R892 Praying for a Miracle, PT.1

Are you praying for a miracle? That's today's topic, as Dr. Don opens God's encouraging Word together with us. It's so good to welcome you to this very special time of studying God's Word, the Bible itself, God's encouraging Word, with Dr. Don Wilton, well-known author, evangelist, pastor, and in some ways best known as the pastor of Dr. Billy Graham for the last 25 years. I pray that as we gain insight together from this wonderful godly man we would know, as he would say, it all points to Scripture. And today God's gonna speak to us about this subject, praying for a miracle. As a matter of fact, we'll be talking about this and praying together and studying over the next two days on this message, and we're here for you throughout the time to connect to pray at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 or tewonline.org. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Now friends, I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to John's Gospel and the second chapter as we study the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you praying for a miracle? Are you praying for a miracle? I want to just say something to each one of you, and before I say it I just feel compelled to pray for each one of us.

Would you bow your heads with me? Father, what we're about to talk about runs very deep, and there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people who at this very moment have reached a point where they need a miracle in their lives. Father, speak in Jesus' name.

Amen. Are you praying for a miracle? Let me give you a definition of a miracle.

This is my definition. A miracle is something that only God can do. Let me give that to you again. In fact, you might want to write that down in your Bible. Space in a Bible is very precious, and so I'm going to recommend that you use some of that precious space.

Write this down. A miracle is something that only God can do. I believe with all of my heart that there are literally hundreds upon hundreds upon thousands upon thousands of people just like you and just like me who have run out. You're going to say to me, well, pastor, what exactly do you mean? You know what I mean. I know what I mean.

You've just run out. Remember that a miracle is something that only God can do. A miracle is something in which impossible things are made possible. Miracles are the show and tell of the power of God. The show and tell of the power of God. Miracles are impossible things made possible.

To summarize, a miracle is something that only God can do, and you've run out. Now we're going to be studying a remarkable event. I should imagine that I first heard about the changing of the water into wine when I was just a little boy.

I've heard this story many times. I've always been fascinated by it. I don't know that I've ever really seen beyond the obvious. I genuinely do not think that I have ever come to the point in my own life where God has allowed me to take a glimpse into what actually this meant. I've spent the majority of my life believing that this was the first miracle that Jesus did. It is magnificent.

It's the most unlikely thing. I can't understand it. I've actually been to Cana. It's hardly anything there today. I've talked about it. I've probably preached on this many times, but for some reason the Lord has allowed me to see beyond this event, and I want to share that with you today because I believe that there are thousands of people just like you and me who have run out, and the only thing we can do is pray for a miracle.

So I'm going to read this to you, and I'm going to just explain a few things before we watch how that God by His Spirit will begin to open the door of our understanding and make an application into our own personal lives. Bible says that on the third day a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee. Now Galilee of course was a very fertile area. The Sea of Galilee itself is 700 foot below sea level.

It's eight miles long and three miles wide. It's a beautiful lake, and it has fresh water in. These people understood about water as opposed to those who were south of the border. The Bible says that a wedding took place. Now by the way, weddings in those days were unbelievable events, and some of us can identify with that. Some of us think that today a wedding comes around and we've got a corner on the market, but I've got an announcement to make to all you moms and young ladies and brides. Weddings were unbelievable events in the time of the Lord Jesus.

They didn't have television and the internet and a Super Bowl to watch. This was the event of the week, the event of the decade, I don't know, but when weddings came around everybody showed up, and particularly those who were invited and particularly then those who were related. And I just want to say a word to you dads out there today. I tell you dads, the dads back in this day, they understood what we dads understand today. I tell you one of my favorite movies, and I hope you'll just forgive me for that, called Father of the Bride.

I like to just sit down with my wife and daughter, I can't stop laughing when I watch that, and watch this total funny fellow who, you know, all the surprises and the way he responds to the impending wedding of his daughter, and it's just amazing. I mean what he had to do, the preparation and calls and getting things ready and invitations, who to invite, who not to invite, and the pressure that he had from both wife and daughter. But then not only that, they also had a master of the feast.

I don't know, but his name was Frank or something silly like that, but you know Frank just cracks me up because this man had the responsibility of making sure that everything was in place. I mean it was a paid job. Well they had someone like that in Jesus' time, believe it or not. Frank was there, folks.

That's not an original thought. That movie should be paying the Bible royalties. And Frank's responsibility in the Bible involved giving the very best of the best to the guests who wouldn't want to do that at a wedding. I mean the daughter's getting married.

