From Water to the Best Wine: Jesus Upgrades the Story (Ep 340)

Speaker A: 00:00:00

Hey there my friend welcome to the podcast today this is brian del turco with jesus smart x the podcast you say what does the x mean well a couple things one it's a historical symbol for christos or christ in the early church so there is that but also jesus smart x i think that christ in you you with christ you are that x that variable jesus christ with you together is how the kingdom works and so jesus smart we've always had this idea that jesus is the most brilliant person in the universe as dallas willard says the master of molecules he knows how to turn water into wine he knows how to heal human human beings he knows how to cast a line into the water and pull up a fish with resources in it to pay the tax bill and just on and on and on he knows how life works best now and the future is his the coming horizon it's not going to be the great singularity some kind of a a horizon devoid of god it's not going to be some kind of a great reset you know the world economic world economic forum and the globalist and their vision of an antichrist future this whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the lord as the waters cover the sea and all these other things singularity etcetera are just counterfeits so he knows how life works best now his message to us my friend is repent for the kingdom of god is drawn near to you it's drawing close to you repent in the greek means change your mind and thus your lifestyle and begin to prepare now for the kingdom that is coming in its completeness so that you can enter into that future otherwise you can't get in jesus told nicodemus in john chapter three you must be born again to see the kingdom in verse three and also to enter the kingdom in verse five so a little bit about what the podcast is about i'm glad you're here you can hear it most of these episodes are on jesussmart dot com but they're also on all the all the favorite listening options like spotify apple podcasts podbean iheartradio amazon music audible on and on so spread the news let somebody know about the podcast invite them to listen in so this is episode three hundred forty can you believe and we have a special theme today which i'll get to in just a moment i just wanted to mention last the last episode episode three hundred thirty nine was a recast interview with doctor charles stone he's an expert in neurology as well as pastoral ministry and christian leadership development that episode was called from brain fog to clarity a slower sacred way to think his concept of holy noticing i've been getting into his book again lately on a personal level tremendous material there and i think it will just improve the quality of our life overall the episode before that episode three hundred and thirty eight pulverizing mountains six above normal advantages that you have as a christ follower but we have a whole catalog there this is episode three hundred forty and i'm drawing today from the smart edit newsletter and you can subscribe to the smart edit newsletter at the smart edit dot beehive dot com so beehive is spelled uniquely on this platform b e h i i v so the smartedit dot beehive dot com you can also go to jesussmart dot com and click on the newsletter tab and it'll also take you there to subscribe i'd love to have you on the list it generally goes out the long form newsletter goes out on thursdays it's free and we also have a very short b twelve shot on mondays at the beginning of the week to motivate to inspire to help us to calibrate for the new week but let me draw upon something i wrote a week ago in the newsletter and it's about the miracle of jesus turning water into wine in john chapter two at a wedding and this is called from water to the best wine the jesus is always upgrading the story please don't process what it means to follow christ as just something that upgrades your own personal story only it's just that our personal stories fit into the greater story of jesus christ and our story is going to include can i make can i just be real with you it's going to include trials temptations and testings there are going to be seasons where are more challenging than others paul said i can do all things through christ i know how to live in abundance i know how to also go through a challenging season but the lord is our shepherd and this is the only way to live in my opinion and it's certainly the way to live to future proof your life you know what i mean the ultimate future proofing of your life in the new heavens and in the new earth so in john chapter two let me just say this there ain't no party like a jesus party because a jesus party doesn't run dry okay in john chapter two it's the account of a wedding that the mother of jesus was invited to as well as his disciples and the wine ran out now in that culture and that day when when they had a wedding and a reception it was like a seven day event of gathering feasting drinking celebrating i'm sure they were dancing and they just knew how to put on a wedding and the wine ran out now this is not exactly like a life or death issue however a wedding celebration and in that time this wedding was like teetering on a collapse this was in in first century jewish culture this was like a community failure a family failure if something like this were to happen and jesus stepped in you can read about this in john chapter two verses one to eleven and what does jesus do he takes ordinary common water and he turns it into the best wine in truth he saves the moment now there were these six stone water pots there which held about twenty to thirty