Elevation with Steven Furtick - “Not Now” Is Not “No”

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

Sometimes, when you’ve been waiting a long time on something, God isn’t saying, “no,” He’s going slow to teach you something. This sermon will help you feel encouraged that just because it��s not happening on your schedule, doesn’t mean it’s not happening on God’s. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr  Scripture References: John 2, verses 1-11John 11, verses 21-22See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Yeah. Hey, y'all be praying for the worship team. They're going on tour this week. We want them covered and smothered in prayer. And covered in smothered in prayer. We will see you in Boker. I won't be there.

Be clear. And it'll get sued or something like that. I bought a ticket. But you'll be in Boko Ritone on Tuesday and other places. Where can we go to find out if there's tickets in our area? It's easy. Elevationworship.com. There's still a few tickets left.

Well, I could not say that. Elevationworship.com. That's all they've got to do. That's all they've got to do. That's so simple, Chris. Come out, worship with us. Many nights are sold out, a few or not. Yep.

Hey, how many of you have had our new album on repeat this week? Wave at me. What is your favorite song on the new album? Tell me, that's mine too. That's my favorite one. We tried to make that thing dang near skipless. No skips was the goal. And I pray that it's blessing you.

We love, I speak on behalf of this incredible team of technical geniuses, musical geniuses, and as a songwriter for the people of God, I speak on behalf of all of our worship leaders, I speak on behalf of all of our givers. We love creating anthems for you so that you can draw close to God in your time of need. We consider that a privilege. And so I figure everybody can't take Chris home with them for him to say, miracle after miracle, while you're cutting the grass and stuff like that, but this is our way to just be there with you far beyond a Sunday morning context and just remind you.

I realize early in my ministry with the Word of God that worshiping God, you know, there's the Word of God being preached to us, and then there's the worship that we give to God. That doesn't have to do with how we feel. It doesn't have to do with a style, but it has to do with our response to how good he's been, when those two things are in tandem together, you become dangerous to the devil and you become an instrument in the hand of God. And so, please, please, please don't let this be the only time in the week that you sing to your God. Don't let this be the only time of the week that you open your word. I desire for you to grow and be strengthened and to receive everything God has

for you. Wow. Today, I stand before you. Ready. to preach, excited to preach. And the proof of that is, Abby said, Dad, I saw you on the porch preaching to nobody at 6 a.m. when I woke up. She said, I almost took a video of you, so I would have proof for my therapist one day. She didn't say that last part, but I had been up early. And I was explaining to her, that's not me preaching to the trees, that's God preaching it to me.

And so then I now get the privilege to preach to you. We're going to go to John Chapter 2. Please remain standing for one moment. John Chapter 2. This will be big. You might know this Bible story. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

I love how Jesus is mentioned like a plus one. and Jesus and his disciples. Verse three says, when the wine was gone, when the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, they have no more wine. Verse four, woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. I practiced reading that verse about 30 times out loud to try to say it in a way that didn't sound bad or disrespectful. There's no way for me to say that sequence of words being raised in the South that sounds right. Woman, why do you involve me? I feel like she might slap me and she's on the

second row. She can't even reach me. Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come. As mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. dig. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, so they filled them, so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water, but it wasn't water anymore. He tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize. where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, this is weird.

The way this normally works, everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests are too drunk to know the difference. But you have saved the best. till now. But you have saved the best till now. There's something that the Lord wants to discuss with you today, and I want you to help me tell your neighbor the title of my sermon. Look at your neighbor and make a distinction for them. Tell them, neighbor. Not now is not no. That was the wrong neighbor. Look at your other neighbor who feels rejected. Come on, put it in the chat if you're not in the room.

Say, neighbor. Oh, neighbor. In case you're disappointed about something, struggling with something for a long time, and think it's never going to come to pass. I want to remind you, not now is not no. Clap your hands and put a praise on this word in advance.

Not no. It's not no. We say yes to your word, Lord. Speak. We're listening in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Mm-hmm. I've been waiting to preach this one. That's the hard part. It's holding it, getting ready to do it, doing it. Okay. I decided to set this sermon up by giving you a little personal anecdote. From my life experience, I have never coached one of my children in sports. I just decided that my enthusiasm about being their dad shouldn't punish the other children on the team with my lack of expertise in sports. I think you know what I'm talking about. I think you've all had that coach, cussed out that coach and complained about that coach.

I always coach them personally on the sidelines. Graham said something so devious the other day because he's a good little little. little wrestler now, good big wrestler now. It's not little. He's the same size as me. And he said, now that I look back, he said, now that I look back, he said, I thought you were so O-P as a wrestler when I was little, but now that I look back and realize how little you actually knew about wrestling. It's amazing to me how much you coached me, knowing almost nothing about the sport. That's funny. I try to coach my kids for the challenges of their life.

Of course, you know, they didn't sign up to be on your team, so they don't care much to listen to your advice. You can't kick them off, and so you are limited in your coaching. But I have found, all joking aside, that to be one of the greatest and most stretching challenges and privileges of my life, just to be there for them, especially in those moments. My oldest son Elijah, he called me from college. And this is one of those moments last semester. And I think in the transition of being a freshman in college, he just wanted to hear my voice on a few things.

But I could tell that he was down and that he was low, and that happens to all of us. So after we pushed past that a little bit, I said, I'll tell you what. I said, you want to call me back at like 3 o'clock and have something to write down with, and I'll coach you up a little bit. I'll coach you as if you paid me to do it. And he said, I would love that. And so he called me at the scheduled time of the appointment. And we did. We set up an actual appointment.

And I said, okay, what I think you're feeling right now is that you are feeling like all of the resources that you relied on when you lived at home. You're still resourced and you still have us at college. But, you know, everything is new to you. And so when I get in that place where I am a personal life, feel like I have reached the end of my resources, and I get in that funk. And, you know, the devil starts telling me the same things he's telling you as a college student, but he tells me them as a grown man that I have nothing really to offer or that my best is behind me or that I am no longer relevant or that the things that my critics have said about me are right or that. just a list goes on and on. I don't want to bore you with it. But when I get in that place, I've learned to make a list. So I told him, I'm going to take you through this today, of how to make a list when you feel low. So I said, one list that I, of course, make that I've taught you

about is gratitude, things to be grateful for, you've heard about that. There's nobody who has a TikTok account who hasn't heard the importance of a gratitude list. But I said, there's another type of list that I like to make, and it's when I'm basically telling myself that I'm in this alone, and that nobody is there for me. I know that's not true, but it feels true emotionally. I say, I'll make a list of every person that is in my life that has, in a past time or even recently, said that they would be willing to help me or that I think might be willing to help me, even in the smallest way.

If they ever helped me before, or if I think they might help me, or if they mentioned one time that they would help me, I will just start writing a list. I said, now, the hardest part is going to be to start the list because right now you're feeling like, well, nobody cares about me and nobody likes me, but that's just recency bias. That's just the last thing that happened to you, posing as the biggest thing that happened to you. And it's not. And as you begin to write, what you're going to find is when you start writing with no discretion, with no editing, you'll have a hard time stopping writing the list. Don't qualify anything. Don't asterisk anything.

Don't, yeah, but they might. But then if they do that for me, I got to do that for them. And then if you can't do that, how about somebody you could do something for? Y'all are quiet. Y'all like the first part of the list better. But I said sometimes it's better to even say, like, well, who's somebody that I could just encourage? Who's somebody that I could just send a text to? I said, and when you start the list, don't stop until you'll have to stop yourself,

Because once you start, trust me. And so we did it together on the phone. And what I said happened, happened, because I'm a good coach, just not as sports. And so he starts writing the list, and he's like, this is crazy. This is amazing. You're right. This is crazy. And they know them.

And I know. And I said, see, see how it happens? And now you've got to stop, because now I'm going to tell you the next hardest part of this. I'm going to need you to act on at least one of them and reach out and reach out. and reach out because you feel low. So I want you to learn the pattern in your life that when you feel low on resource, reach in and then reach out. Reach in and then reach out.

And you don't have to reach out to everybody on the list, and you don't have to ask them to do something, and you don't have to stand there and stare at the bubbles, because the third hardest part of this, and the hardest part of all is, after you reach out, I need you to release your need for them to respond. Because they might not. And if you predicate your happiness or your strength on their response, you could end up worse off after this exercise than you were before you did it. Because now it will have served to have reinforced your insecurity that nobody is there for me.

So I need you to everybody repeat after me, reach and release. Say it again, reach and release. So that's what we're going to do. And he did that. And I told him, I said, you might reach out to somebody and say, hey, can we get together? Hey, remember when we talked about, hey, because he was in a state that we've all been there before. Like, I don't really have anything, and I don't have that many people and I don't have enough. And I said, well, the first thing you need to do is remind yourself of the resources you

have and then reach, but then release because they might get your text, but it's just a bad time. It might just be a bad time. And you might create stories in your mind that they don't like me. They don't care about me. Something horrible happened that they didn't tell me about they're dead. No, they're not dead. They're just asleep, taking a nap. It might just be a matter of timing, timing.

Everybody say timing, timing, timing, timing. That's what I saw in John chapter 2 this time that in all of my sojourns through this text, joining the milieu of students of the scripture through the millennia who have wondered about this question, why is Jesus at a wedding when he's only got three years to change the world? You will recall that his life was cut short at the age of 33. You will recall that for the first 30 years of his ministry, there is no record of his ministry activity, meaning that everything we have that was written about him other than him getting lost at the temple one time and sitting around with the older teachers, well, it simply isn't there for our records.

And so the question becomes, Jesus, do you really have time to stop by a wedding when you only have three years to change the world? And I'm my dad! Your discipleship team is not exactly executive world-class material. You got a lot of work to do with these boys. Are you sure you want to take them to a wedding? on the first week that they're your disciples. Did you know that? This is the first week that they're following Jesus. Yeah, where the Bible says, show them verse one, because everything in the text makes me think about the timing of Jesus. On the third day, a wedding took place. And you're like,

oh, yeah, the third day, resurrection, not yet. We still got a long way to go till Jesus gets up from the grave. He hasn't died yet. He hasn't healed blind Bartimaeus yet. He hasn't taught the Pharisees, and the Sadducees with authority and rebuke them for their stiff-necked adherence to traditions of men rather than the ways of God. None of that has happened to yet, and it says on the third day, he went to a wedding. The third day of what? The third day after he selected his disciples. For years I read this and thought it was the third day of the wedding feast, because in these days, they would party for a week at a wedding. So I thought it meant the third day of the wedding. not what it means. Put it back up. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana. So, we realized

from the very beginning of this text, it's not happening on our timeline. It's happening on his. Thank you, Holly. Exactly. It's happening on his. Tell somebody, it's happening on his. Not your schedule. It's happening on his. Yeah. It's happening on his. That is one of the most difficult lessons for us to learn, that sometimes when we believe a promise from God, we expect that promise to happen according to our plan. But it's not happening according to my plan. It's not happening on my say-so. It's not happening according to my preference. It's happening according to his purpose. That being said, don't you want to kind of tell Jesus to read a leadership book and learn how to say no? Read the scripture. It says, on the third day, a wedding took place

at Kena in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. So you're running Jesus' scheduling, you're his administrative assistant, and you're going through all of the possible things that the Son of God, the perfect word of God that was made flesh and dwelt among us, the one whom threw and by, whom and for whom all things were created that were created. And he's sitting down to plan the week and they say, Jesus, we've got this wedding in Cana. But I told them no. And Jesus said, no, actually, we're going. No, but Jesus is a wedding and we've got to change the world. Yeah, no, we're going. And what I took from that that I want to pass on to you is that you might be surprised

where Jesus would show up if you would invite him. Because we do think that we've got to be almost going under to cry out to him for help, and then he'll come. We do think that we have to be going through the fire of hell to call, and then he'll come. But what if he wants to join you in your moments of celebration to make them even sweeter? I don't mean you've got to be weird and stop at the ballgame. Lord, we thank you for that base. hit. For God, you are the basis of every base hit. And on Christ the solid rock, we sell,

no, just shut up and in your heart, have a moment. Tell somebody, have a moment. Just a moment. What God can do in one open moment might change the rest of your life. Waiting on what you perceive to be a God moment, which means, you know, I can call on him in the prison cell. Why not call on him and ask him to come to the wedding feast, too? He has time for this. And I think that's amazing. I think it's amazing that he came to the wedding. I think it's amazing that he took the time to stop by.

I think it's amazing that we don't even know whose wedding it was, because who was at the wedding becomes even more important than who was married at the wedding. This goes from the plus one to the miracle worker in the eyes of the disciples. That is where we pick up. He was invited to a wedding and verse three says, can we just study this verse by verse for a moment? Can we just study this verse by verse for a moment? When the wine was gone, when the wine was gone, it would seem to me, it would seem to me, that if he was already at the wedding and he intended to replenish the supply, it would have

been better to do it when the wine was getting a little low. He did not step in when the wine got low. It would seem to me that if he was coming to the wedding and he is God in the flesh, that he could have brought wine to the wedding because he knew they were. would run out if he's omniscient. And herein lies one of the great mysteries of the mercy of God, that he lets the human supply completely run out before he steps in. Just because you've run out doesn't mean he won't still step in. I could preach a whole revival on that.

Because I'm preaching to somebody out of energy, out of answers, out of ideas, out of innovations, out of people to call, out of people to text. I made my list. I went through my list. Nobody hit me back. I'm out of time. I'm out of opportunities. I'm out. Just because you're out doesn't mean he won't step in. And now you know why we were singing that he's always on time earlier. Because even though there are some times where he didn't show up right when we wanted him to. There were also some times that we learned some things in the lag time that we would not have learned. Oh, I got to break this down. I got to break this down. If he had stepped in immediately, if the wine never ran out, it would have been about the wine.

If the job never dried up, it would have been about the job. If the relationship would have always stayed intact and always been easy, it would have been about that. person. So we let it get hard. So he let it run out. So we let it run dry. So we let it lag a little bit so that when he stepped in there would be a revelation. And now there's a conversation between Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Jesus, the son of God. And this is humorous. And you have to see the humor in it because I really can't tell what's going on at first. I really can't. because she turns to Jesus, verse 3, and says, they have no more wine. Two words in Greek, no wine.

It's a very strange thing for her to say. She's not exactly asking him to fix it, but I think she's implying that he should. It's one of these. It's like, no wine. And he goes, woman? And I'm like, what? He said, woman, why do you involve me? This is hilarious to me.

No wine. Woman? What does that have to do with me? Now, watch this statement, because we're talking about time. We're talking about time. Everybody say time. Put it in the chat. Say time.

He said, my hour has not yet come. Okay. So she's not exactly asking him to fix it, but she's implying that he could. He's not exactly refusing to do it, but he's implying that he might not. And I can imagine all of the responses that Mary the mother of Jesus would have had in this moment

if she had had an attitude like many of us. Because watch what he said. It's not my time. Not your time. Son, I was a virgin. Give about this. Not your time. In my womb, you talk about not time.

And then I carried you nine months. And I was going to Bethlehem for a census. And no, you couldn't wait for me to get back home. I was on that donkey behind Joseph. And here you came in a barn. And you want to talk about your time. Let's talk about time. Maybe it's not a problem.

Maybe it's not a controversy. Maybe it's not an argument. Maybe it's not a debate. Maybe it's not manipulation. Maybe it's not reluctant. Maybe it's a pattern here. Let's see. A pattern. He's asked to do something. There's a request. There's a refusal. And then there's a revelation. There's a request. There's a refusal. And then there's a revelation. John chapter 7, Jesus' ministry is really thriving in John chapter 7. Many miracles have already been performed. Many blind people have already received sight. Many of the death have been able to hear, and Jesus is popular. His brothers come to him and say, now, if you really want to do this thing right, you need to get to Jerusalem where the festival is because they'll see you at the festival, and Jesus said something interesting.

He said, not now. Not now. And the Bible says that Jesus is his brothers when, and Jesus showed up with some sunglasses on a little bit later in the week. Got there when he wanted to. Yeah, that's weird, isn't it? Because they said, you need to go to Jerusalem and show everybody who you are. He's like, oh, I'm going to show them on my time. So he told them no, but what he was really saying is, not now. There's a difference. There were two sisters in a place called Bethany in John chapter 11. Often they would host Jesus at their home. One of them loved to cook and one of them

love to listen. Jesus could speak and eat and speak and eat. He was in heaven in their home. Eventually their brother Lazarus, who many believe had a physical impairment and that is part of the reason that Jesus loved him so much. But we know that whatever the case of his physical condition at birth, he was sick and to the point of dying. So the messenger sent a text to Jesus. They sent a message to Jesus. And since there was no communication via text message or internet, it took a little while for them to get to Jesus. And it took a little while, and he got worse. And it took a little while and he got worse.

Now, the moment that the message arrived in John Chapter 11 to Jesus, he could have gone to Bethany. He did not. He must not have loved them very much. You say, no, the Bible says because he loved them. He stayed where he was two more days. So here comes the message. Now, heal him. It's a request.

And here's the response of Jesus. He stays where he is. He refuses to move where he is needed the most. Why? They've seen him heal. they've seen him take a sick person and reach down and raise them up. They've seen him speak the word, and his word was so powerful that his word went where his body did not and heal. But in his delay, Lazarus died.

That's the man's name Lazarus. He died because Jesus delayed coming. And when he got to the place finally late, Martha was upset about it, saying, Lord, you would have been here, John chapter 11, verse 21. Check this out. My brother would not have died. Why did we refuse a request, Jesus, that would have resulted in a healing? You could have done something. Do you have anything in your life today that you feel like secretly God could have done something about and he didn't? Because many times it can be painful to praise God for being on time. When you feel like he just stood back and watched stuff happened,

to you that didn't happen to others. What stuff happened to you that you know was evil? What stuff happened in your life that he could have stopped? She said, Lord, if you would have been here, he wouldn't have died. In Jesus, verse 22, here's these words from Martha, but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. What's she talking about? It can't be resurrection.

We've never seen a resurrection before. But she understands something about Jesus. She's heard and teach. She's watched him work. She's seen him move. She's felt his presence. She has understood that he has this propensity when you get in his proximity to make things possible that seemed otherwise impossible. And she said, I don't know why you said no when we ask you to come,

but I know what I know that even now. I need you to high-five somebody and say, I know what I know. I don't know why God didn't do it, but I know what I know. He can still do it right now. High-five somebody else, say, I know what I know. I don't know where it's going to come from, but I know what I know. God's got what I need. He can't supply it even still.

I feel God on that, sis. I know what I know. I don't know what kind of things you're able to do that we haven't seen yet and my brother is in the ground and my kid is on drugs and my life is really in tatters and I'm in recovery and I got a brother in prison and I'm in the middle of this custody battle and I got some legal problems and I got an addiction I can't quit I don't know what you can do about that but I know what I know you're here right now do it Lord Five everybody in your section say, I know what I know. Know what I know. I don't know why he said no. I don't know why my roommate got an engagement ring and she's a hellion. And I'm pure and single.

I don't know, but I know what I know. One day in his courts, one day in his house, is better than anywhere else. And blessed is the man who does not walk in the castle. Y'all calm down. I'm trying to teach a bird. It's five verse Bible study on a God who turns water into why. Somebody said the other day, you know what they said about you on this blog?

I said, no, but I know what I know. It doesn't matter. I know what I know. Yeah, I know what I know. The mystery of this text is just as much of a message as the lesson. Let me say that again. The mystery of this text is just as much. of a message as the lesson. Because the consumers didn't know how the miracle happened. The servants

did. This is where I think when I sat down with my son, you know, and got on the phone with him and said, I want to give you, I want to give you a process that you can do. You know, if he was having a bad pay, I probably could have cashed after him some money and he would have have been happy. But he would have got the money. He would have spent the money. And now he feels worse because did you really need three burgers? And I'm realizing something about Jesus. Because how many of you, I'm not even going to look at you when I ask this. Just raise your hand for your own accountability. How many got something in your life right now that's taken longer than it should if God has big? Okay. How many got something in your life right now that you feel like

God must be telling me no. He might. He might. One time in the Bible, David, King David, he wanted to build a temple for God. Who better to do it? He wrote all the songs. Why not build the house that would house the songs that he wrote for God? But he didn't get to do it. In fact, the prophet told him, go ahead, do it, man. That sounds good. And God stopped the prophet in his tracks. And the prophet had to pivot and turn back and say, David, I went home and prayed about that thing. And dude, I love you so much and you are so amazing and you are so incredible as a leader. I thought, surely God will let him do it and God has said yes to you. I mean, you want to build God a temple? Why wouldn't God get behind that? It's a good thing in your

heart. But the Lord said, well, he didn't say no. He said not you. That's hard to hear. Not you. He said, your son Solomon is going to do it. You got too much blood on your your hands. But I'm still going to do it through you, and David spent the rest of his life storing up the materials to hand over for a project that he would never personally receive the benefit from. This is the part of the sermon that you leave out if your goal is a shout. But my goal is not to just give you a shout in church, because if you shout, what you What do you have a sore throat? What we have to learn to do is realize that Jesus is a miracle worker.

Yes. Jesus is the Savior who paid for our sins on the cross, and that is the purpose he came for to rise from the grave, to have dominion over death so that we could call on his name and be saved. Yes. He is also a teacher. And a good teacher knows when to go. Slow.

Maybe he is going slow because he wants to show you something. I hired a guy to teach me guitar years ago, and I went to one lesson. He seemed more interested in impressing me with how fast he could play it than showing me how I could. I thought, this won't work. If your whole goal is showing me how much you can stretch, I leave knowing nothing and you feel good about yourself. The proof that you are good at this is that you can slow it down enough that I can watch and say, huh?

So I do third fret, fourth fret, sixth fret, first fret. I mean, if he really wanted to teach me, he has to slow it down. We ask Jesus to teach us things, and we're surprised when he slows it down. We ask him to teach us to be more loving. We are surprised when he slows it down. We ask him to give us patience. Bad idea. You have seven days of traffic to look forward to the worst traffic of your life.

You are going to have Atlanta, Georgia, traffic in Waxaw. If you pray for patience, God will stack the deck to give you what you ask for. and it'll slow it down. I wanted to learn when I was in high school. I had some friends on the step team. I thought that looked really cool. I said, teach me just a simple thing on the step team. And so they went real fast.

They went something like, I see if I remember it. See how fast I did that? It took about four months. I could just do it now. It's been like 30 years now. But I swear we were going, not because they couldn't do it, but because I couldn't do it. God's not going slow because he can't do it.

But somebody who knows what I'm talking about. Let's get in this. Let's get in this. Yeah. Yeah. God didn't say no because he can't. God said slow because you can't yet. But if we can do it, remember this.

You've got to go slow for Stephen. Stephen can't do all that real quick. He's got a good heart, but he needs it real slow. Peter's real slow. John's kind of slow. Nathaniel's kind of slow. The disciples are kind of slow. How many are willing to admit it may take God slowing this down in my life,

and he might not be giving it to me when I want it out of kindness. God making it convenient isn't always kind. I think it would be amazing, right, if he said, okay, y'all are out of wine? Okay. And Mary says, they're out of wine. And Jesus says, I already got that taken care of. I found the well. Because y'all picture this miracle like they had a water hose.

This water was not ionized. There is no faucet. Picture the miracle. Picture the miracle. Picture the miracle. It said, we're out of wine. Not we're running out of wine. Not we're going to be out of wine.

couple hours, let's do something about it now. We're out of wine when. Now. We need wine when. Now. This is what's frustrating about this kind of preaching, right? It's like wonderful, awesome, glorious, great. You're doing steps on the stage, but I'm just struggling through things that are real in my life, and I don't have time for that right now. Well, well, maybe there is something that Jesus wants to do in the process that will teach you where to go back when you need it again. Because I'm thinking he would have the power to go out to the well wherever they're getting the water from. I need to slow this down one more time just to get my point across, okay? Jesus, they have no more wine. What does that have to do with me?

We've got a request, a refusal, and then a revelation. Well, what's the revelation? Of course, he is the new wine. There's an old covenant represented by the water, there's a new covenant that will be made in his blood and ratified by his death. And he's showing us that to be filled with his spirit. All of that is symbolized in the text. But simply put, this would have took a while to do what he told him to do. I love what Mary said in verse 5. Do whatever he tells you. Maybe that's the lesson he's been trying to teach us, yo. Because we've been doing all kinds of math in our life about this and that and this needs to happen and that needs to happen. And Mary goes, do whatever he tells you.

That's the math. A few months ago, we were online talking about girl math. You remember that? And then Holly showed me one the other day called Mom Math. It was when you're calculating all the times. We need to be there at seven, so we need to have our shoes on by 615. So that means we need to wake up by it. It was hilarious.

I said, oh, well, this week I'm preaching about Mary Math. And Mary Math goes like this. We got no wine and a lot of people. Do whatever he tells you. Stop letting the math distract you. I don't have enough time. I don't have enough years yet. I'm not old enough to do that.

I'm not young enough to do that. Don't let the math distract you. Don't let the math distract you. For as we will see, five loaves and two fish can feed 5,000 if you do what he says. Now, if you don't do what he says, you're on your own. Get your calculator and good luck. But if you do what he says in each moment, if you'll get attuned to the process, instead of just being a consumer, you will not need God to give you something external

to produce something wonderful. For the Bible says that when Mary activated the presence of Jesus, what changed? They're out of wine. That has nothing to do with me. My hour has not yet come. When he says my hour, he's talking about his death. He's not saying I won't do it because there's not time yet. He's reestablishing the big picture. There's a request. A refusal. That's where some of you are today. The refusal. Well, life won't let me. Well, they won't let me. Well, I tried that. I've been trying that for years. The refusal. And then there is, get ready, a reset. her. My hour is not yet come. This is not my ultimate destination. And then she realizes there's nothing that she needs to convince him to do. All she has to do is convince them to do what he says. The moment she says, do whatever he tells you, it's like me with Graham and wrestling.

She doesn't know much, but she's coaching good. You hear me? You don't have to know that much. You just have to get going in the next thing he tells you to do, which meant for this miracle, which meant for this moment, which meant for this occasion, that they had to go out, get the water from the well. Why did Jesus not just bless the well and everything that came out of it was wine? Why are we taking bucket after bucket after bucket, putting it down? in the well, drawing it out of the well, carrying it into the house, finding the jars.

We've dumped a bucket. Do you know how big these buckets were? Two gallons. Do you remember how big the jars are? Thirty. That's like, let me do some preacher math real quick. What's that like? Fifteen-ish. Yeah. 20 to 30 gallons. So there's some variance, but and now I got to do this two gallons at a time. But that seems point. If you're Jesus, go out, bless the well, and then we'll just take it in. But the real revelation to me was in this. I think you missed this when I read. I think you missed it when I read it.

While they were going out to the well and back and forth, there wasn't just two-gallon bucket, 30-gallon, 15 fillings, which would have taken a while. The Bible says in verse chapter 7, Jesus said to the servants, watch the servants. this very carefully, very carefully. Now I'm coming to the point of the message that I preached all the the way here to get you to, because I see you in your life struggling with some stuff, and I see you in your life dealing with some things, and I see you in your life going through a process that maybe this intersection of your life seems a little pointless. The Bible says Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, so they filled them to the brim. Read again. He said,

fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. Verse 8, then he told them, now draw some out. What's your point? Pastor, you're really slowing down here. Do you have a purpose or struggling on how to close? Do you just want the parking lot to be chaotic between services today? Are you sadistic? Uh-uh. I'm slowing it down to show you something. I'm slowing it down to show you something. Put verse 7 up there again. Then she said to them, fill the jars with water, so they filled them to the brim, which is fine, but this is an emergency. We have no wine and a lot of people. In this culture, that was the ultimate shame, because I know what some of you are thinking. It was probably good that the alcohol got cut off at this point

in the week-long wedding. Maybe that was God making them run out of wine. It's symbolic. It's a culture of honor. So there is shame present. And so Jesus is stepping in not to deal with their alcoholic consumption situation. He's dealing with their shame. And one thing that feels really bad, I don't know about you, but I hate the feeling in life like I've fallen behind. The embarrassment of thinking, I should know how to do that by now and I don't.

The embarrassment of feeling like I should have my family here by now and I don't. The embarrassment of going, I should have whipped this six years ago and I didn't. Now the fear of falling behind has been combined with the reality of being at the bottom. There is no wine. This is an emergency. This is urgent. So why wouldn't Jesus, Let them fill one jar and start distributing it. Why? Read the text. It says they had to draw out the water and fill them to the brim.

That means they had to fill all six before anything changed. It wasn't as if they poured the water and the water became wine because that would have made sense. And if it made sense, then maybe they would have been addicted to it instead of believing in him. So they're pouring water. Water doesn't turn to wine. I don't care how much of it you pour. There's no grapes in this situation. There is nothing to suggest this is going to work. So the service, pouring and pouring and sweating and pouring and sweating and pouring and checking. Did anything happen yet? Did he bring the wine?

Did he bring the wine? Not yet. And so now, imagine, they get the first jar full. That's 15. That's 15 buckets full. That's plenty to demonstrate that I take you seriously. And the head server comes over and says, Jesus, can we take some over to the people now?

Kind of get them calm down a little bit because there's no wine and you know how to get one. We just take one over there. And we'll keep going up to the other ones. He said, no, no, no. Not now. Fill the next one. Fill the next one.

But can we take this one? No. Not now. It was not until every jar was filled to the brim. And the water was drawn out of the last filled jar that it became wine. Why did God make every jar have to be filled? Why has God allowed you to pray about this for so long? Why has God not just waved his wand over our situation? Why did he reset in order to reveal? It is only after the jars are filled. It is only after, I'm telling you what I know from my life, it is only after you have done it and done it and done it,

and I can't speak for everybody in the room. but somebody online needs to hear this. Give me my camera, please. It is sometimes when I am almost done trying, that at that moment in time, that's when God says now. It's almost, it's not when I'm fresh. It's not when I feel like I got this. It's not when it makes sense. It's not when it should have happened on a human schedule. It's at that moment where I'm like, if I have to pour one more two-gallon bucket, If I have to do this one more time, and nothing is happening but everything is changing in your life. For every time you pour, when your eyes can't perceive, it is a building of your faith that is producing within you. The strength to know where your help comes from. The strength to know where grace comes from. The strength to know that there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's name.

Now you can take it. Some of the things that you thought in your life were rejection were not rejection. You just weren't ready. God is speaking to somebody today who has been told no. Or so you thought. The Lord didn't even say no. He said, not now. Not now.

for the one who lost a loved one and you're playing, God, your prayer has been, will you help me understand why this happened? We may never understand certain things on this side of heaven. God said, not now. Now we know in part, now we see in part, now we prophesy in part, but when what is incomplete has been made complete, then we will know, then we will know, then we will know, then we will know, and your job in the meantime is not to understand it is to obey. And do whatever he tells you.

Because I'm telling you, man, some of the stuff that God is doing in your life don't happen until all the jars are full. And I understand it. You filled three jars. I understand it. You've worked on it for four years. I understand it. You went back five times.

But sometimes you've got to fill all six in order to see who he is. Because the key verse of this passage has nothing to do with when they drank the wine. It's verse 11 of John chapter 2. The Bible says this was the first of the signs that he performed, and he revealed his glory. He what? He revealed his glory. He revealed his glory. He refused the request so he could reveal his glory, so that he reset your expectation, so that he could reveal his glory. Because if he just gave you the wine, you'd be a consumer. But if he teaches you to trust him, you'll be a producer. And there is a process for joy.

There is a process for trust. There is a process for confidence. There is a process. That's what the pouring is. It's the process. This is his first sign. He will do many more, but first you must learn to pour. And Jesus is so awesome that the man who tasted the wine said, normally they

switch out the cheap stuff at this point. But you did something different. I came to announce, get ready for God to do something different in your life. Different than your thought, different than your plan, different than you hope, different than you put on their list. You saved the best till now. There are some things in your life that in a previous season you were to be able to not ready to receive it. But God brought you under this word today. Why? Because it's a now moment. It's a now moment. God said, now draw it out. Now the jars are filled. Now, now. Somebody shout now. Now, now over your mental health. Now over your business. Now over your dream. Now, now. It wasn't about you.

You weren't rejected. You weren't ready yet. I remember when I first wanted to write a song with Matt Redmond. He's the greatest worship songwriter that you could ever meet from the UK or maybe anywhere else in the world. I said, write a song with me, write a song with me, write a song with me. He was very British and polite. He was very passively, kindly, affirmative in his not now. Yeah, mate, we should do that one day.

You could call me mate and write a song with me? I want to write a song with you. This was very early when I was writing songs with our team. And I got kind of mad at him because I thought you want to write a song with me. You think I'm just a preacher. You don't think I can write a song. I can write a song. And in the meantime, in the meantime, everybody say, meantime, meantime, meantime, meantime.

Along with the incredible team, we wrote songs, we wrote songs, we wrote songs, we wrote songs, we wrote songs. I send them to mad. He's good, won't you write with me? Aren't he's good? Won't you write with me? And you know what Matt did? One day I was preaching and I was up on the stage at a big conference, 30,000 people. He was there leading music.

And I said a statement in my sermon I was preaching on, don't stop on six, which I could preach that from the stone jars too. And then the line that I said was, the promise still stands. And he came up to me after my session. He goes, mate. I said, yes. It was an amazing message. And that should be a song.

The promise still stands. And I said, will you write it with me? He said, yes. So, so, I'm going to share with you. He wasn't saying no. He was saying yes, not yet. And I'm glad he told me no, because it made me go back and dig to find out what I had. Chunks, who was my very first person who joined the church right after Holly joined it.

He was there and he heard it. We had three hours before we had to fly. Three hours. He said, y'all go write this. I said, no, we'll do it another time. He said, no, you better do it now. He might not want to write with you after he forgets that sermon. He said, I'll get some chicken wings from room service, bring it up to the room, and

y'all can eat. In the worst case scenario, you all hang out for a couple hours. I get everything taken care of. I make sure we don't miss the flight. I'll come get you exact last moment. I'll come at the very last minute, and I'll get you. And we sat there and we got almost nothing. The only thing we came away from that that I remember is,

Walking around these walls, I thought by now they'd fall, but you have never failed me yet. And then we had to leave. Eat some chicken wings got on a plane. He would text me from time to time I would text him, and he was very persistent. He's like, we should work on that thing with the walls

and the promise still stands, And we didn't even have the line that made him want to write it in the song at that point. I don't remember. We kept going. One day I sent him a thing that went like, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. And he sent it back, and he sent it back. We went, dun dun dun dun, dun, dun, he did it twice. Months more go by.

Nothing, nothing, nothing. This song, I don't know. And then Chris, you remember? Chris, we're finishing up a song. The fabled mountain house. I wish we'd have bought that house. We wrote some good songs in that house. And we should have bought that house.

But he said, you know, I don't know what you want to work on next, but we still have that thing with you and Redmond. I said, the promised dance thing? He said, yeah, and start playing it. And something came up. I've seen you move. You move the mountains. And I believe I'll see you do it again.

Now, think about this. I thought by now they'd fall, right? You thought by now you'd be different. You thought by now it'd be easy. You thought by now they would have apologized. You thought by now they would be productive. You thought by now it would have turned around. You thought by now it would have lifted.

I think it's amazing that we wrote a song together about God in his infinite faithfulness from a relationship where I actually felt I had been rejected. And I wonder, is there an area in your life where you have called it rejection? But now God has been using it to get you ready. Yeah? Because you thought, well, there's something wrong with me. why. That's not why. He's teaching you something. He's teaching you how to fill the jar by faith. Say it. Fill the jar by faith. You fill it two gallons at a time. And every two gallons you carry and you fill it and it's still water.

That's how you learn who God is. Gallon by gallon by gallon by gallon. I feel like preaching God by the gallon, but I don't know who is for. Because it's not going to come all at once. But when it happens, when it happens, you'll be saying, oh, he saved the best till now. Give it praise. Yeah, stand up and I'll close this thing. I can't preach short when I'm talking a message called Not Now. But I want to tell you it was not God saying no. It's Jesus.

I was tossed in the water. Kind of scary for a second. But I never went under because you always. Oh, I love it. Jesus. You sing it. When I went through the fire. Yeah.

Yeah, always. You never left me. Hold up. I got one. Jesus. All I got is something. pots, but I'll fill them with water. Turn it to wine.

Jesus. Because I still got a God who turns my... That doesn't make no sense. Water to wine? Wine has to age to get good. Not when Jesus does it. Nah, he don't work on your time schedule. Some of the best stuff in your life

is still coming. Some of the best stuff. I'll know who it's for. The devil's the liar. He told you go home, give up, it's over. Now the best stuff is still coming. It's still coming. He's at your wedding. And it's coming. It's coming. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church.

Thanks again for listening. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.