This is the greatest event. The bride is here, which daddy doesn't want to give the best. And back in the time of Jesus, of course they drank wine. They didn't have the privilege of having water that was purified, but they didn't discard water, particularly in the region of the Galilee.

Of all the regions where the water was fresh, it was there in the Galilee region. And what they would do is they would have to get wine, the fruit of the vine. They didn't have refrigeration. So what they would have to do is get wine and they would have to keep that wine fresh. It was strong because it was pure.

They didn't have all the means at their disposal. And the best wine was the fresh wine. It was served right up front. And the father of the bride and Frank himself would have to make certain that the guests were served the very best of the best. And what they did was they would pour a little bit of water in there to neutralize the acidity of the grapes. And the big struggle they had was the fermenting of this pure wine. They didn't have at their disposal the means that we have. And so drunkenness was a real problem because weddings went on for a number of days.

Days. They weren't two hour events. And so what happened was as the good wine began to run out, because they didn't have a never-ending supply of fresh grape juice coming in there, as that began to run out, so they would water down the wine more and more. And really what they were hoping was that perhaps some of them would get a little tipsy and they wouldn't notice how the water had diluted the wine, but eventually it would get to the point at which it would be 98% water with just a little drop of old wine. And finally they would run out altogether. And that was the catastrophe of all catastrophes. That would send Frank into the worst kind of state you could possibly imagine. And the whole reputation of everybody was at stake. What were they going to do? And folks, it reduced the wedding to a level of impossibility.

What do you do? Go out and manufacture vineyards? They didn't have a Honda motorcycle to get on, say listen send somebody down to Jerusalem quickly.

Well I tell you what, just call and get FedEx to bring it in. When they ran out, they ran out. This was a crisis. It was impossible.

Remember a miracle is something that only God can do. They ran out. Have you run out?

Has the fizz gone out of your life? We're gonna see some things here today that are just remarkable. And the Bible says here in verse 1 that this wedding took place, Jesus' mother was then, also Jesus and his disciples had been invited. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, they've got no more wine. To which Jesus said, dear woman, why do you involve me? By the way, he wasn't being cheeky. This was not Jesus being rude with his mother. He wasn't being sassy.

Woman, what has this got to do with me? What he was doing is he was looking into the heart of the mother that bore him as the incarnate Christ who is God Himself. And he was posing the most important question when it comes to a miracle. Are you talking to me as your son? Because if you're talking to me as your son, I can do nothing.

But if you are talking to me, the one who is divinely appointed as God, who is God, I want you to know as the son of the living God, I am capable of doing the impossible. And so it is that his mother said to the servants in verse 5, do whatever he tells you to do. She didn't know what he was going to do. She had no idea. She just simply made a statement that she knew was the only means by which a miracle could be delivered.

Because miracles are something only God can do. Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each of them holding 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. So they filled them up. Then he said, now draw some out.

Why draw them out? Because they weren't going to walk into the wedding with 30 gallon clay pots filled with water. This was a wedding folks. The bride's parents had probably taken a trip down to Jerusalem and had got the best china in the country. The goblets they were drinking from might have been pure silver.

I don't know. But this was the finest of the fine. They drew water out to serve in the manner and according to the custom at the level at which the father of the bride had determined to serve it.

And they did so. The master of the banquet, here comes Frank, 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, by the way watch this folks, when you pray for a miracle and when God gives you a miracle, there are going to be some people who will receive the blessing of that miracle even though they did not even know that a miracle was taking place. You take marriage for example. There are hundreds of marriages that after years go by, the fizz runs out. You just run out of juice. There's no more taste left.

If you've got young children, your children don't know about that necessarily. Maybe your house and your home is still intact and you're doing your best as mom and dad but the fizz has gone. You've run out of the best and you pray for a miracle. Now here's what happens folks. God brings a miracle to bear in your marriage, in your life together and the second part of your marriage is far greater than the first part.

The last 35 years of your marriage is far greater than the first 20 and not only that but even your children become the beneficiaries and they had nothing to do with it to begin with. They didn't even know. Now watch what happens here. Everyone He said in verse 10 brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink but you've saved the best until now. This, the first of His miraculous signs Jesus performed at Canaan Galilee, thus revealing His glory and His disciples put their faith in Him. Folks, what are the four reasons why miracles happen?

Let me give you four reasons why miracles happen just quickly. Number one, to demonstrate God's power. To demonstrate God's power. Number two, to glorify God's name.