gallons a piece of water and these water pots were used for ceremonial jewish washings like under the old testament and jesus said to fill those up to the brim and then he tells them to take it to the head waiter and this common water was turned into the most exquisite wine it wasn't just wine it was new wine it was richer than the wine they had been drinking during this wedding it was better it was the best and john writes there in this account that this was the first sign the first miraculous sign that jesus performed to manifest his glory that is to really show who he is an accurate appraisal of who jesus is isn't it interesting that the first sign was not like healing blind bartimaeus or raising the young daughter from the dead or any of these other wonderful signs and miracles in the account of jesus life on earth in the gospels but it was like an exquisite luxurious miracle this wasn't a saving a life miracle or helping somebody to hear for the first time or driving an infection from somebody's body or casting out a demon that's been tormented it was providing more wine for a wedding and there's just a lot going on here this is all pointing towards the marriage supper of the lamb it's a pre figurement of the sacred romance between christ and his people but it's also just jesus just blessing human beings sort of empowering and blessing human beings in this important time of a wedding celebration but let's not miss this okay because he is signaling i believe a shift here what do i mean by that it's not just about the drinks at a wedding in that moment it's a revelation and here's the revelation the old is ending and he's introducing something radically better i mean consider the vessels that jesus used jewish ceremonial washing vessels from the old testament and who knows it may have been from all the other laws that the pharisees and and scribes piled on to the old testament law with with human tradition but he is clearly the oldest ending and he's introducing something radically better here's what jesus said in another account luke chapter five verses thirty seven to thirty nine no one puts new wine into old wine skins for the new wine will burst the wine skins see these wine skins would stretch and once they were stretched out you can't put new fermented wine into those old stretched wine skins that had stretched about as far as they're going to go because they would burst and jesus says continuing here spilling the wine and ruining the skins from luke five he said new wine must be stored in new wine skins but no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine that's what he said the old is just fine they say so it's no longer about just filling these ceremonial stone jars and even about the wine at this wedding in the moment it's about our lives now being stretched and shaped to carry something new from jesus stretched and shaped we are in a similar moment right now i don't know how you feel about what's going on in your life or what's going on in the macro but the old wine is running out i'm talking about outdated ways of thinking we're talking about worn out religious habits don't you know that there are broken systems and the reality is new wine cannot go into old wine skins so this is the big question for us we have to look in the mirror are we willing to become a new wine skin or is the old wine just fine for you jesus is still in the turning water into the best wine business hebrews thirteen eight says jesus christ is the same yesterday today and forever he is still in the turning water into the best wine business lack into abundance taking plain ritual turning it into a new higher reality relationships work and purpose finances health and wellness so that we can serve god in strength all the life domains but just know just know that the upgrade will not fit into yesterday's mold here's here's what's here's what it's asking of me and of you it demands fresh surrender and it's asking for stretching fresh surrender and it's asking for stretching this is all prophetic he's preparing his bride in this account in john two he's signaling a shift actually the big wedding that's coming it's his wedding jesus is the bridegroom and he's both bridegroom and head waiter of this wedding amazing when they took the wine to the head waiter at this at this wedding in john two the head waiter went to the bridegroom and said look at weddings everybody gives the best wine first and then when everybody's kind of drunk and their senses are kind of in another place if you know what i mean then they bring out the old common wine but you've done the opposite you brought out the best wine for last and consider this what jesus did because maybe you need a miracle like this you know it takes a long time to grow grapes and to ferment wine it takes a summer of growth it takes time to ferment that wine but jesus compressed time maybe you need a miracle like that maybe you need something accelerated and compressed outside the normal time schemes that we live in well jesus is both the bridegroom of his own wedding of course and he's the head waiter of it so we need to say something like this to me i need to say something like this to jesus jesus what does this mean for me what does this mean for the people you've placed in my life show me how to live right now lord like the big wedding is already on the calendar help me to live in light of that the sacred romance of that and the love of that and the provision of it and the miracle of it and the beauty of it right now i pray this for my friend in jesus name so that was taken from what we call the big idea article in the newsletter each