus is standing there thinking, if only they had brought

the problem to me, I could have helped. Now that

version of the story is not in the Bible, but

isn't that version in our lives all too often? How

many problems could be solved if we brought them to Jesus.

How many disasters could be avoided if we presented our

problems to Jesus. What marriages could be saved, What addictions

could be broken, What sleepless anxio I just worry filled

knights could be recovered if we brought our problems to Jesus.

Prayer is presenting your problems to Jesus. As soon as

you encounter a problem, bring it to Jesus, no matter

how big, and no matter how small. Bring every problem

to Jesus. Now you might be thinking, well, if I

bring every problem that I have to Jesus, I'm going

to be talking to Jesus all day long. I could

think of worse things to do with my time. In fact,

we read in Philippians four, do not be anxious about anything,

but in every situation. Can I emphasize this? In every situation,

in every financial situation, in every relationship situation, in every

school situation, in every work and job situation, in every situation,

there is no app risk here. With an exception, there

is no footnote here that says, well, maybe not this situation.

In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present

your requests to God, and the peace of God, which

transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds

Christ Jesus. Present every problem to Jesus, no matter how big,

no matter how small, Mary's prayer change the outcome of

that wedding. Your prayers have the power to change outcomes.

Your prayers have power to change the future, to change

family dynamics. Your prayers can change a diagnosis. Your prayers

can change results. Your prayers have power because you're praying

to the God of abundance, to the God who does

not run out, to the God who does not give

you leftovers. Your prayers carry power. Present every problem to Jesus.

Did you notice what Mary's last words are in this

in this story, the last thing that she says in

this story. First she says to Jesus, they're out of wine.

And then she says, to the servants, do whatever he

tells you, Do whatever he tells you. This is what

prayer is. Presenting our problems to Jesus and then doing

whatever he tells you to do Are you willing to

obey him? If he tells you to do nothing, do nothing.

If he tells you to do something, do that something.

If he tells you to wait, then wait, do whatever

he tells you. God always answers our prayers, the prayer.

The answers to our prayers usually come as a uniform

of a yes or a no, or a wait. Sometimes

it's not the answer we want. Sometimes it's not the

answer that we like, But it's always the answer that

is good and right because God is in control. I

think about a friend of mine who is facing a

very serious health issue, and the doctors had been doing treatments.

The doctors had been monitoring the condition, and my friend

was told that they had to wait some time in

order to see if there was any progress. And after

a lot of time, a lot of waiting, a lot

of monitoring, the doctor told him that at the next examination,

if there was not progress, then they could not recover

certain parts of this health issue and they would have

to make permanent changes. And so I was praying with

my friend. My friend was praying, his family was praying.

Everyone was praying that God would do something, that God

would restore this health issue. And then the day of

that examination came and the doctor was pleased with some

of the progress. And the doctor said, let's wait a

little longer. Let's give it a little more time. And

I remember my friend called me and my friend said,

good news. It's not a no. So my friend just

has to take the next step, trusting God along the journey.

Are you willing to do whatever God tells you to do?

Will you take the next step? Do you trust God

with your next step? I mean so many times we

want God to do miracles instantly, and God does do supernatural,

incredible miracles, and we pray boldly for those we expect

those Sometimes God the answer that God gives most of us,

many of us, is simply take the next step. Trust

Him with the first step, and then trust him with

the second step. You may not see all ten steps,

but do you trust Him with the first step? Take

that step? What's your first step? Make that phone call,

send that email, make that appointment, write the check, Take

that first step and trust God to show you the

next step. Do whatever Jesus tells you. Trust Him with

each step, and watch your faith grow because prayer is

presenting your problems to Jesus we have an opportunity as

a church to embark on a journey of prayer. In

a few weeks. We're going to start a prayer and

fasting journey for twenty one days. And when we get

serious about praying and fasting, God gets involved seriously. You see,

fasting is a physical and a biological practice that accelerates

your faith. Fasting is not a mechanism to try and

convince God or twist God's arm or impress God. It's

not that at all. Fasting it creates a biological hunger,

but it also creates a spiritual hunger for more of

God is also a weapon in spiritual warfare. And so

I invite you to go on the journey in a

few weeks of prayer and fasting, and there's there's resources.

There's guides on how to how to fast healthy and

how to fast substained sustainably. If you've got a problem,

this might be the journey of prayer that God's taken

you on. If you're trying to make a decision, if

you need wisdom, if you're at an impasse and you

need clarity, and everything feels like a fog, why not

take a step of faith and begin fasting and praying.

I can't explain it with words. You just got to

experience it. But fasting has a way of accelerating your faith,

clarifying your problems, and building your courage. I want to

close today by saying earlier I mentioned that shepherd is

learning how to walk. He's learned how to take his steps,

and he's doing pretty good. He's he's moving along, but

inevitably he misses a step or loses his balance, and

he down and he tumbles. And sometimes those tumbles are

pretty hard, and they hurt, and he falls and he hurts,

and then he cries. And then and then the big

alligator tears fill up in his eyes and start to

roll down his face, and he's crying. And if I'm nearby,

he turns to me and he lifts up his chubby

little hands, crying because he wants me to pick him

up and hold him. He wants his father to hold

him when he's hurting. When you're hurting, your heavenly father

wants to hold you when you've got a problem. Your

father wants to guide you. When you're grieving. Your father

wants to comfort you. Your father wants to be near you.

So why not bring your problems to him, Come to

your father. I want to invite us to respond today

to what we've heard. Would you join me in bowing

your heads in this posture of prayer. One invites you

to hold cup your hands in front of you like

you're holding something, and we're going to spend a few

moments in this posture. If you would just hold your

hands in front of you and imagine that that thing

is in your hands, That problem is there in your hands.

Can you see it in your mind's eye? Relationship thing,

financial thing, a sin thing? Can you see it there

in your mind's eye? And now I want you to

imagine that beneath your hands are the hands of Jesus,

strong hands, tender hands. Do you notice the scars in

those hands where the nails were. They've healed by now,

but oh, there's still scars there. Do not doubt that

his hands are big enough and strong enough to carry

your problems. Do not doubt that the hands that bore

the nails are powerful enough to bear your problems. And

when you're ready, if you want to give your problem

to Jesus, if you want to trust him, you may

not have the solution figured out. You may not have

the next ten steps planned, but if you want to

trust him, if you want to give it to him

when you're ready, would you just take your cupped hands

and turn them over as a sign of releasing into

Jesus's hands when you're ready. I'm gonna pray for us,

Jesus and reminded that you say you invite all of us.

You say, come, all who are weary, all who are burdened,

all who are tired, and you will give us rest.

So God, I pray that the burdens, the problems, the troubles,

the sins that have been turned over to you, that

you would remove them, that you would solve them. God,

that you would bring provision for the person who is

crying out for you to provide. God, that you would

bring reconciliation and forgiveness in the relationship that has just

been strained and fractured. Holy Spirit, would you provide, and

would you heal? And you would you restore? God, We

thank you that you are big enough and great enough

that you can handle our problems. And we trust you,

and we pray all of this in Jesus's name. Amen.