The Servants Knew

John 2.1-11

v.9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew...

The highest calling on this earth is to be a servant of God. These servants at the Wedding in Cana of Galilee became that in a moment. Jesus called them, gave them a specific task and they did it. He is calling people to be His servants today.

If you looked at this scene in 30 A.D. in Cana of Galilee, Israel you would look at the Banquet Master. That is who was overseeing and directing this wedding feast. He was kind of the Maitre' D of the 1st Century. It is interesting how so often we look at the person in charge.

The activity among the servants and Jesus and His Disciples were where things were really happening. That is the way Jesus works! You would not have even heard of that little out of the way place called Cana of Galilee if it were not for Jesus.  He goes where needs are to help.

It is still so today. Go to the horrific disaster in Texas to today caused by Hurricane Harvey. You will find relief efforts by Nazarene Compassion Ministries, Samaritan's Purse and The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team with its chaplains among other Christian groups and churches. I love that Pastor from that Spanish Church in Houston who took his boat out to rescue people! (Video)

Go to any natural disaster world wide and it will be the same. Who is still going into Haiti, 7 1/2 years after the earthquake? The church, small mission groups.

Go to the local food pantry and it is run by the church or people from the church.

All over the country today people who do not drive were picked up and brought to church by others.

All these things manned by people who felt Jesus speak to them about serving.

V.5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you."

1. The Definition of a Servant is Just That! v.5

"Do whatever He tells you." Great advice! Godly counsel!

My cousin to my Mom about our trip to Haiti

My Mom's answer... God has told him to go!

Mary did not know what Jesus would do. She knew if anyone could help He could! Often we do not know what the LORD will tell us to do.

Serving the LORD means doing whatever He tells us to do.

The  directions Jesus gives us are very simple.

"Fill the jars with water."

"Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

Go here. Go there. Speak to this person.

Write this person a note.

Jesus' followers follow Him and His Directions.

2. Servants Get To See Things Others Don't. v.9

Special Moments as God works.

God could do miracles in the sky. He chooses rather to work through our hands, the hands of His servants.

In the most menial tasks like filling water jars He appears and does wonders. We watch Him move. Years ago when we had Thanksgiving Dinners we would see the LORD open hearts. 

Each task is dignified when it is done for Jesus.

The servants knew... the Banquet Master did not.

The secrets of the kingdom...

Mark 4.11 The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. -Jesus

He spoke this to His disciples. Nicodemus was struggling to understand, seeking... The disciples didn't fully until after Jesus rose from the dead.

Then they knew!

We are on this side of the resurrection. We have understanding, insight into the Word of God, the ways He works, His Hand upon us.

The servants knew the power of God.

The servants knew Jesus could work miracles. 

The servants knew Jesus' character.

* He was not into making a spectacle of Himself.

* He cares about people.

* He saves the best until last.

Get involved in serving the LORD and you will see things that will blow you away! Barbara with the Haiti Children. Our neighbors know.

3. Servants Can Look Back on God's Hand Upon Things.

These servants never forgot what happened that day. 

They never saw anything like this before!

When God works in our lives those moments stand out.

In John 14.11 Jesus is giving His Last Will and Testament to His Disciples before He goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to be arrested and the next day be crucified.

He is speaking to them about things they have never heard Him say before. 

He states, "Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

Servants of God can look back on a vast array of Divine Moments when God stepped in and worked.

I am using this in my life when I come up against things that make no sense or when I am praying and there is no answer coming.

Habakkuk struggled in his prayers at one point in his life.

The nation was going down the tubes. He had been praying. God had seemingly been silent. In Habakkuk 1.2 "How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but You do not listen?" 

Habakkuk found out that God was working even though it did not appear He was. Serving the LORD, wrestling through these issues, shows us God i working all things together for our good, for us because we are the called according to His Purpose.

Psalm 100.2 Serve the LORD with gladness... The most content people are those! Filled to overflowing with joy.

The Servants Knew

The power of Jesus Christ.

The compassion of the Savior

The joy of obedience

Him!

Last Sunday Message

http://www.patchnaz.net/audio/a2017_08_27.mp3

Consider My Sighing Part Two

Consider My Sighing Part Two

Psalm 5.1-3

Give ear to my words O LORD, consider my sighing.

