7th June 2026 : John ch 2 v 1 - 11

John ch 2 v 1 - 11

All right, everyone. Job's a good 'un.

Has anybody got any short testimonies? If you've got a short testimony, matchstick testimony, please come up. I know, Keavey's got one. It's a good 'un.

So I was at Isaiah on Tuesday, had a big, I think it was Heaven's Worship, was it called? I think it's like big healing ministry, Joe Alden, I think his name was. So loads of people were getting prayed for, a lot of healings being done. So I thought, you know, I want a bit of that. I'll go up for some healing. And I had a lot of stiffness throughout my whole body, my neck, my back, through my legs. So I asked this guy to pray for me, so he was like, yeah, I'll start praying for you. Started praying for my spine and my neck. And then he went, I can ask you a question? Is one of your legs shorter than the other? I was like, not as far as I know. I didn't know. He was like, do us a favour, just sit down. So he sat down, sat me down, lifted both my legs up like that. Oh, this tightness all throughout my left side of my back. I was like, oh, I was just like, yeah. He starts praying for me and it just like starts like loosening up. And I went uuw nice, nice, so, I just feel like the tightness just goes, and it's like, and then he's like, o you feel OK now? And I was like, yeah, I just felt like a really tightness on the left side, and now when you're praying, it just went, he went, funny enough, it was your left leg that was shorter than the other, so I was like, full on touching my toes, which I've not been able to do like my entire life. So, yeah, praise God, praise God.

Cheers, Cocker. I actually told Keavey on Friday, God might not have grown that leg. He might have shortened the other one, now he's a little bit shorter.

I'll just start in prayer if you don't mind. Father, we just dedicate tonight to you, Lord, and I pray, Father. Father, that your word comes alive to us today, Lord. I pray, Lord, that you give us the ears to ear, Lord, and Father, the eyes to see, Lord. Lord, give us those feet to walk in your direction, I pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray, Lord. Amen.

I spoke to Roger two, three days ago and he said, Brian, are you all sorted for Sunday? I went, yeah, no problem, Beltin, we're all good. He said, do you know what you're preaching on? I said, yeah, we're preaching on the Centurion's Prayer. And he went, right, okay, no problem. Anyway, that all got changed. That all got changed. I've wrote it out, I've actually got it here. But it all got changed. I believe the Lord told me about the water into wine, the very first miracle that he did. So I'm just going to run through the wedding feast, if you like, before we actually read the scripture. Margaret, in a short while, is going to come up when I ask her to read the scripture.

But the wedding feast, if you like, a Jewish wedding feast. The parents would arrange the marriage. So the parents would arrange the marriage, an agreement between two parents. And they would arrange the marriage and they would meet in the centre of the village. And this would be a public thing, a public announcement that these two people are going to get wed. So that's how the Jews did it. They would meet and then there would be money exchanged and a glass of wine that would be shared between the bride and the groom. Then, the bride would circle the groom, giving declarations to the groom that she's going to support him, that she's going to be for him, that she's going to walk with him, that she's going to be fearful to him, and she'd do that seven times around him. And then the groom would cover up her face to cover up her beauty to turn and then he would surround her. And that surrounding would be, he would be then speaking his words over, I will protect you. No man will hurt you. I will, and he would walk and give his wedding vows to her. And then the money would be exchanged and the father of the groom would go to build a house for the married couple to be.

So that could take a year, it could take one year, two years, whatever long the father took to build that house for his groom and his bride. So the father would go and build his house. The woman's responsibility or the bride's responsibility was to light an oil lamp and put it on the highest point, the highest window of the house. And they would put that on the highest point and the light could never go out. So the oil in the lamp had to be renewed constantly and it was her responsibility to make sure that the lamp never went out. When the groom would come out and look and see the lamp, he would know because of the brightness of the lamp, because the wick had to be trimmed, the wick had to be looked after, the oil had to be in, the groom would know that the vows and the things that they made together when the money was exchanged and the wine was done, they would know that she was staying faithful, ready for the groom. She was staying faithful and true to what they have agreed.

