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I did come from Germany. I flew into Chicago on Friday and then spent 19 hours at O' Hare Airport waiting for my flight to Grand Rapids. So if I start falling asleep while I'm preaching, just wake me up and I'll try and continue, hodown said. I came from Germany. I'm originally from the United States. I was raised in the state of Minnesota and I went to the Torchbearer Bible School, which was formerly known as the Cape and Ray bible schools in 19 and you mind your own business. I was a high school graduate and I went to Germany to the school which later became my place of service. After Bible school I came back to the United States. I studied in college and then the director there asked me to come back as an RA at Bible school. I was 23 years old and what was supposed to be a six month commitment has been now 42 years and so, so that's become home. My wife Gabi is German. We have two children, three grandchildren and Gabi stayed behind this week because my daughter, who is a young mom with two active boys age 4 and 2, just needed to stay and Gabi needed to stay home and help her and we felt that was important. She would have loved to have been here. She's more the extrovert, I'm more the introvert and we complement each other in a beautiful way. That way. I'll tell you a little bit more about our lives within the course of this week. Let me pray and then we're going to begin. Father, I want to thank you so much for your goodness, Lord Jesus. We thank you for your presence this morning. And Lord, we rely and look to you to be our teacher right now. And we thank you that you're pleased to do that. And by your spirit, take your word and break it small and feed our faith for your name's sake. Amen. If you have a Bible this morning we're going to be in John Chapter two and I just want to make a few introductory comments about the Gospel of John and also what we're going to be talking about during the course of these sessions that we're going to have together. John actually wrote his Gospel at the end of the first century and life was tough for the church. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. The church had to flee to other parts of the world. Their lives were in danger. Rome was the occupying nation in Jerusalem in Israel at that time, and life was cheap in Rome. About 100 AD, after Christ was born, a Roman emperor dedicated the Roman Colosseum in Rome to the gods of the Romans. And they literally had gladiator games. And he said, we're going to have these games and 100 people are going to die in this Coliseum for 100 days. So they'd play gladiator games until 100 people had died. They did that for 100 days in a row. So 10,000 people just lost their lives. Life was cheap in Rome and that's the kind of oppression that the Jews and the church in particular were living under. What's interesting about the Gospel accounts is that Jesus basically said nothing about the political, social, cultural, moral issues of the day. And believe me, they were more heated than the ones that we are speaking about today. And yet it's interesting, Jesus basically said nothing about them. What did he do? His goal was to draw people into relationship with himself. And he preached about a kingdom that is bigger, better and more powerful than all the events going around us. And praise God, he's still doing the same thing today. Depending upon how you calculate the years in which Christ lived, He lived about 12,000 to 13,000 days during his short life here on earth. If you take the gospel accounts, all four gospels, they report what happened on about 75 of those days. And John's gospel records what happened on about 21 of those days. The reason why I say that is this. God doesn't tell us everything. God doesn't tell us everything we want to know, but he tells us what we need to know. And I wish I could tell everybody that God is going to give you clarity on all aspects of your life and what's going on in the world today. That would be a flat out lie. And the longer I live, the more I'm realizing, yes, God tells me everything I need to know, but he isn't telling me everything I want to know. And my list of unanswered questions and unresolved issues in my little life gets longer and longer and longer. And that also brings me to the point where I'm much more willing to to say today, I don't know and I don't understand than I would have said 40 years ago. But he does tell us enough of what we need to know. If I could have the first slide, that'd be great. We're going to be in John's Gospel this week. We're going to be talking about the signs of the Gospel of John. And this morning we're going to be take a look at Jesus turning water into wine out of John, chapter 2 and verses 1 to 11. Let me say a few things about what is Called the signs in the Gospel of John. And I want the next slide because there is. There's a kind of a summary statement in the Gospel of John at the end of chapter 20 in which John says this. He says, therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. Again, God doesn't tell us everything, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name in that verse, chapter 20, verse 31, when he says, but these have been written that you may believe. Actually, the tense in the original