Open your Bibles to John chapter 2 and meet me at verse 1. We'll read through to verse 11. John chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now, both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Somebody say, do it. Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water, and they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast, and they took it.
Verse 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. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. 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. In verse 11, This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested
His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. Somebody say amen. As we enter into a new year, 2025, we must realize that God has given us a great opportunity to start or even to continue what we've already started. And we see in this passage of Scripture, we see Jesus hanging out with his homeboys, his disciples. At this point, he had never performed any miracle. So don't believe anything that you see when Jesus was 12 years old, he touched something and it started flying. That's not true.
No miracles were ever performed until this very miracle that we just read. Jesus is a young boy living in the house of Mary and Joseph, and he's not operating as the Son of God. He's just a child learning, growing, waiting for his hour, waiting for his season, waiting for his opportunity, and waiting for his time. And so Jesus must be a fun guy because him and his disciples get invited to go to a wedding. I mean, you don't invite boring people to go to weddings.
Weddings are times of celebration and celebratory, and weddings are times that we have fun and we embrace a new couple, a male and a female who will come together because they love one another, and we want to celebrate their union, and we want to celebrate what God is going to do in their marriage. And so Jesus is a fun guy because he got invited to the celebration. Well, as they are partying and celebrating and having a good time, notice that they ran out of wine.
Now, wine was what was used to help people have a good time. And they ran out of wine. You could say that they ran out of joy, that they ran out of fun. They have run out of wine. And Mary runs to Jesus. And she says, Jesus, they have no one. Now understand, Jesus is just someone at the wedding. He is not in authority in the wedding. He is not part of the bridegroom. He is not related to the master of ceremonies, how be it he may have been related to whoever was getting married.
But he's not related to someone as the master of the ceremonies. Is he has no jurisdiction there, no authority there in the wedding. But Mary, his mother, runs up to Jesus and says, Jesus, they have no wine. And Jesus turns to her respectfully and says, what does that have to do with me? Why are you telling me that they have no wine? And Jesus tells her, it is not my time. It is not my hour. It is not my season.
It is not my opportunity. Now, this could have been vindication for Mary because she has the Son of God as a baby, and it's been prophesied that he's going to do miraculous and wondrous things, but he has absolutely done nothing up until this point. And so this could have been a time of vindication for Mary, like, look, he is the one, but Jesus said, it's not my time. I want you to notice that Mary went to Jesus when they had run out of something.
It's interesting she didn't go anywhere else but to Jesus, and I believe she went to Jesus because she knows that Jesus, who is God, is a provider. How many times have you ever run out of something? You've run out of patience. You've run out of kindness. You've run out of energy. You've run out of money. You've run out of health, and you're like, I have nowhere else to run but to Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 11, come to me, all you are weary and heavy laden,
and I'm going to give you rest. I'm going to exchange. If you've run out, if you need provision, come to me and I'm going to give you rest. And so Mary goes to Jesus. That's the first thing she does. She realizes here is a provider because we have run out. How many of you know that it is easy to operate on fumes? It is very common to operate and someone to get on your last nerve. How many know what I'm talking about? It is very normal to run out of patience and kindness.
It's very normal, but what that should tell us is I need to run to Jesus. I need to get in His Word more. I need to make His Word more of a priority in my life, because if I'm running out of these things, then I am not putting Him first place in my life. Somebody say amen. So, she runs to Jesus, and Jesus says, woman, respectfully, woman, what does that have to do with me? My time has not come. And then Mary turns to his disciples. She doesn't even say anything to Jesus.
She turns to his disciples and she says, whatever he tells you to do. So she knew it was his time. She knew that it was his moment. It was his opportunity. She knew that it is time for the secret to be realized and revealed. It is your season. It is your time. And someone in authority is the one that always calls out your season and your opportunity. Listen, nobody got to where they were or are on their own. Somebody had to help them get there. Somebody had to see something in them.
Somebody had to call it out of them. Somebody had to declare it. And I just declare of you, if you receive it, this is your season. This is your time. 2025 is your opportunity. It is your moment. It is your time for prosperity to take place in your life. If you receive that, somebody say amen. So I call it out of you. It's now. It's yours. act, do something with what Mary told the disciples. Whatever he tells you to do, do it. So they had to obey.
They had to obey. So, one, anytime you're going to have provision, it's going to come through obedience. Anytime you're lacking in an area and you need provision in an area, you're going to have to obey a word from God. The provision always comes through obedience. And so, Jesus tells them, gather six water pots. Six. Somebody say six. Say it again. Six. Six is the number of humanity. I'll come back to that. but the number of man.
Six water pots, and they're 30, 20 to 30 gallons, and I want you to fill them up with water. Now, this would be easy if it was 2024, because you go to my backyard, you grab my hose, you stick the hose in the water pot, you fill it up, and that'll take no time. But this is not 2024, okay? This is back in the day where they had wells.
