There comes a time in everyone's life where the wine runs out, when the excitement ends, life turns out to be less than you thought it would be or your accomplishments feel empty. Based on John 2:1-11, the questions that were raised are, “What will you do?” “Where do you go?” and “Who do you turn to?” Mary shows us that in a crisis the person you want there and to whom you turn is Jesus.

Baptism is a crucial element of the Body of Christ, the church. It's been a staple among Christians for literally thousands of years. In his third chapter, Luke makes implicit and explicit points that shed light on the Kingdom of God, including the significance of baptism. Luke's writing shows him to be a good and serious historian. Like other historians of his time, he used the reigns of important rulers, like Caesar and Pilate, to let the audience know the time and date when he’s writing yet he chose to focus his perspective on God's activities in human history, specifically the coming Messiah.

Jesus is the perfect, sinless human being who models what human existence in God's kingdom should look like. He demonstrates a life of increasing growth and learning in the ways of God. Jesus lived a life where he learned from his life experiences and gained insights into what life is really all about...all to God's glory. As we live like Jesus, we are to have lives where we, too, increase in growing in wisdom.

The message of John the Baptist came into a chaotic period of history. In the middle of this chaos were the people of Israel. They did not know what their future would hold. To these people, John the Baptist proclaimed a message of repentance, an invitation to change one’s focus from the chaotic nature of circumstance to the God who was coming to bring salvation. Hope is only found in the saving actions of God, the faithful one who completes what he started. Modern life is characterized by chaos. In the midst of this chaos we need hope, solid ground on which to stand. Jesus is our only hope; he is the only consistent factor in this crazy world.

Jesus grew in wisdom and he impressed the teachers of the law with his insight when he was only twelve years old. This wisdom and insight was not based upon a reservoir of head-knowledge. He was not impressing people with the facts he had stored up from studying. Instead he was demonstrating insight into life. He had understanding and he grew in this understanding. God wants to use a difficult marriage or a frustrating work environment to teach us something. While he is not the source of these troubles, he is wise enough to know how he can take advantage of trials to refine us and give us wisdom.

As Christians we believe that God, out of love for us, set-aside his divinity and became a finite human being in order to bring humanity to redemption. Despite knowing this truth, we can sometimes feel as though God sent Jesus to live and die among us as a sort of “fallback” plan. The common view of the cross can sometimes become a “plan B” theory. However, the idea that God sent Jesus after every other effort had failed, is not Biblical.

As Christians we believe that Jesus was both fully God and fully man. While some groups emphasize his divinity and others his humanity, we realize that both are essential to the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, because Christ was fully human, we realize that he can fully enter into our human experience. He did this to identify with us and to bring redemption. As human beings one of our deepest needs is to be completely known and understood. For this reason, it was essential that Christ fully entered into our human experience so that we can be assured of his ability to relate to us in every way.

The prophetess Anna understood the importance of praying with others. She spoke to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Today, we often live our lives isolated from otheres and are too busy to align ourselves with other believers. Anna shows us that being involved in a community of believers is an essential part of our walk with God. By looking at what Jesus taught in Matthew 18:19-20, we can learn three practical guidelines for cultivating a deeper fellowship with others in prayer.

Prayer was a way of life for Anna. She prayed with patience and an expectation that God would come through. We, however, live in a fast-food society that tells us to “have it our way” with little investment and immediate gratification. Prayer is not a fast-food, drive-thru experience. Rather, just like a three course meal, it takes time and patience to develop a meaningful relationship with Jesus. There are three basic courses to a good meal with him.