language could be worded this way. These have been written that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You see, John's Gospel wasn't just written to those who may know nothing about Jesus. He's not just writing to those who don't know him personally, although he does, and he is. But he's also preaching and writing for the church. At the end of the first century, when life had gotten tough, it was filled with political, personal, social conflict. It was filled with moral decay, and it was filled with spiritual theological confusion. And he writes to those who had a relationship with Jesus, but life had become tough. And so he says, I'm writing these things so that you might continue to believe because life is hard sometimes. And sometimes, quite honestly, as God's people, we feel like we can't. We either can't trust in Jesus because something's happened that we don't. We can't explain, or something has happened. And we said, I just don't want to go on with Jesus anymore. This gospel is written to those as well, the works of Jesus Christ. In the other Gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark and Luke, which are traditionally known as the synoptic gospels, the works of Christ are called miracles in those gospels. John calls them signs. And he says there were so many things that Jesus did. At the end of chapter 21, he said the libraries of this world couldn't contain the records of everything that he did, but these have been written. And he records just a small section of everything that Jesus did. And he calls the works of Christ signs, not miracles, but signs. And a sign is a miracle with a message. A sign is something that Christ did that John now takes to teach us how to keep trusting him. And so we're going to look at those this week. And there are eight in John's Gospel. We'll have time for six. And we'll be taking them in chronological order. Beginning this morning, out of John, chapter 2, in Psalm 86:17, the author says, God, show me a sign for good. Psalm 86:17, show me a sign for good. Because life has become hard and I just don't feel like I can go on with Jesus anymore. And I don't know, you know, I'll tell a little bit about my life this week, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if somebody is seated here this morning or within the sound of my voice who's carrying a burden that nobody else in this room knows about. We can make that our prayers. We come to these sessions, say, lord, show me a sign for good. Teach me through these signs in the Gospel of John that I can still trust you. Work in my heart an assurance that I can go on with you, that I can take the next step, no matter where I find myself right now. Turning the water into wine in John chapter two is God's teaching on how Jesus wants to bring change. Hal's story that we just watched there was part of that story where he experienced change, didn't he? Well, that. That set the course of his life and influenced many people's lives since then. So if you have a Bible. I belong to a generation. I'm sitting these guys in the front. You guys are great. You have your Bibles open and there's pages. You used to say, open your. Take your Bible and open. You'd hear the pages turning. Now we go like this and just look at our iPhone. Go to John chapter two and I'll have the next slide. We're going to look at Mary first. It Sundays, on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour is not yet come. And his mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Cana was about 5-10km away from Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. He probably knew quite a number of people there who were either relatives or friends. But what's interesting is that we see Mary here, but Joseph is not mentioned. In fact, when Joseph, you know, when Jesus gets to the place where he's exercising the ministry that his father had for him in public, Joseph is essentially not mentioned. And Jesus from the cross in John chapter 19, looks down at Mary, his mother, and John the Apostle, and he says to John, this is now Your mother. And he says to his mother, this is now your son. He wouldn't have to have said that if Joseph had been around. And many commentators think that Joseph was probably gone by the time Jesus left for his public ministry. Probably had passed away. If that was the case, it makes Christ leaving home to be an itinerant preacher for all practical purposes, a very radical thing because he was firstborn son and he would have been looked upon to take care of his widowed mother. We know from Mark, chapter six that Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters. So Mary had given birth to at least seven children. He came from a large family, and yet there was a call of God on his life and he leaves essentially the family and the father takes him on this ministry. I'm so thankful that when I called my parents in the fall of, excuse me, 1984 and said that I was going to stay in Germany, they never made life hard on me. And here's the deal. Your walk with Christ will cost you something. And praise God it did. Because if something costs something to obtain, it means it's valuable. But we also need to realize that the call of Christ on our lives will cost those closest to us something. And it costs my parents a lot. It's almost