When Water Became Wine | How Jesus Changes Everything | Pastor Daniel Bracken

Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the Word Brand new series as we start this morning.

So grateful to be able to bring it to you From John Chapter two. Take your Bibles. Turn with me. John Chapter two. Going to read from the new King James Version.

This series will bring us all the way up to Resurrection Sunday, also called the Easter Resurrection Sunday. And it is my my sincere hope that you would take these cards right here and reach out to your neighbors. Take a stack of them. We've printed hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these. Take them, hand them to the people at Fred Meyers and at at Walmart.

Invite your neighbor. Just don't put them in the in the mailbox because it's a federal crime and we don't want to commit crime. So isn't that good? Some of you still want to commit crime. And if you do, I'm really glad you're here so that you can get born again and delivered from your cry ways.

Stand up on your feet. Turn to John, chapter two.

Let's read the Word of the Lord. Here we go. You ready? On the third day there was a wedding in Canaan, Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there.

Verse 2. Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no more wine. Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.

And his mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Would you say that to your neighbor? Whatever he says to you, do it. Verse 6. And there set, there are six water pots of stone, according to the manner to purification of the Jews, containing 20 to 30 gallons apiece.

Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water. When they filled them up to the brim, he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast. And when they took it, when the master then they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made to wine, did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water do. The master of the feast called the bridegroom.

And he said to him, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. And when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior, that you kept the good wine until now. This beginning of the signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for what you did in the first service and what you'll do now.

I pray that every man and every woman and every child that is under the sound of my voice, those online in India and the Philippines and all across this great sanctuary would hear your word. And it would go deep down into our hearts that we would be stirred to action, that faith would be released, that encouragement would come to your people. Because when you come, you change everything, just like you did at this wedding. It's exactly what you're going to do in our lives today. And we'll give you praise ahead of time.

Would you go ahead and give him praise right now? Thank you, Jesus. Wonderful. You may be seated. There are 37 miracles recorded in the Gospels.

The Gospels are four different books. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The book of John is very different than Matthew, Mark and Luke. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic Gospels. There's a commonality to those stories of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

The book of John is very different than all of those other stories of Jesus. And when you study the life of Christ, you see through those four Gospels, you see 37 miracles. You see numerous healing miracles. Many, many healing miracles. Blind eyes open, deaf ears unstopped.

The mute speak the lame walk. But you also see the dead raised. Somebody said, well, there's three occasions of where the dead were raised. And I said, that's not true. There's four.

The fourth one would be the King of Kings, the Lord of Glory. He rises on the third day, and that's when we celebrate the resurrection. Resurrection Sunday soon, just around the corner, April 5th. And then there's creative miracles and. And there's miracles in creation like he walks on the water.

That's pretty incredible. Peter tried it till he looked at the wind of the waves and then he began to sink. He spoke to the storm and it was still. So there's many different miracles in the life of Jesus. What's fascinating to me as we start this series of how Jesus changes everything is that the first miracle he does in the book of John has nothing to do with the dead being raised.

It has nothing to do with the. With the. The blind eyes open or some major miracle like that. It's just water into wine at a wedding. Well, why would that be?

Why did he choose a wedding? Why did he choose a little village to show forth his glory as John expresses in his gospel? And I should say also that. That John says in his Gospel that if all the miracles of Jesus were recorded, then none of the hard drives of the world could contain it. Now that's a him.

It says books, but you know, so many, just impossible to record them all.

Review here of the first week of Jesus public ministry of the Book of John. John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God, which is profound. It takes away the sin of the world. Anybody understanding the sacrificial system, hearing John, the cousin of Jesus say, behold the Lamb of God that takes away to the sin of the world, understood what John was saying. And Jesus calls his first disciples.

Andrew, Peter, Phillip, Nathaniel, Nathaniel declares In John chapter one, verse 49, Rabbi, you're the Son of God. So he's got some revelation there. So Jesus begins his miracle ministry here in John chapter two. And it's at a wedding. It's not at the temple, it's not at the synagogue.

