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All right. All right. Lakem Family man. Good to see you guys. Hey, before we go anywhere, guys, can we please celebrate nearly 40,000 people in person at Easter and wait, over 2,000 people surrendering their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ in one week? Come on, somebody, man. Absolutely unbelievable. And, dude, listen, man, that's awakening stuff right there, is what that is. That's awakening stuff. Have you guys got your Bibles? Head over to John chapter two. That's going to be today. Listen, while you are turning there, I need to address a thing. I'm addressing a thing, Okay? A couple weeks ago, I didn't want to do this on Easter. A couple weeks ago, right after, the week after marriage night, I tossed out a joke, emphasis, word, joke. I tossed out a joke at the beginning of a message about men and women planning their wedding days and wedding nights. And it became a thing. So let me talk about that real quick. So here's what happened. Somebody grabbed that clip of that joke. They clipped off the beginning of the joke. They kept the. Clipped off the part of the joke to men, kept the part of the joke to women, and then clipped off the end of the joke before you could tell it was a joke, and then presented it. Dallas Morning News hashtag, presented it as Pastor Josh's advice to women. Now, let me just say a few things. Number one, you can't trust the Internet, okay? Number two, let me just say this thank you to the hundreds and hundreds of you that provided context for people who were posting that. So let me just say thank you. Let me just say thank you now. That's part of it. But I also want to say this other thing. I am not talking to anybody outside of our church. Frankly, I don't care about them. But there were a few people in our church who had that joke. It may have just landed on you wrong. And listen, I'm a pastor. I love my sheep. So I want to talk to you really quick. The Book of Proverbs says this. It says that careless words can stab like a sword, but that wise words lead to healing. And what that means is that, man, sometimes even jokes can be a careless word. Sometimes even a joke can be that. So that even if I'm like, dude, I'm just trying to goof off. I'm trying to have fun. I like. Listen, I like to have fun around here. I want this to be a place where you have a little fun. I like to do that. At the same time, dude, I never wanted, you know, toss them out there. That feels like a careless Word. And what that verse means is that, like, even if somebody had a steak knife and they, like, had the intent to cut their steak and their hand slipped and actually stab you in the face, that actually. That's a joke, by the way. I'm not gonna stab you in the face. That, man. I'm still. You know, I still need to own that. That can still fall on somebody wrong. So, honestly, like, with a very sincere heart, I just want to say this, dude, if that joke fell on you the wrong way, I need you to hear three things. Number one, I love you. Listen, Lake Point Church. I love you more than you will ever imagine. I stay awake thinking about you. I pray for you every day. Like, this is the honor of my life. I love you. Number two, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for something that felt like careless words. Actually, let me phrase. I'm sorry for careless words. I'm sorry about that. And number three, thank you for your grace to me. I want to be doing this with you for decades and decades and decades. So that's awesome, man. Y' all good. If we can. We thank you. Thanks, man. I like. I like you, too. Can we move on now? Y' all good with that? We're doing that. That's what we're gonna do. Okay, here we go. John, chapter two, week one of. I need a miracle, and some of you need a miracle. And so today we are preaching what is many of your favorite miracle in the entire Bible. Water to wine. Okay, let me just get a water. This is it. Now, I do just need to do this. By the way, everything I'm getting ready to say is a joke. Okay? It's gonna be hard for me not to resist doing that. Okay, where am I now? Here's why I like preaching this passage. The reason I like preaching it is where are all my. My fellow recovering Southern Baptists? Where you at? Yeah, man. That's it, man. Now, the. The reason I like preaching this is it makes us squirm. Where are you at again? Recovering Southern Baptist. See, the reason you can't do who they are is their hands only get about this high in church. And so you gotta. You stick around long enough. And the other reason I love preaching this passage is it makes the Catholics feel real at home. And so this is going to be awesome. This is going to be a great day. It's a great day. That's a joke. I don't think Catholics are alcoholics. Let's keep going. All right, so we're going to get right into it. We're going to have a lot of fun. Get right to the Bible. Here we go. Says this in John, chapter two. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. And Jesus mother was there. And Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. Now here's how I'm doing this. This is what I call a grip it and rip it sermon. I'm going to read a little bit and talk a little bit. Retalk, read, talk, read, talk. Here's why. Because we believe that it takes the whole word of God to make a whole disciple of Jesus. So what we're going to do is it's like, man, if you're new to Lake Point, you just showed up at Easter and you're, hey, what we do is we get into the Word. And I love just to go verse by verse by verse, because it takes the whole Bible to make a whole Christian. So you just saw this. What it said right here is that Jesus and his. Watch this. And his disciples were invited to the wedding. Can I just point this out? Jesus was the type of dude who got invited to parties. I know this feels really weird to talk about, but this is a theme all throughout the Gospels, is that Jesus is constantly. One Bible commentator puts it like this, that especially