been half a century now. I'll see mom next week. She's 91, has advanced Parkinson's. But they never said, when are you going to come home? We miss you so, so much. And they did. Mission leaders tell me that one of the most difficult issues in missions today is not the children who want to go, but the parents who are trying to keep them. And I understand that now with my own kids who are married and my grandkids. And Christ left his family, which was pretty radical. And here we find him close to home and he's engaged in this wedding and he's there with his mother and his disciples. And what interests me about Jesus is that he engaged in the normal flow of life in a way that drove the religious elite and the self righteous crazy. They said, this guy is a drunk and a glutton. Always remember, Jesus was a friend of sinners before he was ever the Savior of sinners. And he hung out with people that the church, essentially the religious elite at that time, I shouldn't say the church, but they didn't like that. My take on Jesus is that he probably wouldn't feel as comfortable in the Christian ghetto that I have created that I think he would. And you find Jesus in some very unlikely places, which warms my heart to this Ministry. That's where you find Jesus and that's where he was at this wedding. Jesus was salt and light. Salt was used as a preservative. They didn't have refrigeration and it was used to add flavor. Light helps make things visible and Jesus, his whole person was about preserving that which is good. It was about making God attractive and it was about making the invisible God visible in this world. Sometimes the devil and broken humanity makes God look bad. Jesus makes him look good and gives us a true picture of what he is like. John chapter one. In verse 18, it says no one is seeing God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained or he has exposited him. God had a wonderful idea when he sent Jesus into this world. He spoke to us in a way that we can understand. Germany has now become home. I left the United States when Ronald Reagan was president, so there's a lot that's happened in 40 plus years. So I look, walk and talk like an American. But on the inside, I have no clue about what the, you know, current cultural, you know, topics are that people are, you know, excited about. I just, you know, I'll sit there like last night, what movie? I just don't know. And so I had to learn German in Germany. And that's the language that I speak more often than English now. And so sometimes I brain freeze. In fact, I've started saying things in German and not realized it. And the audience is a little bit confused. Das Heist wen ich so an jet file. So you're looking around. What on earth is he talking about? God wanted to speak our mother tongue and so he spoke to us in the language of humanity. So we can understand that. So it's crystal clear what God is like. If you want to know what the living God is like, you go to Jesus. Because he spoke our humanity, our language, and he became a human himself. And he makes it easiest to understand who God is and what he is like. Mary comes to him and she says simply, the wine ran out. And Jesus, his response is a little bit abrupt, I would say. He says, woman doesn't even call her mother. Actually, in the original language, it's like calling her Madame. It's a term of endearment or honor. So he's not putting her down, but he is taking a step back because he says, what does it have to do with us? He said, you know, my heavenly Father is the one who has the last word in my life. And he takes A step back from his mother in a public setting, and he reveals that he is not necessarily there to do just her bidding. Now, he did make wine and he did meet the need. But I think that there's something behind the request of Mary that we sometimes underestimate. And I've listed these. I just kept them up there because on the overhead you have the passages where you can find them. But this is Mary's history with Jesus. In Luke, chapter one, Gabriel comes and he announces to her that she is going to be the mother of the Messiah. That was the wish of every God fearing Jewish woman, that she would be the mother of the Messiah. And here we have this angel coming to this teenage girl. If a Jewish woman reached the age of 20, it's like she was way over the hill. So you normally got married as a teenager. So here's this private meeting between Gabriel and a teenage girl and he makes plain to her that she's going to give birth to Matthias, the Messiah. And they have this private meeting. Now, Mary had an uncle whose name was Zacharias and he was a priest. And she had probably heard quite a bit of the things of God at home in her childhood. And so she engages with Gabriel and she knew what he was talking about because she was conversant with the hope of the Jews at that time. And that is that God is going to bring us a Messiah. This teaches me something incredibly important and I commend Gull Lake for this aspect of their ministry. They aren't just entertaining our kids, they're teaching them the truth of Jesus in young years, which is so incredibly important. Gabby and I have two appointments in the year, and this is with drug and alcohol people who had addictions to drug and alcohol in the past. And when I'm