Steven Furtick - You Already Know: Fear Of Running Out
I don't struggle with the Fear Of Missing Out more like for me the fear of running out. That's more what I deal with. I'm a pretty lazy person, I'm pretty boring, I'm not lazy about the things that matter, but somebody's like, "You know, there's a lunar eclipse tonight", and I'm like "eh somebody'll take a picture". You know what time is it at? 10:45? I'll check it out tomorrow. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It'll be on YouTube. You know, that's kinda my thing I'm fine to miss out. But Fear Of Running Out — F.O.R.O. — F.O.M.O. not so much, F.O.R.O., fear of runing out, I think about all the time.
I guess because my fear in life is not having what I'm supposed to have and people show up expecting something that I can't give. Even in church I'm always so nervous that I won't be able to get my energy up to the level that I need to get it to, to connect with you because sometimes you come in with very low energy, I'm just being honest, but I know you need a gourmet meal from the Word of God and I don't wanna hand you a cheese sandwich in a Styrofoam box. You know I don't want you to show up with a FEMA tent when you're expecting a villa, but I'm scared of this I'm scared of running out all the time. I'm constantly scared like my creativity is gonna run out because I need creativity to do what I do and even in writing sermons you're kind of saying the same things over and over again sometimes and even though the Bible has a lot of interesting stories and letters I'm scared like one time maybe I'm open my bible and I won't be able to find a sermon.
You know and sometimes it gets late in the week and I'm so scared of running out when we write worship songs I'm always like how many different ways can we say, "God, you're good. I trust you"? You know there's different ways I'm not saying that God is simple I'm just saying sometimes I'm like, "Can we write another song, can preach"? I'm scared of running out of time. I always feel like I don't have enough time, always feel like I'm gonna run out of time raising my kids. I'm scared to death that I won't get everything instilled in them in the time they're in my house and then they will end up on a therapist couch $250 an hour because something I didn't teach them or Abby is gonna marry some jerk because maybe I didn't teach her what a man should be like because I don't know how to fix cars and so, she never saw me fix cars she's gonna end up you know on the corner.
I'm scared about this stuff. I'm scared like that they're gonna leave — I know it's dark, right? — and I'm scared I'm gonna send my kids out and they're not gonna have what they need for the world because I ran out of time to give it to 'em. I'm scared that I'm gonna run out of money. I'm more scared now that I'm gonna run out of money then I was when I was 22, and we didn't have any money. I can't figure out how the more we got of it, the more I started to depend on it and now it consumes more of your time. You think you'll get to an amount of money where you will no longer be scared of running out? All money is gonna do is create more obligations, all more money is gonna do is create a bigger lifestyle and now you will need more money to create the lifestyle so you really won't lose the fear of running out it will just be on a larger scale and you'll have more to lose.
I'm so scared of running out. F.O.M.O. not so much, Fro-yo? Never liked the stuff. F.O.R.O.? So when they got there and they didn't have it, I was like, "John 2". The fear of running out. What if I don't have what they need, what if I can't be who they need? Any new parents? Any new parents? You don't; you don't have what those kids need; it's gonna have to come from God. Please, believe me. Did you figure this out yet? Have you already got the baby or you're expecting or what? Yeah over there any kids you just came here to get a break is this your date? It's a good way to do a date, by the way. Free childcare. You gotta understand, this was the first sign, Jesus did way more signs than John puts in his gospel and he uses the word 'sign', not 'miracle', because he believes it's pointing to something deeper. That's what a sign does. That's why that says "Exit" because of the door. The sign is worthless if that's just a wall. It's pointing to something.
And when you see things in Scripture a lot of times you're gonna see it on a natural level, but then it's gonna point to something beneath the surface like life does. Like there are things going on in your life right now that are trying to point you to something deeper there are things you're experiencing in your life right now, but the surface is not the story. There is a deeper meaning for it. And so John says in his gospel that if he were to write down everything that Jesus did he said, "The world would not have room for the books that would be written". This was before Wikipedia. Now you can put it all out there, but at the time, he said, "If I wrote it all down, I'll run out of room". So he chose the number seven, it's the number that represents completion in the Bible, and it's the days of the week, the world was created in seven days, it's a symbolic number in the Bible, seven is all over the Bible. He uses the number seven and he puts in the Bible seven signs that Jesus performed to point to who He was.
