A Longing For More--What’s In Your Hand?”
Philippians 3:10-11
The Apostle Paul was confined to prison while writing this wonderful letter to the church of Philippa. Paul found fulfillment in Jesus alone. That’s possibly the reason in four chapters of Philippians, Paul uses the word--joy or rejoice, sixteen times.
Paul understood--Jesus is enough!
Philippians 3:10-11NLT I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
What does Paul mean when he say’s, “He wants to know Christ, and experience the mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead?”
Paul wanted the fullness of the Holy Spirit. He longed to experience the power of God, the Holy Spirit in action.
Again, This power, the Holy Spirit, is what raised Jesus from the grave.
Again, Philippians 3:10-11TM I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.11 If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
How many of us desire to experience the overflowing power of the Holy Spirit’s working within? It might mean giving up on the inferior, while watching, and listening for the internal.
Paul wrote in, Romans 8:11KJV But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead-- shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Could it be, that believers live in this spiritual environment everyday without even being aware of it? Could it be, that believers experience glimpses of glory and are not aware of it?
On a January morning in 2007, a world-class violinist played six of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most stirring compositions from the solo violin. In fact this was a 300-year-old stratosphere worth $3.5 million. Two nights before, Joshua Bell had performed a sold-out concert where patrons gladly paid $200 for nosebleed seats, but this time the performance was free.
Bill ditched his tux with coattails, wore a Washington nationals baseball cap, with regular street clothes, and played incognito outside the L’ Enfant Plaza Metro station. Street musicians are a common sight or sound for people in Washington DC.
This experiment was originally conceived by a Washington Post columnist, and it was filmed by hidden cameras. Of the 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to the 45 minute performance. It ended without any applause are acknowledgment. Joshua Bell netted, $32.17 in tips which included a $20 spot from the one person who- recognized the Grammy award winning musician.
Again, Two nights before, hundreds of people shelled out big time money for this same event.
The question should be asked, “If I fail to stop and listen to one of the greatest musicians in the world, play some of the finest music ever written, from one of the most beautiful instruments ever made, how many other similar God moments do we miss out on during a normal day?”
Let’s look at the first miracle preformed by-- Jesus: John 2:1-11TM 1-3 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.” 4 Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.” 5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”
6-7 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.
8 “Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.
9-10 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
Q&A--How many glimpses of glory do we miss during a single day?
I love the fact that this first miracle of Jesus is not about saving a life. It's about saving face! (Back in this day and time in Palestine, running out of wine would've meant public humiliation). This reveals how much God cares about the minute details of our lives.
Remember this, “God is great not just because nothing is too big; God is great because nothing is too small. If it's a big deal to you, it's a big deal to God.”
For nearly 30 years, the one who had crafted the universe with His voice, crafted furniture with his hands. Jesus was good at what he did –-no crooked table legs ever came out of the Carpenters shop in Nazareth. But Jesus was more than a master carpenter. He was also God incognito.
The Master wood bender became a Master water bender.
Jesus manipulated the molecule structure of water and turned it into wine. 757 bottles, no less.
This I know: Before any miracle can ever transpire, a need has to be acknowledged. P.H
What’s your need?
Mary calls to Jesus, “The wedding party needs wine.”
Even though Jesus wasn’t ready, there was a-- need. Philippines 4:19NLT And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs- from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Again, John 2:5TM Mary then went to the servers and told them, “Whatever Jesus tells you, do it!”
This ‘one compliment’ from Mary, the mother of Jesus brought forth Jesus’ ministry. Think about it, One compliment brought Jesus into his destiny.
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Mary believed... Jesus tells His disciples to take those 20-30 gal pots, and fill them with H20.
“Jesus took natural water and turned it into living water, or the wine of the Holy Spirit.” P.H
Harvard university conducted an experiment more than a decade ago that became famous in psychology circles. Two researchers film students passing basketballs while moving in a circular fashion. In the middle of a short film, a woman dressed in a gorilla suit walks into the frame, beats her chest, and walks out of the frame. The sequence took nine seconds in the minute long video.
Viewers are given specific instructions: Count the number of passes by players wearing white shirts. Of course, the researchers were not interested in their pass counting ability. They wanted to see if the viewers would notice something they weren’t looking for, something as obvious as a gorilla.
Amazingly, over half of those tested did not mention the gorilla!
How is that even possible? How do you miss the gorilla in the room? The short answer is, un-attentional blindness.
Un-attentional blindness is a failure to notice something in your field of vision because you are focused on something else, in this case people in white shirts passing basketballs.
The Pharisees make an even better case study. They were so focused on Sabbath law that they couldn't see the miracles happening right in front of their eyes.
Listen, God’s passion is for the spiritual mature to see the miraculous in the monotonous.
Mark Batterson writes, Planet earth is spinning around its axis at a speed of 1000mph. Every 24 hours, planet earth pulls off a celestial 360. --Greater than any skateboard champion!
Right this very moment we are hurtling through space at an average velocity of 67,108 mph. That's not just faster than a speeding bullet. It's 87 times faster than the speed of sound.
And then he states, “So even on a day when you feel like you didn't get much done, don't forget that you did travel 1,599,793 miles through space! If that isn't miraculous, I don't know what it is!”
Q&A--Can you see the miracle, or do you see only the common?
Looking back at the text from, Philippians 3:10, The nine verses before show Paul’s desperation in experiencing the resurrected Spirit of God, and all these things that could stop the glorious.
Philippians 3:1-9NLT Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. 7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
By faith, Mary told Jesus the wedding party was running out of wine.
Jesus’ reply wasn’t Smart Alec. This would be His first miracle.--What does the have to do with Me?
By faith, Mary told Jesus’ disciples, “Whatever He tells you to do, do it.”
Jesus looks around and spots some water basins used for purification. (Those basins represent, The law), Jesus’ command to His disciples-- “Go fill these pots full of water.”
Jesus takes the common, and turns it into the uncommon. Water, representing the natural, Wine, representing the Holy Spirit.
So I ask you, “What’s in your hand? What’s-- around you that needs a miracle?”
Exodus 4:1-3NLT But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”
2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. 3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
“When God’s people begin to long for more, That’s when God will anoint what’s in their hand.” PH
Exodus 4:3c... Moses jumped back.
Miracles cause people to jump back, Take notice, and long for more.
Remember this, “God uses what we have (what we possess), and He turns it into the miracle.” P.H
The servers, (Jesus's disciples), are told to pour from the basin into the pitcher’s. Without tasting it, or knowing the result, the servers take it to the Master of ceremony.
The Master of ceremony states, “What’s this, usually the best wine is given first, but you saved the best for last!”
I believe we are living in the last days. God promises in, Acts 2:14-21NKJV But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord?Shall be saved.’
“What’s in you hand? What do you long for?” P.H
Benediction.