And so, not only did they have to obey Jesus. They had to be faithful in their obedience to pump the wells, to gather the water, to fill so many water pots so that they're filled to the brim. Somebody tell me how long this took. This took a long time. This took a long time. This took a while. They had to obey, and they had to remain faithful. And they had to obey, and they had to remain faithful.
And they had to obey, and they had to remain faithful. We don't like to obey and we don't like to remain faithful. We like to quit. We have a tendency that we like to quit. Come on, I know you're looking at me. I know you want to quit too. We like to quit. We don't, you know, don't tell me what to do. Don't tell me what to do. I don't want to obey. I just want to quit.
I don't want to keep going. I just want to stop. But if you're going to get the provision that is so necessary in your life, it's going to require obedience and continuing to obey. It's easy to quit. Everybody wants to quit, but it's in that faithfulness, that consistency, that we develop character, that we develop integrity, that we learn more about ourself that we didn't know. You are stronger than you think you are. You are stronger than you realize.
You are stronger than what your mind is telling you. And it's in the obedience and the faithfulness, the consistency that we are learning more about God that we didn't know. We're learning more about how committed He is to us if we simply stay committed to Him. I remember when we started True Life Fellowship Church in 2011, and we started in a band room in a community house middle school, and we had nothing. We had no equipment. We had nothing but a word from God, get started.
And we got started. I would never recommend anybody to get started the way we got started. We just started, no microphones, no musicians, no instruments, nothing. Somebody say nothing. We had nothing. We didn't have all of the stuff, but we had a word from God, and we just started preaching the word. And I wanted to quit that first year. There was one point I had went to another church to visit. Someone asked me to come visit, and I went, and this church was hopping.
I mean, it was packed, and it was hopping. I said, how about this? Let me meet with the pastor. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to quit. We don't need to start a true life. I'm just going to go help this man because this man's got this hopping ministry, and we over here got nothing. Somebody say, don't despise small beginnings. Don't despise small beginnings. And I said, we're going to help this man. I told Stacey, we're going to wrap it up.
We're going to wrap up True Life, and we're just going to come to church here because he needs our help, and I'm going to help him fulfill the vision. And a friend of mine, a really good friend of mine called me out of the blue, and he began to encourage me. And I'm like, how did he know to call me? And he just began to encourage me. He said, I heard you went and this, that, and this and the third. And man, let me encourage you. And he talked to me about jealousy and envy.
Come on, somebody. And quitting. And he talked to me about being faithful and remaining and doing what God said do and not stopping, but keep doing what God said do. And I thought, man, that's exactly what I need to hear. And I never again had that thought again. I found out later on Stacy had called him. And that's why he called me. I was like, how did he know to call me? She called him, like, called Devon. He's thinking about quitting right now.
Listen, it's easy to quit, and when it gets hard, our tendency is to stop. Our tendency is to be unfaithful. One of the major characteristics of Scripture is to be called faithful, and faithful means you can be depended upon, Trusted upon. Faithful means I'm going to continue to do. I'm going to continue to come to church every Sunday. I ain't going to let the weather stop me. Bless God, y'all came in the rain. Give yourself a hand clap for that.
You came in the rain. You say, I'm not going to let nothing stop me. I'm coming to church. It's Sunday and I'm coming. I already know what I'm doing next Sunday. I'm coming to church. Some people are deciding Saturday night what they're going to do.
I'm coming. the next 52 Sundays I will be here or in somebody's church praise the Lord hallelujah this is consistency it's being faithful it's being obedient I'm developing I'm being cultivated I'm being transformed from the inside out and these guys are being developed as they obey what Jesus is telling them obey to do and so then Jesus says you're done they say we're done He says, okay, here's what I want you to do.
I want you to take a cup of water, draw some out, and I want you to take it to the master of the feast. Now, here's what I want you to understand about that is that took a lot of boldness. Because the master of the feast is looking for wine, and they're taking water to him. So, they didn't question God. They didn't try to figure him out, outthink him. Try to figure it out on his own. They say, God, who is Jesus, in the form of Jesus, is saying, take this to the master.
We're just going to obey, and we're going to obey boldly. Somebody say boldly. Say this word, boldness. Say it again like you mean it, boldness. We are to have boldness if we are in the body of Christ. We're to be bold coming to the throne. We don't have to crawl to the throne of grace. We can come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find help in a time of need. Ephesians 3.12 tells us that we have access to boldness. The disciples in the book of Acts, they preached with boldness.
This year, I want you to be bold this year. I want you to be bold in your requests, asking the Lord for what God has put in your heart. I want you to be bold when you tell somebody something. I remember when I bought my first home. They had a, I was single, and they had a washer and dryer. It was when the front load had just came out. And when I went into the home and looked at the home, they had literally had brand new washer and dryer.