in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is always going to a meal, at a meal, or leaving a meal, and most of them are parties. So, like, legitimately, this may feel really weird and it may like, ah. What does he mean by that? I'll explain it in a second. Legitimately. One way to gauge am I like Jesus? Is to ask, do lost people want to invite me to parties? That's like, legitimately a real reason to do this. Now I need to point a few things about. Point out a few things about this. Jesus was at parties so often that in Matthew 11:19, it says that what the mob, the Pharisees, the mob that eventually crucified him. That what the Pharisees said about Jesus to try to get people to distrust him, that what they literally said is, that dude is a glutton and a drunkard. Y' all would never believe this. But what a demonic cancel mob did is they took one part of Jesus life, selectively edited it so that it meant to make it look like Jesus said something that he didn't say. You would never believe they did it, but they actually did it. So this is what they did to Jesus. Okay, I'm not Jesus, but here's a. Here's the real reality is think about this. This is before this is Jesus first miracle. Jesus has done zero miracles at this point. In fact, nobody even knows who he is. So they're not inviting Jesus to this party because they're like, dude, if we get Jesus here, we're going to get in good with the son of God. Here's why they invite Jesus to this party. You know why? Because somebody somewhere was making a list and they went, you know who's a great time? That Jesus, dude. He's full of joy. He likes people who don't think like him or act like him. Now, I. I just want to pastor us Lake Point Church on this, because around here we're real big. Oh, man. Everybody's got a one more. There's one more person. Jesus is waiting one more day. Jesus is waiting one more day to return to give one more person one more chance to repent and turn to him. And so what we want to do at Lake Point is everybody's got their one more. Who's the one person in your life this closest to you, but farthest from God? And if you don't get this right, what I'm about to preach you, you'll never be able to get your relationship to lost people in the world. Right? Let's get it like Jesus. So here's how this goes. There are two equal and opposite errors in the world about how Christians should relate to the world. And both of them are present in Jesus day. So, like, on the one hand, you have this mistake. These dudes were called the Pharisees. Pharisee literally means separated ones. These dudes, their whole life was like, dude, we're supposed to be holy. Holy. Holy means set apart. We're gonna be different from the world. So what they did is like, their whole thing was about making rules and enforcing rules. When they were kids, they volunteered to be hall monitors. They grow up, they become president. Presidents of their hoa. That's who these dudes are. These were the Pharisees. They love making, keeping, and enforcing rules. They were all excited about it. Okay? Now good thing is they were not like the world. Awesome, man. We're not supposed to be like the world. Here's the biggest problem. They made absolutely no difference in the world because they didn't know anybody in the world. So, like, man, you can't effectively reach one more person for Christ if nobody that doesn't know Jesus ever wants to hang out with you. And the Pharisees missed this, man. They were not of the world, but they also weren't in the world like Jesus. Now, on the other hand, the other opposite error is you had this group called the Sadducees. And here's if you've never read the Bible before, this old preacher joke. The Sadducees didn't believe in the Resurrection, which is why there were Sadducee. Okay, that's really. And listen, that's really, really. It's really stupid, but you'll remember it forever. Literally, you're gonna remember that forever. They didn't believe in the resurrection, which is why they were Sadducee. And because they didn't believe in the resurrection, the deal was like, they were like, okay, man, yolo. Like, you only live once, might as well eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we're going to die. And so they were the guys who like, awesome, man. We get invited to all the parties and lost people love us. But the real reason that lost people liked them is because they were exactly like lost people. And what they missed is that in order to make a difference, you got to be different. These guys miss that. And so right in the middle, what we got is Jesus. And Jesus was in the world, but he wasn't of the world. Jesus loved sinners even though he never sinned. And I just. I need to point this out especially for, like, our college students, young adults, high school, middle school students. Some people will point at passages like this and they'll be like, they'll justify. They'll use passages like this to justify ungodly lifestyles and unwise friendship, like close friendship groups. And they'll just go, well, Jesus hung out at parties. That's why I go to all the. Jesus hung out at parties. Let me just say two things on this. Number one, you're not Jesus. Write that down. Just jot that down. You're not Jesus. That's a whole sermon. You're not Jesus. But here's the other thing. Notice this. Every single time in all the Gospels that Jesus is at a party, he is there to help accomplish the salvation of the people there, not for his personal entertainment. So you just gotta see this. These dudes, they get invited to the party. Let's keep going. When the wine was gone, Jesus mother said to him, they have no more wine. Now I just got to do this. And here's. I almost didn't. This is not a passage about, can a Christian drink alcohol. That's not what this passage is about. But here's what I know, is that if I try. If I try to keep preaching this passage, there's like 30% of the room that the entire time they're gonna be going, can I. So what does this mean? Can I drink alcohol? What do you. Is