Listen to my cry for help my King and my God,

for to You I pray.

Morning by morning, O LORD, You hear my voice;morning by morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation.  (vs.1-3)

Consider= to discern, understand, consider

to perceive

to understand, know (with the mind)

to give heed to

to have  insight

teach, instruct

attentive, consider diligently

Sighing = Hagah

to moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter, meditate, devise, plot, speak

to roar, groan, to utter

to meditate, devise, muse, imagine

Unutterable feelings and thoughts. Words are the clothes that carry our prayers but they originate in the heart. Sighs come right from the heart out... Ah! 

Sighing= emit a long, deep, audible breath expressing sadness, relief, tiredness, joy or a similar feeling.

synonyms: breathe out, exhale; groan, moan

meditation--moanings of that half-uttered form to which deep feeling gives rise--groanings, as in Romans 8:26-27

Haggadah= "Telling" ...Passover Book

Hagah= moans, unutterable feelings and thoughts, meditate

David is praying for the LORD to understand his moans. He was no stranger to grief in his life. Like us there were times when he didn't understand why his own family was against him. There was a whole decade of his life when he was a fugitive due to a jealous King Saul. He also became the world's greatest hymn writer and  comforter of human pain... because he understood suffering, not from a book or from others but from his own heart and life.

Consider my sighing...

1. We Sigh When We Lose A Loved One.

We cry. Tears... out of our eyes, We sigh... out of our hearts and lungs.

Greg Adams:

What is this all about—this sighing as part of grief? We sigh for lots of different reasons and in many different situations. There is the contented sigh at the end of the day or when relaxing. The “life is good” sigh. There is the sigh of relief that can come in a few varieties such as “thank goodness that is over” and “thank goodness that (bad thing) didn’t happen.” There is also the sigh that comes with disappointment, frustration or exasperation. The kind of situation where in emails we may actually write, “Heavy sigh,” in response to a particular or general wrongness in the world. Connected to this kind of sigh is the sigh of resignation—this is all there is, the best we’re gonna get, no need asking for more as no more will be provided. Submissive to the realities present, subdued, resigned, beaten. Sighs of sadness, of sorrow, sighs “too deep for words.”

2. We Sigh When Our We Encounter Deep Problems

I have to believe Jeremiah sighed a lot.

Jeremiah 45.3 You said, 'Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.'"

I have related to Jeremiah in recent days and years. Here was a man, a prophet of God who saw the deep sin and spiritual needs of the people of Jerusalem and Judah. They didn't listen. They berated him, told him and others, "The LORD didn't say that." Not one convert in 50 years of ministry but he was faithful.

Jesus sighed. 

Hebrews 5.7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.

Mark 9.14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him.

16 “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.

Luke 12.49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed.

John 14.8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. 

Mark 7.31-37 The Deaf Man Nearly Mute

v.34 He  looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphata!" (which means, "Be opened!")

Mark 8.11-12 Feeding of the Four Thousand

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test Him they askedHim for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth no sign will be given to it."

I believe there were many times when Jesus let out sighs. When we do so in reverent submission we are following Him.

3. We Sigh When We Feel The Pain In People's Lives

Been doing a lot of that lately

Bear one another's burdens

Galatians 6:2

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Weep with those who weep

Romans 12.15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

People's lives are very complicated today. Abusive relationships abound. Road rage is a sign of the times we are in. We look at the world, our poor nation and we sigh. 

There is hatred, passive aggressiveness, a sharp rise in internal medicine and much of this is due to stressful lifestyles, poor eating habits...

There is a great fight against disease today... whole organizations have been formed to seek to eradicate them from the human race.

There is much to sigh over. 

Why did our LORD sigh? The Deaf Mute

In that poor afflicted man He saw but one more sign of that vast crack and flaw which sin causes in everything which God has made. When God had finished His work, He saw that it was very good; but since then tares/ weeds have been sown amid His harvest; an alien element intruded into His world; a jangling discord clashed into His music. Earth is no longer Eden. Sin has put man and the creation in bondage. If this makes us sigh, with our limited knowledge we can only imagine how it breaks the heart of God. No wonder Jesus sighed. He saw what was, how good it was and what sin had done, not only to individuals but to the whole world.