Everything that God does for you is to point to who He wants to be to you and if you only live at the level of what He does for you, but miss what He is trying to point to that He wants to be to you, you can receive resource from the Lord without revelation of the Lord who gave the resource. And if your attachment is to the resource, then you will always run out at some point. If your attachment is to the Revelation you will always know who He is and so whatever you need he can be because he is The Great I Am. Shout about it for 5 seconds so I can move on. Seven signs he says I'm going to give you seven. The second sign that Jesus did in John's gospel is, when He, in John 4, He healed a royal official's son, in John 5, He healed a man at the pool of Bethesda who'd been lame for 38 years and was waiting for the angel to stir up the water, but Jesus came on the scene and said, "You don't have to wait for somebody to stir up the water, the Living Water has come to you and since you can't move in your sitting by this pool I'm gonna bring to you what you could not get for yourself".
He flipped the flow. He flipped the flow. I can preach this series for another year and not exhaust all the times that Jesus flipped the flow. In fact in John 6 this was the fourth sign that Jesus recorded in John's gospel. Jesus was looking at some hungry people and a little boy had a Styrofoam box with a cheese sandwich and Jesus... fish and loaves, but I modernized it. Jesus took it and blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them, and they went from hungry to full, they went from hungry to I can't eat another bite. They went from hungry to, "Would you like to see the dessert menu"? "No, I'm full". That was the sign in John 6. In John 6 Jesus also walked out on water to His disciples. He had sent them to the other side, but they encountered a storm and what was really most important wasn't what was on the other side, but what they went through to get there because when they went through the storm and gave Him an opportunity to reveal who He was in a way that they could have seen if they didn't go through the storm.
So He's trying to get us to see, "You see the sign"? — He's trying to get you to see that the storm points to something that is deeper than what you can see on the surface, to show you that the power of God on the inside of you is greater than the wind that blows against you. He gives 'em a sign. In John 9 He heals a man born blind. The man didn't do anything to be blind, his parents didn't do anything to make him blind, Jesus said this was to reveal the glory of God. He is using something that the man can't see to show the men something that physical eyes cannot detect. It's a sign He's trying to show something deeper until John 11 when He shows the ultimate sign that foreshadows the very work that He came to do when He shows up at Lazarus house late after Lazarus has died misses His healing appointment and tells him come out of the Tomb because He had to show them: "You've seen Me as a Healer, but now it's time for a deeper expression of your understanding of me because even when I don't show up when you want me to show up in your life I already have in mind what I'm gonna do. And even if they wrapped you in grave clothes and buried you, if you have the faith to come forth I can still speak a word that will bring you out of any situation, because I am the resurrection and the life".
Somebody, shout, "God, gimme a sign"! Just wanted a sign so Jesus gave 'em a sign. So what was the first one? Those were the six, but the first one was... and I know some of you already know. Some of you really, really, really, know your Bible and when I said John 2, you were like, "Water into wine"! And you're right, but if you would have shouted it out it would have ruined my setup because you already know, but you know sometimes we have the curse of knowledge and we think we know something and we do know it at the surface, but why did Jesus turn water into wine? And I'm gonna show you. This is so powerful. God, I'm excited. I haven't had this much fun preaching in a long time as I'm having today. I think it's the denim. Holly said I don't wear enough color up here so. I like black it's slimming. Dark colors, dark colors.
Now go back to John 2:1 somebody shout, "flip it". Jesus shows up on the third day at a wedding which took place in Cana in Galilee. This is a small place, not necessarily an important place, but nevertheless Jesus's mother was there at a wedding and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone the miracle started. You missed it. When they ran out of what they brought, when they ran out of what they planned for. Which to us would not be the biggest deal, you know, you run out of wine at a wedding and it's probably a good thing because you got crazy family members and when they drink too much they start fightin' anyway and one of 'em ends up in jail, but in this culture it was the epitome of dishonor to invite a guest and to not be able to provide.