But the oil lamp could never go out. That could be one year, two years. The oil lamp had to continually stay in. And then it was the father's decision. It was never the groom's decision when they got married. And we look in scripture that Jesus actually turns around. We are the bride of Christ. If we know Jesus Christ as our personal saviour today, we are the bride of Christ. But it is the father's decision when he collects his bride. It is the father's decision when we look in scripture and Jesus says, I do not know this time. That's because he doesn't want to disrespect his father. It's his decision when he comes back for his bride. It's the Father's decision when he comes back for us. And Jesus Christ is coming back. He is coming back. So when the Father would make the decision, there would be a large trumpet. And as a large trumpet would be sounded, the bride and groom would be collected and their feet would not touch the floor. They would be carried to a seven day feast. That feast would go over seven days. All the preparations for that feast had to be in place. Everything had to run the way it should run. Otherwise it was a big disrespect to the family if something failed. And that's to put you into the backlog of the first miracle that Jesus done.

I'll ask Margaret to come up now before I start waffling.

So we're in John 1, chapter 2, verse 1 to 11. On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. 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 purification of the Jews, containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, Draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now. This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

So as Margaret's just read there, on the third day, and we look there, Jesus has arrived at this wedding and it's on the third day. I always think with the Bible with numbers, and I'm not that clever at it, but when they turn around and they said the third day, straight away I go to the resurrection of Jesus Christ because he rose on the third day. The village of where they got wed, the village of where they got wed, if you look at it on a map, it's a very, very, very small village. It's very hard to find, that's what I'll say. So it's minute, it's a minute village. And I think when the fathers and mothers and etc. have arranged the food and arranged the wine, they've arranged it for the population of what that village is. I don't think they expected it to be where Jesus and his disciples were turning up and other people would be passing through.

But on the third day, the wine runs out. And Mary, I mean, I try and look at this is Jesus' first miracle, first recorded miracle in John. His disciples didn't really know who Jesus was, didn't know that he was the Christ, didn't know that he was a miracle man, didn't know that he was performing, about to perform the miracles that he did perform in front of them. Because at this stage now, they just started to follow him. But Mary, his mother, did know that he was the Christ. She did know that he was the Messiah. She did know all these things. And when she goes to him there in the scripture, I'll just...

On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, there is no wine. There is no wine. This at that time was a massive, massive problem because it showed that the family that had not provided enough was incompetent. And Mary stood there before Jesus saying, there's no wine. Jesus replies with, woman, I like 'im me. He turns water into wine, he says to her, woman. And I wonder how he actually said that. He repeats it. Woman, what has this got to do with me? It is not yet my time.

And when we look in scripture, when he turns around and says, it's not yet my time, he's referring to his sacrifice, he's referring to his death. And if I'm dead, dead, honest with you, every time I've read that scripture, I've never understood that until two days ago. I've never understood it to be what it is now, what I do understand and it to be. So he tells, his mother turns round and importantly in the thing there, looks at the servants do whatever he says. Jesus said he wasn't going to do it. Jesus said he wasn't going to do anything. But his mother believed because she knew above everybody else there that he was the Christ. And Jesus performs the first record of the miracle.

The stone pots that it speaks about though were ceremonial cleaning. Now in Jewish time, the roads weren't too clean. There'd be bit of dog poo here, bit of chicken poo there. It wasn't like, they didn't have road sweeps or anybody doing that. And they were sandals. So they would be, the feet would be a bit smelly. And they always put stone jars outside to wash the feet and wash their hands. This was a ceremony cleaning before they went into, if you like, a religious wedding. Because a wedding is a religious thing, because it's a covenant between man and God. Man and wife and God. So it's a sacred thing to God.

So the water that was in the actual tubs, Jesus says to the servants, fill them to the brim. Now that might sound easy for today. That might sound easy for today. If I said to you, you couldn't just fill them tubes outside, you say, where's the hosepipe? That's what you'd say. Yeah, where's the hosepipe? Well, going back in them days, you had to draw it from a well. And the servants would have been, to do, it says there that there were six jars, 20 to 30 gallons. That's a lot of water. 180 gallon, put that to a bottle of wine, it says 920 bottles of wine. That's a lot of wine. So there's going to be plenty for the rest of the four-day feast.

But all the servants would have gone and drawn it from a well, brought it over and filled up them stone pots. So what was used in the beginning for the ceremonial cleaning is now the blood of Christ. That's how I see it. It is now wine. When we go back to our covenant with God, do this in remembrance of me, the breaking of bread and the partaking of the wine. It's his first miracle and it's all pointing to the cross of Jesus Christ. It's all pointing, his very first miracle recorded there, it's pointing to the cross of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice that Christ made for us.

