It’s Mother’s Day at Church by the Glades! We continue our series, “Bless My Stress,” with phenomenal guest speaker, Priscilla Shirer. We dived into the book of John where she teaches us that signs are used not for us to worship, but to point us to Jesus.
[Music]
hey there it’s Priscilla and I can’t
tell you how excited I am to have an
opportunity to share this Sunday with
you this is so great and it’s great for
many reasons one of them is that the
reality is as you all know this is such
a unique time in our country a unique
time in the world and yet God has made
it that even though we’re not gathered
together in brick and mortar we’re still
gathered together we’re still able to be
the body of Christ and I love that the
Lord organized the opportunity for his
spirit to still be present with every
single one of us even though we’re
scattered and so it’s a joy and a
privilege to be able to just be a part
of what God is doing in the life of your
church and you know we love y’all’s
church right feels like family to us
not only because David and Lisa have
been such a part of our life for so long
hi David Lisa I love you guys but also
because your church has been a part of
our lives for so long been at your
church before and of course my brother
Anthony comes on a regular basis and so
really it feels like family to us so I
feel incredibly grateful to share with
you on this day Mother’s Day I mean all
parents deserve to be celebrated for one
reason or another we invest so much but
mothers it’s a privilege to be able to
encourage you specifically today I think
the word that God has for us really is
going to be an encouragement to all of
us regardless what season of life were
you in regardless of poor single parents
or parents at all I think it’ll be
encouraging to all of us but for those
of you that are moms just know that I’ve
had you on my mind as I’ve thought about
this because you know I’m a mother
myself raising three sons so I have been
spending my mandated sort of quarantine
days and hours doing exactly what you’ve
been doing girl trying to feed these
people on a regular basis washing the
dishes that are a residual effect of all
the food that we’ve had to feed them
keep trying to keep them on some sort of
schedule you know doing their laundry
semi cleaning their bathroom you know
that sort of thing so our life has all
been very full even though it’s been
pruned and weaned down by everything
that has happened and so here we are in
this moment where we’re trying to do our
best to support our families to keep our
ownselves encouraged to take care of you
know the small businesses that we run or
the ministries that we have all the
dynamics that
of our life that are still in play
despite the fact that our world is going
through such a unprecedented time and so
to minister to you specifically now
means a lot one other thing I want to
say before I pray for us it means a lot
to me too because this is actually my
first Mother’s Day without my mom my mom
passed away you know just a little while
ago and so still healing from that
emotionally and trying to wrap my mind
around spending this day without my mom
being here so knowing that I could spend
the day encouraging you in the position
that you’re in that feels like a gift
and a blessing to me therapeutic in a
way so again thank you let’s pray
together and see what God wants to say
to us lord I thank you I thank you
father that your spirit is alive I thank
you that your word is alive and I think
you’ve been in these next few moments
you were going to do what only you can
take this one little simple message Lord
multiply it as many different ways as it
needs to be multiplied so that every
single person under the sound of my
voice knows that today they’ve been
encouraged by the voice of God in Jesus
name Amen
up until a couple years ago my family
and I lived for a full decade we lived
in a more rural part of Dallas and we
liked it that way we planned it that way
actually we wanted to raise our kids
when they were really young there I
think I said they were in there in their
teenage years now but when they were you
know six and four and two years old we
were in a rural part of Dallas it was
close enough to the city to get there
really quickly but it felt far away you
know we kind of had to go down a
backwood from the latest a backwoods
road from the the nearest Starbucks that
was there the Barnes and Noble about ten
minutes or so so it wasn’t that it was
far away it’s just that once we went
back into the places where we live where
our house was
we just felt like we were worlds and
worlds away we loved it that way loved
it because there was a backyard really
big the house we were in was real small
but we wanted to live out there because
the land and you know these three boys
we wanted them to be able to do what
boys need to do go play with bugs and
trees and stuff like that anytime my
boys growing up would say to me mom I’m
bored I was saying
you know you see that tree out there go
play with it go enjoy yourself outside
because I’m a big believer in outside
the only reason though that it was
concerning to me the whole dynamic of so
much outside was when someone that
didn’t live in our home and wasn’t from
that neighborhood wanted to come visit
us I’d always have to give them you know
country directions not regular
directions but country directions you
know because there were some streets and
some curves that actually had street
signs other ones of them if they did
have street street signs they weren’t
clear anymore maybe some of the brush
had grown over the street signs and you
couldn’t quite see the whole word or
maybe it was a little worn and it would
be better for me to give them landmarks
over street signs so you should hear me
explaining to people how to get to our
