Sunday 16th January 2022.
Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 36:5-10; 1Corinthians12:1-11; John2:1-11;
Theme: Transformation: God’s intention with our cooperation.
1)Call to worship:
Psalm 36:5-7,9. Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
2).H&P 28: O Worship the King all glorious above.
3)Prayer of Praise, adoration, thanksgiving, confession - Lord's Prayer
Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we praise and worship you. We adore you Lord God, captivated and in awe of your love. How you entered the world you had created in a miraculous but humble birth.
Father God, we praise you for allowing your kingdom to break through into our lives; for the things that to you are ordinary but to us are extraordinary; and we thank you that you have called us to be partners in breaking through into the lives of others whom you live equally.
Lord, we confess that we fear getting in too deep. When we feel you drawing us to you, calling us to leave the safe confines of life as we know it and plunge into the depths of life with you, we are afraid. What will you ask of us Lord? For we are ordinary people; we have no tongues to talk in clever parables and we are quite content as we are, to serve you from the wings. Yet you have drawn us into your family, the church, and you call us to be all that we can be. Forgive us and grant us the courage to overcome our fears, and to follow you wherever you lead. In Jesus Name. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
4)OT Reading. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. N.I.V -Reader Please
Concerning Spiritual Gifts
12 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Footnotes
a.1 Corinthians 12:10 Or languages; also in verse 28
b.1 Corinthians 12:10 Or languages; also in verse 28
Spiritual gifts are God’s not our special possession. They are given to the church.
5) H&P 780:Revive your church O God.
6) Prayers For Others. Worship Leader Please
7) Reflection: What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwc2d1Xt8gM
8) Gospel Reading- John2:1-11; Reader Please.
Jesus Changes Water Into Wine
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman,[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b]
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Footnotes
a.John 2:4 The Greek for Woman does not denote any disrespect.
b.John 2:6 Or from about 75 to about 115 liters
9) SofF 311: Jesus you are changing me
10)Sermon:
According to the Cambridge dictionary the word transformation means, “a complete change in the appearance or character of something or someone, especially so that that thing or person is improved.
Transformation is at the heart of many a popular tv program.
Nick Knowles with the DIY SOS tv show, for example, transforms houses, with the help of generous trades people, to help deserving families live life more easily. Going back further in time, the tv show Changing Rooms each week invited two couples to take up the opportunity of redoing a room in each other's home's. These transformations. were mostly welcomed by the homeowners, but not always.
And then in the world of Children's entertainment, transformers were cars that changed into mechanical heroes to save the day.
In the Bible we also encounter transformation as both situations and people are changed by God's power and grace.
When the wine ran out at the wedding party at Cana in Galilee, Jesus, encouraged by his Mother, Mary, performed his first miracle transforming water into even better wine than that of the host's initial offering.
This miracle was described by the gospel writer John as being, a sign through which Jesus revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him”.
But what kind of sign was this, I wonder?
A sign of God's generosity. Six stone jars, each holding 20 to 30 gallons. Even at the lower figure, that’s 120 gallons of fine wine to help the party along.
A sign of God's love. For a host to have run out of wine would have been a social disgrace and the worst of starts for the future life of the couple married at their hospitality. “Oh I remember their wedding. The wine ran out - Some banquet that was. With Jesus at hand though, the situation was transformed and the wedding remembered across all time as an example of God's Love and Grace.
A sign that transformation leads to new life. Notice John used the phrase, “after three days”. For John this was a pivotal phrase, and one he used elsewhere in his gospel. On the third day Lazerus was also raised, and on the third day Jesus was raised. For John it tied all the major miracles of Jesus with how God the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
But what does all this talk of transformation mean to you and I? Well the answer is ……..everything, because transforming people is at the heart of the Gospel.
It is God’s desire that we all grow in grace and are transformed as we live for him.
At the heart of this transformation of the human heart and psyche is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
St Paul, writing in 2 Corinthians 3:17&18 said, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Last Sunday, someone asked me, after the church service, how he could know if the Holy Spirit was working in his life. In fact he started off the conversation by asking me if, and how, I knew the Holy Spirit was within my life.
I answered that first and foremost it was a question of trusting Jesus and the promises he gives to those who follow him that they are given the Holy Spirit as a gift.
In John20:21 Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
In John 14: Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit. 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.
In Ephesians1:13; the apostle Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And in Acts2:38. Peter again is speaking,, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The apostle Paul was very keen that all new believers knew about how God the Holy Spirit worked.He said to the Christians in Corinth, “I do not want you to be uninformed about the gifts of the Spirit. And he went on to outline how the Holy Spirit gives gifts for the work of service. He spoke of nine spiritual gifts that are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
message of wisdom, message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues.
These are not personal possessions to crow about but rather are gifts to the church and for use in the service of the gospel.
Not only does the Holy Spirit provide gifts as tools for the task in hand but he grows fruits in the lives of believers over time.
Galatians 5 tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”.
Nine fruits, matching nine gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Again, as in the miracle of the wine at the wedding party at Cana in Galilee, when it comes to transforming lives, God the Holy Spirit is generous, He blows where he wills. He equips according to his will and purposes. Our part is to be willing to receive and to be open to God’s way of doing things.
Someone once described that when God the Holy Spirit enters a life, He stands in the hallway only. He only goes into the other rooms of the house when the doors are opened to him and the invitation to enter is given. I wonder, are there doors to one or more of the rooms in our lives that we have yet to open to Him for transformation.
St Paul in 1Cor6:19; puts it like this: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own”;
This does sound, I think, a bit like the words of our annual covenant promise doesn’t it.
Let us pray.
Holy Spirit, our lives are not our own but yours. As we walk into this new year together we ask that as your church, please fill each of us anew. We throw open the doors of our lives and of each room in our lives. Equip us with gifts to serve and grow fruits of grace we pray that others may see and hear your gospel and of your transforming life. Amen.
11) H&P 705 : STF566: Take my life and let me be (Tune.Nottingham).
12) Prayer of Dedication and Benediction.
https://www.cityalight.com/yet-not-i-but-through-christ-in-me/