And this wedding was not a... you know how we do wedding and it's like 40 minutes and then a reception, this was more like the Fyre Festival; It was supposed to last a week, the weeding would last a week, and everybody showed up expecting that at whatever point they showed up at the wedding there would still be something to drink. You know, to show up at a wedding and there to be no wine, it was actually recorded that if the groom who is responsible to make sure that the wedding went off right, if he did not provide everything that necessity required, he could be sued by his mother-in-law. You thought you had family drama right? But Jesus shows up at the wedding and they run out of wine.
Now I don't wanna skip over this what have you run out of? What are you running out of right now? What are you constantly afraid of running out of? Is it wisdom? Is it peace? Is it ideas? Are you out of ideas for how to fix a relationship? Are you out of ideas for how to reach a level of success that you thought you would have been at 4 years ago? What are you running out of? What have you run out of? The worst thing is to run out of gas when you're the one driving. The worst thing is for people to show up to your kitchen and all you have is cheese and bread. The worst thing is when you know that people expect something of you. Because some of you, you're the life of the party. Some of you you're the strong one. Some of you you're the one that the people come to with their problems and they don't know you are sick of being the place where they dump their crap. You got your own sewage and they keep backing up and dumping more on you and they don't even know how close you are to quitting and you're running out.
And that's why I like this 'cause you don't have to say it out loud, I'll say it for you. Everybody in here is running out of something. Not wine, how 'bout joy? How 'bout how you haven't been happy in a long time? How 'bout that? The last time I was up here I preached on joy, did you hear that sermon? Sounds like it meant a lot to you praise the Lord. Why do I do this?! Were you here when I preached on joy? Well since wine represents joy I thought it'd be good to stay in this flow, but Jesus comes to the wedding and He's a guest, but He's about to provide what the host could not provide. Why? he did not come to demand righteousness. He came to provide righteousness. He flipped the flow.
The first thing Jesus did was to take away the shame of a couple who had run out of what they were unable to provide. That's the first thing He does when He comes in your life. He doesn't just expose your shame, he doesn't just come to condemn you, he doesn't just come to point out everything that's wrong with you. He says, "I didn't come just to show you your shame; I came to take it away. Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". I'm happy about it. I need the Lord in my life 'cause I'm so scared I'm gonna run out, and yet the Bible says that Jesus didn't do anything about it, he let it run out. He let it run out. He let it happen like He often will do, until watch this, "When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him..."
You gotta imagine: the wine's really important, at the wedding, this is not the first person who has discovered that it's gone. They probably had many discussions and there's probably been a lot of finger-pointing. That's one thing on that documentary I watched, everybody was saying it was everybody's fault. Everybody was pointing, everybody was pointing at somebody else, "Well, we didn't know, we didn't know, we didn't know," How did you not know? That's what we wanted to know is how did you not know, but Jesus's mother knew something. Rather she knew someone.
And she did something interesting. She didn't go to the wedding planner, she didn't go to the couple, Jesus's mother when the wine was gone, Jesus's mother... "Mary, did you know"? Yes, she knew. She didn't know what to do, but she knew who to go to. I'mma preach this message today, I'm coming for it today, 'cause you don't know what to do right now, right? But if you know who to go to... And see a lot of the reason you've been running out, it's because you've been running around to people who don't have what you need. They don't have it, they can't give it, they've got their own stuff, they're running dry too, but if you go to the Man From Galilee, if you go to the One Whose Name is Life...
She came to Jesus and said, "they have no more wine". She didn't tell Him about the solution she just told Him the need. She just told Him what He already knew. I promise you He already knew. Wow do I know He already knew? Because He was the Word from the beginning. If He spoke the grapes onto the vine, He certainly knew that they didn't bring enough. He knew, I know He knew because in John 6 when He turned the little boy's value pack, Chick-fil-A value pack, when He turned it into a buffet, all-you-can-eat buffet He asked Philip, "What are we gonna do about this"? And Philip was an accountant so Philip was like, "if we did... can't do it". But the Bible says, give me John 6:6, I know I didn't use it in the last one, but I wanna use it 'cause these people want it they really, really want it, these people are hungry, these people want the Word of God. "He asked this only to test him, for He already knew..."
