If the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll keep you busy. Busyness keeps the activities that matter the most off of our schedules. This week we’re going to learn that if we wasn’t to make the world a better place, and if you want to make your world a better place, it will require something from you. It’s going to require some of your time. And once you’ll give it, you won’t want to live any other way.

We all want to be known for something. People want to be known for everything from great

parenting to great success. But according to decades of research, if we’re going to lead happy

and fulfilling lives, the goal isn’t to be known for something but be known by someone, or by a

group of someone. In this message, we’ll understand why Jesus designed his church to be a

team sport.

Celebrations matter. What people celebrate reveals what matters to them. So what does God celebrate? Jesus’ answer to the question surprised the people in his generation. But if we don’t absorb the lesson of what God celebrates, we’ll miss out on what matters most to God.

Storms will come in life. If we don’t know how to respond, we’re at risk of drowning.  Peter’s reaction to witnessing a miracle can show us what we need to do when we are in the middle of a storm and gives us a glimpse of what Heaven looks like.

If Jesus asked you “What do you want me to do for you,” how would you respond?  Jesus once asked this question to a man named Bartimaeus who was blind. You think the answer would be obvious—“to see!”. But as we see with Bartimaeus, not only did he want to see, but he also wanted to follow.  Bartimaeus didn’t see Jesus as a genie, but as Lord. He was ready before he was healed to follow Jesus in this life and into the next.

Life is so much easier when we know what's coming next. Minor inconveniences and frustrations now don't seem so bad when there's a glimpse of the good to come. Yet, what happens when life throws you a big problem and you have no idea what to expect next? That's scary. In this miracle, Jesus provides a snapshot of a restored world as God intended it to be. Your "right now" may be causing you anxiety and fear, but what's coming next is completely worth it! 

Not all miracles of Jesus were to heal people who were sick or broken because life in the Kingdom of God will not just be about us having resurrected life. Some miracles were done to glimpse how we will relate to God in resurrected life. Although Jesus has hit a dark place in his ministry, his transfiguration showed his disciples, and us, that this was part of his rescue plan to lead his people into the ultimate freedom and glory of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus was never in a hurry. Fully present people aren’t. One time, Jesus was accompanying a desperate dad whose daughter was close to death. Then from behind, a woman who was suffering terribly from a chronic disease for twelve years came for healing. Who would Jesus decide to heal? The more desperate one? The more holy one? The one with more faith? No, Jesus healed both. This miracle shows that Jesus’ ability to heal is limitless and that Jesus is never too busy for you.

Most modern people scoff at the idea of demons and that they are an active force in the world. Not only are they real, but they also hold remarkable power. In this miracle, we will not only see that Jesus has authority over all things, visible and invisible. He also has a heart of love that wants to help a tormented man – a crazy man that other people feared was a man that Jesus came to redeem and set free.  

The first miracle of Jesus is one of his strangest. A bunch of wedding guests were in danger of sobering up because they ran out of wine. Jesus made sure that the party kept on going. Why did he choose this for his first miracle?!? He was intentional in choosing this as his coming out miracle. This was how he showed the world that his true purpose was to prepare a wedding feast unlike any other, the wedding feast of the Kingdom of God.