The word righteous appears 3070 times in the Bible. As a professional student of the Scripture I can officially and authoritatively tell you, "That is a lot." Righteousness is a theme of Scripture. What does it mean? I would imagine the average person is really not sure. In the seventies it was synonymous with the word cool, awesome, great, "righteous." I am confident many of the things they were referring to as righteous, the Scripture would disagree. I think if you were to take a poll today you would find people's response to this word mostly negative. If we use it all, it is probably in the context of referring to someone as "self-righteous." That is someone who thinks they are better than everyone else because by their own judgment they keep a list of rules better than others. The American Christian is often viewed this way by the general public. They think we sit in here and say, "We are better than you because we go to church. We are better than you because we don't do . . . (fill in the blank). It is really important we understand righteousness because God is calling us to it.

The word righteous appears 3070 times in the Bible. As a professional student of the Scripture I can officially and authoritatively tell you, "That is a lot." Righteousness is a theme of Scripture. What does it mean? I would imagine the average person is really not sure. In the seventies it was synonymous with the word cool, awesome, great, "righteous." I am confident many of the things they were referring to as righteous, the Scripture would disagree. I think if you were to take a poll today you would find people's response to this word mostly negative. If we use it all, it is probably in the context of referring to someone as "self-righteous." That is someone who thinks they are better than everyone else because by their own judgment they keep a list of rules better than others. The American Christian is often viewed this way by the general public. They think we sit in here and say, "We are better than you because we go to church. We are better than you because we don't do . . . (fill in the blank). It is really important we understand righteousness because God is calling us to it.

Does God know where I am? Does He know what I am going through? Can He help me? Many of us in here would answer these questions yes, yes, and yes. We may even be able to put Scripture references with each one of these questions. But that doesn't mean we always feel like God knows where we are, or what we are going through, or that He can help us. One reason our feelings can't always catch up with our faith is distance. We feel like God is way up there, a place we can't reach. Scripture teaches that God lives within believers and never, not even for a moment, leaves them. We believe that, we know the verses, but then we talk about God way up there and way far off. When you are not experiencing the nearness of God, Jesus wants you to know He can work through the distance of your feelings.

Does God know where I am? Does He know what I am going through? Can He help me? Many of us in here would answer these questions yes, yes, and yes. We may even be able to put Scripture references with each one of these questions. But that doesn't mean we always feel like God knows where we are, or what we are going through, or that He can help us. One reason our feelings can't always catch up with our faith is distance. We feel like God is way up there, a place we can't reach. Scripture teaches that God lives within believers and never, not even for a moment, leaves them. We believe that, we know the verses, but then we talk about God way up there and way far off. When you are not experiencing the nearness of God, Jesus wants you to know He can work through the distance of your feelings.

Our story starts on the third day. This is taking us back to 1:43, where is says Jesus left for Galilee. This is the third day since Jesus began that trip, and He is now in Cana of Galilee. Cana is a small, out of the way village. Couple of quick observations about the story: first, there is no mention of Joseph, Mary's husband. After the birth of Jesus, Joseph is only mentioned once more and that is story of a trip they took to Jerusalem for the Passover when Jesus was probably about 12. There really is no reliable tradition or source that tells us what happened to Joseph, though it is safe to assume he probably died sometime between Jesus being 12 and this moment right here, where Jesus is probably around 30. Notice also that verse 11 says this was His first miracle.

Our story starts on the third day. This is taking us back to 1:43, where is says Jesus left for Galilee. This is the third day since Jesus began that trip, and He is now in Cana of Galilee. Cana is a small, out of the way village. Couple of quick observations about the story: first, there is no mention of Joseph, Mary's husband. After the birth of Jesus, Joseph is only mentioned once more and that is story of a trip they took to Jerusalem for the Passover when Jesus was probably about 12. There really is no reliable tradition or source that tells us what happened to Joseph, though it is safe to assume he probably died sometime between Jesus being 12 and this moment right here, where Jesus is probably around 30. Notice also that verse 11 says this was His first miracle.

We are beginning today a study of the Gospel of John. To study John is to spend time with someone who really knew Jesus well and he wants you to know Him well. He doesn't want us to just say, "Hey, I met Jesus." He wants us to be able to say, "Hey, I know Jesus."

We are beginning today a study of the Gospel of John. To study John is to spend time with someone who really knew Jesus well and he wants you to know Him well. He doesn't want us to just say, "Hey, I met Jesus." He wants us to be able to say, "Hey, I know Jesus."

Today is the end of a series, and the start of another. We are ending a series in which we have been talking about what we want people to see when they come to our church. We have focused on some key things: we want people to see God's glory and His people responding to it. We want people to see us loving one another. We hope they see a church that has a compassion for the world, for those who do not have Jesus. We hope you see a church that stands on God's word. The Bible, this is the only message we have. Each of these things are vitally important to us being the church, but when I come to this passage today - this is it. We want them to see Jesus. God's purpose for our life is to see Jesus

Today is the end of a series, and the start of another. We are ending a series in which we have been talking about what we want people to see when they come to our church. We have focused on some key things: we want people to see God's glory and His people responding to it. We want people to see us loving one another. We hope they see a church that has a compassion for the world, for those who do not have Jesus. We hope you see a church that stands on God's word. The Bible, this is the only message we have. Each of these things are vitally important to us being the church, but when I come to this passage today - this is it. We want them to see Jesus. God's purpose for our life is to see Jesus