that. Just get to the point, Josh. The whole reason, the real question I need is can I drink alcohol? So let me just, let me talk about this now. I just. Let me address a dynamic in the room because how you feel about what I'm about to say, say is very different based on your religious or non religious background. It's like, dude, if you come, if you come from like a Catholic Episcopal, a Presbyterian, a Lutheran background, you're like, I leave it on earth. Why aren't we doing wine at communion? Like, you're literally confused why we don't have alcohol in services at communion. Okay, if you are like me, you come from a Baptist background, you at least come from a background where people at least pretended like they didn't drink. You at least come from that background. So let me just. Here's what I want to do. Let me give you four. And let me also say this in a very serious way. I have seen alcohol wreck more lives than you can imagine as a pastor. So let me lay down four biblical principles for how Christians should relate to alcohol, and then we can just move on. Okay? Four biblical principles. Principle number one, check this out. Christians should never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever get drunk. Okay? This is the book of Ephesians says this. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the spirit. Have you ever noticed this? Have you ever noticed that? Like if you go to a, to a liquor. Not that you would ever do this, but if you drive by a liquor store sometimes they'll call them wine and what? Wine and spirits. And what the Bible's saying is, hey, man, listen. No spirit but the Holy Spirit. We're not going to be controlled by any spirit but the Holy Spirit. And the reason the Bible over and over and over again is encourages Christians towards. Watch this. This is a value we have totally lost in our society towards sober mindedness. And the reason it does that is because the Bible's saying, never have anything in your life that controls you. No spirit, except the Holy Spirit. Now what I've noticed is everybody always tries to come up with like an exception clause. Yeah, yeah. But it's my wedding day. Yep. Still a sin. Yeah. You know, Cinco de Mayo, still a sin. No, no, can't do it. Yeah. Josh Bor. You know, we're out on a boat. It's during the summer, it's really, really hot outside. So is hell he's always wrong. Literally always wrong. So number one, Christians should never get drunk. Number two, Christians and this, listen, this is tough for some people. Christians should not forbid what God permits. So you're going to notice this. There is no other. Like you just got to read a Bible with honest eyes. Jesus in this passage is, he is drinking alcohol. You'll see this in the book of First Timothy. First Timothy 5, 23, go read it later. Paul literally instructs Timothy, Timothy, hey bro, like quit just drinking water. And at night just have one small glass of wine. It's gonna help your stomach. When you do a study of the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, it frequently associates wine with rejoicing and joy. And it's not morally stigmatized. So what you'll notice is there's kind of two equal and opposite errors when it comes to this thing is some people come from a background where like they just decided and listen, some of them come by honestly, it's because dad was alcoholic or maybe how they were raised. Some people have this attitude where it's like they approach the Bible and they pre decide, regardless of what the Bible says, that man, alcohol's evil, Beer is wrong, wine's wrong, everything's wrong. Anybody who drinks is going to hell. And they're like, they get actually a little self righteous and judgy and like, dude, they're just, they are, they're self righteous, they're judgy, they got this real religious spirit. And honestly they're like super duper uptight. And if that's you, can I just like, bro, like relax, like you need to drink more than anybody. Is that what I say? Like, you just gotta let it go, man. Let it go. So we just gotta understand this, that the we, what we can't do is we can't forbid what the Bible permits. We shouldn't do this. Okay, now number three, this is really important. We gotta balance all these principles together. Christians should not be. I want you to say this word I should have highlighted it. Should not be what? Enslaved. Christians should not be enslaved by anything. So before I read this verse, this is Paul is writing to a bunch of like brand new, like I call the book of First Corinthians, Christians gone wild. It's a bunch of like super young, hyper progressive, they get converted radically and they're coming out of all this lifestyle, of all this like drug, sex, rock and roll lifestyle. And so they're writing to Paul. And if you read First Corinthians, it is very practical questions about, like, real stuff. So they're writing to Paul about what is it okay for us as a Christian to, like, eat and drink and not eat and not drink? And they say this to Paul. This is how the verse reads. They say to Paul, hey, all things are lawful for me. And notice it's in quotes, because that's what they were saying to Paul. Like, hey, anything that's not a sin, but we can just, like, we can have all that, right? And Paul says, yeah, yeah, yeah, but watch this. But I will not be. And you say the word, I will not be enslaved by anything. So watch this. Yes, the Bible says that wine is. It is. It's not forbidden. But watch this. The Bible also says it's dangerous. It's dangerous. Proverbs 20 says wine is a brawler and beer is a mocker. And if you're not careful, the effects of alcohol, what'll happen is they become enslaving. Instead of this thing that God created as a good gift, it becomes a God thing in your life. So you start looking to it to give you things that only God can give you. So watch this. Let me just lean in right now. And I am praying that the Holy Spirit uses this next moment to put his finger on something in some of your lives that sets you free and that