In the Book of John, it's at a wedding. Which tells us something about the heart of God. Don't miss tonight, if the Lord allows me, I'm going to continue in a series called Studies in the Life of David. And if you were here last Wednesday, you got touched by that, that message and so did I, is a very impactful study. The life of David.

More is written about David, King David, the shepherd boy, David who becomes a king, the worshiper, the sweet psalmist of Israel. And if God allows me to, I believe I'm gonna preach that second message tonight. But you can't help. When you look at David, it says that God looks. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.

What does that have to do with today? You see the heart of God coming to us. A wedding, an ordinary moment in life. God's concerned about you. He's concerned about me.

He's concerned about your life. He knows where you are. He knows you're rising up. He knows you're setting down. And he's concerned.

He comes not at this giant venue. He comes to a wedding.

Now, weddings in the New Testament, I should say rather in the first century, were massive gatherings. Sometimes whole communities would turn out. We don't know how big this one is. But Jesus is invited, the disciples are invited, and Mary's there. She seems to be an event coordinator or something.

We'll talk about that in a moment. A problem arises at the wedding. What's the problem? No wine. No more wine.

Well, why is that significant? Because we'll understand. First of all, we have weddings in our culture. You know, you'll. You'll have a rehearsal the day before or a few days before to make sure it all goes well.

Then you have the actual wedding as rehearsal dinner, usually. Then there's the actual wedding. The vows and the O's are exchanged. Then there's a big reception. And that's the big thing now is this reception.

And maybe have a band and. And there's celebration. I mean, you would be horrified if you would run out of food right away. In the first. In the first century in Jewish culture, weddings lasted a week, some say 10 days.

It's a long party for a week. So for seven days, they'd be celebrating this covenant. And to run out of wine is a major embarrassment for the groom. Now, the groom. The groom's family would provide for all the food now in our culture.

And I know this because I just married off my daughter two years ago. And it was costly. We paid for it, portions of it. Our daughter decided to do, like, a celebrity wedding, and she paid for the rest of it. But we.

We. We said, you know, we're not mortgaging our house to have your wedding. And, you know, maybe you would have coffers, be able to do that for your child. We just felt the good stewardship. We set a mark, prayed, felt like the Lord spoke to us, and we provided as generously as the Lord had us do.

And we were grateful for that. Yeah, paid for. Paid for all kinds of bills, wedding dresses and all kinds of stuff. She's an influencer, so she got a bunch of stuff discounted, so on, so forth. Okay.

The. The wedding rehearsal dinner was taken care of by Derek, her husband's family. My son's about to get married. Somebody say, praise the Lord. We're.

We're big fans. He's marrying Pastor Josh's daughter, Haven, Morocco. Gonna marry the president of King's Cathedral and Chapel's daughter, his firstborn. Come on. Somebody say, praise God.

And they're two amazing young people, and we're excited about it. They haven't set the date just yet. Okay, I'm not paying for the wedding. He. The president is paying for the wedding.

I'm going to. I'm going to take care of the groom part. Come on. Somebody say, man, of course, we'll be led by the spirit of God. The groom's family had to pay for all the food in this text.

And so for the groom to run out of wine, it is a social nightmare. It is big disgrace and a great embarrassment for the groom. So that's a problem. Running out of mind. Wine was a social disgrace.

And. And some would perceive it as a bad omen that the blessing of God is probably not on this wedding because they've run out of wine.

It's a picture of covenant. Wine is a picture of joy. A picture. A picture of celebration. So it helps us to understand the tension.

As a modern reader reading this text, it helps us to understand this is. This is a problem for these families and this wedding. It helps us understand the tension. It's really a major crisis for the host family. Running out of wine.

So the party run out. Their resources ran out, and they're at the end. And Mary comes to Jesus. Mary comes to Jesus. And I like that.

I. I don't know if these are Mary's relatives. The text doesn't say. But I mean, why is Mary involved? Like I said, I think she was maybe the event planner. She was a wedding planner.

I don't know. But she's involved and she understands. Huh? Problem. We have a problem.

And she comes to Jesus and there's this new relationship between her and her son. And you find that from the. The way that he. He. He approaches.

