Has your joy run out? Has the life been drained from your party? Do you feel like you are just going through the motions without purpose or pleasure? Jesus is waiting. And what He can give you, will be better than anything you’ve experienced before. Your future can be greater than your past. When Jesus performed His first miracle, the master of the banquet exclaimed they’d saved the best for last … but it was only the beginning! This week, hear how the Holy Spirit can do something new in your life!
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>> If you have your Bibles,
I want you to open
them to John 2:2.
“Now both Jesus and His
disciples were invited
to the wedding.
And they ran out of wine,
the mother of Jesus said to Him,
‘They have no wine.’
John 2:5,
His mother said to the servants,
‘Whatever He says to you,
do it.’
Now there were set there
six waterpots of stone,
according to the manner
of the purification of Jews,
containing 20, or 30 gallons
a piece, and Jesus said,
‘Fill the water
pots with water,’
and they filled them up
to the brim,” notice that.
And they started drawing out,
“and they took it to the master
of the feast, or the governor,
and they took it.”
And then lastly, verse 10.
“And he said to them, every man,
from the beginning sets
out the good wine.
And when the guests have
well drunk, then the inferior,
but you have kept the good
wine until now.”
Some translations say you have
kept the best for the last.
And I want to talk to you,
and I want to entitle it,
“What the Holy Spirit Wants
to do for You.”
What the Holy Spirit Wants
to do for You.
In the Hebrew culture,
there was a great importance
upon marriage in the marriage
ceremony and vows and covenant.
It was so serious to even
consider getting married,
that if you got engaged
to someone and decided to call
the marriage off during
the engagement,
you couldn’t just walk away
and never speak again,
you had to write up a legal
bill of divorcement.
This is told in the story
of Joseph and Mary,
you had to write up —
If engagement was that serious
of a commitment,
can you imagine how serious
of a commitment marriage was
in the time in which Jesus
attended this wedding to perform
his first miracle and began
His earthly ministry?
It was more than —
It was more than
a ceremony, weddings.
Especially in Jesus’ day,
it was something that would go
on for days, and days and days.
And people came in from
everywhere, it was a —
remember there were small
villages.
It was a it was a community
celebration, all the neighbors,
all the friends,
all the dignitaries would come,
all of them.
And they would come
from everywhere.
And it was a massive
celebration that went on for
up to seven days.
If you can imagine.
It was a huge party.
I don’t know —
And I’ve studied this,
you can check this out.
It was a huge party.
And what I love about this
story is that Jesus was
invited to the wedding.
He was invited to the party.
He had not yet begun
His earthly ministry and yet,
He gets up and when He was
invited to the party,
He went to the party.
He got up and got his
clothes on.
And I’m sure as he was about
to go out the door
and the disciples were hustling
and bustling to get
their clothes ready
and to go with him.
They thought, where are we
going?
I don’t know,
probably going to the synagogue,
probably going to church,
probably going to —
He’s probably got a brand new
revelation and teaching
he’s gonna share on with
the multitudes.
We’re going to something
spiritual, I guarantee you.
And as they’re leaving,
somebody just casually says,
Where are we going, Jesus?
He says, we’re going to a party.
We are going to a party.
Not to synagogue, not to church,
not to a miracle meeting,
we’re going to a party.
When he got there,
there was quite
a celebration going on.
There were people who were
dancing and hooping
and hollering and singing
and dancing and drinking,
and carrying on like you
wouldn’t believe.
And Jesus was there.
They had the head table.
They had the guest of honor.
They had the governor
of that region.
They had the bridegroom,
and everybody was there.
The real guest of honor was
not at the table of honor.
He was not up front.
He was among the people
and they didn’t even
know he was there.
Did you know that you can
be in the presence of God
and not get the benefits of God
until circumstances arise
that only God can handle?
Sometimes God manipulates
circumstances so that you
can come into an awareness
of who is with you.
It’s possible that you are going
through something right now,
and you don’t even know
who’s with you.
But it’s amazing to me how
God can take and let
something happen.
And all of a sudden
you need him.
All of the sudden there
is no human answer.
All of the sudden,
nobody can fix it, but Jesus,
and your whole attitude changes.
And suddenly you need Him
and you develop
an appreciation for him,
and what he can offer
in your life.
And God has a way of putting
you in circumstances that cause
you to need him.
Nobody was praying
at this party.
Nobody was doing anything
but drinking and partying
and dancing and having
the biggest time,
but he knows how in the midst
of a party to get
your attention.
It ought to make us tremble,
it really should.
It ought to make us shudder
to think how many times Jesus
sat back in a corner.