gets you off a highway that can lead to the destruction of your life, your family's life, and the people around you. Watch this. Watch this. Okay? If you start realizing, dude, I'm starting to think that I gotta have a drink to relax or I'm starting to feel like, man, in order for me to have confidence to go in that business meeting, I need to have a drink or man, anytime I want to have fun, I need to have a drink. Watch this. You're not in control of it anymore. It's in control of you. What has happened to you is now you are, quote, enslaved by something. And listen, here's what the Bible says. When you're in that spot, Run, forest, run, go. You are no match for this thing. And so some of you right now, like, even as I was speaking the power of the Holy Spirit, he's placing his loving finger on that thing in your life. And what you need to do is you need to go to the meeting, you need to take the steps, you need to work the program. You need to get in Regen this week. This week. You need to get in Regen so that we can get you out of some slavery and that you can be set free in Jesus name. Like, you need to do that and you need to go. I'm not gonna be enslaved by anything. The only thing I'm gonna be a slave to is I'll be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else in my life. Okay, now check this out. Here's the last one. Is Christians should submit to authorities that have been established by God. So I just, I need to say this, but like the book of Romans 13 especially establishes this is that when God has established authorities, the family and the government, that we are always supposed to obey the laws and principles given by those authorities. Watch this. As long as they don't directly contradict the scriptures. So if you're underage, it doesn't matter that, hey, we shouldn't forbid what the Bible permits. You're underage and you need to obey the laws of the land or you're under the authority of your family, and your family doesn't want you to do that. You need to obey the authority of your parents. So you will harm your relationship with God's authority by rebelling against those authorities. Is this making sense? Lake Point Church okay, so those are our four principles. There it is right there. Now let's keep moving on. When the wine was gone, Jesus mother said to him, they have no more wine. Now, there was an ancient 1st century rabbinic, it was a little axiom that said, when the wine runs out, the party's over. That's an interesting little phrase. Now this is. Here's why this is a big deal. Like, it was actually like a really, really big deal when Jesus mom was like, the wine's gone. And here's why. Because a wedding in Cana is not like a wedding today. A wedding in Cana lasted a week. A week long wedding, huge party. And the groom had a year, y'. All. Dude had a year to plan the week long wedding. And his planning of the wedding, it was his way to signal to the bride's dad, I've got what it takes to take care of your daughter. So when they're in this deal and like just real quick in, they run out of wine, everybody would have been looking around going, this joker can't even do math. How's he going to take care of my daughter if he can't take care of math? All he had to do was like, number of guests times, number, you know, amount of wine times that, like, this was so easy and dude missed it. Now I just want to point this out. When Mary has a need, she brings her need to Jesus. Can I say something to you? When you have a Need. Bring your need to Jesus. When you got a need, bring your need to Jesus. And can I be honest, in the grand scheme of things, having enough wine at the party is not a big deal in the universe. But watch this. It's a big deal to God because Mary was a big deal to God, man. You have some things in your life, they don't feel like a big deal, but they're a big deal to your heavenly Father, because you're a big deal to your heavenly Father. And so you bring those needs to Jesus and he's going to want to meet those needs. And then Jesus says, this. This is really interesting. Jesus says, here's a verse for you, woman. Why do you involve me? There's a verse for you. Some of the husbands, you just realize you've been quoting scripture for years and didn't know it. It's like your wife's like, babe, the garage is getting dirty, woman, why do you involve me? Yeah, that kind of thing. You got it. Now I'm going to take a risk here. Jesus is using. Every Bible commentator points out Jesus right here. He is using strong language. Some of the other translations are much stronger than this one. Some of them say, what business have I with you, woman? They honestly get worse. Now, I just want to point this out. Throughout Jesus ministry, he used strong language. He called gentiles dogs. Let's see how that goes in 21st century America. He called a group of dudes a brood of vipers. He was like, you are sons of your father the devil, you brood of vipers. He called those same guys whitewashed tombs. These were like first century your mama jokes. They were like, just knocking on all the genealogy that had come before him. And I just want to do this, man. I just need to address this. And remember, keep this in light of everything I said earlier in the sermon. I just need to address this because there is a dynamic in. And watch this. Even though Jesus used hyperbolic language, sometimes strong language, he also said, blessed is the one that's not offended by me. So I just need to address this dynamic in our culture. And here's this dynamic. Here's what I want to do. I don't know if it's because of social media or, you know, the Internet. I don't know what it is. But in our culture right now, we have millions and millions of people who wake up every day and stand right on the edge of a fence just waiting for somebody to say something that gives them the ability to be offended. And watch this. Sometimes they're not Even offended for themselves. They'll take up some. They're offended on behalf of somebody else who they're not even