She approaches him and he says to her, woman, what does this have to. What concern is this of mine? First of all, the word woman is not like he's derogatory term. It's a term of honor. It's kind of like ma'.

Am. But he's not relating to her like that's his mother. Because things have shifted now. He's moved into his messianic position, being led by the. The father.

And it's this new relationship between. Between his mother and. And the son. But she's playing an important role. And most scholars believe that Joseph, the father.

I don't call him the father. He's. He's the stepdad of Jesus. How come he's not his father? Because the father was the father.

The father was his father. Joseph is out of the picture at this point. What most believe is that Joe has passed. And so Jesus would then be the firstborn and responsible really to take care of problems like that, being the eldest in his household. And I think his mother knew his character.

She had things in her heart that other people didn't know. He hadn't revealed his glory here in. In John, he hasn't revealed his glory. So they don't really know. They're not 100% sure.

In fact, if you read the final verse, they're not even believers yet. This event, the disciples become believers. They're not believers in him being God incarnate, they're not believers in him being the Messiah. And so the water to wine event makes them believers. I mean, that's kind of amazing.

So she realizes he can help. He could do something. And so she petitions him. She petitions him. I love how he says, my hour has not yet come.

My hour is not yet come. You know what's great about that? My hour has not yet come. Which is sort of odd because I guess his hour comes a little bit later. He says to her, my hour has not yet come.

Which means his hour is going to come. And understand the context. My hour is not yet here. My time for my glorification is not yet. My time for the miracles and the signs and the wonder wonders and the death and the resurrection.

My hour is not yet. But saying that means his hour is going to come. Which means there is coming a time when he's going to make some more wine. There is coming a time when he's going to set the captives free. There is coming a time and he's saying, not yet.

But things change, and things change. If you go to John 2, look at verse 5. Go to verse 5. It's on the screen now. Things change.

Well, well, what is it that changed it? There's a principle here. His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. I had you repeat it. Go ahead, point at your neighbor and say, whatever he says to you, do it.

Come on, say it again. Whatever he says to you, do it. It's one of the greatest principles of discipleship. If God speaks something to you out of the word, do it. If you love me, you'll obey my.

My word. If you'll do the word, you get word results. If you want to become a spiritual athlete and be powerfully used by God to change this generation, do the word. Come on. Somebody say, just do it.

It's the original. Just do it. Nike stole it from right here. Do it. Come on, say do it.

That's the instructions that Mother Mary gives.

It's not his time, whatever he says to it. So they, they wait on him. Can you imagine just looking? Are you going to say something?

Jesus turns the water into wine. This is so profound.

There are six stone jars. Everybody say stone. Stone. It's not clay. Very different.

Clay is porous and would be considered unclean and not, not proper for purification. There's stone. They're hewn out of stone. And 20 to 30 gallons. These are.

Come on. You know what a 55 gallon burn barrel looks like, right? Okay, 20 to 30 gallons is not small, it's large. And they're made out of stone and they're heavy. And what they are used for is for hand washing and purification.

Say. Why is that significant? Hang in there for a second. First of all, ever since Clovis, the scamdemic, the, the. Ever since COVID I just wash my hands a lot more.

I don't know. I got in the habit. I think I lost many layers of skin during the hand washing episodes. And then, and then somehow it just required at my house to wash my hands a lot. Anybody thankful for that?

Got two people that like wash their hands. Okay. They had to wash their hands repeatedly as, as for Jewish purification rights. So they're constantly washing their hands. It was a part of, of the law and it was a required thing.

20 to 30 gallons. Jesus commands them to fill those things with water. And a miracle happens quietly. It wasn't a big fanfare. We don't.

We don't see any yelling or anything like that. He didn't wave his hand. He just told them fill them with water. And they filled them to the brim. He brings forth.

They bring the servants, bring forth the water. They give it to the master. Can you imagine being a servant? Can you imagine taking the water and going to serve it like it's wine?

What would have happened if they. If it hasn't turned? And it takes great faith. The servants, man, I don't know what they do. Why.