He already knew what He was gonna do. How cool is that? You mean I'm coming before God praying a lot of times and I'm like... like, I'm God's administrative assistant you know? Like, "Lord, just reminding you about that appointment you missed last week when I asked you to help me with the thing and I told you to fix 'em and you didn't fix 'em so just putting it back on your calendar if you get around to it, Lord, and then this other thing over here bah-bah-bah..." And, lately, I've been praying like this. "You already know, I know you know, I know you know". That's why Mary went to Jesus even though it wasn't His job he was just a guest at the wedding, but she knew what was in Him because He had been in her and when Christ is in you and you are in Christ you already know.
How many of you already know that God will do it, you just don't know how? That's all Mary knew. Mary did you know. Maybe like "Yeah, I knew He would, but I didn't know how He would. I didn't know how". But see every need in your life is pointing you to a deeper source. Every sign that John recorded was pointing to something deeper. Every need that you experience in your life is pointing you to a deeper place in God that you can access. A deeper place of strength, a deeper place of confidence, a deeper place of help, a deeper place of relationship, a deeper place of the penance. Everything is pointing to something deeper.
So when she said, "they have no more wine," Jesus responded. And I don't recommend this as like something to say to your mom or your wife, John 2:4: "Woman, why do you involve Me"? That's not like a great marriage seminar love languages verse, but she didn't tell Jesus the need to inform Him like we do. She didn't pray like a ritual in, "God bless me today is a go to the thing and after the thing and God just let me go through my list and worry about it and say that I'm praying, but really all I'm doing is worrying out loud with my eyes closed". She wasn't doing it to inform Him, she was doing it to involve Him 'cause she knew if He gets involved I don't know what He'll do, but I know who He is. Now I'mma need you to shout, right now, if you know who He is. Come on Blakeney, don't be quiet I know you love the lord. I need you to shout right now if you know who He is. I know who to go to — I lift my eyes to the hills.
And His mother watched this, his mother goes to Him, He says to His mother, "Woman," — I'mma start talking to Holly, "Woman"! "Help 'em with their homework"! "Woman, why do you involve Me"? That's my favorite verse this year. I'm gonna use that a lot this year. "Woman, why do you involve Me"? Jesus replied, "My hour has not yet come". He's talkin' about the cross, but she needs Him to do something right now. Some of us have things that we need God to do now. We really do we need Him now. Yeah, I'm goin' to heaven when I die, and yeah, there's a white horse that I read about in the book of Revelation, but how 'bout now?
And so watch what she does. She doesn't argue, she doesn't convince, she doesn't beg, in fact she doesn't talk to Jesus anymore; she turns away from Jesus points to the people who are working at the wedding and verse 5 she, "said to the servants, 'Do whatever He tells you.'" 'Cause if you start moving in faith He's gonna do something. I don't know what He didn't tell me, I don't know the details, I don't know the plan I wasn't the wedding planner, this isn't even my party, but if you start moving, if you'll start obeying, if you'll take a step you're gonna see something. And she said, "Do whatever He tells you".
Now, I know what you're thinking. I already know, I already know. I already know what you're thinking. "I would, if I knew what He wanted me to do". But sometimes the way God speaks, it's like, the Lord was saying to me the other day, because I was praying about "I don't know whether to do this or that", and I know you have situations that are nuanced, and I really don't like preaching that doesn't respect nuance. I really think in some ways it's misleading to say, "You know, it's just simple: Do whatever He tells you to do," because sometimes I don't know what that is.
Sometimes, I don't know if I should take the job and make a little more money, but it's gonna put me away from my family more, but I need to be here for my kids, but I also need to be able to send them to college in four years and I need to be able to provide for them. So, I'm kind of caught between, I don't really know what He wants me to do, because I can't find a Bible verse about whether I should live in Atlanta or Charlotte, you know? But let me just tell you something: There's traffic in both cities, and there's problems in both cities, and there's ups and downs to both cities. "Where am I going to go to college"? I see a Wingate shirt over there. "Where am I gonna go to college"? You know, you can live for the Lord at Wingate or at Wofford. You can live for the Lord either place. It's not as important. I mean, go where the scholarship money is. Or if there's no scholarship money, go... But it's more important what kind of friends you make the first week of college than it is whether it's Wingate or Wofford. Can I preach a little bit?
