Jesus Transforms the Ordinary to the Extraordinary
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Christians today are facing pressures and distractions that are pulling us away from our true Biblical Foundations.
The attack on Christians is not new:
The first church that I pastor rented a house with a large family room so we could hold meetings in that room and live in the house. I came home to find a quit and diciest notice on my door because I was having church meetings in my house.
When Trinity had a flood, they had to meet at a school for a time while the building was being restored from the flood damage. Today, it would be very difficult to meet at a school building.
Hostility against churches in the United States appears to be on the rise, according to a recent Family Research Council report that identified 436 incidents against churches in 2023, more than double the amount reported by the group in 2022 and eight times the number identified in 2018.
--By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, February 22, 2024
From NBC News: April 9, 2024, 4:18 AM PDT — By Patrick Smith
An Idaho teenager was arrested and accused of planning to kill churchgoers during services across his hometown in the name of the Islamic State group, authorities have said.
Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, from Coeur d’Alene, was arrested early Saturday as part of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation, a day before prosecutors say he planned to carry out his attack.
He is accused of "attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS," according to a federal criminal complaint filed in Idaho on Monday.
This happen 15 miles from where I live!
We need extraordinary Christians today like never before!
"It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains." ~ Patrick Henry
Jesus is raising up extraordinary believers today!
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
This wedding celebration took place at Cana, which is a small town close to Nazareth. It is where Jesus’ disciple Nathanael lived.
Jesus’ mother has a significant role and seems to be at the center of things.
Weddings in that day were different than what we see now:
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 27: John Water into Wine
A wedding in those days was a great celebration, no little twenty-minute affair. The ceremony usually took place late in the evening—Wednesday if the girl was a virgin and Thursday if she was a widow—after a feast. Then there was a procession to the home of the groom, a joyous, noisy parade, with an open house and entertainment that went on for at least a week.
Today we are focusing on the fact that Jesus transforms the ordinary to the extraordinary!
You may not feel like you have much to offer, yet Jesus has big plans for you!
There are no ordinary Christians!
Stone Jars for Common Use
Stone Jars for Common Use
Today, we could look at Jesus’ relationship with his Mother Mary. It is interesting that the last recorded words of Mary the Mother of Jesus are in this chapter.
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Everyone should follow what Mary said: Do whatever Jesus says!
We could look at how Jesus calls his mother, Woman! It’s like He is saying, Don’t bother me mom!
We could look at how Jesus says, My time has not come and then he preforms the miracle.
We could look at the fact that this is the first miracle that Jesus preforms. It is done at a wedding. A week long party.
Or, how this contrasts with Jesus cleansing the Temple later in this chapter.
But I believe that Jesus is calling us to experience the transformation from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Jesus is calling us to move from the ordinary to the extraordinary!
There are some here that think that they are not special or have only a common place. They believe that they will never be qualified for spectacular ministry.
Six Stone Jars for Purification
Six Stone Jars for Purification
John tells us that these six jars were for purification.
They were designed to wash off the grime of the day. They were used to wash off that which was unclean.
No faithful Jew would ever drink from these stone jars!
The fact that the jars are stone, rather than earthenware, is important. According to Jewish law, earthenware jars, if contaminated, had to be broken, but contaminated stone jars could simply be washed.
Barclay M. Newman Jr.; Eugene Nida
Life Application Bible Notes Profile: Nicodemus
The six stone water jars were normally used for ceremonial washing. When full, the pots would hold 20 to 30 gallons. According to the Jews’ ceremonial law, people became symbolically unclean by touching objects of everyday life. Before eating, the Jews would pour water over their hands to cleanse themselves of any bad influences associated with what they had touched.
These jars were only used for common washing. Nothing fancy. Nothing special!
Do you ever feel like you are merely common?
Have you ever felt like you are nothing special?
Have you ever felt like you are nothing special?
It is the plan of Satan to discourage you. To make you feel like you can’t do anything. That all you are is a failure.
Maybe you feel that time has passed you buy. You missed your prime. Your window of opportunity has passed.
"Disappointment is inevitable. But to become discouraged, there's a choice I make. God would never discourage me. He would always point me to himself to trust him. Therefore, my discouragement is from Satan. As you go through the emotions that we have, hostility is not from God, bitterness, unforgiveness, all of these are attacks from Satan." ~ Charles Stanley
If Satan’s arsenal of weapons were restricted to a single one, it would be discouragement.
C. S. Lewis
This is not how God thinks about you.
Man … is the highest point of God’s great work in creation. There is nothing higher than man. Man was made ‘the lord of creation’, the supreme being, under God, on earth. Therefore, obviously, he is the very special object of the attacks and the onslaughts of the devil.
The Christian Warfare, 80
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
A believer in Jesus has put on Christ. He is restored to fellowship with God. He is not an object of failure. He is someone filled with great glory!
‘Putting on Christ’ is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort of special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity. Christianity offers nothing else at all.
C. S. Lewis
The believer is an overcomer! He is more than a conqueror. He is victorious!
You have been called not to some job or ministry. You have been called to Jesus himself.
1308 Our Lord calls to no special work; he calls to himself.
Oswald Chambers
Jesus transformed these six stone jars that had no special purpose but of purification, into Jars of Joy.
These six stone jars, after the touch of Jesus, now bring joy to a lowly wedding ceremony.
When you’re touched by Jesus:
The old is made new
Your sins are forgiven
Your body is restored
You receive joy
Your ordinary becomes extraordinary!
How many here don’t feel like a jar of stone, touched by Jesus to bring joy and new wine to this generation?
Maybe you feel like an old clay pot! Weathered, and torn, flaking and chipped.
Some may call you a crack pot! Tell them that’s how the light got in!
Treasures of Glory
Treasures of Glory
You may only be an earthen jar, but Jesus fills you with Great Glory!
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Why put treasure in an earthen pot, and divine treasure at that? To show that the treasure has nothing to do with the pot, “to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
David E. Garland
There are struggles and afflictions. Yet, because we are a people filled with the Spirit of God and the glory of God, it does not matter what struggles are going around us!
Jesus has placed His Spirit in you for His purpose. You are His.
Fear Not!
Do not lose Heart
Do not lose Heart
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
What are people afraid of?
36% Financial Instability
34% Political Instability
33% Future Pandemic
29 % Global Warming
An overwhelming majority (90%) of people in the United States think the country is experiencing a mental health crisis, according to a new survey from CNN in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation.
How many here thinks the world has gone crazy? Jesus is the only answer and you are the extraordinary people to bring that answer to this generation!
He Transforms Water into Wine
He Transforms Water into Wine
New wine represents the joy found in the new covenant with God. Not the Judgement of the Old covenant.
Jesus transforms water into wine, not water into blood.
Jesus’ ministry here is to manifest God’s Glory!
The significance of the miracle was explained by John as a manifestation of Christ’s glory. In contrast with the ministry of Moses who turned water into blood as a sign of God’s judgment (Ex. 7:14–24), Jesus brings joy. His first miracle was a gracious indication of the joy which He provides by the Spirit.
The call of God today is to be transformed from judgement to Joy, from bondage to freedom!
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Jesus transformed six ordinary stone jars into six extraordinary vessels that would bring joy to everyone around!
Will you allow Jesus to move you from the ordinary to the extraordinary?
Will you say, Here I am, fill me with You Spirit of Joy. Give me the New Wine. I want to pour it out on everyone I meet!