Why are you serving me water? And they could just point. He did it. He told us to.

How Jesus changed everything.

A couple things I want to share here. He chose to do his first miracle at a wedding. And I think that's profound because the, the very first wedding took place in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. So Adam and Eve, they get married.

It's the first wedding. And he blesses it. And man was given dominion. And he named creation. That's a squirrel and that's a goat.

And he names all of creation. And then there was no suitable helper. Helper for him. Help meet is actually the Hebrew. And so God causes him to go into a deep sleep and a slumber.

And I think the Lord did that so that the man didn't mess it up. Men have a way of messing stuff up. No, I want a brunette. He would have said whatever. I don't know what he would have said.

So he makes him go into his sleep. Is a picture that man had nothing to do with the creation of woman. And then he creates Shah. He Creates. Creates woman.

And when the man wakes up, he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, this is not a squirrel. This is definitely not a goat or a cow. This is now blown up by bones. Flesh of my flesh.

It's in Hebrew idiom, talking about how excited he is that he now has someone that can serve with him. It's a beautiful picture of marriage. And you see that in the garden. But then right in the garden, what happens then. What happens shortly thereafter is what's called the fall of man.

The curse comes upon the woman and the man. You see marriage throughout Scripture. In Isaiah, chapter 62, verse 5, it reads, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. The picture of marriage is really a type and a shadow of the greatest marriage. Which is God and his bride or the church?

The church is considered the bride of Christ. And so In Revelation, chapter 19, there's a wedding coming. Come on, somebody say there's a big wedding coming. Oh, I'm not talking about my son. That'll be exciting.

But there's far one far greater than that. And here's what it says in Revelation, chapter 19 and verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. His wife is up us.

There's a preparation that the church moves through. And all of this here in John 2 points to that. It alludes to it. The celebration. This wine wife has made herself ready.

Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Everyone here under the sound of my voice, if you've given your heart to Jesus, you're one day gonna go to the marriage supper. The lamb, can you give them praise in the house of God right now? Can you do a little bit better than that? If you'll understand, you're living for another age.

One of the key of walking in victory in life and one of the keys of understanding that Jesus changes everything is he changes your focus. Pastor Karen was talking about in. In. In Psalm 119, longest chapter in all of scripture. Change your focus when you begin to live for this other age.

This is not, not it. This is a test. You're in a test.

70, 80, 90. I'm going to go for 120 years along with Pastor Chris. I'm going to contend for that. I'm going to believe for that. But in the end, we're going to go to a great marriage supper.

That and one day, all of time is Going to roll up like a scroll and people will hide from him and, and, and, and cower and, and others will be raising their hand in victory. Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and he bought me with his redeeming. He sought me and I knew it. And all my love is to him.

He plunged me into victory beneath the cleansing need the cleansing. Need the cleansing. The cleansing flood this whole thing. In John 2 points to the ultimate marriage, the ultimate wedding. Revelation 19.

He's changing the old covenant to a new covenant is seen. What do you mean by that? Well, how did they clean their hands? I told you, the water pots and the purification of the Jews. They cleanse the outside of their, their bodies with water.

And there was other rituals and things that they did found in the law to find right standing before God. Even, even the blood that would be sprinkled on the scapegoat. And on and on and on. Very detailed, very prescribed way to find a partial atonement. All of it pointing to the ultimate atonement.

You see, when Jesus had the purification jars, he's stone hewn, 20 to 30 gallons. Used now for wine. It's a sign that the old covenant is soon completed. And now the new covenant is seen. Wine is a picture of celebration.

Wine is a picture of, of, of. Of the blood. Wine is a picture of communion.

So it's no longer Old Testament is like. You could be cleansed on the outside, but who cleans the inside? The new. The new covenant is not an outside cleansing. It's a cleansing of your inside.

There's this transformation so powerful and it really is a picture. Religion washes the outside. Jesus changes the inside.

We can be transformed in Christ. Say it with me. We can be transformed in Christ. We can be changed. Listen, I don't know what you came in here with, what kind of bondages or whatever you might be struggling with.

