This is the second part of my notes from which I preached the above sermon.
2. Glory revealed / Active Glory: When the glory is present and powerful. A moment comes. A crisis in their lives. They know Jesus. And yet does something amazing. Provides wine. Takes away their shame before it really happens. Powerful thing when glory is active. Doing signs and wonders Still does them today.
How does it happen? How do we connect to glory? Lets see how it happened this time, and we will see a pattern.
… A REQUEST Glory prayed forward It is not his time now, but Mary gets the miracle she wants!
Mary simply asks him. There is a push back but she doesn’t give up. We need prayer that persists even when it seems God is not answering us. Mary didn’t give up! Not my time he says, and I am sure it is a test rather than a rebuke.
Prayer, sees the future, brings into present
Do today Lord what we know you will one day do
Healing is in the atonement, we just can’t guarantee Gods timing.
But it seems in some mysterious purpose of God, our requests can appear to us to reach into the time to come and bring it into the here and now.
We are both waiting for and “hastening the coming of the day of the Lord” 2 Peter 3:12
I have faith Lord that one day I will be made whole never to experience pain, now please heal me today Lord!
For us, time is precious, everything is urgent.
To God a day is like a thousand years
What promises of God are you holding onto? If you are sure they are truly promises of God don’t despair! Keep telling him about it! If you need help discerning whether they are truly of God speak to one of the leaders.
Notice how simple Mary’s request to Jesus is. It is good to pray for prolonged periods sometimes. But it is also good to pray simple prayers that are full of faith and expectancy. Mary just spoke to him about her concern for the embarrassment of her friends
There is something else that happens and leads up to the glory being revealed:
….A COMMAND
Spurgeon said “when he is about to give a blessing, as a general rule he first gives a command”
Obedience is key if you want to see the glory of Jesus revealed
No better motto for life than this: “Do whatever he tells you”! Many worry about how will they know Gods will. The far more important question is are you determined to obey. Proverbs 3:5 is inscribed in my wedding ring and a verse that has been handed down in my family since at least when on his deathbed my great grandfather told my grandfather to live by this verse. Gives us three conditions for being guided by God which basically amount to the same thing
“trust in the lord with all your heart”. Our love for him makes us Want to follow him as passionately and wholeheartedly as these first disciples do. It’s not a ritualistic obedience Jesus is after but a heartfelt confidence that his way is best. Following him is no sacrifice as the things that we give up he gives far more in return. Jesus is no ones debtor!
“lean not on your own understanding” when human wisdom seems to conflict with What Jesus tells us to do, we need to realize we are not as smart as we think we are!
“in all your ways acknowledge him” realise that he. Is interested even in the mundane matters of life. Christian maturity is the product of many hundreds of small decisions made on a daily basis. We will get some of them wrong. But we will not mature unless we then repent even of the so called small sins, go back to him, and resolve to follow him with the very next step.
There is a reason the christian life is described as a walk– it is because we must do it one step at a time.
These conditions lead to a promise: and he will DIRECT your paths.
How does he do this today? Well first notice that the promise is not dependent on how well we can hear him…if we desire to obey him he is committed to guide us!
1. The Scripture. Don’t go asking him to tell you what to do if the answer is already in this book!
2. Wise counsellors / leaders
3. Circumstances
4. Prophetic impulses: but be wise and careful here!
If we will resolve to Obey even when it seems silly, or when others tell us we are foolish, great glory can be unlocked as it was here. Imagine if they had said “no way” they would have missed their miracle.
If want to see the glory of Jesus then you have to follow him… will you resolve today to follow Mary’s advice? “whatever he says to you do it” there is no substitute for obedience in the christian life…there is none.
But there is another ingredient in the mix before the glory comes. There is a prayer, there is a command but there is also a third element we will see tomorrow.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In