seated with them, I find out a couple of things. Number one, there were reasons why they got involved in an addictive behavior pattern. And as I speak to them, I'm realizing that some of them get into an addictive behavior pattern because some of the things that have happened to them are so painful. Instead of feeling bad all the time, they just want to numb it some of the time. And I've had to back off with my judgmental attitude, of which I'm ashamed because I hear some of them and I say to myself, you know what, I would have grabbed the bottle too. But then the second thing that they often tell me is, Peter, I grew up in a God fearing family and I heard a lot when I was a young person. And now when I'm 50, 60, sometimes 70 years old. I'm coming back to the seeds that were sown back then. Loving parent of your child. God hasn't written the last chapter yet. And we can never underestimate the power of the Word of God, which is likened to seed. And seed doesn't. It doesn't grow. It doesn't pop up on the surface immediately. It goes through this period of germination where it grows in secret before it bears fruit. Sow the seed. Sow the seed. Second Chronicles 16:9. It says, for the eyes of the Lord moved to and fro throughout the earth, that he might strongly support those whose heart is completely his. Why did God come to this teenage girl? Because he knew that this girl would allow him to be God in her life. This young woman would allow him to do the impossible. And God said, that's the kind of person I'm looking for. Does God have his eye on us today? It's not because what we have to offer, but because of what he wants to do in our lives and all of our weakness and all of our brokenness. For heaven's sakes, this was a teenage girl and that's all God needed. Well, she goes and meets a relative named Elizabeth. Her husband was mute, so the two of them had a lot of freedom to just have a good chat. And she, Mary walks into Elizabeth's presence and she was pregnant with John the Baptist. And John the Baptist does a flip in her womb when Mary comes in and she just burts bursts out with this statement, how blessed are my eyes that they would see the mother of my Messiah. And so they had a great meeting. And God is so gracious because Elizabeth said to Mary again what Gabriel had said to her in private. And he conferred. She confirmed what God had said. What a tremendous encouragement that would have been to this teenage woman who had had a private meeting with an angel which she could explain to no one. She stays three months and God in the meantime stops Joseph from preventing the marriage. Said, it's okay, this is from me. Praise God, he had a teachable heart. And then she goes back home entering her second trimester and this is where life became tough. How can she possibly explain how she was pregnant? I work with an organization, we have short term Bible schools around the world. And if one of our female students went home and she was entering into the second trimester of a pregnancy and she tries to explain to her parents how she got married or excuse me, how she got pregnant and said, I just had a really spiritual experience at Bible school, my phone would be ringing off the hook. We laugh about that. But that caused a cloud to come over her life from that moment on. She then needs to go down to Bethlehem where her family came from. And that's where Jesus is born. While they are there, God warns Joseph that he needs to leave town quickly. And in Matthew chapter two, God warns Joseph, get out of town. And actually there are four times when we see in that chapter fulfilling or God fulfilling scripture that he had spoken hundreds of years before. And so they go to Egypt. We don't know exactly how long that is. But I would like to say this. Do you know if your life has become chaotic? Just know God is still on the throne. He can not only lead us, but he can also stop us when we're going the wrong way. And what is out of my grasp is still in his grip. My job is to protect my walk with him. His job is to protect my life for as long as he wants to. There's this wonderful verse in Zechariah chapter 2 and verse 8 where it says, he who touches you touches the apple of God's eye. Zechariah chapter 2 and verse 8, the pupil of your eye is probably one of the most sensitive areas on our whole body. And God says, he who touches you touches the apple of my eye. And I'm very sensitive to what happens to you. They eventually go back to Jerusalem and you know, they bring back this little boy. And now the neighbors are saying, well, it wasn't that convenient to leave town so you could have birth somewhere else. And for all practice practical purposes, she was an unwed mother and lived with that reputation. Jesus has grown now. And in Luke chapter two, they go down to Jerusalem for one of the three national festivals that they have to be attending. God fearing Jews. And again, Jesus had at least six siblings. So they all get in the van and then realize afterwards they'd left Jesus in Jerusalem. So they go back and find him. And they said, son, didn't you know that we were concerned about you? And the word of Jesus to his parents was this, why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house? But they did not understand the statement which he had made