And if you're struggling with something, welcome to the human race. Every single person struggling with something. Everyone at different varying levels. But God can change a murderer like Saul and turn him into the apostle Paul to write three quarters of the New Testament. He could change you.

He could take your life and transform you. He could take your life and change you. He's taken mine and changed me. You didn't want to know the old guy. And some of you I knew before you gave your heart to Jesus, nobody wanted to know him either.

God will take you. He takes out the heart of stone and he puts in a heart of flesh. Christianity is about being born again. It's about being made new. It's about being transformed in Christ.

Turn to Second Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 17. The favorite scripture of mine, and when I first read it years ago, is written by the Apostle Paul as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit writing to the church in Corinth. 2nd Corinthians 5:17. If anyone is. And it's anyone, Jeffrey Dahmer would be anyone.

Anyone. He's anyone. But no, not anyone, but anyone. If anyone. If anyone is in Christ, let's stop.

What does that even mean? What does it mean, being Christ? It means being born again. I met a young man today and might be in the service now. I would never want to embarrass you, but.

But I was so touched. He says to me as I met him, right before the additional announcements, he said, I've never been in church. I said, wow, what do you mean? Like, I've never even been in a building. This is my first time ever being in a building.

And I said, okay, now worship had taken place, and I said, well, how you like it? He says, I don't know what an honest answer. He said, I don't think this is what I came for. And I leaned forward. I said, what you came for is coming up.

He said, all right. I said, all right. I said, I promise you, you're going to hear something that's going to change you. He gave his heart to Jesus at the end of the first service. You see, it's so important to understand that God wants to transform you.

He's. He's going to transform you and transform you even from glory to glory. In 2nd Corinthians 5:17, if anyone is in Christ, what does it mean to be in Christ? It means that you've repented of your sin. That you believe that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever or anyone would believe on him would not perish.

There is a perishing. It's so important to hear it. It's the greatest message there could be. Angels can't preach it. They would do a far better job.

But God uses us. God uses you. God uses me. He uses us to pass out flyers and invite people to reach to your next door neighbor. Listen, just invite them.

Just invite people and they'll hear this.

That if you repent, if you turn from your sin and you ask Jesus to come into your life, he will forgive you. In fact, it's the only thing that is the only way for you to be forgiven. You can't, sir. You surrender your body to the flames. Very noble.

You'll still go to hell. Give all that you have to the poor. You'll still be utterly scorned. There is nothing that you can do. If you could, then Jesus never had to come.

If you could redeem yourself, if you could be righteous enough, if you could do enough good works, then Jesus, God's only son, never had to come and die on a cross. But you can't. And the law. Think about the law as the Ten Commandments. They're evidence of the fact that you can't do them.

And as a result, you need a savior. You need somebody to forgive. You need somebody to take your place. It's called propitiation. In the book of Romans, he died on a cross.

If any man is in Christ, when you believe that he died on a cross and he rose again from the grave and you sincerely, sincerely turn your heart towards him, not praying some form, some little formula prayer that some church person made up, which we use. I like the formula, it's good. But it has to be from here. Somebody, I say, I prayed that sinner's prayer like a dozen times. Ain't nothing happened to me.

That's cause you, you, you ugly thing, you never really repented. You just prayed some little formula. But your same dark blackened heart as Jeremiah talks about.

If any man is in Christ, you repent, you receive him. You believe that he died in your place. It's substitutionary death. And that pattern is seen through the Old Testament on into the New. Do you know that Jesus was crucified at the exact same time that they were to kill the lambs on Passover?

Passover. Passover is a celebration of when the death angel came into Egypt. They were, they were given instruction by Moses, Moses given the instruction by God. Tell them to take a lamb and put the. The blood of a lamb, one lamb per household, on the doorposts and the lentils of their home.

And when the death angel sees the blood. When he sees the what? When he sees the, the blood, he'll pass over. And it was an ordinance that they were to keep the Passover to remember that God passed over. And if you didn't have blood on, on the doorpost and lentils of your home, then the firstborn in that house would die.