offended. And they just spend their entire life in this constant state of offense. And I just need you. Listen, if. Lean in. Please lean in. If you find that dynamic going on in your heart, you need to pay attention to that, because something really, really unhealthy is happening inside. You need to bring that to Jesus. In fact, I just need to talk about this. Like, man, if you haven't noticed this, sometimes I joke around, like, I do that here at Lake Point. And you may be going, matt, you know, well, why do you do that? Okay, listen, have you ever just been in a church before and it was just like, really, really, really boring? You're, like, literally in there, and you're like, 10 minutes in. You're like, bro, please shut it down. Some of you are like that. Like, now. You. Like right now. I mean. And listen, listen, I've been to those churches, and what I want is. I don't want the most important thing in the universe to feel dull and dry. Like, I don't want that. And so here's. Let me just. Proverbs 17:22 says that a cheerful heart is good medicine. That actually it's the ability to laugh together. Watch this. It said, cheerful heart is a good medicine. In other words, if something bothers you, it's actually when you get to the spot where you can laugh at it a little that you start to get healing. Because cheerful heart is good medicine. Now, listen, I'm not talking about everything. I'm not talking. Listen, there is, as I said at the beginning of the sermon, keep this in context. There is such a thing as careless words that can stab like a sword. But listen, here's one of the reasons I do this at Lake Point. I want us not to take ourselves seriously at all, but to take Jesus real seriously. That's what we want. We don't take ourselves seriously. We take Jesus really seriously. So let me just right now address and clarify some things to save myself future emails. Okay? So, number one, I am pro men and women planning their wedding days together. I'm pro that. Do it. It's going to be awesome. And your wedding night, all of it. Plan it together. Okay? Let me address a couple other things. Number two, I do not actually believe that redheads are terrorists. I don't. I do not. I'm married to a redhead. She's awesome. She is a. Literally. Ephesians 5. I'm going to use a word you're not supposed to use in American culture, but it's a Bible word. She is a gentle, submissive spirit to her husband. She loves me. She loves her Lord. Listen, so I. I got firsthand experience. Redheads are not. They're a little feisty, but they're not terrorists. Number three, I do not actually think Mike Tyson is illiterate. That was a joke. That's a joke. I love Mike Tyson. I love. I'm pulling for him against Jake Paul. I want him to win. I'm like, mike, if you watch this, I beat your game on Nintendo as a kid. I loved it, bro. I loved it. So when I say I'm sweating like Mike Tyson at a spelling bee, I don't actually think he's illiterate. That's a joke, people. It's a joke. Okay, let's keep going. Next. I bet Quinlan's awesome. I bet. I bet it's awesome, man. I bet y' all are great. I just needed. I literally. When I was trying to write that sermon, I literally texted a staff member and I was like, what's. Like, what's. Actually, I'm not gonna tell you what I texted. It'll bother you. Let me keep going. I do not actually think. I do not actually think that people from California should not be allowed to vote. I do not actually think that that's a joke. It's a joke, people. We love you. Please. We love you. Now, I'm a little serious when I say we're glad you're here, but if you try to turn here there, we're gonna kick you out. I'm a little serious. Just a little. Just a little. But, but for real. But listen, listen. These are jokes. It's a jab, bro. Come on, lighten up. Okay? I do not hate Southern Baptist. I love. I am. I'm a third generation Baptist pastor. Recovering Baptist right here. I love you. Y' all just take yourselves too seriously. And I like to. Okay, let's talk about cats. Talk about cats, man. I don't like them. I'll be honest. I don't. But when I use that little joke about, you know, if you kick a cat, it's not even a cent. That's. Listen, that's a. I got that from Joby Martin. 30% of everything I say comes from Joby Martin. That's hilarious. When you kick a cat, it's not a cent. I'm not actually encouraging you to go into cat punting. That's not literally. These are jokes, people. They're jokes. Now, you may be Going well. Yeah, but why say it? Well then, John, they're just jokes. Why would you say it? Throughout the Bible, people use hyperbolic language to get people's attention and make a point. I just need to say, dude, if, like, if a joke, if. Now again, I'm not talking about. Remember what I said at the beginning? I'm not talking about every joke. But if like any little joke is going to offend you, I just need it. Like, I'm probably not your preacher. Like you just. There are other preachers. They're very, very serious. They're very, very serious. You're never gonna hear. And honestly, a lot of them are better Bible teachers than me. I'm just probably not your dude if that's gonna bother you, okay? But throughout the Gospels, Jesus uses hyperbolic language to get attention and make a point. He literally one time said, hey, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. And he was talking about lust. Do you think when he did that, all the one handed people were like, hey, on the Internet, you know, you know, not funny, you know, so if that was a Joby Martin joke too, all this is by Joe Martin. So let me just say this, man. If a little joking around every now and then is going to bother you, going to offend you, we're probably not your church. But watch this. If the Gospel offends you and coming to Jesus is what you want, we are definitely your church. Welcome to Lake One. Welcome to Lake One, man. All right, let's get back to this woman. Why do you involve me? Jesus wrote, I got to go a lot faster now. Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, this is the best description of discipleship in the Bible. Do whatever he tells you. It said, do whatever he tells you. Y', all, man, in the church we got too many fact knowers and not enough thing doers, man. The book of James says it like this. Do not merely listen to the word. And so watch this. What's it say? Deceive yourselves. Do what it says. In other words, here's what James is saying. There's a type of Christian that is totally deceived. And what's deceiving them is they think because they got all this Bible knowledge and they can quote all the verses and they read the Greek and they read the newest book study that just came out of the popular Christian book, they think because they know all that stuff, they're really mature and they're not mature at all. They're deceived no, no. The people who are mature Christians are not thing know. Are not fact knowers. They're thing doers. It is not enough just to know about the Bible or to know the things in the Bible. It is not even to, at one level, just believe the Bible. What changes your life is when you apply the truth. It's when you apply the truth. Okay, again, this is a joke. Okay, like, the best example of this, working with middle schoolers. I love you middle schoolers, but when I'm working with middle schoolers, it's like, man, you always just want to ask, like, hey, man, like, have you. Have you heard of deodorant? Have you heard of it? Did you, like, just as a camp counselor, have you heard of it? They're like, yes, what about this? Do you believe in deodorant? Yes, I believe in. Do you have access to deodorant? Yes, I have access. You believe in it, too? Yes, I believe in it. Well, listen, hearing about deodorant doesn't do anything. It's the application of the deodorant that not only changes you, but your entire surroundings. See, this is what the Bible is saying is going, hey, man, what we want to do is Jesus goes, do whatever he tells you. Like, let me just lean in. And we don't get this a lot at Lake Point, but we have a lot of people who watch from other churches. And honestly, I just want to rebuke you a little bit. There's a lot of. A lot of Christians say this. They say, oh, I just wish my church would go deeper. Here's the reality. Reality is the vast majority of Christians are educated past their level of. Are educated. Let me. Where is it? This is really important. Educated. Beyond your level of obedience. If you would just do what you already knew, your life would start to change if you just do it, man. Listen, here are the two questions every Christian needs to answer. Number one, what is the Lord telling you to do? Every person in this room, you need to have an answer to that question. Every person in any campus. What right now is the Lord telling you to do? What's the next right step to follow His Lordship? And number two, once you know it, why aren't you doing it? Why aren't you doing it? Like, I want to be the type of guy who, if I feel like the spirit is prompting me to do something, even if it's awkward, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. Like, here's a little example of this. This happened like three Weeks ago. It was Kevin. Dude was here last night was one of these guys. I walk into this restaurant called Giovanni's. Great restaurant. I'm not paid to say that it's a great restaurant. I walk into Giovanni's, and I'm picking up a to go order, and this couple sitting at the bar asked me, hey. They got this little look on their face like, I know who you know, I know I know who you are kind of thing. And they probably, you know, honestly, they probably go to another campus because they got the I thought you'd be taller look, you know? And that's also a Joby Martin joke. These are a lot of Joey Martin. And so they look at this and they're like, hey, Pastor, would you pray with us? And so I'm like, yeah, man. You know, the spirit's prompting me. I want to do that. So I pray with them right there in Giovanni's. I look up when we're done praying, there's a line, a line formed, and there's like this little line from. So the next person was Kevin. Kevin was here last night to her for me. And so I pray with Kevin, and then I pray with the next one. The next one was a lady. And then I get to the fourth person. I'm like, hey, so what campus do you go to? Is literally what she said. She's like, I don't go to your church. I go to another church. I just want to see if you can pray better. My pastor. That's what she said. Okay, Now, I just. Here's the thing. Could be a little awkward, but I just want to do whatever it is that it feels like the Lord is telling me to do. Hey, Lake Point Church, what is the Lord telling you to do right now? What's the next step that you need to take? Some of you've been around here, man. You've been here about the next step class. That's how you become a member of a church. And you know, you need to do it. Why haven't you done it? You've been hearing about a life group where it's like, that's a spiritual family. You get connected to the family of God to get pressed into the things of God, or you need to lead one. You know you need to do it. Why haven't you done it yet? Thousands of you, 2,000 of you, crossed a line of faith in the last few weeks at Lake Point Church. And it's like, hey, man, your next step is to be baptized in obedience to the lordship of Jesus. Baptism Sunday's coming up. Why haven't you signed up for that yet? Like, whatever it is, what is the Lord telling you to do? Know what that is? And then take that step. And then watch this. Small obediences end up leading to a big miracle. Watch this. Read it with me, not out loud. Next stood six stone water jars, the kind used for ceremonial Washington, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to his servants, watch this. Fill the jars of water. There's a command. So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, now, draw some out, and they do it 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. Notice how many small steps of obedience God used. And those