to them. And then at the end of that chapter, it says, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart. Jump ahead 30 years. John chapter two. Mary is probably about 50 years old. She has lived with this shadow over her life. I'm the unwed mother in our community. Everybody knows about this, they're at a wedding not far from home where there are certainly friends and relatives who knew her. And she comes to Jesus and says, they ran out of wine. Do something. That the fireworks begin. That I would finally be vindicated before these people who had been talking about me behind my back for the very thing that you've done in my life. And Jesus says, woman, it's none of our business. I'm here to do the will of my father. And his program includes more than your individual life. It's not just about me. There are the things that God is doing in and around and through my life that includes much more than my individual experience in my life. And so Mary says to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. That's exactly what she said to Gabriel when he met her as a teenager some 30 odd years before. And now as an adult, she is coming back to some of the lessons that she learned with the Lord as a teenager. For all the teenagers in this room, what God is doing in your life right now, you may need to draw on that as an adult decades from now. And for those of us who are adults, we might need the very things that God was doing in our lives as teenagers way back when. She didn't even know what he was going to do. She just said, whatever he says to you, do it. Can I have the next slide? Let's wrap this up. Now there are six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 20 to 30 gallons each. And he said to them, fill the water pots with water. And so they filled them up to the brim and they said to them, draw some out now and take it to the head water. So they took it to him. And when the head water tasted the water which had become wine, it did not know where it came from. But the servants who had drawn the water knew. The head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, every man serves the good wine first. And when the people have drunk freely, he serves the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. And this beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory. And the disciples believed in him. Jesus was taking aim at these people's traditions. Be careful. Our application of God's word can become an addition to God's word in our heart. And Jesus puts his finger on that. You're all about just conforming your life to a tradition and religion. I want to bring about change. It's not about what you do, it's about what I Do in you through my indwelling spirit that counts. And so he says, take the water. You see, the living God knows that the human heart generally distrusts him. We don't find it easy to entrust our very life to the living God. God knows that. And although according to second Corinthians, chapter five, we are called to live by sight, by faith and not by sight, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, go look at some birds, go look at the flowers, and use your sight to encourage your faith. Because I know how hard it is for you to trust me. Isn't that wonderful? But God has given such something to us even better. And this is why I appreciate the ministry of Gull Lake in In Romans, chapter 10 and verse 17, Scripture says, Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. And so as we're gathered together in these times in God's word, the spirit of God can take the word of God and give assurance to my heart that I can trust Jesus. And we'll be feeding our faith this week. Well, the water was made wine. And the groom says to the servants, are the servants. I don't know who said it. I don't know who said it to two. I was in o' Hare too long. The head waiter called the bridegroom and said, every man serves a good wine first. And you saved it until now. What he meant was, you serve the good wine now, and when people are good and sloshed, then you serve the bad, bad wine because it doesn't matter anymore. You've reserved the best wine until now. Because that's the quality of the work of Jesus. He does the best thing. And he created the fruit of the vine out of this water. And praise God, he creates the fruit of the spirit in my heart by his working. And this is where the application of this sign is so important. He would love out of my heart to bring the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. That's the miracle that he can do. At Bodenziof, the center where I work, we have three rooms in it with 10 beds. The people from third world countries stand in the doorway of that room and their jaw drops, their eyes get big and they say, what? Only nine other people here with me? This is fantastic. Oh, Bodenzio, man, this is like the Hilton. Then somebody from San Diego comes, stands in the same doorway, their jaw drops, their eyes get big, and they say, what? Nine other people in this room with me? And then because it's Bible school, they say something to me like, but Peter, I'm working on my patience. I smile inside and say, go ahead and work on your patience. All you're going to discover by working on your patience is what an impatient, self centered person you are. You don't