Today, I want to share with you the miracle that you may not be aware of. People, for centuries, have sought a sign and a wonder, not knowing the very thing they are looking for has been right in front of them all this time. Today, I want to show you through scripture, how invaluable you are to God and why you are so precious to Him.
My friend, don't ever let anyone tell you that you are worthless, that you don't matter, and that your life is meaningless! I assure you, that is a lie born of the pits of hell itself! In today's world, everything is ruled by logic and the belief that if you cannot see something or understand it with your own intellect, that it doesn't exist and must be a myth or a flat out lie! Most people today don't believe in miracles. They refuse to believe someone can be healed of cancer, or diabetes, or even Covid 19, all because their shrine we call science and logic tells them it's not possible for such things to happen!
People have stopped believing in God out right for the most outrageous reasons. I have known people who stopped believing in God all because things in their life didn't go the way they thought it should. God said in His Word that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. A lot of people don't believe in God just because they can't wrap their heads around the existence of a Heavenly Father Who spoke the Heavens and the earth into being. They can't imagine a God Who is perfect, Who is love, and Who is all knowing to ask Abraham to sacrifice his own son to Him to test Abraham's faith and devotion to God. They can't understand how a loving God can allow all this anarchy to take place in the world.
Let me tell you something. The truth of the matter is, God didn't allow any of the chaos in this world to happen! We did! How? By pulling further and further away from God. The 20th century alone was the century where the most people were the furthest from God. With all the different religions in the world like Atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism and so on, the 20th century saw the most people further from God than they've ever been!
And because of that, the 20th century also had the most violent and bloodiest wars of all time. World Wars 1 and 2, the Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm and the latest conflict in the Middle East. Over 200 million lives lost in those wars! Why? Because when we pull away from God and push Him out of our country, out of our lives, out of our schools, government buildings, and especially our homes, we pull just as far away from His covering and protection. If this world was as close to God as they were in the centuries passed, those wars would never have happened!
But there are miracles all over the world even now! And guess what? YOU are one of them! Read our text today, 1 Peter 2:4-10,
"Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
Let's pray. "Heavenly Father, in Jesus Holy Name, we come before You today, with praise and thanksgiving in our hearts and on our lips for You, Lord. Father, bless every person here reading this message. Let the Word of the Living God ring in their hearts and open their eyes to see Your Glory today. Let the angels of the Most High God visit each and every home represented here today. Let the Glory of the Lord shine around them and in them. Let this word bring them joy and peace in every area of their lives. We come to hear from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, today. Ready to receive from the very throne room of Heaven itself! In Jesus Name we pray and ask it in faith believing and expecting! Amen and amen!"
People often say, "I have never seen a miracle before." How many of you have heard people say that,
"I've never seen a miracle."? The fact is you see miracles every day, you just can't identify it. Have you ever looked into the face of a baby? Nine months ago, two cells joined together. They multiplied by 47.2 trillion times, and in nine months became a living soul, born looking like one of its parents. Think about that. Brother, that's a miracle! Mother Teresa said the nation that murders its unborn has lost its soul. Amen, Mother Teresa! Amen!
David said in Psalms 139, "You knit me together in my mother's womb and I praise you because I am fearfully and wondrously made." You are a miracle! When you look in the mirror, you're looking at a miracle! There has never been, nor will there ever be, anyone on this earth exactly like you. When you were born, the genius of God exploded into an original design! That's you! You are a divine masterpiece. Listen to this, if your personal genetic code was written out in longhand, it would be a 3-billion-word book!
To help you grasp this concept, according to Mark Baderson, the report is the King James Version of the bible has 783,137 words. Your genetic code is the equivalent of 4,000 bibles in print! You are a miracle! A divine original! And there's no one on this earth exactly like you, nor will there be anyone on this earth ever exactly like you! People say they've never seen a miracle. Step out on your back porch and just take a long look at planet earth. Every 24 hours, planet earth pulls off a 360-degree spin. We're flying through space right now at an average velocity of 67,000 miles per hour! That's faster than a bullet! It's 87 times faster than the speed of sound! On a day when you feel like you haven't done much, you just kind of sit on the back porch and let the world go by. You have traveled 16 million miles through space! Miracles still happen!