house out there in the country it still
worked pretty well when it was daytime
but once it turned to nighttime that’s
when the problems came because it was
hard for people to really be able to see
the signs that’s what I was always
directing people to look at not just the
street signs but the landmark signs I
would tell them you’re gonna go down the
dirt road it’s gonna curve around to the
left when it curves around to the left
there was a little sign in front of a
neighborhood for example look for that
neighborhood the name of that
neighborhood then you’ll know you’re
still headed in the right direction
then when you get past the second stop
sign when you see that then you’re gonna
see a left turn there’s no sign there
but you’ll see a big stone that’s in the
ground before you’re left a big red huge
boulder that’s how you know that that’s
the left turn that you’re gonna make I
would point to all of the signs that
they were headed in the right direction
I wanted them to be able to see it and
every sign that they saw wasn’t so that
they could pay attention to the sign it
wasn’t so that they could stop at the
sign and celebrate the sign no
the signs were designed to get them to
me all throughout the scriptures
particularly in the Gospels we’re given
signs in the Old Testament as well signs
and symbols that are designed not so
that we celebrate the signs themselves
but so that we can get to the place
they’re pointing us to the person
capital P that they’re pointing us to
they’re designed to get us to do
the Gospel of John is one of my favorite
Gospels and it’s one of my favorite
Gospels because they’re a sign after
clear sign that is given to us and given
to us for a very specific purpose if you
go all the way to the end of the book of
John and I’m gonna read this verse to
you because I’m actually gonna want you
to spend your time with me over the
course of our message today I’m gonna
want you to spend it in John chapter 2
so if you want to go ahead and turn to
John chapter 2 you can but to preface
that I want to tell you what comes at
the end of the book of John the writer
of this gospel he tells us exactly why
he penned it to begin with
he tells us why under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit he wrote down these
specific miracles these specific
encounters that Jesus had with people
these specific teachings that Jesus gave
during his three years of earthly
ministry he says at the end of the book
I’m going to tell you exactly why I
wrote all this down so in John chapter
20 at the end of the book listen to me
read this John says many other signs
many other signs Jesus also performed in
the presence of the disciples but
they’re not written in this book
these things that I have written I wrote
so that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son of God and that
believing you may have life in his name
listen to how clear John is John says
Jesus did a whole lot of stuff that I
didn’t write in this book Jesus did more
stuff that I had the opportunity to
contain within the content of these
letters or these chapters rather that
would be gathered together because of
the verses and the stories and the
narratives that he wanted to make sure
to communicate he said I had to weed
through a whole lot of stuff that I
heard Jesus preach and that I
experienced myself the miracles that I
saw him do there are many other miracles
many other signs that Jesus performed
but he says the signs that I’m giving
you are designed specifically for this
purpose to point you to a person to
point you to Jesus and he says I want to
make sure to point you to Jesus so that
by believing in him you might have life
in his name
I’ve always been riveted by that that
John was so specific about the
signs he chose to record in his book so
as I thought about it a little while I
thought to myself I wonder if that was
such a lofty goal of his an important
goal of his to only choose the signs
that he thought contribute best
contributed best to his overall goal of
pointing out Jesus and making sure that
people who would read it in our day and
age and who experienced it then making
sure that people that that were
encountering this were led to a person
and to believe that Jesus is who he says
he is and that he can do exactly what he
says that he can do
I wondered well what is the first sign
he wrote about then because when you
think about it the first chapters of say
a novel that you’ve read aren’t those
the chapters that sometimes matter the
most because they’re either going to
grab your attention or they’re gonna
make you put the book down because they
were too they were too boring or maybe
the first bars of a pianist rendition
those first bars might be the most
compelling because they’re designed to
garner your attention they’re designed
to set the stage of what’s coming later
so I thought to myself well if John
wanted to do his best to draw the
readers like you and me in to draw us
into an experience with Jesus I wonder
what his first sign would be that’s what
leads us to John chapter 2 it’s a sign
that you might remember that I want to
read it to you again John chapter 2
beginning in verse 1 it says on the
third day there was a wedding in Cana of
Galilee the mother of Jesus was there
and Jesus he was also invited in his
disciples to a wedding but when all the
good wine gave out the mother of Jesus
said to him they have no more wine verse
5 says his mother said to the servants
do whatever he says for you to do now
there were six stone pots set there for
the Jewish custom and Jesus said to them
in verse seven fill the waterpots with
water and they filled him up to the brim
and then he said well now draw some of
it out take it to the headwaiter they
took it to him some way miraculously
from the time they had filled up the