So, the Lord was speaking to me, I was like, "If I knew what to do, I would do it". And God said, "If you would do what you knew..." See the flip? You see the flip? Because I'm waiting for new information from God, and God is like, "Alright, what do you already know"? I'm speaking to somebody today who has run out and you don't know what to do, and you don't have the wisdom, and you don't have the experience, and you don't have the "I don't know, I didn't..." You know, it's really hard to do something you don't have a context for. But if you would do what you knew... What do you already know?
I mean, I know for one that gratitude is the gateway to joy. So much so that I bought a journal and put it by my bed. It's a gratitude journal. It's orange like everything else in this church, and like God's favorite team, the Clemson Tigers whom He has anointed with the fresh oil of yet another national championship for the glory of His name His kingdom come. Some of y'all look like you hate me right now. But I found out the gratitude journal doesn't bless me if I don't open it and write in it. And I already know that, but I haven't touch it in seven months, and it's got dust on it. And then I'm gonna go to God at some point praying that He'll help me to feel joy, but I already knew what to do. I didn't do it. I've got 17 books on my Kindle that I bought last year that I read one chapter of. I probably don't need to buy another book this year, and you might not either. I'm serious.
I'mma preach until it's so quiet that you think this is Elevation Presbyterian Episcopalian Cemetery Service. Look at me. You know enough right now; I promise you do. I promise you do. You know enough right now to be physically fit. I'm just saying. You might not need Men's Fitness with Hugh Jackman's workout to do some push-ups and to take less calories. But we're addicted to knowledge. We're addicted to "if I knew what to do... if I knew... if I could do this diet over here, and I heard about this and this celebrity diet, and I gotta do this thing. I heard about this kombucha, if I drink that, then my gut will be healed". You know, you already know.
Touch somebody and say, "You already know". You know push-ups, you know sit-ups. You already know. Get a trainer if you want, but the trainer will not transform you. If you know what to do and you do what you know, you will know what to do. Come on. God, I don't need You to clarify; I need You to give me courage to do what I knew that I didn't do last time. I knew I needed to humble myself, I knew I needed... Some of us know exactly what we need to do, but we don't wanna do it, so we wanna pile more knowledge on top of the last thing that we didn't do that He gave us to do. I'm preaching, Mom. They might not come back next week, but I'm preaching. I'm preaching. Because there's three things that Jesus points to, and I want to give this to you, because I believe that God already knows.
Somebody say, "He already knows" "I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you". But there's something that you don't know, that you can't know, it is not in the knowing, but in the doing, that the miracle happens. Praise God. You feel this word, man? It might be just for you. God might've gave me this message just for you, I don't doubt it. He's that good. Do you believe that? That He would put this in me just for you? I do. So, I was noticing the details because His mother said, "Do whatever He tells you to do; and don't do what everybody else tells you to do, because you'll spend all your energy doing what everybody else tells you to do, and then not have the strength to do the thing God called you to do. Saying yes to everything else but what God gave you to do. Do whatever He tells you to do".
And listen, so Jesus, He wasn't reluctant to get involved, He just needed their involvement. And He tells them to do something. Look at it in verse 6. It says, "Nearby stood six stone water jars", what kind of jars? Stone water jars, "the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing", they were common, they were there for a common purpose: "each holding from twenty to thirty gallons", they were big. That's a big gall, In fact, by the time they did what He said in verse 7, Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim...", which would have made 1.000 bottles of wine. More than they needed; because He's a God of more than enough. He is a God of more than enough. It's not that He doesn't have it; it's that we're so busy pointing to what's not there, that we miss what is. And that's why we've gotta flip the flow.
And the Bible says that "Not even knowing what would happen when they did it," because they needed wine, but He points to water. He doesn't point to what they need, He points to what they have. And then He told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.' They did so". They did it; they just did it. They had a Nike mentality, they just did it. Swoosh. I'm looking for a sponsorship, I'm just trying to work this in. I'm trying to get us some money for the expansion program. "They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine".
Now he tasted the product, but he did not understand the process. He didn't know, he did not realize where it had come from, though the servants knew. Touch somebody, say, "You already know". You know who knows what God is doing in the earth today? Those who serve Him. Not just those who come and sip, but those who serve. Those who involve. I wanna thank God for every volunteer in this church, for everybody who serves something today, for every e-Group leader in this church. I thank God for you, because you already know that it's more blessed to give than receive. Not those who sit, but those who serve. That's who God blesses the most. Amen.