small obedience steps lead to a big miracle. All these tiny little things. Mary comes up, we need more wine. The servants come over here, Fill the thing with water, Dip the ladle in, dip it out, take it to that dude, and there's a miracle at the end of obedience. Lake Point Church can say this. It makes me wonder how many miracles in the room are stored up in water jars, waiting for some disciples to do whatever he told them. I wonder, man. I wonder, man. Like, a few weeks. It was right before Easter. I walk in, and we got these. They're called the seatback. They're called the seatback group. It's the seatback team. Y' all don't even know these people exist. They're like little Navy seals of, like, Lake Point, okay? And what they do is this group of senior saints. It's all these senior saint, precious, dear, sweet old ladies. They walk. I love you. You're young in spirit. And, you know, and they come in and they meet. And literally, these people walk around every room at every campus, and they put those little things, whatever it was, the Easter survey, in the back of the seat. Nobody knows they're there. They're volunteers, and they, by hand, pray over every chair. So I'm in there, dude, like, nobody. You're never gonna know their name. You're probably never gonna know who that is. But watch this. Every time you walk in, there's thousands of small obediences leading to big miracles all over this church. When you drove in, there was some dude in a parking lot on a golf cart helping single moms get their little kids out of minivans and get them to the door. You walk up, somebody's opening your door. You're putting your kids in the kids ministry. You walk in here, all these little techy little dudes over here are pushing buttons and doing those little. I don't know what they do. A lot of them are volunteers there so that you can hear. And all of these thousands of small obedience, they lead up to the spot where I just do my one thing that I do. I open the word of God and unleash the power of the word of God on the. The spirits of the people of God. And then you remember what happened at Easter. At the end of that, you thousands away, you grabbed this little Easter survey on a seat back in front of you. And that is how 2,000 people cross a line of faith in one week. Small obediences lead to big miracles, man, we just gotta, like, Gotta just take this step, man. Let's keep going. He didn't realize where it had come from, though his servants who had drawn the water knew. So 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. They did the same thing in the first century. You do that. They started with Woodford Reserve. They ended the night with Natty Light. That's what was going on. And they're going, hey, man. And they're going, hey. But you did the opposite. Whatever I just had from Jesus at the end, that's the best thing. God doesn't make junk. God doesn't make you. What Jesus did here, verse 11 in Cana of Galilee, was the first of the. You say it. The first of the what? Through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. Do you know why it says sign? A sign points away from itself. The whole purpose. Listen, the purpose of a miracle is not for you to get a miracle. The purpose of a miracle is to point you towards the miracle worker. And his name is Jesus of Nazareth. That's the purpose of a miracle. Now listen, this is the best part. Oh, I hope you get this. Lord, help give me the ability to preach this. Okay, Check this out, man. Okay. Why does Jesus make wine in stone jars his first miracle? Why would he do that? He could have done anything. He could have raised 50 dudes from the dead. He could have written his name. He could have made like all the turtles in the ocean come up and spell Jesus on the top of the water, whatever he wanted to do, literally anything, and he chose to do this. Okay, but there's more going on here than meets the eye. I told you earlier that the Bible says that these things, they were used for ceremonial purification. And what's going on here is all throughout the Old Testament, God set up all these ceremonial rituals to point people to how to foreshadow how he would someday permanently cleanse them of their sins and stains, but that they would have to continually rinse and cleanse themselves through these rituals for all the centuries up to Jesus. And one way was these dudes, they would walk into meals. I've actually seen these things in Israel. If you ever go with me, it's awesome. And you know, they would be ceremonially unclean or just unclean. Unclean, let's just kind of gross. And right before a meal, what they would do is they would put their hands down in these ceremonial cleansing jars all the way down to about the elbows and they just, they try to scrub it off. Okay, just try to scrub it off. Now remember, check this out. We're gonna do a little theology and just stay with me. The payoff's huge. These things, for centuries had been one aspect of how you cleanse yourself from sin and wash away your stain. Let me take you all the way back to the children of Israel in Egypt and tell you why Jesus did this as his first miracle at the end of all the 12 plagues, the last one, remember? And the children of Israel in Egypt, and the angel of death is going to come and, and he's going to take the firstborn. And do you know why? Because God is holy and we're not. And the wages of sin is death. And so it would have been, it was totally just. But God gave the children of Israel. He's like, hey, there's one way that you can be spared from the wages of sin. And here's what he said, like thousands of years before Jesus came, one way you can be spared from your sin. I want you to take a spotless lamb and slay a spotless lamb. And then I want you to take its blood and dip hyssop. And he commanded specifically the plant, take hyssop, dip it in the blood and put it on the top and on the doorposts of the house. So they would have done this, they would have gone like this, this, and then up and to the top. And what Bible