The seven miracles of Saint John are a revelation of what Jesus Christ wants to be to His Church. And to each of you, the first miracle and the greatest miracle is the forgiveness of sin made possible through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There is no close second! That miracle is available to everyone at any time. It is the only miracle you must experience if you want to go to Heaven.
The bible says, "Marvel not that I said you must be born again." Say that with me, "You must be born again!" If Jesus Christ is not the Lord of your life, today is your day of decision. The bible says, "Boast not thyself up tomorrow. For you know not whether another day may bring forth." The second miracle is John chapter 2. Jesus turns ordinary water into precious wine. When Christ enters your ordinary life, He transforms common clay into royalty.
Every person reading this is an ambassador of Christ on this earth. You are kings and priests unto God! You are daughters of Zion! You are a priceless divine original! That will never die! That will live for all eternity! Praise the Lord, all ye people!
The third miracle is in John chapter 4. Jesus heals the nobleman's son long distance, revealing there is no such thing as distance in prayer. If your loved one is on the other side of the world right now, in Africa or Australia or Europe or Hong Kong, you can whisper the majestic Name and God's angels will race to the rescue and they will be there in a matter of seconds with heaven's answer!
"How can you say that I can say that?" Based on chapter 9 in the book of Daniel. Daniel is the most righteous man in the bible or in the Old Testament. He is confessing his sins and the sins of Israel. He has a problem. He's trying to understand the prophetic essence of what God has given him. You can pray that prayer and it takes about 40 seconds. He's asking for God to send a messenger. That messenger was Gabriel. When he finished that prayer, Gabriel was standing in front of him!
Gabriel came from Heaven. How many thousand light years away that is, I don't know. But it's a long, long way. However, I don't think it took him 40 seconds. Because if Daniel had his head bowed and his eyes closed, Gabriel could have been there in a split second! I believe in the twinkling of an eye. Think about that. Think about that. People think of heaven as far off and God far removed. Let me tell you, He's a split second from answering every prayer you pray!
The fourth miracle is in John chapter 5. Jesus reverses 38 years of pain and suffering with one command, "Rise and take up your bed and walk." Jesus is saying to the New Testament church, "Dare the impossible! Expect the impossible!" Rebuke sickness and disease in Jesus Name! Rebuke Covid 19! Don't be
mastered by the fearmongers of this thing!
The fifth miracle is in John chapter 6. Jesus defies the laws of physics and walks on the water of the Sea of Galilee. To His terrified disciples, who are in the midst of the storm. Many of you here are in an impossible situation. The disciples were raised on the Sea of Galilee. They were created as fishermen. They were certain there was no answer. They had seen this sea before, there was no solution. They were preparing to die. Then they saw the Son of Man coming to them walking across the water. It was an unexpected way He came, at an unexpected time from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. in the morning. They had been in that boat for nine hours! There was an unexpected result. He said, "Peace. Be still." And suddenly, the sea became like glass!
Are you in the greatest storm of your life? Do you think your situation is out of control and impossible? Have you given up hope? Listen to me, nothing is impossible with God. All things are possible to those who believe and are called according to the purposes of God.
The sixth miracle is in John 9:6. Jesus spits onto the ground and made clay with the saliva. He anointed the eyes of the blind man and said, "Go. Wash in the pool of Siloam." Jewish people believed that there was healing power in the spittle of the firstborn son. Jesus was saying to His audience, "I am the firstborn of God the Father. I am the great physician. I am Jehovah Shama. I am Jehovah Jireh. I am the Lord Who is with you. I am there all of the time. Call upon Me, and I will show you great and mighty things that you know not!" Hallelujah to Lord!
The seventh miracle, "I am the answer to every sickness and disease on planet earth." John 11, Jesus calls a dead man out of the grave. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, shall never die." Let me tell you this, if that was the only verse in the bible for Christians to believe, it would make the Gospel of Jesus Christ the most exciting message on planet earth! "I am the resurrection and the life!" We are never going to die! We're going to live here, and in an instant, we will be taken into the balconies of Heaven! Where we will live with the King of kings and the Lord of lords forever and forever!