There is this thing we all do when reality smacks up against our hopes. We sigh. We exhale a burst of air that may come from our lungs, but also comes from some angst-filled place in our heart.

The deeper the sigh, the greater the disconnect between the world we hope for, and the one we live in.

Jesus seemed to live in this gap a lot. You could hear it in His testy responses to people.- Seth Barnes

Not all is lost. This is a time of great spiritual thirst, of deep spiritual hunger. Satan knows this as well and has offered up a smorgasbord of seducing spirits today. Yet the Word of God stands eternal in the heavens!  155 views on the first part of the message last week- people are hungry, spiritually hungry.

4. We Sigh When God Is At Work In Our Lives.

The sigh of happiness and joy.

Humbling.

Wonder Filled.

Amazed.

Sighing a lot as I see God provide for Haiti.

Pray for a spiritual awakening, a revival, a movement of God's Spirit in our country. We need a fresh baptism of His Spirit resulting in love for everyone!

LORD Jesus, open our ears to hear the cries of our neighbors.

Open our eyeszzd to see not only the hurt of the world but also the love that will eventually heal the world.

5. One Day Sighing Will Be Over!

One day, Not a shadow, not a sigh!

Genesis 46.29 As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.

We we stand in the Father's Presence it will be joy unspeakable!

Songs have been written about that meeting:

*O that will be glory for me

*Face to Face with my Savior

*Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim My God How Great Thou Art!

We are told about that time when we enter eternity:

Revelation 21.1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Consider My Sighs (Part One)

Consider My Sighing

Psalm 5.1-3

David 

Nanny

Charlie Brown

Mark

Me

*Bible College Safeway Store

*When my brother died

*In Haiti

*Pastoral Ministry

*Our Country as of late

Sunday- Monday of this past week...

After a full Sunday of services and ministry I made my way down on my bike to the town pool where I have been a member for over 30 years. I swam laps and took a break at the deep end and began speaking to a sweet couple whose names I would find out later are George and Eve. They are originally from El Salvador. I began to tell them about the work in Haiti. I could see the spiritual connection. It is my privilege to welcome then to our group.

Today I noticed them sharing posts from the group here then I received the following texts from Eve:

God bless you pastor I'm the girl u found at the pool with my husband. I'm trying to collect medicine close anything for the people of Haiti i would love if I can come over to your church in the middle of August to drop the box that I believe in my God I'm going to get for u mission.

I have been sharing your post because I make a video on Facebook and tag some of my friends in church and I'm explained how u work and how God used you to help all those people give me until August 15 and I know and I believe in God that I'm going to have a lot of boxes for you.

I was sighing as I left the pool today. I explained to some of the staff at the pool about this today as I was leaving, why I was sighing. They listened. Then I went outside and saw this license plate on a car! 

These verses in Psalm 5 came immediately to mind. 

Give ear to my words O LORD, consider my sighing.

Listen to my cry for help my King and my God,

for to You I pray.

Morning by morning, O LORD, You hear my voice;morning by morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation.  (vs.1-3)

Consider= to discern, understand, consider

to perceive

to understand, know (with the mind)

to give heed to

to have  insight

teach, instruct

attentive, consider diligently

Sighing = Hagah

to moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter, meditate, devise, plot, speak

to roar, groan, to utter

to meditate, devise, muse, imagine

Unutterable feelings and thoughts. Words are the clothes that carry our prayers but they originate in the heart. Sighs come right from the heart out... Ah! 

Sighing= emit a long, deep, audible breath expressing sadness, relief, tiredness, or a similar feeling.

synonyms: breathe out, exhale; groan, moan

meditation--moanings of that half-uttered form to which deep feeling gives rise--groanings, as in Romans 8:26-27

Haggadah= "Telling" ...Passover Book

Hagah= moans, unutterable feelings and thoughts, meditate

We need to sigh... to groan in our prayers

Consider my sighing...

1. We Sigh When We Lose A Loved One.

We cry. Tears... out of our eyes, We sigh... out of our hearts and lungs.

