Did Jesus Really Turn Water Into Wine?

John 2:1–11

What people often forget is that if Jesus created the world (see Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; Colossians 1:15–17), not only are miracles possible, but miracles are actual, because the biggest miracle has already happened—making something out of nothing. 

What’s harder: for Jesus to take water and turn it into wine or for Jesus to take a handful of nothing and make water? It’s a lot harder to make water out of nothing than to make wine out of water.

The evidence of modern cosmology points toward a supernatural Creator. And if you’ve got a God who can make something out of nothing, then the other miracles of the Bible would be like child’s play for him.

Adapted from interview with Dr. Norman Geisler



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A Costly Offering

"But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them." 2 Samuel 24:24

Araunah the Jebusite was just being polite. When he found out that David wanted to purchase his threshing floor to build an altar, he bent over backward and offered his oxen for the sacrificial offering, as well as the wood on which to burn it. David wouldn't hear of it. If it was going to be a true sacrifice, he knew he'd have to "sacrifice" something. Like his hard earned cash.

With us, it doesn't have to be our cash. It could be our time or our prayers, our gifts and talents. I'm thinking right now of Carolyn, a seamstress friend of mine who barely makes ends meet by sewing and tailoring. Carolyn lives alone in her small apartment with her cat and works late into the night, stitching up a storm. Last Christmas she wasn't able to buy the gifts she would have liked; so she went one better - she stayed up extra late, making presents of skirts and vests. Her friends were going to receive the best she could offer, even if it meant missing a deadline on a commission, even if it meant early hours and sore fingers. Those skirts and vests are, to us blessed folks who received them, more valuable than anything you'd purchase at Sax Fifth Avenue.

Silence Was Golden

"'Where do you come from?' he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer." John 19:9

The cold chamber is dimly lit. It's two o'clock in the morning. Jesus is shoved, stumbling, up the rich, red carpet to stand in front of Pontius Pilate, who has been rudely awakened to hear the case of this King of the Jews. But Pilate hadn't been sleeping anyway. The night before he had drunk too much, partied too long, and smoked too many cigarettes. (When I think of

Pilate, I can't help but picture him with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, even though I know cigarettes didn't exist back then.)

I imagine Pilate rubbing his chin and asking a few questions, the first of which Jesus replies to,"Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

Transition Takes You Higher

JOY STRANG

 

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(Justin Hobson)

Nothing in life is certain except for death, taxes—and change. God never changes, but we do. Through sanctification we are transformed from sinful, carnal creatures into the image of God’s Son.

Becoming like Jesus requires a lot of change—and often involves difficult periods of transition.

Transition can take many forms. It can be like the transition during labor—intense pain followed by a clear reward. Or it can be like the momentary transition that takes place when you switch gears in a car to face the challenge of the road ahead.

For an instant you are between gears and though the engine is roaring, you have no control. You may not know what the road ahead is like or whether you even want to move to a higher level. But when the shift occurs, you are connected once again with the power of the engine and are translated into a higher level of operation—the next gear.

When your loss is gain

It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed." —Kin Hubbard

I have a friend who has a great story about depending on money. He shared it with our church once, and this is about how it went:

In 1982, this issue of money started when I finished my degree at Dallas Seminary. I took a ministry position in California. Being young and confident, my wife and I bought another house when we moved. Ten months into that particular stint, I was fired. Now, we had two house payments... along with our third child just being born... along with all the expenses of a young family.

The Mustard Seed of Abundance

Matt 13:31-32 (KJV) Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:  Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed

When you look at a seed it is tiny. It doesn’t appear to have any life in it.  It colour is bland.  There is no movement or growth when looking at the seed.

If the seed is sown into the ground and provided the right nutrition of water and good soil and allowed to grow then it will grow into a large tree. Note the following: 

·        The seed has to be sown

·        It has to have water

·        It has to be planted in good soil

·        It has to be allowed to grow

·        It has a time and season for growth

·        When it is fully grown it provides for the birds and not just for itself.

Naomi: Having Hope Through the Famines of Life

And Naomi said, "I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty." ~ Ruth 1:21 (AMP)

Have you ever gone through a famine in your life?

In this Bible study on Naomi, we will look at how God turned one woman's famine into a bountiful harvest. We will learn how, even in her darkest hour, God's plan was working to shine His light on Naomi's life.

Though she felt abandoned, He had in no way forsaken her. In all of her darkness, God had left Naomi a ray of hope.

This is the first of two Bible studies on the Book of Ruth. The next lesson with focus on Ruth herself. But, this Bible study on Naomi is here to give you hope in your life's driest seasons.