And I told the realtor, I said, tell them I'll buy the home if they let me keep the washer and dryer. And my realtor said, no, no, no, that's not how it works. Like, you don't keep washer and dryer. It's like refrigerators, microwave, stove, but washer and dryer, you don't normally ask for that. You know, it's my first home. You don't normally ask for that. I looked at him. I said, you work for me. I told him that. You work for me. I said, ask for the washer and dryer. I bowled with my request.
He calls him back 15 minutes later. They said yes. They will take it, and they'll give you the washer and dryer. He goes, I've never seen that before. I said, somebody's got to be bold with their request. This old spirit of timidity and I'm afraid and I'm too shy and I'm quiet and I'm scared, that is not of God. God is a spirit of boldness. And this, I'm just, you don't understand, I'm timid. That is a spirit of fear, and the spirit of fear is not what the Lord's given
you, but he's given you a spirit of power. Look at the word power. That word power also means boldness. Somebody say boldness. Release your faith and say, I am bold. In 2025, I want you to be bold with your request. I want you to be bold with your stance of faith. I want you to be bold against sickness and disease. I want you to be bold against poverty. I want you to be bold against your children rebellion. I want you to be bold against demons trying to take over your family.
I want you to stand up and be bold against this. In Jesus' name. You got the name. You got the blood. You got the power. You might as well be bold about it. Fight the good fight of faith with boldness. Somebody say, I'm bold. You're not timid. You're not weak. You're not insignificant. You're not minor. You're bold. Let them kids know you ain't going to do that again. You listening to me? That ain't going to happen again. And they'll be like,
oh, the other day I had to get on Zage. I was, you know, Zage is mine, you know. Me and Zage, it's daddy and Zage, okay? And I had to get on Zage and she said something. I said, Zage, stop it right now. Okay, Daddy. Boldness. You're not going to do that anymore because we don't do that in this house, and we're going to have to have boldness.
So once we realize God is the provider, we're going to have to obey, and we're going to have to be faithful, and we're going to have to be bold, and we're going to have to say, having done all to stand, I'm going to stand.
And how long do you stand until you get what you're standing for i'm gonna stand there as long as it takes and so these disciples went to the master ceremony and gave him water that was very bold extremely bold to walk up giving water they knew it was water while they were taking it but when the master of ceremonies grabbed the water and the water got to his lips. Supernaturally, it changed into wine. And he turns the master and says, you saved the best wine for later?
I know those disciples looking at them like, wait, no, that was water that we gave you. What are you tasting? I taste wine. That's the best wine. Most people give the worst wine up front and then the, I'm sorry, most people give the best wine up front and then the worst later. But you gave the worst up front and now you're going to give the best later. Now, follow me on this. Six is the number of man. Human beings are made up of what? About anywhere from 65 to 80 percent.
How many doctors and nurses water, right? Of water, right? We are made up of water. Is Jesus talking about water and wine or is he talking about humanity? Is his first miracle about water and the wine or is it about a transformation of humanity. Jesus turned water into wine. He turns your life, which is ordinary, into something extraordinary. Now, watch this. Some of you think you're too old. Some of you think you are just simply God's given up on you.
Some of you feel like you have no more to give. Some of you feel like you're in your last stages and you just have nothing left to give. I noticed that when Jesus said, the best came later, or the master of ceremony said, the best came later, I noticed that if we're talking about individual lives, that the master of ceremony is actually saying, in your and my life, the best is coming now. Now, notice the best didn't come first. Your best days are not behind you. Your best days are ahead of you.
Notice that the ordinary started first, but now we're entering into a season of extraordinary. Notice that you started out one way, but God is saying you're not too old. Your best years are just ahead of you. Ruthie, I heard the Lord say, you're not too old. And don't think like you are. You're not too old. In my prayer time, the Lord said, tell Ruthie she's not too old. God has the best for you and I, and it's in the future.
The past was okay. It might have been a wasted year. It might have been a disappointing year. It might have been a year of challenges. It might have been a year of change. You might even had a good year. You might have had a prosperous year. You might have had a productive year. You might have had an eye-opening year. But the best, hallelujah, is yet to come. The best is right ahead of us. The best wine came later, and so the best life
is coming later. Glory to God. God's best is just ahead of me, and it's not going to get worse. It's going to get better. Now, I used to preach this this way. I've preached this before, and I used to preach it this way, that God sped up the time. You know, wine gets permeated, and it takes time to develop wine. You know, the best wine, I don't drink, but the best wine takes, you know, could take years, could even take centuries.
And I used to preach this, that God sped up the time, that when the water reached the man's mouth, he sped up the time. There was supernatural acceleration, and that water was turned into wine as soon as it was in his mouth because God is speeding up the time. But I don't preach that that way anymore because if I sit a glass of water on my kitchen table for 100 years, it's never going to turn to wine. We can speed up the time. That water will never turn to wine, ever.