Number three, to illustrate man's total dependence on God. Remember miracles are those things that only God can do and number four, to strengthen man's faith. Bible says in verse 11 that His disciples put their faith in Him. Everything that happened in the life of Jesus was like a drumroll. It just built a crescendo, a growing strengthening of faith.

Forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with today's message as we continue to think about that praying for miracle and how that crescendo grows to strengthening of faith. Perhaps your faith is feeling weak at this point in time and you'd like to have someone to pray with you and for you about whatever miracle you're praying for. We stand ready to do that right now at 866-899 word. That's 866-899-9673. We would be honored to be one of your 2 a.m. friends as Dr. Don would say, so jot the number down, store it in your cell, make us a contact. We are 866-899-9673 and we'd love to pray with and for you anytime, not just during the broadcast, but anytime day or night. We'd also be happy to connect keyboard to keyboard online at our website www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Just know that we're available and ready to pray with you and for you. Now back to more of today's message, Praying for a Miracle with Dr. Don Wilson on the encouraging word. Let me give you just a very quick summary of events.

All right, you're ready. I'm just going to give you a down-to-earth modern-day version, a summary of events that took place here at this wedding feast at Cana in Galilee. Number one, the wedding had lost its fizz.

They ran out. Has your wedding lost its fizz? Your business? Your finances? Your health? Your disposition? Your attitude? The things that you need to do?

Maybe it involves a son or a daughter just lost its fizz. Number two, Jesus showed up. Any questions?

Jesus was in the centre before the miracle took place. So watch this folks. You're going to have to ask. I'm going to get there.

You're going to have to ask a question. Number one, has the fizz gone out? Number two, is Jesus there? Is he in the scheme of things? Does he figure out in what's happening?

Is he the one that you prepared to go to? Number three, Mom spoke up. I'm just giving you a summary of events. Mom spoke up. I'll tell you folks, do you know there was a time in my life that I actually thought my mother was the Holy Spirit?

That's not good theology. I'm just telling you like it is. Mom spoke up.

What happens when Mom speaks up? Number four, questions were asked. If you're praying for a miracle, if you've run out, it is quite okay to ask questions. Where do we get this, that you cannot ask God questions? Where does that come from? That's not a sign of your lack of faith.

That's not sinfulness. Questions were asked. You go ahead and ask. You have a conversation with God, ask Him. Lord, why? How? When? I don't understand.

If you follow the life of the disciples, they asked every question you could imagine. Lord, where can I sit? Can I stand up? I don't like that. Keep that, listen.

Could we do this? Explain it to me again. They even looked into the face of the Lord Jesus and said, I'm sorry, Master, I don't know what in the world you're talking about. Questions were asked. Number five, instructions were given.

You're praying for a miracle, get ready. Instructions were given. Number six, action was taken.

That's the part we struggle with. Action was taken. And number seven, everybody was blessed. You know, if you go and do a character study of the wedding feast at Cana, there were a lot of people there, folk, from the master of the house, to the parents of the bride, to the family, friends, relatives, servants.

I mean, likelihood, there were scores of people at this wedding. It was a happening event, folks, and everybody got blessed. Now, I want to share with you very briefly the seven elements of a miracle.

You need to write these down. The seven elements of a miracle. I'm going to give you a biblical guarantee. I believe with all of my heart that the Lord has revealed to me that these seven elements will always be present when God brings a miracle to bear upon your life and upon mine. Seven elements of a miracle. Element number one, presence. Jesus was there.

So you've got to ask yourself a very important question. You see, friends, the greatest miracle of all is the miracle of salvation. In fact, in John's Gospel, we're in chapter two.

What happened in chapter three? We find the demonstration of the greatest miracle of all, conversion. Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again.

He said, how can these things be? He said, by miracle. Not by flesh, but by spirit. You're going to be born of the Spirit.

How does that happen? That's the miracle of God. You see, when we talk about presence, when Jesus showed up, he was telling us, my friends, that miracles will not happen outside of himself. Otherwise, you throw yourself into the realm of good luck and the Bible defies good luck. Number two, the word predicament.

That's right there in verse three. The wine was gone. Predicament. Second element, fundamental element of every miracle. Predicament. The wine was gone.

They'd run out. Do you know of anybody in this life who has not found themselves in varying degrees of predicament? We're sinners saved by the grace of God. I don't know of a lot of people who don't find themselves in a predicament. Folks, more and more marriages have just run out. You know it. I find godly Christian business people who say, I just want to serve, but I've just run out.

Parents praying for their sons and daughters. What more can we do? I don't know what else to do, they say. You just run out. Maybe you've lost a loved one and it feels like your heart has been taken out of your chest. You've just run out.