And he went with us to every
situation we got ourselves in.
He was at the party,
you know, that party.
He was there.
You know, that hotel room,
you know, that situation,
you know, that dog track,
you know, I don’t know,
he goes to places like that.
He’s not just Holy Jesus,
who comes the church,
he was there,
and they didn’t even know
he was there.
And what’s so amazing is he’s
sitting there in the corner,
while they’re having
their party,
and they are unaware
and could care less about him
and anything he has to offer
until the party ran out of wine.
They had been dancing,
music, carrying on,
but they ran out of wine.
Wine in the Bible represents
sustainable joy.
The party that the devil will
throw you is one that sooner
or later will run out of wine.
Sooner or later,
there’s pleasure in sin
for a season,
but then the party,
they’re partying without wine.
And at some point,
it hits them,
we don’t have anything
to sustain the party.
The party scene isn’t
as great as you thought it was,
the money hasn’t got the power
that you think it does,
the person that you are willing
to wreck your world for doesn’t
fulfill you like you thought
he would or she would,
because everything
the devil offers you,
he offers you the best first
and then it gets worse
and worse,
and the wine runs out
of his party every time.
There is no sustainable joy
in turning your back on God
and good and walking away from
the presence of the Lord.
There is no sustainable joy.
No amount of money can
give it to you.
No amount of success can
give it to you.
No amount.
And I don’t care where you live,
what neighborhood.
Oh, if I had that I would
have sustainable joy.
No, you would not.
If Jesus is not the center
of your life,
you will never know joy,
peace, and the happiness
that God wants us to have.
Clap your hands and praise
the Lord somebody.
It was in this moment that when
something went out of the party.
Everybody’s looking at the bride
up to this moment, the couple,
looking at the governor,
looking at the celebrities that
were at the main host table,
looking at all the wedding party
and what they’re wearing
and all of that.
But the moment that
it ran out, all attention —
Isn’t it funny how we can
focus on everybody but Jesus
until we get in an emergency.
Jesus didn’t plan on doing
anything, his mother made him.
He said it’s not my time mother.
And she said whatever
he says do, do it.
That means you ‘gon
do something,
now out there and do it.
But this was an emergency.
All of a sudden, the party
crowd is talking about,
“If there is a God up there,
we sure could use some help.”
It’s kinda like the church has
come to the world’s party
after all that we’ve been
through the last year or so.
Now is the time for Jesus
to give what
the world is missing.
And notice how he does it.
In verse six, he said bring
me the six ceremonial pots
and fill them with water
to the brim.
I want you to bring those six,
six is the number of man,
six is the number of sin.
And they were ceremonial pots
that were used by the Jews
to wash themselves before
they went into the temple.
He said, I want you to bring
the old religious pots
and I’m going to work a new
miracle in old pots.
I believe those pots represent
denominations,
represent the church that
basically has nothing to offer
a world that has no joy.
Because we have become
so religious,
all we care about is our
own personal righteousness
and holiness and how pure
and clean we are when
the world is dying,
and they’re dying right
before our eyes.
And the Lord says,
I’m going to use
those old ceremonial pots.
But I’m going to have to do a
new miracle with some old pots.
And I wonder sometimes
if we don’t watch it,
that we don’t come to church,
and we become those old pots.
We get in here and we hear
a song like that God
can dissolve plates,
God can heal cancer.
And we almost give it mental
assent and act like I don’t
really don’t have miracles
might happen.
But I don’t really believe
for anything.
You know what you are?
An old pot that needs to get
in the presence of Jesus,
and let him fill you
to the brim.
And you can say,
Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever, what he did,
he can still do.
What he was, he still is.
What he said, He’s still saying.
He’s not the great I used to be,
he’s not the great
I’m going to be.
He is the Great I Am.
He said fill them with
water to the brim.
And I like the fact that he
said fill them with water
to the brim.
See if they had brought Jesus
pots full of grapes,
and he would have made them
turned him into wine.
That would be kind
of understandable a little bit.
But he said, I want you to bring
me something that has none
of the source of what I will
make out of it in itself.
There is no way that water
can make itself by its own
actions into wine.
They’re two different
completely creations
one is water,
and one comes from grapes
and it’s wine.
And the two are not the same.
And he said I want you to fill
it to the brim with what I know
it cannot be to please me.
And when it’s full,
and when you know
in other words,
what’s you’re full of.
Pride, religiosity, legalism,
self justification,
your own holiness,
your own righteousness,
your laundry list of I gave
my tithe this week,
blah blah blah.
And God says when you finally
get full of what —
I want you to bring me
what you’re full
of that you can never,
ever, ever —
All your righteousness,
when you’re full of it.