Today let's consider the water turned into wine. For 30 years, the One Who crafted the universe with His voice, crafted furniture with His hands. Jesus was a man Who worked with His hands for a living. Do you? If you don't, shame on you! Jesus was God Almighty, disguised as a carpenter. His supernatural power was the best kept secret in the roman empire. Mary, the mother of Jesus, had caught a glimpse of His supernatural power. When Jesus was just 12 years old, He was teaching scripture to the most brilliant theological minds in Israel in the temple. And they said this young Man has an unusual understanding of the scripture. I suppose so! He helped write it!
Think about this. For 30 years, Jesus, having all power, restrained Himself until this very moment from using that power. his restraint was awesome. Imagine Jesus on the cross suffering in great agony. He's bleeding from His head, from His hands, from His feet. His side has been ripped open with a Roman spear! His back is an emaciated mass of blood! He could have called ten thousand angels and demolished the world! He could have saved Himself. But He couldn't save himself and save you, your family, your friends, loved ones, or me. So, He bowed His head and died. So that we could have everlasting life. He restrained Himself from using His power for Himself and He has given it to you by the mention of His Name in Heaven. Think about that. The same is true of us sometimes. The greatest miracle in your life is restraint. Holding your tongue, when your brain is flooded with blood and thunder. Toxic poison is oozing out both sides of your mouth and you're just vibrating with something that you want to say, and God is inside of you saying, "Shut up. Be quiet!"
It was love that led Jesus to the cross. It was restraint that kept Him on the cross. Point, often the quality of your life, the quality of your marriage, the quality of friendships, is determined by what you refuse to say. What you refuse to do. Where you refuse to go. What kind of restraint do you have? The miracle of changing water into wine, shows us Christ's nature. His character. It demonstrates the interest of Jesus Christ in common, ordinary people. In their joy and in their sorrow. The wedding is in obscure country village. Who was the bride? Her name is not in the bible. Who is the groom? We don't know. both the bride and the groom were common people. Jesus is invited. He accepted the invitation with gladness.
Fact, whenever Jesus was invited into anyone's home in His ministry, He went. To the rich. To the poor. To the politically connected, or to a fellow carpenter. The question is, have you invited Jesus Christ into your home? Have you invited Him into your heart? Have you invited Him into your marriage? Is He a friend that sticketh closer than a brother? Or do you even know Him? He is in fact, in scripture the waymaker. He is the chain breaker. Nothing is impossible to Him. Why did Jesus turn water to wine? Not to demonstrate His awesome power, but to save a friend. The bridegroom could probably have been another carpenter. Jesus turned the water into wine to keep the bridegroom from being embarrassed on his wedding day.
They ran out of wine. It was a disgraceful moment. The bridegroom was too poor to furnish enough for those who came. The point is, do you realize how much Jesus Christ is interested in every detail of your life? He has numbered the hairs in your head. This morning, when some of you ran the brush through, you lost a few. He collects your tears in a vase. He has given to you an angelic escort that goes before you and behind you. He has given you the authority to use His Name to God Almighty in Heaven! And He says, "Anytime you use My Name, whatever you ask, God will do it! That's not from the president or the richest person on planet earth, that is from a sovereign God, Who created this world! You have unlimited access and power to God, through Jesus Christ!
After His resurrection, His disciples went fishing. They fished all night and caught nothing. How many of you have gone fishing and caught nothing? It's a frustrating feeling. But these were professional fishermen. He told them where to find the fish and they had a monster catch! The nets were strained and almost broke under the strain of the load of fish that they caught. Why? Because He was interested in their prosperity.
Just a side note here. Why did Jesus create 162 gallons of wine? Did they drink that? No way. A fraction of it, maybe. Wine was a marketable product. Good wine was very valuable. Point, Jesus knew this was a very poor young couple, and He gave them a wedding dowry it would take them years to spend. Because of that wine, they could sell on the open market. Prosperity. He's interested in the smallest things in your life. Another message of water to wine is the celebration of transformation. Jesus Christ has the power to transform. He transforms ordinary water to priceless wine. He takes ordinary lives and makes them trophies of His Grace. He takes the desert of your days and turns it into streams of living water! Sin deforms us.
Education informs us. Penitentiaries reform us. but Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, transforms us. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus! I want you to get this point, many people think when you come to Christ, you're just kind of a remodeled old you. No. The old you died and the new you became a new creature. You're a new creature in Christ Jesus! Hallelujah to the King!
