To the Brim

John Chapter 4 (Click Here)

I love the story of Jesus turning the water to wine. I have studied the art of illusions for 25 years. There are countless versions of magic tricks that turn "water" to "wine." There is a problem. In virtually every version you can’t taste the wine because it’s only a chemical added to the water to make it change colors. Of the few that you can actually taste the wine—it’s a small glass of water that is switched for an actual glass of wine. There is no magician in the world that could duplicate what Jesus did because what He did was a miracle. He changed not just a small glass of water to wine but 120-180 gallons of water to wine! That is a crazy transformation. 

I tried to think of it this way. Imagine not just one gallon of milk but 180 gallons of milk in your refrigerator! It would take my family of 5 over a year to go through that many gallons! That is a lot of water Jesus changed into wine.

God Transforms Lives

God is in the business of transforming lives. Everyday. Everywhere. His eyes, His heart, His very Being is searching for you. In 2 Chronicles it says, "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." His desire is to strengthen you today. To shape you today. To transform you today. So what can you do to get transformed?

Philippians 1:6

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. 

In two words describe your life.

If you asked ten people you loved today to describe your life in two words what would they say?

Today we are going to look at a man by the name of Stephen–his life was marked by two words. Any guesses?

Isaiah 43:18-19a

Forget the former things; 
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!

Did you know that God actually wants to reveal His will to you and me?  I think Christians can easily fall into one of two traps when it comes to the will of God.  First, we just assume we can never know, that “His ways are not our ways” (which is true!) and that His will isn’t meant for us to know until after the fact.  So we get busy serving Him and doing our thing knowing that He is in control and that’s enough for us.  We often get too busy to actually stop and even consider what His will might be, so we think our busyness for Him is honoring.

The second trap is that we are paralyzed with fear and up doing nothing because we aren’t sure if it’s what God wants us to do.  Should I serve in the children’s department using my gifts with kids or should I help the beggar on the street?  Uncertain if God is leading, we do nothing as we “wait for a sign” that He is moving.

Which trap do you more easily fall into:  Too busy to listen or too scared to act?

Today I urge you to take time to answer the upcoming questions. Take time to write down your answers. Wrestle with the verses. Take time to set goals to make real changes in your life. I believe if you do this it will impact eternity. So grab a pen or be ready to type in the comment section. Here we go…

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being RENEWED day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

-2 Corinthians 4:16-18