Steven Furtick (4:59)
I'll talk to you about it later. There was the one I planned and then the one God spoke. You know God will speak to you. I have never asked anyone in this church to give a specific amount of money. I just told you to ask God and do what he tells you. That's what I'd like to talk to you about for a few moments today. Remain standing and turn in your Bible to John chapter two. I need to be a little bit quicker today, so y' all listen fast. We're going to have bonus worship at the end. You picked a great day to come today. These people are going to help me preach God's word. What a privilege it is. In John chapter two, the Bible says 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, great Mother's Day. First hall. You might want to preach that My hour has not yet come. And 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 Washington, each holding from 20 to 30 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. Look at this verse for the end of our year. 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. I read you 11 verses just for the sake of reading you one. Go back to verse 5 and I'll give you my message today. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Do whatever he tells you. I want to use as a subject today for this sermon, Mary's prayer. Father, I ask now that you would answer this prayer. Speak to your people. Give them courage to obey in the name of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. Now, that's not exactly a Christmas scripture I read you, but it features the main character of Christmas, so it counts. Mary. And Mary, the mother of Jesus, was in many ways, you could say, the initiator of the first miracle that he did. Let's give it up for Mary. Everybody clap those hands and thank God for Mary. Now, we don't pray to Mary. We pray to God the Father through Jesus. But Mary's prayer is what I want to talk to you about today. Not the Hail Mary or anything like that, but I want to talk to you about Mary's prayer today. In order to illustrate this, I want to tell you two unusual things that happened to me this week. I not only study the Scriptures, but I study my life. I think that sometimes God preaches through ordinary events. One thing that happened to me this week that was kind of unusual. The Lord prompted in my heart to give a specific amount of money to a church that is just getting started. A brand new church. I know what that feels like. I saw the budget for their launch of their church. I know the pastor pretty well. I knew how hard it was going to be to transport all of the families that are going to start and, and all of that. I said you know what? I want our church to help their church, because when you're starting out, every little bit matters. What we did, we sent 10% of their entire budget from our church to help them start their church this week. We do that all the time. Millions of dollars go out through this ministry. There are pastor after pastor after pastor who would stand on this stage and tell you thank you for your faithfulness and your generosity. But what made this one unus unusual was I got a text from the pastor after I told him the gift was on the way, because I wanted him to know he could count on us. I thought that might help him sleep better at night if he knew he was at least moving toward the goal. I sent him the number, and he texted back and said, this is insane. You are not going to believe this. He sent me a voice memo that he had sent me back in March. Now it's December. So back in March, he had sent me a voice memo. On the voice memo, I listened to it again, and I checked the date and the timestamp. This was before he knew he was starting a church. This was definitely before we decided to give him any money. He had left me a voice memo saying, I had the craziest dream. I dreamed that you gave me the exact amount of money we did give him, and I didn't remember the voice memo. Maybe he did a mind game on me and planted that. Maybe it was inception. Maybe he's just that smart. But even so, I thought it was crazy. It was the exact amount, and it wasn't a round number. You're like, it was probably, like, $20,000 or $50,000. No, it was $55,000. So why 55? Why did he dream 55 in March? Unless he's the biggest manipulator of all time. I think sometimes God will prompt your heart in order to provide for somebody in a way you can't predict. I'll give you the second story. The second story is not quite as dramatic, but it's still kind of cool. I was on a date night with Holly over at Lil Mama's the other week. We ordered the mozzarella, we ate the appetizer. The warm mozzarella is very, very worthwhile. For all of the calorie counters. You definitely should spend some. Now, between the appetizer and the main course, I got up just for a quick bathroom break. On my way back from the bathroom, I don't know what told me to do it, but something was like, check Graham's location. I knew where Abbey was. I knew where Elijah was, but it was like, check on Graham. Where's Graham at tonight? Not because I don't trust him. I was just curious. So I pulled up on my phone, checked his location. He was at a Mexican restaurant just right next door. So I told Holly, I'll be right back. I'm going to go see Graham real quick. I'm going to surprise him. It worked out so great. I saw through the window as I was walking by this neon yellow beanie he wears, So I knew it was him. So I sneak around. There's five guys sitting at the booth, and I just pop my head right over the booth, and I say, what's up? And his face looked like I had been off at war for a year, and he hadn't seen me. You know, he's like, what are you doing here? I'm like, I'm on a date with mom. Just ate the mozzarella. I wanted to come check on you. Saw you on the phone. How did you know I was here? I checked you on the phone. Don't you ever forget. I could find you anywhere. But then just something prompted me as I was leaving the restaurant, and it's a small thing. I'm not saying it's huge, but it was just like, hey, pay for their meal. I had some cash, so I said, have y' all paid yet? They had already eaten. I said, have y' all paid yet? After I dapped everybody up. Have y' all paid yet? No, sir. I just put the money down on the table, probably twice as much as they needed, and said, here you go. Love you. See, I'm going back to see mom. I walked out. I came back home later, and I'm going to let him tell you the rest of the story. Come on up here, son. Y' all give it up for Graham. Now, this is kind of crazy. This is kind of crazy. See what you think, Efam. But to me, this was kind of crazy. Grab that mic and tell them. When I got home, I said, what did you think when I popped up at the restaurant? He said, it was crazy. I said, you didn't expect me? Then you said, no, there's even more to it.
