Bear the Light

We will never receive a day like this. Anyone that is sitting here, we will never get a day like this again. And that is how each day that the Lord gives us. And I thank God that I’m able to stand in your midst with the word of God. We are sitting here with such reverence in the presence of the Lord this morning. Many times when we’re preparing messages, words uh words that are uh worldly or coming from our own heart come into our message. And so there was a pastor that once would prepare his messages so nicely for a Sunday and then when he but when he delivers it, it comes out against the actual concept of what the word of God is saying. There’s only one difference between you and me. God has by the grace of God separated us uh for the teaching of the word but otherwise there’s no other difference between you and us before we enter into the word I wanted to share a few things and so in this short period of time recently I’ve attended a wedding ceremony and one engagement ceremony. And so the ceremony went well, but during the time of food, there was a shortage. There was more people than they had expected. But the people serving were not so careful. they were not very good. So when the people were looking for food and there was a shortage, these servers were acting not very good. And so what the people that had hosted the engagement, more people than they had planned had attended. So when this for this wedding the same situation happened and at that time I was in the states and so some people had noticed and so during the time of food I also parttook in it. And so the second row of people were waiting to get food. And so as they came came around they said bring some more food to those who are eating next. So and so one side was the auditorium where people were seated. The other was the dining area. So I went to the person serving and I said, “Hey, there’s some more dishes that need to be served at the next table. So very humbly that server said uh sir that we we there’s a lot more people than we expected so we’re adjusting the dishes accordingly and he said we have a program in the evening we’re going to bring some food that was prepared for that event now So when they brought the food, I put it onto that table. When I saw how well and how humbly they attended to the problem, I saw that they were able to solve it well. Back in the day when you were invited to a wedding, not everyone from the house would go. Now I asked around and said everyone is now going to these functions. And so when I was a young boy though the people that were 40 and 50 at that time now at at my age now are retirees. Everyone has a car. So everyone fills their car and comes to the wedding. The other thing I have understood, no one buys uh fish and and meat in the homes because everyone has so many health issues. No one buys these things at home. And so when people go to weddings is when they actually eat well. So but saying all these things when the supply or the food runs short at a wedding ceremony, it affects those who are hosting it a lot. No one wishes something like this ever in their own life. Hallelujah. Amen. And the second thing and I’m going to read a note and I’m going to ask you a question and you need to give me the answer. It is a true story. Okay. There was a wedding that was happening about three months and three day or three years and three months prior to the death of uh Rajiv Gandhi and there was a wedding ceremony in a city at that time and someone from the Lucos house was called for that wedding. But the day before the wedding As we children were playing, we heard some commotion in the wedding venue area and we heard the words fight, fight. So, so we as children, we ran to see what it was about. And so when we came there, we saw this scene of people hitting their hands on the pots. And so we s saw that they were making and that’s how they were making a dessert. Question number one. So my question to you, when was the wedding date? Based on what I told you, what is the date of this wedding? 1988. February. This wedding happened in February, three years and three months before the death of Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi and I gave you this story not because Rajiv Gandhi has to die for this wedding to happen but to illustrate you an event for the course of the story. So, King Osa does not need to die in the year that Isaiah saw the vision, but he did die based on the vision that was seen by Isaiah. And so if I say a wedding from such a long time ago, only a few people in this audience are going to understand the background of it and only a few people can understand that situation. And so we understand that with the Bible as well. But so there are many difficulties in interpreting what was written over 2,000 years ago. So many people do not follow specific rules when interpreting the Bible. And so if you take those rules, you’ll only finish your message within 10 minutes. That’s why many people in order to give a one hour or halfhour message, they put those rules to the side and add their interpretation. Let’s go to John chapter 2 verse 5. John chapter 2 verse 5. And his mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.” Whatever he says to you, do it. Is what she said to the servants. I want you to understand the depth of this passage that we were reading. You can see the difficulty in interpreting this passage. You can see the difficulty and the weakness in interpreting this verse 2,000 years after it occurred. For the last few weeks and months, I’ve been thinking about speaking on this verse. And so, it got continually pushed off. And so when people are attending this wedding, we see Jesus and his disciples are invited to this wedding. From her experience, Mary is saying, “Whatever he says, obey it.” And that was Mary’s experience. And so many years before Gabriel when the Gabriel the angel of the Lord appeared to Mary and she is the one that said I am your servant. Let it happen as you say. That same power she experienced at that time she wished to happen here as well. She believed that whatever she desired God would make it happen. So we look at what she said. Instead of saying whatever Jesus my son, she says whatever he tells you. Hallelujah. When John is writing this gospel, he had some very important and significant things in his mind. Some say that this is John’s wedding. We cannot say with any finality whether this is John’s wedding. And so those who say that give this proof because we see as one proof that Mary had a very active role in behind in this wedding for these servants to obey what Mary had to say. You can see the influence that Mary had on this house. But John did