work at patience. Patience is a miracle. It's called the fruit of the spirit. It's the quality of the work of Christ in somebody's life. And Peter Reed is not a patient person. I am generally self centered, impatient and angry. I need the miracle of patience. I don't need my left leg extended 5 inches because it's shorter than my right one. I need the big miracle. Patience. That's fruit of the spirit. Isn't that what we need because of the breakdown in relationships? We need the good wine. We need the good work of Jesus in our hearts, changing our desires. Did you know that's the hope of Christianity? Jesus doing work in our hearts by his spirit to change us from the inside out. So here are the lessons as we close. Number one, change means that I must come to him on his terms and not mine. Change comes because I need to come to him on his terms, not mine. This is what Jesus expected from Mary and she just said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Breakdown in relationship takes place where I look at my life and I'm looking to somebody else on the other side of my relationship with them and I'm saying they're not upholding their end of the deal. So that frees me from holding up my end of the deal. No. Well, why would I hold up my end of the deal, Peter? Because that is how I remain in right relationship with Jesus. So I extend to that person patience. But I know at the same time I don't have that for them. But I enter into the relationship and say, jesus, this person drives me up, up the wall. I need your miracle right now. I need your miracle for that teenager. Teenager. You need that miracle for mom and Dad. I need to come on his terms. And friends, we are always only one step away from blessing and that's the step of obedience. Obedience. So we probably come here this morning knowing, yeah, there's a step of obedience that I need to take. And it's not fuzzy, it's not unclear. You know exactly where it is, Peter, how do I know where it is? Probably the spirit of God has made you aware of that while I've been speaking. This is not rocket science, but Peter, they're not holding up the errand of the deal. I'd like to Put him in the grave. I know that. And I come to Jesus in utter dependence and say, lord, I need you to do a miracle inside of me. Secondly, his will and his works are always the best. I didn't. Something happened to my PowerPoint. Whatever. Gabi's first husband was a doctor. He died of a brain tumor, leaving her a widow at age 32 with a 3 and a 5 year old. And there she is in a basement apartment in Stuttgart, saying, so this is it, Lord. God knew and God saw her. And in 2004, we got married. I was 43. I had never been married, so why not start out with a bang? Kids were 11 and 13. And God did a very good thing. It wasn't just about Gabby's life or my life. It was about our children, our families. It was about a ministry that we could never have anticipated. He always does the best. And it's not just about me. I gotta close. I'm really sorry. Their need wasn't for wine. Their need was for dependence upon Jesus who made the wine. This is discipleship. Discipleship is learning how to maintain dependence upon Jesus no matter what happens. That's our responsibility. Maintain dependence upon Jesus, no matter what happens. Let's have the last slide, then I've really, really got to go. So what happened to Mary, this poor woman who lived under this cloud for so many years? In Acts chapter one, after Jesus had given them instructions to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit, he said when they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying, I.e. peter, James, John, Andrew, etc, etc, verse 14. These all with one mind, were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. So who was there at Pentecost when the church was born and the Spirit descended by a work of God and Jesus came to live in his disciples. Who was there? Mary. And I have to believe that the relatives and the friends who had seen this whole story unfold over decades were there as well. Wasn't it better that they were at Pentecost? And now she was vindicated in a way which was much better, much bigger than anything that could have happened. In John chapter 2:2, Jesus gave birth to Jesus, but Jesus gave birth to Mary, and now she was a child of God. Scripture says in Psalm 145 and verse 19, he will fulfill the desire of those who fear him, but it'll take his time. And my perception of God's timing in my life is that he's usually taken more time than I think is necessary, but his timing is always the best and he will do the thing that the godly have in their hearts that's given according to his will. At the end of this session, before we run to lunch or to get our kids, can we just pause for 30 seconds and instead of just running to the next thing, just pause long enough to speak to the Lord Jesus in our hearts, to whatever he's spoken there? Let's do that. And I'll pray at the end. 30 seconds of silence from now. Lord Jesus, I want to thank you that you bring about change and wherever that would be needed today. I thank you that somebody who comes to you this morning on your terms and says whatever you say, this is what I want to do, and that you'll do the best thing and we'll trust you for that. In your name, Amen. Thank you.