In an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, Dallas Jenkins said,

"We feel like if people can binge watch and have watch parties all over the world for shows like Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, there's no reason not to binge-watch a show about Jesus. The term binge means to, you know, kind of have an obsession with something, and if we figure out how to have an obsession with Jesus, we might as well encourage that."

As we embark on this teaching series based on the show by the same name, I'm going to do my best not to share too many spoilers for those of you who haven't seen it. But, if you haven't seen the show, why not? It's free! And it's the story of Jesus. Let me encourage you to watch it with your family!

As the series kicks into gear, we see Jesus doing miracle after miracle. He delivers a demon-possessed woman here, provides an abundance of fish there, heals a leper here. All of the miracles are in relative seclusion.

As people begin to realize who Jesus is, the question quickly becomes, “When will He announce to the world that He is the Messiah?"

His Disciples begin to wonder why He doesn’t cut to the chase and wipe out the Roman government, reestablish the nation of Israel, and go to the temple to proclaim His rightful place as Messiah, King, and High Priest of Israel?

These are the same questions that Satan asked Jesus while He was being tempted in the desert. His answer was the same to him as it was to them.

In other words, “God doesn’t do miracles just for the fun of it, or even just to promote Himself.” There’s always a greater purpose.

There’s always a message in the miracle.

And we've all witnessed miracles in life whether we acknowledge them or not. Most of the time we miss out on the message because we're too preoccupied with our own desires. I can't tell you the number of times that my own desires got in the way of God's destiny.

Are your desires getting in the way of God's destiny?

If so, don't worry. It seems to be a pretty common theme in the Bible. The Israelites were guilty of it more than once. They were constantly complaining about something.

"We want to eat like the other nations."
"We want to worship like the other nations."
"We want a king like the other nations."

Miracle after miracle God showed up, and yet they continued to be blinded by their own desires.

Eventually, God recruits the Assyrians and the Babylonians to do His work for Him because His own people won’t. He calls the stubborn Israelites "blind and deaf".

Israel was called to be a "witness" on behalf of all that God had done.

witness: Someone who attests to a fact or event. One who testifies in a case. One who has personal knowledge of something. Public affirmation by word or example.

They had witnessed the many miracles of God yet refused to repent and in turn, would have to endure the pain of exile!

They were blind, yet had eyes. They were deaf, yet had ears.

Moses uses the phrase "in the sight of Pharaoh..." to imply that Pharaoh would witness the wonders of God. In Hebrew, it's the word ayin which means "eyes". Moses turned the water to blood in the eyes of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh was blind, yet had eyes. He was deaf, yet had ears!

There's a message in every miracle!

The first miracle is the miracle of turning water into blood.

Water represents life. And in fact, the Nile river was worshiped as a God by the Egyptians. This first public miracle had a greater message than just, "Our God is great". It was the first of 10 blows to the Egyptian gods of Pharaoh. It was a message of death.

Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word for "blood" is dam, which can also refer to the blood of grapes, which is known as wine! This leads us to the first public miracle of Jesus found in John chapter 2.

This was Jesus' first public miracle. His time had come, and the first thing He was going to do was bring life to a dead and dying religious system!

There's a message in every miracle!

Jesus uses the religious cleansing cisterns to create wine. Instead of turning life to death, He turns death into life. Jesus is about to turn the Jewish religious system upside down and there will be no going back! But the religious leaders of the day were blind even though they had eyes. They were deaf even though they had ears.

Their desires for power and authority were getting in the way of God's destiny.

There's a message in every miracle.

I wonder what message God is trying to get across to you?

Are you blind, yet have eyes? Are you deaf, yet have ears?

Are you blinded by your own desires or are you open to God's destiny for you?

Let me encourage you to open your spiritual eyes and ears and look for the message in the miracles that are all around you! The big ones and the little ones. The fact that you're here today. The promotion at work. The breakthrough in your finances. The upswing in your health. These are all messages that can be used to bring glory to God. There's a message in every single one of those miracles. The question is, do you see it?