scholars say is that night when an angel of death came through that, what you would have seen is thousands of blood soaked doors with, with a cross on the door. And everywhere the angel of death saw a blood, a bloody cross. He passed over and he did not require the wages of sin from that place. David, David in the book of psalms, in Psalm 51, when he commits Adultery and murder. And he's stained by a sin. He says, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. And he's referring to the blood of the spotless stained lamb that, like, it's the cleansing agent that can take it out. And then Jesus shows up hundreds of years later. And the first time John the Baptist sees him, all scruffy looking dude, yelling weird things out in the desert, John the Baptist sees him and God gives him the ability to know who Jesus is. And here's what he says. He says, behold the Lamb of God. That'll cleanse, that'll take away the sins of the world. Jesus is this spotless lamb. And then they get to the Passover. Remember, remember Jesus in this passage. This is like two and a half years before the Passover, when Jesus goes to the cross and he said, my hour has not yet come. But when Jesus gets to the Passover week, right before he goes to the cross, he says, now is my hour. And then he does the Last Supper. You remember the Last Supper? It's this Passover meal. And everything that was supposed to be on the table, all this has a payoff. Stay with me. Everything that was supposed to be on the table, the, the bread's there, the wine's there, the spices are there. But there was supposed to be a slain lamb on the table, and it wasn't there. And the slain lamb wasn't on the table because he was sitting at the table with them. And then, and then Jesus, think about this. He's standing at this wedding and he's looking back over the centuries where for centuries, God had established all these temporary measures by which people would have to over and over and over try to cleanse themselves from the stain of their sin, the stain of their shame. And Jesus knows in just a little while, I'm going to go to the cross. I'm going to be the slain lamb. I'm going to spill my blood whenever my blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness or remission of sin. But with the shedding of blood, there is forgiveness or remission of sin. And Jesus is going to go to the cross. And here's what he's doing. He's looking at these things that people had had to use for centuries, centuries, to cleanse themselves of their sin. And he's thinking, after I do what I'm about to do, you're not going to be needing those anymore, so you're not going to need water in them. Anymore. I'm going to put some wine in here. They're going to work real well for a time of rejoicing. The time of sorrow has gone. The time of rejoicing is here. Because the one who forgives sins is on the scene, y'. All. It's good news, man. That's good news. So when he's saying this, what he's saying is, he's saying, I'll wash you and you'll be whiter than snow. You'll finally be free of the endless cycle of you. We don't do those in America. What we do is an endless cycle of remorse and resolution. I feel bad and I resolve. I feel bad and I resolve. I feel bad and I resolve. And Jesus goes with me. That's done. Because when you put your faith in me, all your sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. Because the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed you from your sins. And the minute you place your faith in him. In fact, John, the dude that's writing this story down, he writes three epistles later in the Bible. First, second, third, John. It's not very creative with the titles, but they're amazing books. And he. What he says is he addresses Christians constantly. He goes, beloved. And when he calls Christians beloved, that's both an adjective and a command. You are beloved. But he's also saying, be loved. Why? Because this is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us. Then when Jesus pulled up on his nail, pierced hands, and he cried, it is finished. One thing that was finished was wondering if God loves me. I don't got to wonder that anymore, because this is love. Not that we love God, but he loved us and sent his Son to die for us. Here's where it all ends, y'. All. Sin had left a crimson stain, but he has washed it white as snow. That's where it goes, man. So, man, some of you. What all this is pointing to, the washing of that water. Well, all this is pointing to is you have been washed by Jesus, by your faith in him. You have crossed the line of faith. Now you need to do what your Lord is telling you to do. And you need to be baptized publicly to go public going, I'm with Jesus now. That is what Jesus is telling you to do. You got to follow your Lord's command. And his commands are not burdensome. Seriously, I'm saying. I'm just very, very practical. We got baptism Sunday coming up, like, three weeks. You need to text the word life to the number 20411. You need to be one of the hundreds of people that are going to be on this stage celebrating a risen Jesus who has washed you white as snow. And all these people, they're going to be celebrating with you blowing the roof off the place, man. So come on, man, let's do it. Let's do whatever the Lord's telling us to do. Let me pray for us. Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you so much for your power. Lord, would you stretch out your hand to save, to cleanse. To make our consciences. To cleanse our consciences so that we can walk in the purity of knowing that we have been made clean by Jesus. Father, I pray that you would free our people from condemnation, false guilt, the shame that the enemy would put on them, and that, God, that they would. They would just walk forward in the freedom of knowing that Jesus has cleansed them them once and for all, so that they are free to walk forward in the power of the spirit, in a clean life. I pray that in the power of a resurrected Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.