Judgment. And all of Egypt was judged. And it was the final plague that's caused God's people Israel to be released from the house of bondage and be launched out to go take the promised land as was prophesied over Abraham and Others. Wow. So when we receive Jesus, he is the Lamb of God, he is the Father.

Final substitutionary sacrifice. You don't go and slaughter lambs anymore unless you want lamb kebabs. It's not going to provide anything but a lamb kebab or, or a lamb shank or a rack of lamb, which I love, especially at passover, Easter time. No, it's representative of the Lamb of God. That takes away the sin of the world.

So when you receive Jesus, it's repenting of your sin, you're saying. You're making it pretty plain. I'm trying to, because I realize that many people come. Now, you might have been here for decades, but there's also people here that don't know why. There's a number in front of the sentence on the Bible that they're holding.

It's called a verse. And people have never been. They don't know. And they're going to come because you're going to invite them. Oh, come on.

Somebody say hallelujah. So when I first heard this scripture, long ago, before I met Pastor Karen, if anyone is in Jesus, if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone, the text says, and the new has come. And as a new believer, I thought something happened to me for sure. But still I've got, I've got this war in me.

And I, I, I, I know I've received Jesus like something different, but I'm definitely not like, that's an exaggeration. It really isn't, if you'll understand it. New creation in the area of your spirit. Listen to me, in the area of man. I'm getting through.

I can see it. I can see just arrows of God's word going all over. New creation, in the year of your spirit, your spirit's made new one, separated from God. But now that you've believed and you've confessed and you've repented, you're made new in your spirit. There's three parts to you spirit, soul, your mind, your will, your emotions, and your body.

Come on, look at you. Get your body, three parts to you, three parts to God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, were made in his image. It's interesting. When you receive Jesus, you're made new in your spirit.

How do you get your body to behave? What happened in your spirit? How do you get your soul to behave? What happened in your spirit? Some of you didn't even know.

There's a difference. So you're, you know, that voice is talking to you. Come on. You could talk to yourself, right? So you dogs can't talk to themselves.

You could talk to yourself right now. Go ahead and say something nice like, oh, you look sharp today. Say, oh, so glad I came to church. Go ahead, say it to yourself inside your head. Okay.

Your soul, your mind, your will, your emotions that has to be renewed. Romans 12, verse 2. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed, be changed by the renewing of your mind. I'm taking a minute here. By the renewing of your mind.

It's 12, 16. I'm trying to help you get your mind renewed because he comes to live inside your spirit. But if you don't change the way that you think, you'll still live. Like the idiot.

The dead guy said, the bride of Christ is the bride of Frankenstein.

So you've received Jesus. But if you don't change the way you think, you're still going to. As a man thinks in his heart, says Proverbs or Psalms. Proverbs. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.

So you need to learn to change the way that you think. That's the picture here at John, chapter two of the Old Covenant really being done away with now. This wine, this new covenant, this celebration, it speaks of joy. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. If you're mad at me right now, you're the one with issues, not me.

I'm trying to help you lift your hands to heaven and say, help me, Jesus. Help me, Jesus. We can be transformed. It's also a picture of intercessory prayer. I'm moving on.

That's what just. I'm. I'm not moving on. I'm going back. That's what discipleship is, is growing in Christ, growing up in God.

Learn understanding the Word, learning the Word, following Jesus, learning to obey his Word. If you'll obey his word, you'll have incredible blessed life. If you don't, and you won't. And so God wants to make you from water to wine and from ordinary to extraordinary. All right, the second thing I see here is a picture of intercessory prayer.

How do you get that, Pastor Daniel? Well, it's seen with Mary and the servants. Mary has a problem. Mary comes to the Messiah, happens to be her son. There's transition here.

They're relating differently. And says Jesus, We have a problem. There's no more wine. You know, that's a picture of prayer. When you have a problem, come to Jesus and tell him, say, I've got an issue.

My wife hates me. Right now. And he's like, well if you would have been more Christ, like things would be I know which, would you help me? Yes. It's a picture of talking to God, bringing your problems to God.