pitchers of water
and the time they took it to the waiter
verse 9 says that when the head waiter
tasted the water that had become wine in
the transition he didn’t know where it
weird where it had come from but the
servants who had drawn the water they
kind of knew what was going on because
they had experienced Jesus instructions
so the head waiter surprised and
confused he calls the bridegroom over
and he says to him verse 10 everyman
usually serves the good wine first at
their wedding and you know why they do
right because after they’ve had enough
of the good wine they’re too loopy to
know when the bad wine has started to
flow and so he says everyman usually
serves the good stuff first and then
when everybody is drunk freely then they
served the poor wine but you’ve kept the
good wine until now verse 11 this was
the beginning of his signs Jesus did in
Cana of Galilee he manifested his glory
during this first sign and look at the
last line of verse 11 his disciples
believed in him his disciples believed
in him that means that it’s possible to
be his disciple and not believe in him
that means it’s possible to be a
follower to be someone who walks with
Jesus and talks with Jesus someone who
learns from Jesus someone who’s been
commissioned by Jesus someone who has
devoted their life to Jesus it’s
possible to be a disciple but not be a
real believer I’m talking about where
you lean on him where you trust him
during the difficult times of life like
the one you and I are all facing right
now when everything is in chaos all
around us but we find ourselves leaning
to our own understanding or trying to
strategize to the best of our
capabilities trusting in our own talent
or connections or resources to pull us
to and we realize we actually don’t
trust Jesus we haven’t talked to him
about it first this text shows us it’s
possible scary thought isn’t it to be a
disciple but not actually be a disciple
who believes but John says this miracle
was the
first sign that actually turned
disciples into believers and consider
the context of the sign this was a
wedding a party where the person who had
thrown this party the person who was
putting together this wedding they had
given the best they had to offer and
their best ran out they had given the
best that they had to give to the people
that they had to take care of and after
they had given the best that they had to
offer it says the best wine they had it
ran out and when they were empty when it
had run out when they had nothing else
to give Jesus stepped in and performed a
miracle when he where he gave them back
better than what they had in the first
place the primary way that John the
Gospel writer chooses to show us the
glory of Jesus displayed in a miraculous
way that actually turns believers into
disciples is when there is somebody
giving their best their best isn’t good
enough Jesus steps into that and turned
things around so radically that all of a
sudden folks who were just nominal
Christians nominal disciples well now
they’re believers who have fervent
prayer lives who are dependent upon him
who trust him and the Holy Spirit’s
power in their lives to work things out
in a way that they never otherwise would
I just want to talk to any Mama’s on
this Mother’s Day who honestly you’ve
been giving your best and you feel like
your best in goodness honestly you feel
like just like the proprietor
proprietors of this wedding party where
you feel like you keep offering up your
the best of your time the best of your
skills the best of your talents the best
of your emotional investment you keep
trying to offer up the best of your
managerial skills to this household that
God has given you to manage the best
support you can offer to your
football-playing junior in high school
or to your toddler who needs a certain
kind of support right now because of the
the issues that they may be facing with
anxiety or fear and man you’re calling
every doctor you have you’re pulling on
every connection that you have for the
emotional and educational wellness of
your child you’ve given the best
you have as a mother of an adult child
maybe who now has chosen a lifestyle who
is that is totally contradictory to the
way you know you raised them and you
feel discouraged because you’ve been
giving your best just like these people
did in John chapter 2 giving their best
to the people around them and their best
is not good enough John says that the
primary sign through our lives that
Jesus is who he says he is and their
Jesus can accomplish exactly what he
says that he can accomplish the primary
seminal sign that John writes about is
somebody just like us
who’s been given their best and their
best wasn’t good enough and in the end
it wasn’t a liability their inability to
actually do enough to satiate the people
that were around them actually became an
opportunity for Jesus to step in and
perform the very first miracle that
begin to make believers out of people
here’s what I’m trying to tell you there
are some things moms dads all of us in
our different spheres of life there are
some things that the Lord is going to
allow us to be in a position where we
are giving our best and he knows up
front that your best ain’t gonna be good
enough you’re giving the best of
yourself to that particular scenario and
the tendency is to feel frustrated and
overwhelmed because you are not seeing
the fruit of the investment you’re
putting in to that business or to these
children or to your marriage or to that
friendship or to that relationship with
your mom you’ve been trying your best to
try to breach over that divide that the
two of you have you’ve been sowing and
sowing and sowing and you don’t feel
like you’re getting the harvest that is
worth what you’ve sowed can I just
suggest to you that John is trying to
