What to do when life Bottoms Up   John 1:35-50

DAY 1-2

Everywhere Jesus went, Jesus brought love and joy to the crowd.   In
fact, Jesus's first miracle was in a Wedding in Cana.  This was the
first of seven miracles that were chosen by John.  Jesus performed much
more miracles than these seven miracles, and most of them were captured
in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  John only chose seven out of
those miracles.  John picked the ones that would support his purpose in
writing the book of John, that was "so that everyone may believe that
Jesus is Savior and Lord."

In the Wedding in Cana (John 2: 1-11), Jesus' mother approached Him,
"They have no more wine."   Jesus saw that "Nearby stood six empty stone
water jars, the kind used by  the Jews for ceremonial washing.  ...
Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled
them to the brim." (vs 6-7)   Jesus then turned the water into wine.
Jesus brought love and joy to the  bridegroom and all the guests.

What is the significance of this miracle?  Let us see this miracle in a
little bit more detail.  "Nearby stood six empty stone water jars";  SIX
is the number of human.  While the number seven in the Bible represents
perfection, the number six represents those that have fall  short of
perfection, that is the human being.  Those jars are "empty". This
represents, "empty people; empty humans."

Now, these jars are usually used for "ceremonial washing." (vs 6-7) Jews 
became ceremonially defiled during the normal circumstances of daily life and 
were cleansed by pouring water over the hands.  These jars are used to keep the 
water used for cleansing.  What we have  seen so far about the "six empty stone 
water jars, the kind used by the JEws for ceremonial washing" is the "empty people 
that is trying to be clean and find fulfillment through religion."  The fact is 
religion can not bring fulfillment to live;  people need more than religion to have a fulfilled life. 
Then, we saw that Jesus asked the servants to pour water into the jars. Then, Jesus turn the water into wine. 
"Water" in the Bible represents the "Word of God."  While the "Wine" represents love and joy.  
When now, the  empty people is filled with the "Word of God" to the brim (to its fullness), 
then suddenly, those empty jars become jars of wine,  life filled with love and joy.

Yes, Jesus can change an empty life to a life full of joy and love. Only Jesus that can do that.  
This is the first miracles of a believer.Having Jesus in your heart brings love and joy forever.

So, what is the significance in this miracle on the Wedding in Cana?

LESSON 1 - Jesus cares about our every day life Yes, Jesus cares about our every day life.  Trivial daily things that  may seem
to have no direct relationship with spiritual needs are not too small for Jesus.  If anything concerns you then it concerns Him
too.

In the Wedding in Cana, the bridegroom was out of wine.  The Jewish wedding during that time period lasts for more than 7 days.
For  the whole 7 days, the wine should be served to the guests.  Running out of the wine brought great shame to the bridgroom.
Think about this! Jesus cared enough about a party that was running out of wine, that He was willing to perform a miracle.

There is no prayer request that is too small or too trivial for Jesus. In fact, He does want us to pray for all of our ordinary daily needs.

LESSON 2 - Jesus performed the miracle, but He uses people as His  instruments.  We saw in John 2, that Jesus asked the servants to  fill the jars with water.  The servants obeyed His commands and filled the jars with water to the brim.

Is it hard to fill the jars with water?  No, it isn't, but it does requires faith for the servants at that time do not know the whole purpose
of filing the jars with water.  Is it hard to change the  water into wine?  It is IMPOSSIBLE.  This is how Jesus works:
"He does what is the IMPOSSIBLE when His servant does the POSSIBLE."

Is it hard to change someone's life from not knowing Jesus to knowing  and loving Him?  It is IMPOSSIBLE.
Only Jesus can change someone's  life.  But, it is POSSIBLE for us to be used by Him maybe to just simply pray
for someone, ask a person to come and join the fellowship,
help a person in need to show God's love to them, or to share about the joy that we have in Christ to someone.

We, as servants, are asked by God to do the POSSIBLE, and He'll do the IMPOSSIBLE.  Now, the question is
will we respond with obedience or will we respond with ignorance?

DAY 4
So let us see some of the IMPOSSIBLE life changing events.

1. Saul's life change Saul was a person that would go around, looked for Christians and persecuted them by
stoning them to the point of death. Stephen, one of the seven people that were chosen by the disciples,
were stoned to death. Saul hated the Christians so much that he killed Christians. There maybe people like
Saul around our lives, those are people that hated the Christians. Can we change their lives to be people that
know and love Christ? No, that's IMPOSSIBLE. Only Jesus can change their lives. But, we can be used to be
like Ananias to Saul. Ananias was used by God to visit Saul and prayed for and with him. Or we can also be used
like Barnabas to Saul. Barnabas looked for Saul and taught him the teachings of Christ (i.e., discipleship).
What Ananias and Barnabas did were possible things. It only requires obedience to God's commands.

2. John, one of Jesus disciples, the author of the book of John. John had a nick name "Son of Thunder."
He was called that because of his exposive character. When Jesus was opposed/rejected by the people in
the Samaritan village, John asked the Lord, "Lord, do you want us to call filre down from heaven to destory
them?" (Luke 9:54-55) Yes, that is the kind of explosive character that John, the writer of this gospel, had.
John along with James were the ones that said to Jesus, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask."
(Mark 10:37) Didn't that sound very proud? Yes. Then, they continued by saying, "Let one of us sit at your right
and the other at your left in your glory." (Mark 10:37) Yes, that was John's character. Yet, what kind of John
did we see in the book of John? He was described there as the disciple that Jesus loved. His life was changed
that He became a tender, loving and humble man. We may be Christians that love the Lord, but our characters
need a lot of work. The example from John's life should encourage us, for Jesus will work on our character, so
that we will be the best that we can be for Him.
Jesus has the power to change lives.

DAY 5 There is one sweet story about a woman. She says to her pastor that she will have her Bible in her left hand
and a fork on her right hand. The pastor is puzzled. He can understand the part on having the Bible, but he can not
understand the part on having the fork. Then, she explains. At home during dinner time, whenever her mother says,
"Save your fork." That means that eventhough they have had great meals, the best is still yet to come. Maybe is a
special home- made pie, maybe it is a special chocolate pudding, or an ice cream cake. This dear lady continues her
explanation about the fork by saing that she wants people to see how much her life has been changed by God, yet "the
best is still yet to come." Yes, that is the kind of life that Christians will have. We have fulfilled, significant, joy and peaceful
life, and others can see it. Yet, the best is still yet to come. Christian life is joyful, yet the more joy is still coming.
 

Disclaimer 
This material is a summary of the message that was preached by Pastor Jack Graham at Prestonwood Baptist Church.  
The writer of this EBS (Electronic Bible Study) made some changes and added some personal notes that is necessary 
to customize this material into an electronic media, a daily reading  material and to better fit the audience.  
The Prestonwood Baptist Church is not affiliated in anyway with the Indonesian Christian Fellowship of Fort Worth.