The marriage of water to wine is the celebration of marriage. In doing His first wedding miracle at a wedding, Jesus was giving full approval to the institution of marriage. Marriage is a transformational moment. "These two saith God, shall become one." God sees both of you or he sees neither of you. Because you are so united in Christ. The bible says, "He that findeth a wife, findeth a good thing."
Today America and the world is browbeaten. We have become traumatized by fake news. We have media induced fear about Covid 19. Today America is a nation that is joyless. Our constitutive constitutional freedoms are being destroyed. On the other hand, Christianity begins with angels singing over Bethlehem's manger, "Joy to the world! The Lord has come!" Our song never ends.
In Revelation, the saints are singing before the throne of God. The Lord's Gospel begins with a song and it ends with a song. Christianity does have its disciplines. It does have its crosses to bear. There are giants to whip. There are plows to put in your hand without looking back. But if we lose our joy, we have lost our Christian credibility.
The wedding miracle took place on the third day. Listen closely. It was a prophetic forecasting of the coming of Jesus Christ. For the rapture of the Church on the third day. John 2:1 says, "On the third day there was a wedding in Canaan." On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. The bible says, "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years. And a thousand years is as a day." Jesus said to his disciples, "You go tell that fox", speaking of Herod, "that today and tomorrow for the next two thousand years, I will do cures and work miracles. But on the third day, I will be glorified. Glorified means He returns to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. That He's going to return to Jerusalem to establish the Kingdom that shall never end. We are now living in the third day. We are 20 years into the third day, and on the third day, I will be glorified, says the Lord!
What is Jesus celebrating in the text? He's celebrating a wedding. It's symbolic of the wedding of the Church of Jesus Christ with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the groom the church is the bride. The marriage supper is happening in Heaven. How do you get this? There are six earthen jars. Six is the number of men. When Jesus comes, there's going to be a supernatural instantaneous transformation.
In John 2, He transformed water into wine instantly! In the twinkling of an eye! On the resurrection morning, we will be transformed instantly to have eternal life, glorious life, with the resurrected Christ in the twinkling of an eye! We will stand in His presence. The madness of planet earth will be over! We're going to a city without social distinction, without masks, without gloves, without fake news, without being brainwashed by the prophets of fear!
We're going to wear crowns of glory! We're going to wear robes of white! We're going to have mansions of splendor! We're going to the marriage supper of the Lamb! It's going to last for seven years! The best is yet to be! The best is yet to be! Praise the Lord where you are today!
Listen closely. Is your life out of control? Does anger and resentment drive you? Is your speech violent or your relationship shattered because no one can get along with you? Jesus went to the house for a wedding because He was invited. Have you invited Jesus into your home? Into your marriage? If not, do so today.
Wine, in the bible, is the symbol of joy. There are a lot of bible caring Christians who have no joy. You need to have a transformation today. You need to receive joy that's unspeakable. If any of this describes you, I want to pray with you right now.
Pray this prayer, "Heavenly Father, in the name of the lord Jesus Christ, I ask You to forgive me of all of my sin and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Lord Jesus, just as You restrained Yourself, help me to restrain myself. That I might fulfill Your Will in my life. I invite you dear Jesus, to be the Lord of my life. The Lord of my marriage. The Lord of my future. As wine is a symbol of joy, today I receive joy unspeakable and full of glory. Joy the world cannot give and cannot take away. These things I receive in the authority of Jesus precious Name! Amen and amen! Give the Lord a shout of praise! Bless His Holy Name!
Let me ask you this, do you have a promised land you've been trying to reach? God has your provision ready. Diligently seek Him and obey Him. Do it with an attitude of praise. Will you do that today? Now stretch your hands towards this sermon as a point of contact as I pray this blessing over you and your home.
"And now may the Lord bless you. And may the Lord keep you. And may the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. Giving you His peace that transcends all understanding. May you see the Lord as the waymaker. Your protector and provider as you walk daily with Him. As you touch the Master's hand, know that with God, nothing is impossible for you. He is telling you today that He knows you by name. And your name is written on the palm of His unchanging hand. We know what you're going through, and He is preparing a way for you that answers your greatest prayer. May you see God's Will and obey His lead with great joy and praise. Get ready! Great things are on the way! Receive this blessing in Jesus Holy Name today! Amen and amen forever more! Would you praise the Lord where you are today? Hallelujah to the Son of the Living God!!!