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", "You flipped the flow because everybody brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink". That's the way the world works. It's good for a little while, and then it runs out. He said, "You did it different. It got better and better, and sweeter and sweeter". I've come to tell you, your best days are not behind you; God is not like that. He didn't let you run out because He left you; He let it run out so He could give you something better than what you brought to the party to begin with. Yeah. "You flipped the flow. You have saved," verse 10, "the best until now".
But how did He do it? How did He do it? Because everything you're running out of in your life today is in Jesus. It's in Him. But there's three things that I wanna show you and we'll go. Quickly, quickly, quickly. Number one: It's not gonna be in the places you expect, it's gonna be number one: nearby. It's not gonna be by you moving to a new situation or thinking that your solution is out there somewhere. It's not gonna be distant, it's gonna be nearby. Verse six, where were the stone water jars? Pay attention to the details. Nearby. Where is the help that God has given you for the shortage in your life? It's nearby. It's nearby. The reason we don't see what's nearby is because when something is close, we see it as common.
These were stone jars made of earth. They were leak-proof so that they wouldn't be ceremonially unclean, but there was nothing gold-plated about them. These were not iced out jars. That's not what made them special, what was special what was inside. But they didn't have to go... you know, Jesus right here could've been like the disciples. "Go to town, you've gotta get some wine". But the thing about Cana is it's in the middle of nowhere, so they can't go get anything, so they have to use something nearby. I wonder what's nearby that if you pour yourself into it, God can flow again through your life? It's nearby. It's so close. Like remember, they all came in the party and washed their hands, so the miracle was in something that they had already walked by to get to the party.
The miracle is in something that you're walking by every day. It's in a Bible-reading plan that you already started but you've just quit it, and you can't pick it back up. The wisdom that you need might be in the wife that you chose to do life with six years ago, but you don't wanna listen to her because she's nearby. So, I will see men go to conferences to learn how to be a better man, but they won't even listen to their own wife because they don't wanna be humble. I'm telling you, it's nearby. It's not out there, that's not where the provision is. It's not somewhere out there, it's nearby. It's gonna be so close, you'll miss it if you're not careful. It's gonna be so close, I'm telling you, it's something that you're walking by right now.
You've been praying for it, it's an orange gratitude journal that's right there on your bed, it's an exercise plan that you already know to do, it's gonna be nearby and it's gonna be normal. That's the second thing: It's gonna be normal. It's not gonna feel so supernatural, it's gonna feel natural. And then it's gonna be super. But you can't wait for something special; you've got to embrace something normal. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the Excellency and the power might be from God and not from us. It's coming through something normal. It's gonna be normal. It's gonna be habits, it's gonna be discipline, it's gonna be normal. God, use me.
Go home and have dinner with your family. It's gonna be normal, it's not gonna be exciting. It's not gonna be sexy, it's not gonna be Instagram models in bikinis on the beach. It's gonna be normal. It's gonna be normal. Tell somebody, "It's gonna be normal". Tell them, "It's gonna be natural, but it's gonna be super". When God gets done with normal, what happens on the inside of what looks normal on the outside, God is doing something in me. And I wonder what you've been walking by because it looks normal. You don't even notice it, because it's nearby and it's normal and it's now. Jesus said, "Now". Verse eight: "Now". Everybody say, "Now". Not after I've explained it to you, now.
He didn't tell them, "Now when you draw it out, it's gonna start to turn purple. Like when you stir the Kool-Aid in the... it's gonna be a fermentation process and the molecular structure is going to... let me draw it up for you, guys". And says, "Okay everybody, come on in, come on in, guys". Now, I know you don't know what I'm going to do, but I already know. I know you don't know why I'm telling you to do this, but I know. I know you don't know why I'm telling you to forgive, but I know what I wanna do that I can't do in your life if you have a clogged heart. So, do it now, now, now". Faith is the substance of things hoped for. And Jesus never points to what's next without dealing with what's now. Now, draw it out. Now.
I could imagine: He could've gone around the whole party: "You should've planned better, and you should've known better..." But He didn't do any of that, because He didn't point to what they should've done. It doesn't do any good. He points to what is now. Now. Even though you've run, even though you could've done better. I'mma tell you, you could've done a better job. You need to fire your wedding planner. I hope you didn't give her too much of a deposit, be-cause she really screwed this up. But now. That's actually what Mary and Martha said to Jesus when He showed up for Lazarus. "If You would've been here, our brother would not have died". But even now.