Cast your cares upon him. He cares for you. His burden is easy and his yoke is light. So many people don't come to God saying, well I've got a wine problem now. I don't mean they're out of wine, I mean maybe you have actually have a wine problem and somebody say, you know what I get from this actually is that we as Christians could drink wine.

That's pretty low level revelation. And your lack of self control would also be a problem.

It's a picture of prayer. Mary brings a need to Jesus, the servants get the instructions and obey. It's a pattern. Someone brings their problem to Jesus, God gives them an answer, gives them a word, they obey it and they get breakthrough. If you'll learn to pray this, if you learn to do this, if you learn to get a word from God and move forward, then you will have breakthrough all of your life.

And Jesus invites us to partner with him. As the other thing I see here, he could have created the wine all by himself and just did it and, and served it. He could have just been like doink and all the wines and the cups and everything's great. He didn't actually have to use the servants, did he? Why did he do that?

Because it's a picture that God will co labor with you. It's a picture that God wants to partner with you. Are you partnered with God? Are you allowing him to lead you? Are you being led by him?

Some of the greatest breakthroughs and miracles we've ever seen here at this church and in my own life, I just obeyed. I didn't feel one drip of anointing. I didn't feel his presence. My hair wasn't standing on end. I just moved forward because I knew that was what we were supposed to do.

And when we did, the Jordan parted. Many times people are looking for some extra sign or if the goldfish goes up and does a triple gainer and lands without a splash, then I'll know it's God. If it's in the word, it's God. Obey. So he invites us to partner with him.

That's how this building was built. That's how this church was built. That's how it's going to continue to be built. And I don't mean the building, I mean people. We will go on to reach thousands and thousands of People, we will plant churches all over the world.

We are going to launch forth missionaries. The school is going to go through high school and then our King school of ministry is going to continue to explode. I believe God is going to give us the resources to have a boarding school and we can have kids coming in from the village villages and kids coming in from all over Alaska. I believe that God is going to help us to broadcast the the King's school, King's Christian School, Alaska, all over so that people could be in Idaho and going to our school. I believe that amazing things are just ahead.

God wants to do amazing things, but he's looking for somebody to partner with. I've had people be like, well, Lord, you know where I am, you crusty thing. Crusty, crotchety, argumentative, unsubmitted, unyielded Christian you.

He's looking to part God. Can't you just do it? He's like, yes, here's a shovel. Get to work.

Partners with us.

And the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Nothing about the water is special. Nothing about the jars is special.

But when Jesus touched it, oh, how Jesus changes everything. I've seen some of the most radical transformation in the lives of people. This is the picture. Can I have musicians please? This is the picture of water to wine.

He takes you, he takes me. We need a lot of help. We're ordinary, but God puts his extra up on you and will make you extraordinary. The reason our school is extraordinary because ordinary people got together and believed God. Now it's extraordinary.

See, it's beautiful when God takes someone who's just a regular bro. Just a regular bro. Just a regular sister, which is most of us. Worship team, please. It's beautiful when that happens.

He takes someone like that and then we'll use them in extraordinary, extraordinary ways. He wants to take your ordinary life and use you in extraordinary way. Lift your hands to heaven. Oh, hallelujah. He takes the emptiness and he brings abundance.

He takes ordinary things.

And he fills them with glory. He takes water and he turns it into wine. I am a product of being turned into wine. And God will ever do so as I continue, as we continue to partner with him. That he will never stop doing that.

It's what he does. He changes things.

Hallelujah. You're here this morning as I close and you've never given your heart to Jesus. Do not leave this place in that condition. Because, sir, ma', am, you're not promised, not one more day. Somebody might have told you something else, but I'm going to tell you the Bible truth is that you're not promised not one more day.

You have today. That's why the Bible says today is a day of salvation. That's why the Bible says in Hebrews, chapter 11. Now faith is. It's.

It's now, right now. And if you've never given your heart to Jesus, won't you do it today? If you've never truly repented, maybe you prayed that, that prayer, that formula that I was talking about. You believe Jesus died on a cross. You believe he rose again from the grave.

