Our Best Days Start Now

Our Best Days Start Now

“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 knew.

Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first

and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink;

but you have saved the best till now.” John 2:9

Intro: We start today with the first miracle that Jesus performed.

It was at a wedding.

And if you don't know the context, it was an incredibly embarrassing situation for the host

The host of this wedding ran out of wine

and Jesus's mom said, "Jesus, go do something about it".

And so, he said to the servants, go get these jars, these massive jars,

and what I want you to do is, I want you to fill them full of water.

These were not ordinary quart jars, or half gallon jars, these were 20 or 30 gallon jars.

And Jesus said to the servants,

what I want you to do is draw the water out of the jar

and then go give to the master of the banquet.

And God's word tells us this in John chapter eight, John 2:8,

the servants did what Jesus said to do.

and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

And he didn't realize where it had come from

though the servants who had drawn the water, they knew where it came from.

Then master of the banquet called the bridegroom aside and said,

everyone brings out the best wine first,

and after the guests have drunk then they bring out the cheaper wine.

Now, I always thought the next line said, “but you saved best for last,”

but that's not what God's word says.

What God's word says is this, "but you saved the best till now".

The title of today's message is, "Our Best Days Are Now".

Would you look at the person next to you and say, "Our Best Days Are Now".

One of the most striking qualities about the way that Jesus lived,

is no matter who he interacted with,

no matter what he was doing,

he was always present in the moment,

he was fully present.

He lived with an undivided attention in the moment.

What I want to do is show you two back-to-back stories in scripture

that illustrate his heart for the people right in front of them

being fully engaged in the moment.

And in fact, the first one we find in Luke's gospel

and Jesus was walking into Jericho,

and if you can imagine, there were large crowds all around.

I visited the city of Jericho several years ago.

I imagined Jericho with its walls standing tall and strong.

I imagined tall watch towers

I imagined this magnificent walled city

What I saw was only the footer or the foundation of the walls of the city.

Why? Because about 3500 years ago the walls of Jericho fell.

Now when Jesus was walking into Jericho it was more of a village than it was a fortress

and Certainly, there were crowds of people gathering around him,

with crowds fighting to see Jesus and to get his attention,

and as he's walking in,

a blind beggar named Bartimaeus cries out, "Jesus Son of David have mercy on me".

And the disciples were offended,

Jesus doesn't have time for this beggar,

Jesus is going somewhere else,

Jesus is too important,

Jesus is too busy,

Jesus has an agenda.

Jesus isn't going to stop for some guy who's begging on the side of the road.

And the disciples rebuked the blind beggar

and said go away,

But then Jesus turns and rebuked the disciples

and He speaks to this single…, hurting…, person…, Jesus is fully engaged in the moment.

And Jesus stopped, gave him all of his attention.

Jesus didn’t just speak and move on.

Jesus didn’t just give a glance or a wave in this man’s direction

No, Jesus gave him his full attention.

and he said, "What would you like for me to do for you"?

And the man cries out, could you heal me?

Could you please heal me?

I haven't been able to see my whole life.

And Jesus…, spoke a miraculous word…, and healed the man.

The first thing we notice is it is a miracle…, Jesus healed him,

The second thing we notice is that, Jesus stopped for a guy that no one else would have stopped for.

Jesus fully engaged this person in front of Him.

The second story, we see in John 19:1, mentions Jericho again.

As Jesus entered Jericho, But this time, Luke tells us that He was actually going somewhere else,