Greg Adams:

What is this all about—this sighing as part of grief? We sigh for lots of different reasons and in many different situations. There is the contented sigh at the end of the day or when relaxing. The “life is good” sigh. There is the sigh of relief that can come in a few varieties such as “thank goodness that is over” and “thank goodness that (bad thing) didn’t happen.” There is also the sigh that comes with disappointment, frustration or exasperation. The kind of situation where in emails we may actually write, “Heavy sigh,” in response to a particular or general wrongness in the world. Connected to this kind of sigh is the sigh of resignation—this is all there is, the best we’re gonna get, no need asking for more as no more will be provided. Submissive to the realities present, subdued, resigned, beaten. Sighs of sadness, of sorrow, sighs “too deep for words.”

David is praying for the LORD to understand his moans. He was no stranger to grief in his life. Like us there were times when he didn't understand why his own family was against him.

I Samuel 17.…28Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger burned against David and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle." 29But David said, "What have I done now? Was it not just a question?" 30Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing;

Family can make us sigh

We love them.

They hurt us.

These are things that make us sigh.

2. We Sigh When Our We Encounter Deep Problems

I have to believe Jeremiah sighed a lot.

Jeremiah 45.3 You said, 'Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.'"

I have related to Jeremiah in recent days and years. Here was a man, a prophet of God who saw the deep sin and spiritual needs of the people of Jerusalem and Judah. They didn't listen. They berated him, told him and others, "The LORD didn't say that." Not one convert in 50 years of ministry but he was faithful.

Jesus sighed. 

Hebrews 5.7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of His reverent submission

The Confession of Sins

The Confession of Sins

Proverbs 28.13

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,

    but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

The parable of the publican and Pharisee...

Luke 18.9-14

13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

Repentance is rewarded. Godly sorrow is acknowledged by Almighty God.

Psalm 51.17 The  sacrifics, O God, is a broken spirit;

    a broken and contrite heart

    You, O God, will not despise.

The LORD's Prayer

Luke 11.3-4 Give us this day our daly bread. Forgive us our sins,

    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

Jesus taught the disciples to pray for daily bread and forgiveness when they fell short of the glory of God. Our lives are to reflect His Glory. When we fall short we need to confess it to Him and receive forgiveness.

He commends those who confess their sins, are genuinely sorry for them and call upon Him.

Our tendency is to conceal our sins, to cover them up. That has been so from the beginning.

Genesis 3.6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

Covering up their nakedness

Hiding from God.

Do not lie.

Do not seek to cover your own sin. Seek to cover your brother's sin and nakedness. In other words do not gossip about their failures, help them out of them.

Galatians 6.6 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. We are all under God's Grace and we are doing the best we can." - Billy Graham to his daughter Ruth.

1. The Blessings Of  Confession 28.13

Mercy

to love deeply, be compassionate, have tender affection...

To have mercy on people...

Listen to their stories! 

Walk in their shoes

Pray for them

These are the things Jesus did for us!

Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy. I want to grow in mercy. I want mercy.

2. A Benefit of Confession James 5.16

 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Healing

Lit. to make whole

*If you are are harboring envy or jealousy or covetousness confessing and renouncing that will make you feel better physically.

*Sins discourage spiritual growth, they tangle up our hearts... flowers with honeysuckle vines. Confession allows God to untangle our hearts!

Physical healing is connected to to confession and forgiveness!

Physical health is connected with spiritual health- not immune but definitely benefited .

Psalm 103.1 Praise the LORD O my soul;

    all my inmost being, praise His Holy Name.

2 Praise the LORD,  O my soul,

    and forget not all His benefits—

3 Who forgives all your sins

    and heals all your diseases,

Proverbs 14.30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 17.22 22 A cheerful heart is good medicine,

    but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Take a spiritual selfie...

Psalm 139.23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my thoughts;

24 See if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

Sunlight exposes dirt... this morning

The Son's Light of His Spirit exposes sin in our hearts.

3. A Further Blessing of Confession. I John 1.9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Forgiveness and Purification

1 out of 3 children in the United States live without their biological father. They need to be taught forgiveness and practice it to avoid many maladies. 

A guilt free conscience is a wonderful thing!

Find a person (who can keep their mouths shut) to confess your sins to, one who prays as well.

Seek purification from sins. Seek to grow spiritually.

If you fall, get up and walk with the LORD.

Confess your sins to God and trustworthy people. You will find mercy, healing and peace!