You're desperate. Predicament. That's the second element of every miracle. Number three is purpose. Yeah, Jesus put his finger on purpose, but he wasn't just talking about his purpose. That is the entry point purpose because Jesus is the originator. He's the maker of all miracles, but he translates that into his divine purpose for each one of us, whereby there is a demonstration of God's power. There is glory to the name of God and there is a complete strengthening of the faith of mankind. There is a purpose behind every miracle. God just doesn't do something randomly just for the point of doing it. There is a purpose.

Have you run out? What purpose do you suppose could be there for God to do a miracle in your life? What purpose? What purpose? Could you write down? Could you put that down? You know, God restores that joy if he gives back to me that love, if he resurrects this thing that I feel is half dead, if he brings me back, if he answers my prayer, if he turns the ship around. What is the purpose?

If you can define that purpose, my friend, you are in line for a miracle. Number four, parameter. Parameter.

Says right there in verse five, his mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Let me tell you what that is, folks. Parameters are the rules of engagement.

You can go to any athletic team, folks. I'll guarantee you, my friend, even the two teams that play in the Super Bowl, they've been operating according to a framework. There are rules of engagement.

And Mary, the mother of Jesus, put her finger right on there. She said, your parameter, your rule of engagement is absolute unquestioning obedience to what he says. Number five, the word practice. That's the fifth element of every miracle.

Practice. Boy, that's a tough one because it means that not only are we operating according to certain parameters, but we are willing to put those rules of engagement into practice. See, folks, let me tell you why many of us do not experience that miracle in our lives is because we go so far and yet no further. We've coined that phrase, you can lead a horse to the water, but you can't make a drink.

Jesus said, I declare that to be null and void. I'm not only telling you to go to the water, but read my lips. Drink. That's practice. You want a miracle, you've got to drink.

You've got to practice. Number six, the word power. That's the sixth element of every miracle.

Boy, what a demonstration of power. The impossible became possible. God did something that only God can do. So here you are and you're looking at your own life and your own situation, your own circumstance, your finances, your health, your marriage, your children, your whereabouts, where to live, where not to live, and it's just impossible. And a miracle, my friend, is going to be a demonstration of God's power. You cannot explain it any other way. And then number seven, the word possibility.

Love verse 11. You see, friend, possibility is the essential ingredient of the final goal of every miracle performed by God. Endless possibilities. God can do things that will boggle our mind and touch people that we couldn't have dreamt about. Are you praying for a miracle?

What a powerful challenge from Dr. Wilton today. Are we praying for a miracle? Could it be that we have allowed the situations and circumstances in our life to seemingly be so overwhelming? We have had an overwhelming year, have we not?

And there have been a lot of things that we would have never ever said, Lord, this is what we're looking forward to. But in the middle of this, as we lean into and depend on God more and more, are we not gaining strength by knowing that we're just completely dependent on Jesus? Know that we would love to pray with you and for you in the middle of whatever situation you're in, and especially if you're praying for a miracle. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. And we'd love to be a part of your fellowship, a part of your encouragement, a part of your 2 a.m. friends, as Dr. Don would say. Again, 866-899-9673.

Or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. But before we get away, Dr. Wilton has some closing thoughts that could be the most important thoughts of the entire day. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Are you ready to give your life to Christ? Did you just pray with Dr. Don, and you've done so? Let us be a part of the next steps. Let us help you grow in your faith.

Dr. Don has prepared some wonderful resources just for you, absolutely free. If you rededicate your life to Christ, or giving your life to Jesus for the first time, why don't you call us? 866-899-WORD is the phone number. That's 866-899-9333.

Or you can connect online as well. As a matter of fact, right now online there are remarkable tools and resources that will help you grow in your faith. Matter of fact, one called the Safeguards of Our Faith online at TEWonline.org. Here's Liz with all the details about safeguards of our faith. We are living in a rapidly changing world.

What is this new normal today? How do we press on? We press on by resting in the safeguards of our faith. When you have a history of God's faithfulness in your heart and spirit, you can walk boldly and unflinchingly through the midst of trouble.

Why? Because God has proven himself to you. With your gift of support to the encouraging Word this month, you will receive Dr. Wilton's faith-building message, the Safeguards of Our Faith. This four message set will help equip you to stand firm on the foundation of Jesus Christ in these not so new normal days. Call us at 866-899-WORD and request the Safeguards of Our Faith available on CD or DVD today. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Our time's gone for today, but let's stay connected online at TEWOnline.org.