What God did here is what I call a creative miracle. God took something fresh and new and original and never used before, and He deposited it on the inside of you so that at the right time, in the right season, in the right moment, in your sphere of influence, God is going to do something that he's never done before, and he's going to do it through you and I. Come on, somebody say amen to that. Listen, listen, listen. A sinner over time will never be made righteous.
If we're talking about lives, we're not going to take a sinner and then we speed up the time and then he becomes righteous. No, something new has to happen in his life so that he can then be made right in the sight of God. God did something new. He did something original, and he did it fresh. This wine was fresh. Your life is new. It's fresh. This is a new opportunity. This is a new moment. This is a new season, and God's doing a new thing in this new season.
Behold, he says, I'm doing a new thing, and he's going to do it through you and I. If we would remain obedient, obedient means I'm doing it even if I don't want to do it. This is one of the things I'm teaching my children. Just because you don't want to do it, that means nothing. You know how many things I want to do? I started thinking, I can't think of anything in every day that I just want to do. I don't want to. Do you think I want to do the dishes?
Do I want to? I don't want to brush my teeth. I don't want to take a shower. I don't want to do nothing. All the things that we mostly do as adults, come on, somebody, are things we don't want to do. I don't want to go to work. I don't want to take that phone call. I don't want to answer that email. I don't want to do anything. So I'm telling my kids, well, I don't, you know, I don't want to do it. Who cares? This is called being an adult. You do it even when you don't want to do it.
And I can't even, I started to name, I can't even tell you some things I want to do. I don't even know what I'll, I guess, I don't know what I want to do because I'm doing things that I don't want to do. Thank you. Travel. I want to travel. Yes. I want to travel. Come on. Yes, I do want to do that. What else? Come on. Who else, what else do we want to do? I want to watch the game when I get home. Okay, yes.
And I may not be able to do that. Okay. So, when you're obedient, you are submitting, saying, not my will, but thy will be done. I'm going to do what you've asked me to do, and then I'm going to be faithful. That means I'm going to continue to do it with a good attitude. I'm going to have a good attitude behind it. I can be dependent upon. I can be trusted. I can be relied upon. I'm going to continue to do what God's telling me to do.
I'm going to be faithful while I'm doing it. And then I'm going to be bold because I'm doing what God's called me to do, and I'm going to be bold with it. And God is saying, if you will put these practical instructions in your everyday life, God is doing a new thing in 2025. I'm telling you, you are going to another level. You are going to another sphere of influence. I see that in my heart. You're going to be able to influence more people than you ever think you can.
You are not going to struggle with what you're struggling with right now. You're not going to struggle with that this time next year. Come on, receive that. Receive it. Take it. You're not going to struggle with whatever you're going through. that that is a thing of the past because the best is yet to come for me, and this ain't the best. And I love when I was texting my friend, and I said, the goodness of God has been so overwhelming to me this year, and he said, there's more coming.
I thought, that's right. There's more coming. There's more goodness coming. He saved the best wine for last. That means my best days are right ahead of me. The best is right before me. The older I get, the better it gets. Come on, somebody say amen to that. Hallelujah. The older I get, the better I get. I think Jeannie mentioned she's going to turn 40 in a couple months. It's going to get better. Amen. When I turned 40, it got better for me. Praise God.
It gets better. I was talking to a friend of mine. He's 65. He said, this has been the best year of my life. Hey, man, I got something to look forward to. God has something specifically for you, and it is good because he is good, and his plans and purposes are good, and the best is right ahead of you. It's right before you. All you need to do is obey and remain faithful and, and be bold. Get you a word from God and be bold with his word.
Lord, you said that you shall supply all my need according to your riches and glory. I'm going to be bold about that. I'm not going to come crawling. I'm not going to come whining. I'm coming boldly and say, your word says you're going to supply my need. This rent needs to be paid, and I'm tired of going check to check. Come on, somebody. Hallelujah. Now, when you hear that, open up your ears to hear what the Lord will say,
okay? He's going to say something to you. Here's what I need for you to do. And it's going to stretch you, and it's going to challenge you. But just realize the best is already prepared for you. God is not preparing you. God's not preparing the blessing for you. He's preparing you for the blessing. I'm going to say it one more time, and I'll wrap it up. God's not preparing the blessing for you. He's preparing you for the blessing.
So when you get to the place that you are experiencing more than enough in every area of your life, Now you have the character and the integrity to be able to stand in that place and give God all the credit. Say, let me tell you where I was. Let me tell you my testimony. I wasn't always over here. This is where I was. And let me tell you how to get there. God is faithful. God is good. God saved me. God rescued me.
God delivered me. He's the one that snatched me out of that poverty and catapulted me into health and prosperity. Come on, somebody say amen. Hallelujah. This is how you experience true life.