tell us that the primary part of our
lives chapter 20 that’s gonna make a
believer out of people that’s gonna
cause people to actually see Jesus
that’s going to be the main sign through
our lives that point people including
our children to a relationship with
Jesus Christ is not going to be those
parts of our life where we’ve got it all
together it’s not gonna be the parts of
our life where we’re giving our best and
our best is good enough it’s gonna be
the parts of our lives when we’re given
best and it ain’t good enough and then
in that emptiness Jesus steps in and he
turns the water we’ve got left into wine
he brings Beauty out of ashes he takes
the rubble of the mess that we had made
and he says you know what if you just
hand that on over here you have no idea
what kind of masterpieces I can make
even out of your biggest messes I want
to encourage you on this Mother’s Day to
know that when we honor God by giving
the best that we have the best of our
skill the best of our resources the best
of the connections he’s given us access
to the best that we have emotionally
investing it into the priorities that he
has given us into this season I just
want you to remember that once you’ve
given your best and your best has run
out and you feel exasperated and tired
and a little overwhelmed because you
just feel like it’s not good enough the
good news of John chapter 2 is that he
turns water into wine and at the end of
a miraculous thing like that happening
in your life the testimony you’ll have
will cause verse 11 of chapter 2 to
happen in the lives of the people that
are around you it’ll change people who
were mere disciples into true believers
it didn’t that what we want for our kids
man I got to tell you it’s what I want
it’s what I’ve been praying for with my
three sons I actually had the prayer
request really written down for each of
them while it’s the same prayer request
it’s sort of molded a little bit
differently as I’ve written it down on
each page for each son because each of
the each of them is different they all
have different personalities of course
they have different ways they’re wired
there are different weaknesses that I
can see different ways that I detect the
enemy would probably want to take
advantage of them because of the
proclivities of their flesh because of
the things they’re interested in and
that they lean toward so the prayers
would look a little bit different but
they all end up at the same goal that
I’m praying for Lord make my sons mighty
men of God who are not just churchgoers
who are not just people who are
Christians in name only
who are not just nominal disciples of
Jesus who say that their followers you
know when it’s convenient and when it’s
politically correct and who are willing
and able to be unashamed of the gospel
when you know they’re in a setting where
it’s palatable for everybody else no I
want them to be radical believers who
depend on Jesus for every aspect of
their life who depend on the filling of
the Holy Spirit to be able to be the men
that God has called them to be and walk
in the fullness of what he has destined
for them and for your children that’s
what we want we want them to really be
passionate about their relationship with
Jesus so that they can receive all of
the blessings that he has planned for
them I don’t want them to miss one thing
God has planned for them and as I pray
that and look into John chapter 2 I
realized that the primary way that my
life might be able to influence theirs
and coming to really know what it’s like
to believe with your whole heart and
soul and mind and strength in Jesus and
live in a dependent way upon him every
day for the rest of their lives it’s not
gonna come because they have a mother
who’s a know-it-all a mother who had
everything perfect a mother who got
everything right all the time and
refused to apologize when I didn’t
because I wanted to continue to look
like I was serving the best wine all the
time not not for real wine I don’t I
don’t something real wine you get the
point
it’s not gonna come because I always had
it together what might influence their
lives the most what might be the primary
sign that points them to a real
relationship with Jesus it might be
seeing a mom who every now and then says
I’ve given all of God I don’t know what
else to do let’s go to God together and
ask him to step into these circumstances
boys and to help us with this problem
you have at school to help us and turn
water into wine with this circumstance
that we’re having this relational
difficulty we’re having let’s ask God
together because mama doesn’t know it
all and daddy does know it all it might
be when Jesus steps in and when he
actually enter things in our weaknesses
when like the Apostle Paul said his
strength is made
that’s gonna be the time when they see
Jesus for who he really is their eyes
are opened and they begin to depend on
him for themselves they begin to have
their own testimony that’s what we want
you know I was thinking about this when
my second son when JC was three years
old I remember that we were at church
one Sunday and I was trying to teach him
about tithing so you know we’d give him
a dollar or something they put it in the
offering plate but at our church if
anybody misses the offering basket or
the offering plate when it goes by
there’s this box that’s in the lobby
anybody can go there after church or at
any point drop their offering in well my
boy had missed the basket that morning
and so after church we said hey and
greedy people like we usually did enjoy
that fellowship and then I walked him
out sat Lobby he still had his dollar
very anxious to give it to the Lord and
I remember saying to him as we walk
toward the lobby
I said toward him Melisande JC I want I
want you to know what this is you know
tithe is important it’s what we give to