not write any of that. Was it difficulty in writing because it was such a bad wedding? There is no water to even to wash the feet. There is no wine to drink. We don’t know what else was lacking. All these two things were written. And we know that it is a special water set aside for purification that comes there. And we see those vases, those jugs that were there were all empty. We see that the ending was good. But we see how it is written at the beginning. But John was not a man like that. But John does not write anything personally about him here. We we don’t see too much about the birth of Jesus or other miracles in John. We see the bare minimum eight miracles in the gospel of John. name is not written in his gospel and that’s how most of the gospel writers wrote their their epistle 9 and we see that God is calling the tax collector Matthew in chapter 9 verse 10 we see that Jesus saw Matthew standing at the bench collecting taxes. Jesus called him and Matthew followed. And we see in the next passage that there was a feast prepared in a house and Jesus went there. If we were to the ones to write it, how would we have written it? and and the second uh letter my repentance I did all these things and I was such a bad person and maybe he didn’t even see drugs and he will write it and exaggerate it but when Luke wrote it and we see that how Luke words it that Matthew the tax collector came for great feast. What Matthew left out, we see that Luke through the Holy Spirit made it a great story. That is the writing of the Holy Spirit for the gospels. When we come to John chapter 18 chapter 20, we see the disciples running to the tomb. We see Peter and John running. But we see another disciple running ahead of Peter. And we know that it is John. Hallelujah. If if we were to write it, how would it would be written? Hallelujah. And if we would have said chapter 17, my running, me and Peter, we ran. Wouldn’t we say that while many people forgot Jesus, I was the first to run to the tomb? Isn’t how God taken care of us? Hallelujah. But John did not even write that. That is how the word is written under the the uncction of the spirit. When many were rejected, when many died, God made me to stand alive. And we what do we say? While many people died, we thank you for keeping me on this earth. Hallelujah. This is how our prayers are. But we see in this gospel that he does not even mention his own name. We see all these names that are mentioned in the gospel of John. And so several of those names are of famous people from Nicodemus to Joseph of Arythea. They’re all very educated, noble people. And about seven 17 of those people are regular people and about eight of those are apostles. But even among that, John did not mention himself. is someone who’s led by the spirit. Hallelujah. We see that uh that Jesus comes to this wedding home. We see that Jesus and his disciples are invited. And this is how the passage starts. On the third day, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and many people based on if it’s Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, give a specific day for a wedding. Some people say it’s Friday, Saturday. So you can do a wedding on Sunday. But when we reach verse one, we understand a few things. And we see in the first section up to verse 28 is the first 25 is the first event. And it says in the next passage there on the next day. And it says again on the next verse, the next day. And we see again it says on the next day and then we read on the uh chapter 2 verse one on the third day. Hallelujah. Why did Jesus do this miracle in Galilee? verse 11. Verse 11 says, “This was the beginning of signs Jesus did in Canaa of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him.” And we see that this Galilee is a very impoverished place. No one gave much attention to the people of Galilee. And so it was always a mockery that they were called Galileans. It was a town that was always rejected that no one wanted. Hallelujah. Galilee, middlear. And we see when we look at map of Palestine, we see up in the north is Galilee, then Samaria, and at the bottom at the south is Judah. And so many times you would see that when people would walk they would avoid Samaria because that place was untouchable. Hallelujah. And the people in Judea were considered or Judah were considered to be uh intellectual and educated. They knew several languages. Hallelujah. people that were very educated. And so it was a a very poor thing when the Galileans came. And so we know that these disciples of Jesus were Galileans. Even during the time of Jesus, we understood that those disciples were not even educated. And one of those was Peter. We know the education and early life of Peter. We saw the situation where Peter was attempting to walk on water. The other disciples were saying it as a ghost. And so some when they’re seeing him coming, they’re saying it is Jesus. And Peter was not able to understand is this a ghost or not. And without thinking twice, we see Peter jump into the water. Hallelujah. And so it was this in this type of town where there was not much literacy or education where Jesus ministry started. And there’s another story behind that. First Kings chapter 9 verse 10. First Kings chapter 9 verse 10. Oh, we see that Solomon is building this temple in in in about 20 years. According to and according to that number, he built 20 cities and he gave them to the king of Ty. giving these cities as a gift. So we see this king of Ty come to see these cities that Solomon is gifting. But this king was not pleased with the gift of Solomon. We see this response by the king of Ty. What kind of cities have you given me? And so the name of that city became good for nothing. And the meaning of that means good for nothing. It is a land of darkness and it is a place of darkness. And so these cities that were gifted to the king of Ty, he didn’t even wanted. They were useless. And these cities that even King Solomon, the wisest man, did not want. And so we see that these cities that King Solomon wanted to gift to the king of Ty. This was the condition of the land approximately thousand years before the arrival of Jesus. And it was in this type of land that Jesus came a thousand years later to start his ministry. Hallelujah. And we see later in the gospels that that’s how they mocked even Peter. Isn’t he also one of those Galileans? Hallelujah. And so they even asked Jesus, if you’re trying to be a great person, why are you doing miracles here in Galilee? go to Jerusalem to do your wonders. Hallelujah. And a people that is forsaken. And we see one of those surrounding cities is a city of Na. We know the story of the widow there. We know about