So they filled it up. They've done it. And then he said, take it to the master of the banquet. And he turns around, the master, and says, all the rest of the people bring out the good wine first and then they bring out the bad wine when they're all a bit tipsy. You've done this the other way around. This is the best wine. This is the best wine. This is also the best way through Jesus Christ. It's also the best way through Jesus Christ. And I've completely gone off my notes, but never mind.

Take it to the master, the boss, the man in control. That's what they've done. And he's give that public thing there that this is the best wine, it's bob on. We as Christians are the bride of Christ. We are waiting for the return of Christ. I look at this meeting today, of what's happened within the meeting. I know people have prayed out with certain things, and if it was recorded and you would over listen that again, or the Lord reminds you about it, the whole meeting today, praying for your families at Sue's Abra, the whole meeting today is all about Jesus Christ. It's all about going to Jesus Christ. It's all about getting our things sorted out with Jesus Christ.

I'm as good as done though, but there's some pointers that I've just wrote down. That I just want to read them out. Are you ready for the return of Christ? Are you ready today for the return of Christ? Because whether we're ready or not, he's coming. The second the father blows that trumpet, the second that trumpet goes, he's coming. And we don't know what day that is. And we have to ask ourselves a question. If today, this second, the trumpet called, would we be ready spiritually? Would we be ready spiritually? The Father, as we speak now, the Father is building us a house in heavenly places. The scriptures tells us that. Ready for the wedding feast.

Be around Christians and partake in the new covenant. The new covenant, of course, we know what the new covenant is. But for us to be involved within it, for that to mean so much to us. If we go back to the Jewish weddings there and they had the wine and they're partaking the wine, they drunk it together, at the end of the Jewish ceremony, they shatter the ground. They shatter it on the ground and the groom stands on it. Now all these things mean something for us today. All these things mean things for us today.

Don't let the oil in your lamp run dry. If we're waiting for Christ to come back now, and it talks about the foolish virgins. Don't let the oil in your lamp run dry. Get hold of Jesus. Get hold of Jesus and keep close to Jesus. Keep close to Jesus and keep the oil in your lamp fully up. And look after your wick or your sins. Look after your wick. Make sure it is trimmed correctly so the brightness of your lamp is shining brightly.

I nearly done promise. These things that I'm reading out now are things that I believe the Lord has told me to write down, by the way. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author of your faith. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author of your faith. You'll find that if your eyes, whatever your problem is within your life, if your eyes are focused on Jesus, your problems go smaller straight away because you actually recognise that Jesus Christ, the author of your faith, if your heart and your soul is searching and crying for Jesus Christ, then your problems go smaller.

Submit your will to the Lord, the enemy will flee. Surround yourself in the presence of God and lift him on high. I believe when he says me to lift him on high, that's like the Jewish thing where he put the lamp on the highest window. He says, don't hide your lamp and put it underneath the table. Stick it where it can be seen. Speak about the law to people. You can fully trust God in your life on earth and you can fully trust him with your heavenly life. Jesus Christ has proved himself to be correct when he walked the earth, through the scriptures and today with a relationship with him. He is fully, fully worthy.

One thing I didn't mention. From the bride and groom, the bride would send messages in that time of waiting for the father. She would send messages of love to her future husband and the husband would send messages back to her. So there would be a correspondence via messages of love and devotion to each other. Get your head into the Bible. Get your head into the Bible. This is a love letter. This is a love letter to each and every one of us from God the Father, from God the Son. This is a love letter. It is here to instruct us. It is here to move us. It's here with thousands of promises in. And all he wants us to do is for us to read it and absolve it. Because the more we read this, the more our brains will be transformed to his likeness. So read your love letter.

Last one. The father has paid the price with Jesus. The father has paid the price with Jesus. Just like the Jewish wedding, there was a sum of money that was spent over. The father has paid the price with Jesus. Have you collected the new covenant in Jesus Christ? Have you collected that new covenant today in Jesus Christ? Are we walking in the direction wholeheartedly with Jesus Christ? And do we understand the sacrifice that God the Father made so that us today can be free and receive salvation?

Thanks for listening. Jobs a good 'un.

I just want to pray and seal that word, actually. Lord, I just thank you for that word, for the word that you've given us today. Lord, each of us may have received it in different ways, because you know what we need. And so, Lord, I just ask that you wouldn't, this word would not fall to the ground and not produce what you want it to produce. That each heart that's received it, you would continue to work in it and through it, Lord, so that we are more like Jesus. Thank you, Lord.