All your righteousness
is as filthy rags to me.
And he says, “You come, now.”
And I cannot explain to you,
the Bible isn’t clear.
It does give one hint, it said,
and he said to them,
when they filled it full,
he said “pour it out,”
and that means they were
pouring it from one vessel
to another vessel.
And while the pouring
was taking place,
the power of His presence —
It’s not enough to sing songs
and give talks from the pulpit.
There will be no transformation.
Water is weak, wine is strong.
Water is cheap, worthless,
wine is expensive.
Water is tasteless,
wine is intoxicating.
How in the world can
I make that into this?
There’s only one answer,
it has to get in the power
of the presence of Jesus.
And I’m so desperate for that
because our young people,
they hear sermons and stuff,
but if we don’t get desperate
to get ourselves
in these services,
in the power of His presence…
My greatest gift
to communicate will not
transform water into wine.
But if I can somehow
become a gateway.
And if the team can somehow
and if you can somehow
with your hunger
become a gateway that
we get people into the power
of His presence.
Suddenly as it’s being
poured out,
suddenly God begins to turn
weakness into power
and God begins to turn
worthlessness into something
extremely costly.
Everybody say,
“the power of His presence.”
How long has it been since
you’ve been in His presence?
Not church, not another service,
not another alter call,
not another “raise your hands,
praise the Lord, clap,
happy clap, bye,
see you next week.”
When was the last time you
left church saying I’ll never
be the same again?
I’ll never be the same again.
And as they poured it —
You can’t evolve into what
God wants you to be,
it only comes from being
in his presence.
And as they poured it, Jesus
said serve it to the governor.
The guy who has everything.
And he had a preconceived idea
that what they were offering him
was inferior because he said
I really don’t want
to drink this trash.
Because what I’ve got,
what I can afford
and the life that I have
compared to what pitiful
little, what’s his name?
Jesus?
I never heard of him.
But anyhow, whatever little
blessing he put on there.
You’re offering me that compared
to my power and my position?
Have you seen my house?
Have you seen the car
I rolled up in?
Do you know what kind of rims?
Do you know?
Do you know the boat?
Do you know the lifestyle
I live, and you dare —
I’m not used to this
cheap trash stuff,
but I guess I’ll give it a sip.
And here’s the big point.
How do you explain
water to wine?
You can’t.
All you can do is taste it.
How do I explain the baptism
and the Holy Ghost?
How do I explain that God
can heal through your hands?
How do I explain the gifts
of the Spirit?
How do I explain
walking with Jesus?
How do I do that?
The only thing —
You really can’t explain it.
The only thing you can
do is try to get people
in the power of His presence
long enough that they
take a sip.
And he thought, y’all are just
lucky I’m at this party.
And I really don’t want this
cheap stuff because I’m
used to Cabaret.
I don’t even know now,
we’re really getting in
a mess here.
But I don’t drink.
I never been a drinker.
And I don’t intend to be.
So I don’t know what
I’m talking about.
But I do know this story
happened like this.
Because this guy said,
I have a preconceived idea that
what you’re offering me
is so inferior to what the party
I’ve been living with my stuff.
Then he takes a sip.
He says, I had life,
but this is life
more abundantly.
I had joy, but this
is sustainable joy.
Now, by that I don’t mean
you have a perfect life.
I don’t mean that somehow you’re
excluded from pain and sorrow
and trials and tough days
and horrible things that
happen in your life.
But I have a sustainable joy,
that no matter what I go
through, I will make it.
I will rejoice, I will come
out because all things work
together for my good.
I’m almost done.
The governor said, my goodness.
He said, most people serve
the best first
and then the cheap stuff,
but you saved the best for last.
Then Jesus turns
and he says to His disciples,
I want you to go to Jerusalem.
I’m about to go to Heaven.
Oh, no, Lord, you’re the best!
We can’t make it without you.
You’re our comforter.
When we get in storms,
you come walking on the water.
When we need provision,
you make fish pay our taxes.
You’re our comforter
in the storms of life,
in the trials of life.
You can’t leave us.
No!
He said it’s all right.
John 14:16,
I will send another comforter.
Oh, hallelujah.
I’ll send another comforter.
He’ll hold you at the grave
site of a loved one.
He’ll be there in the middle
of the night when your mind
is racing and you don’t know
what to do.
And you don’t have the answers
and you feel like the whole
world is on your shoulders.
He’ll come like a comforter;
he will attach Himself to you.
Because I’m gonna go away
and you thought I was the best.
But I’m sending you have a gift
called the Comforter,
the Holy Spirit.