week we spotlight us what what i call a kingdom dynamic a kingdom dynamic is a key insight into how god's kingdom works in real life and that was the big idea we sort of had this feature article at the top of each newsletter from two issues ago let me share something with you now and again this newsletter the smartedit beehive dot com beehive is b e e h i i v thesmartedit dot beehive dot com or you can go to jesusmart dot com and click on the newsletter tab at the top and it will take you there as well let me share this which just went out today in today's issue we have another section in the newsletter called higher thoughts okay and and we have several different sections in the newsletter something usually dealing with health there's a meme there's a link to a podcast episode there's something we call signals and that are like links to current happenings in culture and in the world and in the kingdom and more but we do have this section called higher thoughts you know god says in isaiah fifty five verse nine that my thoughts are higher than your thoughts and here's a couple higher thoughts that we shared in this week's issue i think you might like this i did not know that there was something called in psychology identity foreclosure identity foreclosure is where you settle and you settle into a version of yourself that's not the full self you could be you just kind of foreclose on your potential okay one of the thoughts here today is kingdom identity foreclosure we can settle into a version of the christian life too quickly okay we settle before the spirit has deeply shaped our sense of self in christ we've not wrestled really we've not wondered we've not sought we've just sort of adopted inherit inherited expectations and labels and roles and maybe even a cultural christianity without the holy spirit fire of discovery this is identity foreclosure see but it happens spiritually too that's why we're calling it kingdom identity foreclosure and so the thought is don't settle and don't foreclose on your kingdom identity too early you are being formed okay you're not just labeled a christian or a churchgoer you're being formed into the image of christ by the holy spirit romans eight sixteen the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are god's children so this is one thought kingdom identity for closure in today's issue there's a second thought there these are called higher thoughts ballast in your boat do you know what ballast is in a boat most people don't think about this hey if you have no ballast in your life here's what you're like here's what i'm like i'm like driftwood without a sail okay can you imagine turbulent waters driftwood out there just rough waters when it's like that flash does not matter what matters is weight okay what matters is ballast depth core you need something real in your hall h u l l that keeps you upright when everything tilts ballast in the bottom of a ship or the bottom of a boat is a weight that's there engineer designed to keep that ship from tipping over in rough waters and we need that we need ballast in the boat of our life now what what do we mean by ballast well truth is ballast okay solid bible doctrine is ballast a prayer life a rigorous prayer life is ballast discipline being consistent being disciplined that's what disciple in part means a pupil a learner or a disciplined one in the english word kingdom worldview is ballast community of faith being planted in the right community of faith for you at the right time is kingdom or or is ballast so without it even the sharpest vessel is just tossed about when the waters get roughed rough so we don't just want to look steady or we don't want to just like kind of be churchy but we want to be heavy okay this is one time you really want to be heavy in the lord colossians two seven paul said let your roots grow down into him being christ so there's two higher thoughts in this week's issue kingdom identity foreclosure don't do it don't settle go all the way with jesus run as fast and far as he he enables you to go and then ballast in your boat depth core and sinking your roots down into christ we have an article in this week's it's really a video from a site called the stream your body is likely under attack this is a health and wellness issue what if inflammation isn't just a symptom but what if it's the root of most chronic disease and we have some experts talking about that on this you know we want to serve the lord with strength with energy with longevity right so these are just a couple elements from this week's issue it has also the big idea article in this week's issue about entering the kingdom without reserve like being confident and certain at the coming of christ and not shrinking away from him in shame at his coming because the offer he's put on the table is worth the offer of our life going full on for that so there you have it the smart edit and again the smartedit dot beehive dot com if you just look up the smart edit or look this up in probably any search engine the smart edit newsletter and it'll pull it up you can also go to jesusmart dot com and click the newsletter tab well just a few elements from a couple of newsletters recently i think the new wine thing for me it's been something that's been resonating recently within the past couple of weeks i believe the lord has maybe highlighted it to my attention personally and so that was in last week's newsletter well i appreciate you can you think of anybody who could benefit from this episode today or would like it or it would be a value add to their life would you share it with them and we'll catch you next time.