You ask him to forgive you for all of your wrongs and you make him the Lord of your life. That's the formula in prayer. You believe that in your heart and you pray it with your mouth. But a lot of people have prayed that and they didn't really mean it and they didn't really do it. Repentance is the key.

Repentance re. Again, pent is thinking. You think differently. You have to think, think differently. You got to change the way you think.

Yes. He makes you a new creation. And you got to renew your mind. You go on to live and do great things for God as He carries you.

Mostly water. We are, by the way, we are made mostly of water. I heard one scientist say that if you were to take the. The value of all the chemicals that make up a human being, it'd be worth approximately $11.36. And yet with the apple of his eye, life.

And he's come to give you life and life to the full. It starts with giving your heart to Jesus. Ordinary. Absolutely separated from God. Yes.

Made in his image. Yes. God's child. Now, not until you really receive him. When you receive him, you become his child.

Not up until then. Go to church until you look like a pew. Get a baptismal, waters dripping off your face. You'll still split hell wide open. You must be born again.

I've said it as plainly as I can. So if you're not right with God and you don't give your heart to him, you might find things begin to drop in place and start to convince you of his goodness towards you. Will be praying for you. But if you reject him now, some I fall. I'm going to stand before God.

So I'm going to give you an opportunity to give your heart to Jesus for the first time. Or you want to recommit because you drifted. You're not as on fire as you used to be and you know it. You've got compromise and you want to come home. Every head bowed, every eye closed you want to give your heart to Jesus for the first time.

You want to make a recommitment to him. All across this place, if that's you, on the count of three, slip your hand up and give your heart to Jesus. Want to be born again? You want. You want to become his child?

You want your sins forgiven? I can't say it any plainer. Give your heart to Jesus. Don't wait. Do it now, first time.

Or you need to recommit. You did give your heart to Jesus, but you know you need to come back home. On the count of three, if that's you, slip your hand up. One, two, three. Do it now.

Wow. God bless you. God bless you. Lift your hand high. God bless you.

Thank you. Over on this right side. I see that hand. I see that hand. Over in the middle.

Thank you. I see that hand. Thank you. Thank you, son. Thank you, son.

See that hand? God bless you. God bless you. God bless you with this back section here. God bless you.

Thank you. Thank you. I see that hand. Thank you. I see your hand.

Lift your hand high. God bless you. God bless you. All the way in the back there. Thank you, son.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Over on this left side. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Look at that. That's beautiful. Would you stand with us all across this place?

Just stand. It'll be the one of the last things that we do right now. And pray this prayer. Receive Jesus, give you a little bit of instruction, and we'll close in a benediction. Don't keep going to church.

Just keep coming. Just keep coming, keep coming. Invite people. We do. We do this at the end of every service.

It's. It's extra emphasized by the. By the Holy Spirit this morning, but it's so important. Well, there's 99% of our services we close with people giving their heart to Jesus because you're going to bring people and they're going to get born again. Can you say yes?

Pray with me right out loud. Whether you raise your hand, you meant to, or you're here just affirming your faith. Pray with me right out loud. Say, dear Heavenly Father. Come on.

Right out loud. Say, dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on a cross for my sin. I believe he rose again from the grave. And I ask you today to forgive me for everything I've ever done wrong.

I give my life to you and I ask you to come into my heart, to come into my life, Wash and cleanse me and make me new. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for hearing my prayer. Amen. Lift your hands as a sign of surrender.

With hands raised all across this place. Holy Spirit, come. Fill them full of the new wine, even the spirit. Fill them full of the spirit right now. Break every chain, Break every bondage.

Break off addiction. Break off any perversion. Release your power. Transform lives now ordinary lives. Transform them into newness of life.

Even by the new wine, by the power of your spirit. Thank you. That there's no other name given among men by which we must be born again, by which we must be saved and forgiven. These had received you, now fill them. Those that reaffirm their faith, fill them.

And thank you for what you've done. In these two services we give you praise. Would you put your best hand clap together for Jesus?

Well, I hope you were encouraged by by God's word. Thank you again for listening to Kings Alaska podcast. God bless you. For more great content, go to kcalaska.com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace.