From Death To Life

John 2:1-11 (NKJV)
¹ On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
² Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
³ And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
⁴ Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."
⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."
⁶ Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.
⁷ Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim.
⁸ And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it.
⁹ When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
¹⁰ And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"
¹¹ This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

This is the first miracle or sign of seven John would record. Jesus used this wedding to reveal His glory which was His power over nature, death, sin, and who He was, the promised Messiah. His mission, to change old spiritually dead men into new born again saints. By this miracle Jesus would demonstrate He was the "Messenger of the Covenant" that Malachi 3:1 speaks of. Jesus Christ was sent from God for the purpose of saving mankind.

I. This wedding reminds us of our relationship with Jesus. When we were saved, We became betrothed to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:2 (NKJV) For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Romans 7:4 (NKJV) Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another--to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. We are spiritually united as one with Christ.

II. The wedding reminds us of the bride price Jesus paid for us to be His bride. 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NKJV) ¹⁸ knowing that you were not redeemed, [payed for, bought back from satan], with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

III. The marriage celebration reminds us of our celebration to come at the marriage of the Lamb when our marriage to Jesus will be consummated or finalized there in Heaven. Revelation 19:7 (NKJV) Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." 

IV. The 6 water pots symbolized the O.T. Covenant of law and works. Man's attempts to work his way to God through the keeping of the10 commandments. Which covenant they could not keep. The water pots were for Ceremonial cleansing and remind us of man's attempt to please God from outward cleansing and appearance. The 10 commandments were given to show all mankind the impossibility of their efforts to please God. There must be a heart change to please God and the turning of water into wine symbolizes that change that can only be brought about by the power of Jesus Christ at salvation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

The new wine symbolizes the joy salvation brings and the new wine symbolizes the blood which Jesus shed to purchase the new covenant. Just as Jesus changed the elements of water to wine, Jesus changes a mans spirit from lost to saved, from the old man dead in sin to a new man alive in the spirit. It changes a man's spirit form fleshly, worldly thinking to spiritual and heavenly thinking. Jesus changes mankind’s direction from hell to heaven. As the new wine brought joy, Jesus brings joy to our spirit and soul. Just as wine was used to affirm marriage covenant between husband and wife, it also affirms the covenant between Jesus and us. We celebrate and affirm that covenant each time we participate in Lord's Supper.
V. In verse 10 the new wine Jesus made was better than the old aged wine. God saved the best for last and we are recipients of that new covenant which we celebrate through the ordinance of the "Lord's Supper".
VI. The new covenant of grace we have with God through the blood of Jesus, is much better than the old covenant of law which no one could keep and was broken time and time again by the Jews. God gave the old covenant first to show mankind they could not please Him by their efforts to keep His laws and to turn them to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. God promised to change that old covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NKJV)
³¹ "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- ³² not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
VII. In performing this miracle of changing water into wine, Jesus was saying that He was the One through which the new covenant would come. By His Holy Spirit that comes in at rebirth, God would put His law in their minds and hearts. His Spirit would speak directly to our minds and hearts. This miracle was the beginning of many more that Jesus would perform while on this earth.

Many have wondered why Jesus would “waste” his powers on performing a miracle of providing wine for a wedding feast, a party. But all of Jesus’ miracles had a purpose beyond alleviating suffering; they were a display of his glory. The miracles recorded in John’s Gospel (and indeed all the miracles recorded by the other Gospel writers) demonstrated God’s great love for people and his concern for their individual needs. But on a deeper level, Jesus’ unique, divine nature was portrayed in such a way as to claim our loyalty and reverence. The sign of turning water into wine was a partial unveiling of Jesus’ full identity. His power over nature, death, sin, and evil revealed him to be the promised Messiah.

The One who would bring mankind forgiveness of their sins and change mankind from an old sinner to a new saint.

INVITATION: John says that when the disciples saw the miracle, they believed in him. God may confront us in any number of ways with our need to believe in his Son. We will be held accountable for whether or not we have believed. Have you believed what God says about His Son? Have you asked Jesus to forgive you and have you invited Him into your heart to take charge of your life? If not, now is the time. Today is the day of salvation to all who will believe.

Who Do You Say That Jesus Is?

Matt. 16:13-17 & John 1:1-18

There are many who teach that Jesus was just a good man, He was a prophet like Mohammed. He was a wonderful Teacher. He was a revolutionist. A man who worked miracles like some of the prophets. But Jesus asks each one of us the question, “whom do you say I am?” Each person must answer this question and our eternal destination depends on us getting the right answer. Jesus asked His disciples this same question.

 Matthew 16:13-18 (NKJV) 

¹³ When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
¹⁴ So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
¹⁵ He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
¹⁶ Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
¹⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

  The foundation of the church is this confession by Peter of who Jesus is.

How much error is being taught today among different religious groups? How many teach there are many different ways to reach God and heaven?

If a religion doesn't believe that Jesus is the “Son of God” then everything else it teaches is based on error. Any religion that is in opposition to this truth is false and will lead you to hell.

What do your family and friends believe about Jesus? We must know what others believe about Jesus, who He is. What people believe about Jesus determines their eternal destiny.

Determines how we reach them. Determines how they react to us as we witness.

What people believe about Jesus determines the morality and justice of a society.

The book of John 1:1-14 tells us who Jesus is, what He has done and why He did it.           Please get your bible and follow along as you read this article. 

V:1&2 He is the living Word of God. He was with God in the beginning of creation as we know it. He was God from eternity past.

V:3 Jesus is the creator of all things that exist. Nothing was made without Him,

V:4 & 5 Jesus is life and light of men. Mankind lives and breathes because of Jesus. He is the reveal-er of all spiritual truth. Jesus' spiritual light shines in the darkness but darkness doesn't comprehend.

V:9 Jesus is the true Light in comparison to those who claim to be bearers of light. He penetrates, exposes and chases away darkness. He reveals pure light,[spiritual light]. Jesus guides the right way and routes chaos. He warns of error and protects His own.

V:10 &11 Jesus came into this world He created and was not known. Jesus came as a Jew to save the Jewish people and the gentiles from their sins but many did not know Him. They turned from Him because their deeds were evil. [John 3:19]

V:12 Jesus gives the right or power to As many as will receive Him as Savior and Lord, to become the “children of God.” Those that believe on His name as their Savior and Lord.

V:13 Jesus gives new spiritual birth to those who believe on Him as their Savior and Lord.

V:14 Jesus came to earth in a fleshly body and lived among us. He was born of the Virgin Mary. Laid in a manger. Those who lived in His earthly days beheld or looked upon Him in His fleshly body. Jesus was full of God's glory as the Only Begotten Son of the Father.

Glory, means to possess and to be full of perfect light; to dwell in perfect light, brilliance, splendor, brightness, luster, and magnificence with God. The "glory" of God means all the excellence of God; all that He is in His might and power, love and grace, compassion and mercy. It means all His attributes: His omnipotence (all power), omniscience (all knowing), omnipresence (being everywhere), and sovereignty. Jesus paid a sin debt we could not pay because we have all sinned before God.

Romans 3:23 (NKJV)  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 5:8 (NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 10:9-11 (NKJV)
⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
¹¹ For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." 

John 14:6 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jesus made it plain in this scripture He is the only way, the only truth, and the only real eternal life. We can not be tolerant toward other beliefs. Our God has told us the truth about salvation through Christ alone. There is no other way. Do not be afraid to stand for the truth as given in God's word. Help share it with others as you get the opportunity. Don't stand by and be silent anymore. We have the truth, let's share with those around us.

INVITATION: It's time for you to make your decision if you've never done that. Confess your sins against God, Ask Jesus to forgive your sins and invite Jesus into your life to live in you.

Christian, surrender your life to Jesus now. Invite Him to fill you with His Spirit. [Eph. 5:18]

As a Man Thinks

Christianity and living the Christian life is a war that goes on in you mind. And it is a matter of our thought life more than it is a matter of the devil and demons and what they do. We have to remember that our flesh is fallen; the will of the flesh is in unity with sin and therefore Satan. That is why it is called the sin nature. It is our nature to sin. You don’t have to train a child to sin, you have to train them not to sin, not to take what isn't theirs until it’s paid for and so much more. Scripture tells us and we know from our own lives, that a man acts and does in accordance with how he thinks. “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he:” Proverbs 23:7.

That is why the battle is in the mind and the devil has worked through the world to influence us to think according to a mindset that is contrary to God and the Bible. We call it a person’s worldview. That is why wicked men hate God and don’t want to admit there is a God, because they don’t want to be accountable for their actions and lifestyle. To justify themselves they work extremely hard to train the younger generation to think their way, amoral, immoral, anti-god and try to convince them there is no God and that they descended from monkeys. Heaven forbid that our children should think that there is a God and that He will hold them accountable for their sins. After all, that might affect their behavior. Of course it would and that is why the younger generation has no conscience or morals. It has been destroyed by indoctrination and brain-washing.

2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” The Bible doesn’t say “take every demon captive” but “take every thought captive. If you are born again by the spirit of God, then you do not belong to Satan. You might have old ways of behaving due to your ways and system of thinking you were trained to have by the world before you got saved. You need to destroy that system of thinking and have your mind renewed by the truth of God’s Word so that you will then act and behave in a different manner, in a way that is godly and acceptable to God. Romans 12:2 (NKJV) 
² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 

We have to know that we cannot change our lives by changing our behavior. Dealing with behavior will not change your life. For “As a man thinks…” You have to change your way of thinking and your thought patterns if you are going to change your behavior.  You change your life by changing what you think. Then when your thinking is lined up with God’s thinking, God’s Word, then that seals Satan out and he has no entrance into your life. He will come and try to get you to think as you used to. He will throw accusations at you to try and penetrate your mind and thinking because that is how he gets power in a person’s life. If he can get you to think evil thoughts, angry thoughts, hateful thoughts, vengeful thoughts, lustful thoughts, any thoughts contrary to God’s Word, that is how he gets you to act sinfully. You don’t go out and do sinful acts if you didn't first think and meditate upon them. You don’t go to see a porno movie without desiring it in your mind. You don’t take a gun and go shoot someone unless there are murderous thoughts in your mind.