I feel the power of "Now" on this word today. Now, now, now, now, now, now. Because the truth is, you might be running out of time. And Jesus only had three years on earth. Isn't it crazy? Think about this, I'm almost done. Y'all got like five more minutes or I'm out of time. I don't know how to receive that tepid encouragement. I guess go if you need to go, I'mma talk to who wants to hear this last part. I just study too much to get up here and let a clock tell me when to quit; because I know what it feels like to be empty; I've been there in my own life, just dry, and empty, and "ah, if another person asks me if... I don't even wanna do it. I don't..."
But there's something significant not only about what Jesus did, — water into wine, the law into the spirit, we can preach about that, we will one day — that He did it in a ceremonial jar, and it was an idea, the fact that the ceremonial washings of Moses for not being replaced by the blood that would be shed — that's all in there. It's the signs, pointing to a lot.
But why did He do it in Cana? Why did He show His glory in Cana? And to understand this, we need to meet Nathaniel, because Nathaniel was a disciple who came to Jesus. Guess who brought him, by the way? Phillip: The one who Jesus said, "Where are we gonna get the bread from"? but He already knew. I promise you, He already knows, but He's just trying to make sure that you know where it comes from. "And Philip brought Nathaniel to Jesus," pick it up in 45, "Philip found Nathaniel and told him, 'We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph'". There were 456 different expectations of the Jewish Messiah. And Philip was doing the math, you know? "Carry the one," just like it was, and he said, "I think this is Him. I think so. I'm not sure, but I think. Come see". And Nathaniel starts trying to figure it out based on what he can understand. He's like, "Did you say 'Nazareth'? You said 'Nazareth'? 'Moncks Corner'"?
See, I'm used to being from a place that people don't respect when you say the name of it. "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there"? And Nathaniel asked the question, and Philip said, "I can't answer that, but You can come see". Now watch this: This is where it gets good. "When Jesus saw Nathaniel," I always preach John 2 thinking that verse 1 is where it started. "On the third day, Jesus went to Cana," but it started before that. When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, He said of him, "Hear truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit". Now Nathaniel was kind of creeped out. Verse 48, he said, "How do you know me? We haven't met, how do you know"? He said, "I know what's in you". He said, "But you don't know me". He said, "But I know what's in you".
One time, when Elijah was little, he would walk around the house. How old was he? Two, three? He'd walk around the house going, "How do you know my name, how do you know my name". I think he heard it on a TV show. And I thought that was so bizarre. He'd walk up to me and Holly, "How do you know my name? How do you know my name"? I said, "Cause I made you, 'cause I gave you your name. I know who you are, I know what's in you". Jesus looks at Nathaniel, and He knows what's in him because Nathaniel came from him.
Now watch this, this is so important: for everybody who spend a lot of time feeling like that's what's against you is greater than what's in you, I want you to know that God already knows what's against you, and He already knows what's in you. I said He already knows what's against you, and He already knows what's in you. He said, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Phillip called you". And Nathaniel said, "You saw me? Rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the King of Israel, you hadn't even met me yet and you saw me before I was called? You mean you saw me in this situation before I was even in it? You saw me in this dry place, before it even stopped raining? You saw me in this dumb decision, You saw me in this divorce? You saw me in this low place"? He says, "Yeah, I saw you. I wouldn't've put you in it if I didn't put it in you. You've got it in you and you will not run out and it will not run out and it will not run out, you will accomplish your purpose. You will fulfill. You will complete your assignment. It is in you".
I love Jesus. He said, "You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that". And then they went to Cana so Jesus could show Nathaniel what He just told Him. I am the One Who flips the flow. I am the One, come on get happy, who gets grace for shame. I am the One who turns rejection into blessing. I am the Resurrection, I am the Life, your struggle is sign, your set back is a sign, your secrets are a sign, God is with you, it is in you, release a shout of praise in the place. I said, "Release a shout of praise in the place". And you will not run out. You will not run out. You might not have any wine, but if you have the One who can stir the water, you will never lack, you will make it and you will achieve it, in Jesus name!