PROOF: September 18

PROOF: SEPTEMBER 18, 2022
PASTOR NATE LEVERING

Last week I prayed for a miracle and didn't get the response from God I had wanted. This prayer was in full desperation of needing God to show up- to show up in a way that I pictured Him showing up. I needed to see Him turn that water into wine; to take what wasn't happening and make it move. The smack of God's plan instead of mine was sharp. He didn't answer my prayer for a miracle. Instead, He asked me to trust.

We began the PROOF series with Craig Hazen last week, and have launched the Fall Reading Plan through the book of John that coincides with 8@8 on Facebook Live. Sundays are following suit with the signs and miracles of Jesus through John's gospel.

In John 2, we see Jesus turn water into wine. What we better understand is that Jesus also has the power to turn ordinary into extraordinary.

"On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, 'They have no more wine.'
'Woman, why do you involve me?' Jesus replied. 'My hour has not yet come.'
His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.'
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water'; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.' They did so, 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 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.'
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him." (John 2: 1-11)

What does it look like to have an extraordinary life? What signs are you waiting to see or witness before you trust God and His plan over your life? Though signs are meant to teach us, and that was true through the Scriptures as we have read that many saw what Jesus had done and put their trust in Him, it's the trust in Jesus that He is after. In the middle of the miracle of turning water to wine, John points us to the bigger story of Jesus' ultimate miracle- the hour that was coming for Him to conquer death on our behalf, the hour for the ultimate gift of an extraordinary life that we don't deserve.

Pastor Nate referenced and showed photos from the September 11 Pinecrest baptisms, where hundreds of us bore witness to lives changed by the grace of Jesus. We heard an ordinary teenager having extraordinary moments at an ordinary Christian camp, which in turned gave him both the strength and humility to surrender His life to an extraordinary God. This teen's life went from water to wine. What about yours?

God didn't give me the miracle I asked for last week. Instead, He is patiently (oh, so patiently) reminding me that I am the recipient of a miracle that's greater than what I deserve and He gives it freely every day. We live on this end of that hour- the hour He had told Mary had not yet come. We have heard and have born witness to the signs that His power and ability to conquer death, offer grace and make our ordinary lives testify His name. This is extraordinary.