You must replace sinful, wrong, and negative thoughts with God's word. Read God's word every day and your thoughts will change. You think about what you saturate your mind with.

If you have on the armor of God, and you have on the breastplate of righteousness and your shield of faith up (which is faith in the Word of God) and your mind filled with the preparation of the Gospel, and you have on the helmet of salvation, then he can’t get you to do his bidding and dirty work. If the devil can’t penetrate your mind because of the helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, then your mind is sharp and ready and the enemy can’t penetrate your mind and get you to follow his system and way of doing things. The key to the armor of God and putting it on and having it in force in your life is the Word of God, daily renewing your mind to truth, filling your mind with truth and building your faith up with the truth. That is what arms and defends the attacks of the enemy against your mind and gives you power to attack him on his own turf. Of course that means that you are obeying that truth that you know, walking in obedience to the Word in your daily life for that is how the Word has power in your life.

The devil will try you to see if you really believe God's word just like he did Eve in the garden. He got Eve to doubt God's word. 

Why is it that some who have “come to Christ” are still doing wrong things and have bad habits? It’s because if they are saved, that doesn't renew their mindset and way of thinking and pattern of thinking. That can only be done by the washing of the water of the word. Ephesians 5:26 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,” and by the sanctification of the Spirit as He speaks to them and corrects them, Isaiah 30:21 “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” Saved people still have an attitude and spirit that was built by a old system of thinking. We have to allow the Lord and His Word and His Spirit to then cleanse us by changing our thinking and renewing our minds and correcting us in our daily walk. We have to ask the Lord to teach us “His ways” and show us “His paths” for us to walk in.

It’s like this. You can come and ask for healing and deliverance from cancer. But even if you are healed of that cancer and it was caused by smoking and you refuse to give up the smoking, you can’t blame God if the cancer comes back because you are giving it a place in your life and access to come back by your continued sin against your body. In like manner, you can cast a devil out of your life, and bind the devils operating in our life, but unless you change your system of thinking, then Satan will soon have the same access back into your life that he had to begin with. When you were a sinner, Satan owned you and he infiltrated your mind and thinking through worldly means and he filled your mind with things that were meant to produce destruction in your life. Once you are born again, his authority and place in your life is removed, but your old system of thinking is still inside your mind and that has to be broken down and replaced until you renew your mind and have a new way of thinking so that you no longer give access to the devil in your life. James 4:7-10 (NKJV) 
⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
⁹ Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

 You have to be disciplined by the Word and the Spirit to stop the old way of thinking and doing the things you did before.                                                                                                           INVITATION: What do you think about Jesus, God's Son? The bible says that only through Him can you be saved and have a relationship with God. He alone can give you the power to think the right thoughts and live the right kind of life.  He will also give you an eternal home in Heaven. Ask Jesus to save you and then invite Him into your life to take charge of you. Then and only will you begin to think right thoughts and live the victorious life style.

I SHALL NOT WANT

God has given us so many promises in His word. Whatever you are going through take time to read these promises from His word. Meditate on them and your problems and worries will seem to disappear. You will find strength for every occasion, every situation in life. Be blessed as you read His word.

I shall not want for health, for "With His stripes we are healed."
(Is. 53:3), and Jesus "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sickness." (Mat.8:17).

I shall not want for prosperity, for "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19).

I shall not want for security, for "God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (II Timothy 1:7).

I shall not want for faith, for "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." (Romans 12:3).

I shall not want for peace, for "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee."
(Isaiah 26:3).

I shall not want for victory, because "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." (Romans 8:37).

I shall not want for victory over sin because, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Rom.8:2).

I shall not want for victory over confusion because, "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." (! Corinthians 14:33).

I shall not want for companionship because Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20).

I shall not want for contentment, "For I have learned in whatsoever
state (or circumstance) I am therewith to be content."
(Philippians 4:11).

I shall not want for victory over the cares of this life, for I am casting all my care upon Him who cares for me. (I Peter 5:7).

I shall not want for victory in prayer, for if we ask anything in Jesus' name we shall have it. (John 14:14).

I shall not want for strength, for "The Lord is the strength of my life." (Psalms 27:1).

I shall not want for power, for "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." (Acts 1:8)

I shall not want as to be an overcomer because Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).

I shall not want for victory over persecution, for "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

I shall not want for righteousness because, "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (1 Corinthians 5:21).

I shall not want for victory over condemnation, for "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."
(Romans 8:1).

 Those that are God's people will never want for these things.We can claim these promises of God as Christian people. He can not lie, He will keep His word! If you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord you lack all these things and you will not make it to heaven. But you can ask Jesus to for give your sins against God and invite Him into your life to take charge of you. Then as the above scripture says, you will not be condemned by God the Father if you are in His Son. You will have eternal life!