So can you see those
120 disciples, you know,
Mary, the mother of Jesus
was in there.
Peter, James and John
were in there.
They go up in the Upper Room.
And he said stay there 50 days
til the day of Pentecost.
And they’re trying
to have church,
they’re trying to have a party,
but they don’t have no wine.
That’s why I’m glad
I’m in a spirit-filled church.
I’m sorry,
there is a difference.
I said that in —
and may we always keep it.
If it were left up
to some of you,
we’d become some old dead
religious pot with still
water in it.
But may it never happen
at Free Chapel.
May we never be ashamed
of the power in the anointing.
May we always rely on the power
of His presence,
more than our talent,
more than our gifts,
more than our buildings,
more than our wealth,
more than anything we have,
we can’t transform anyone,
only Jesus.
♪ ♪
I pray today that what you’ve
heard has touched your heart.
I don’t know the issues
that are very real to you
may feel completely overwhelming
and you don’t know what to do,
and you don’t know
where to turn.
Well that’s when you
turn to Jesus.
Pray with me
right where you are,
just say these words:
Lord, Jesus,
today I surrender all.
I give my life.
I give my all to you today.
Take me, wash me, cleanse me,
forgive me and release me
from the power of Satan.
I receive, today,
a brand new life.
I need you in my life,
in my home, in my family.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
We would love
to be there for you.
We’ve got free material
we want to send you
and we want to help you
in your brand new life,
teach you what to do,
and how to go to the next level
in your relationship with God.
I know there’s a team
here that really cares.
And in our closing moments
together, I’m sure that you’ve
been watching the conflict
between Israel
and the Palestinians.
I want to make very clear
how much we love
the Palestinian people.
I know many Christian pastors
are in that area of Palestine.
And they’re preaching the gospel
and they have wonderful brothers
and sisters in Christ.
And this is not about that.
This is about
the fact that Hamas
is a terrorist organization.
Their leadership
is a terrorist organization
recognized all over
the world as terrorists,
and they have started a war
by the rockets by the hundreds
and even thousands that
they’ve shot into Israel.
God moved on our hearts
some months ago,
really a couple of years ago,
almost two years now,
we have been building a school
and play area for children
named “Feeding Center,”
that is a bomb shelter.
And together, we’re building
these centers so that people
can run and be sheltered
as they’re having hundreds
of rockets —
Recently two people were
killed and several more injured
right in the area where
we have those bomb shelters.
And one’s completed,
another under construction
and the other two to be built
as soon as possible.
It’s really something and you,
our wonderful partners,
are making this kind of support
for the nation of Israel.
Would you help me with
these tremendous projects?
If God speaks to your heart,
we would deeply appreciate
you helping us help Israel
and build these shelters.
Thank you and we love you.
In God we pray for
the peace of Jerusalem.
God bless you.
We’ll see you next time right
here on Kingdom Connection.
>> Palestinian militant groups
fired more rockets
into Israel overnight.
>> Israel’s missile
defense systems…
>> Hamas fired more rockets
toward Israeli…
>> 1,800 have been launched
since Monday.
>> 7 rockets targeted the city.
>> Your overwhelming financial
support has allowed Jentezen
Franklin Media Ministries
to not only construct critical
bomb shelters in Israel,
but now we are able to provide
trauma therapy through
the post-trauma program
in Eshkol.
>> We understand that one
of the most important
resources for someone to go
through a traumatic moment is
to know that we are not alone.
To know that we have friends
across the ocean that
take care of us.
>> As our thank you for
your gift of $50 or more,
we want to bless you with
the Healing Tree bundle.
Through this uplifting
resource bundle,
you’re going to discover
the wonderful blessings God
has for you.
Our thank you for
your gift of $500 or more,
we want to bless you
with the Healing Tree gift set,
featuring Jentezen’s uplifting
book, “Acres of Diamonds.”
Our thank you for
your gift of $1,000 or more,
we want to bless you
with the Healing Tree collection
to thank you for your generosity
towards this ministry
and your heart
for the Jewish people.
We want to plant a tree
in your honor in Israel
and send you a beautiful
“Comfort My People” coin
made with soil from Jerusalem,
as well as the many other
resources in this power
pack collection.
Your gift will provide healing
and hope to the families
living in a war zone.
Visit us online.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
>> We hope you’ve enjoyed
this teaching
by Jentezen Franklin,
and thank you
for your continued support
of this ministry.
Your prayers
and financial support
make these programs possible.
For more information
about this message
and other ministry resources,
visit us online
at JentezenFranklin.tv.
♪ ♪