the Lord to honor him for the blessings
that he’s given us and to honor him for
just being him he doesn’t owe us
anything and yet he continues to pour
out his blessing upon us
let’s not rob god of what is due him the
tithe 10% we’re gonna give it to the
Lord so I kept saying that to him we
give it to the Lord then I’d ask him we
give it to who he’d say we’re giving it
to the Lord we walked down into the
lobby and it had been cleared of all the
people everybody had left for the day
there wasn’t really a soul in the lobby
when we walked into the lobby down the
stairs on the left side came our very
gregarious worship leader at the time
this is the guy that lead lead worship
every single Sunday he’s the guy that
was most of the time in my son’s view
leading us all into the presence of God
and so when he saw our worship leader
coming down the staircase he looked over
seeing him remembered the money in his
hand that I had just told him we were
given to the Lord and as he watched him
walk down the stairs
looked up at me and said mom is that the
Lord explained to you no no no the
worship leader is not the Lord we’re
giving our money to the Lord but that
aide the Lord and as he said that I
thought to myself sometimes we begin to
think that the people who serve us are
the Lord we give them the worship but
that only he deserves we give them the
attention that only our God is supposed
to deserve we’re in such a church
culture that sometimes we don’t even
recognize we start to put up on a
pedestal or deify people who actually
are really just our servants so I had to
remind my son that no human being is the
Lord your attention and your full
allegiance should never be on a human
being
they’ll disappoint you in a quick hot
second but the Lord Jesus Christ he’s
the one that you give your full
allegiance to and for anybody in our
life that we love enough that we want to
make sure they’re full allegiance is
directed towards Jesus and as a mom on
this Mother’s Day I know that’s more
than anything what you want for your kid
the way they’ll most meet Jesus through
our lives it’s not because we got it all
together
girl be encouraged you don’t have to
have it all together give your best and
then when you find and you will so will
i that our best is not good enough lift
your head and your eyes in anticipation
of Jesus showing up and turning it all
around can I tell you real quickly
something that I don’t want you to miss
in closing in verse 1 John put some
little clues in the text to make sure
that we don’t miss out on the fact that
he was very intentional about this being
the first sign I don’t want you to miss
it cuz it’s so good on the third day
there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee
and the mother of Jesus was there all
the clues are in verse 1 he says Mary
the mother happy mother’s day the mother
of Jesus was there there’s only two
places in the gospel where Mary is here
is is listed she’s here at this wedding
when Jesus turns water into wine and she
is seen at the crucifixion when Jesus
dies
John wanted to build a sturdy
theological bridge between this wedding
and our insufficiency to handle the
circumstance he wants to build a sturdy
bridge from there all the way to the
crucifixion were really he again becomes
our sufficiency because we are
insufficient he basically says not only
can I handle the circumstances of your
life but I can also handle your eternal
destiny I can make sure to be your
sufficiency every day every single day
of your life and in every circumstance
he not only points to the crucifixion
but then he says that this wedding was
took place on the third day when Jesus
was raised from the grave from the dead
the third day John wanted to make sure
there was another theological bridge
that was sturdy and that was built not
only from the crucifixion from this
wedding but also from here all the way
to the resurrection he wants you to know
that the same power that got Jesus up
out of the grave is the same power that
is available to you every single time
you feel insufficient or outmatched or
like the underdog or your best is not
good enough he wants you to know that
the same power that got Jesus up out of
the grave is the same power at work on
your behalf
but not only that he finally leaves a
clue in verse 1 and says this wasn’t
just don’t rig any old regular party he
says I want to make sure you know this
was a wedding and there’s another
wedding that’s going to take place Jesus
is going to split the clouds did you
know that that Jesus is coming back I
don’t mean in theory I mean Jesus is
coming back I mean the Trump is gonna
sound and I mean that the sky is gonna
open up and we’re gonna finally see our
Savior face to face and the bridegroom
will come and there will be a grand
wedding as he gathers the bride that’s
us
to himself and we are united once and
for all John wanted to make sure you
knew that from now today Mother’s Day
2020 all the way until we see him face
to face
he has got your back he has got you
covered so on this Mother’s Day if you
feel discouraged and like you just can’t
make it one more day would you remember
that he is your sufficiency would you
remember that the same power who raised
him up is the same power at your
disposal every single day and would you
remember that until Jesus breaks through
the clouds and gathers us to himself he
will take care of you he will cover you
and he will keep you that’s great
Lord Jesus I thank you I thank you that
you’ve got our back I thank you that we
don’t have to be the perfect one because
the perfect one has already come we
thank you for Jesus and lord I pray that
for every mother under the sound of my
voice on this day that you will
encourage her then you will remind her
that you are her sufficiency in Jesus
name Amen