Bethesda. We know about Capernium. And it was people like this that was all over there. And in Capernium, the meaning is the town of Nahim. We don’t know much about the prophet Nahim. It is a small prophetical book of three chapters. And when he opens his mouth, he only says the word and the wisdom of God. And sometimes it wasn’t a good message. And the wrath of God is going to come upon you. And if you tell the prophet, “Dear son, I’ve written all these things. Can you pray?” And if the prophet says uh you know he’s not going to pass after taking this test if you ask him asks the prophet our grandfather is in the hospital can you pray for him and he will say do the arrangements he’s about to go will anyone call prophets like this and because of that his uh letter his book is only three chapters. When the people are going to for comfort this is what he has to say. And so it is amongst these people, the prophet Isaiah said, “Those who are under bondage in the dungeons, there’s a great light appearing and there is a light that is dawning.” Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It is that light for three and a half years that ministered in the land of Galilee, calling people to him. Hallelujah. for Hallelujah. We see that in a land that no one could redeem, no one could fix, no, everyone rejected, the work of the Lord appeared. And there’s one thing that Jesus says to Mary. Let’s read chapter 2 verse two, verse four. Yeah. Hallelujah. And many times we are confused when Jesus said, “What does your concern have to do with me? local and it is a local phrase or saying for people of that time. We see this also in the Old Testament and we see in Zarapath when Elijah is going and the widow’s son has died. We see this term also. And we see this also in the New Testament when Jesus approached the demon-possessed man who said, “What is there between you and me? Do not call me out before time.” But we said Jesus is saying here both you and you and I are not at this time but now is not my time. But Jesus says several times my hour is not yet. Let me read of those few verses for you. In chapter 2 verse4 he says my hour has not come yet. In chapter 7 he also says my time is not yet. And so in chapter eight it also says his hour had not come yet. in chapter 12, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. And verse 23, verse chapter 13 verse1, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father. And we see how John has developed the gospel and finally come to one passage who says the hour has finally come that I may be glorified with the father. John chapter 17 verse1 we see in John 17:1 the finality the climax of that prayer. Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son. Father, the hour has come. Please glorify your son. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We see what one thing I wanted to point out here. When Jesus started his ministry in a land of Galilee that everyone rejected, Jesus could have gone to Jerusalem to do a miracle. He could have done it in the presence of the high priest. Hallelujah. He could have done it near the temple. Hallelujah. We see that Jesus comes to do this miracle in a land of darkness, in a land that no one wanted. Hallelujah. As John is writing this, let me tell you one thing that went through his mind as well. And we see that according to John’s gospel over a thousand days Jesus was doing ministry. John has only recorded about 10 to 12 days of that ministry. And this 21 chapters talking about 12 days worth of ministry. But we see at the foot of the cross of Jesus, John was there from the night that Jesus was betrayed. In those 18 hours until he was crucified, John separated seven chapters to talk about from betrayal to the cross. Hallelujah. We see that John after seeing with his own eyes what happened to Jesus on the cross. He said, “What I’ve seen with my own eyes, what we have touched with our own hands.” That is this living gospel. That’s why John got the opportunity to rest to the side of Jesus. Now it is it is always said the disciple whom Jesus loved but it is not supposed to be revealed. It is the disciple that loved Jesus. John was the one that was always ready to die for Jesus. Hallelujah. But that was not the plan on the life of John. And Jesus deci desire was I should he should sit with me. And he he could not finish certain things and some worldly things, some house things. And he had pointed those things to John. And there it is also written woman. Hallelujah. And when we see the words written of Jesus there, everything is finished. That wedding started without wine. But that wedding ended very happily. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And those who experienced that wine at that wedding wanted more. And that is the difference when Jesus touches something in these days. Let us be the lamp that is of Jesus. But many times we are defeated in this. You know what we become? We are simply reflectors. Many times people send the light toward us and we just simply reflect. You are the light. But Jesus says you are the light of the world. We are reflectors. But we become just simply reflectors. Only if someone gives me the light, I’ll reflect it. Are we not like this? Only in a haste if someone’s leaving, we only shake their hand if they offer it to us. Many times if someone’s leaving, we because they’re not shining their light to us, we don’t reflect it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Many times we give excuses if we can’t come to a meeting. Many times we take it personally as an offense and let us start another church. Let’s call it Gilgal and let us move them away. Hallelujah. And that’s how many churches start. But God is not expecting that from us as a sweet wine. And what was given normally at the end they drank from the beginning. Let me correct. and so they were drinking from the beginning. Hallelujah. At the end there was no wine. And that is where God the work of God appeared. And when Jesus was invited, let God’s presence be in our needs. These people that no one wanted, all the kings had rejected. Hallelujah. But on people like that, the the power of God dawn and let it become like a sweet and let the the pots be filled. And let those who are attending be happy. And let those engagements be happy. And let those who are eating be happy. Let those who see it be happy. We are the light of this world. Let us be hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And so he said the sweet wine makes many happy. Hallelujah. And this was the start of the miracles in Canaa of Galilee, not for a people to see. It is for the deliverance of the land. May God bless us with these words. the Lord. Let’s all