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John 14:12
You read this verse and it
looks like Mission Impossible! Good morning,
Mr. Phelps!…your mission, should you choose to accept it… Just before
Jesus returned to heaven He charged us to do something which seems
impossible…one of the most amazing verses in the Bible. “Verily, verily”
(pay attn.) “I say…” (means
He is putting all His authority behind this statement)
You tell your teen they can’t do something and they say, “who says?”
and you say, “I said!” He that
believeth…the works I do shall he do also
(that’s amazing enough) …and greater
works than these shall he do…
(not only equal His works, but exceed them!) Sounds like
mission impossible! And yet,
our God, who cannot lie, has said it… …so, how can we
bring ourselves into obedience to this verse?
How can we make it a reality, w/out explaining it away? / watering it
down? / twisting the meaning? Let me tell you
precisely how we can fulfil that verse:
We need 4 things:
1.
Get a vision for
an Expanded
Program What did Jesus
mean by “greater works”?
He fed 5,000 people w/ a lad’s lunch/walked on water
Joke—methodist/presbyterian/baptist preacher fishing: Methodist:
forgot worms…walked on water to shore, back to boat! (Baptist said:
what faith!)/Presbyterian forgot lunch...trotted across the water
(Baptist: That's incredible...I'm in the presence of greatness, but I
believe I have faith, too!) He needed the restroom, but stepped out of boat,
sunk to bottom!
Methodist looked at Presbyterian and said, “Should we tell him where
the rocks are?”! Will we walk on
water? Raise the dead? (how do
you top that?) No, Jesus did
not say we’d work greater miracles than He, but that we’d do greater works!
What are the greater works? Jn. 5:20, 21,
24, 25 Greater than
raising someone physically is to raise them spiritually.
(greater than physical life is eternal life) The greater work
is salvation…seeing people pass from spiritual death unto spiritual life. Back to Jn.
4:34—not talking about miracles, but work. Jesus’ primary
work was not walking on water, healing people physically, raising from
dead…though He did all of those things. The primary work
Jesus did was to seek and save that which was lost. Luke 19:10
10
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. The work of
Jesus was to see sinners saved… …and then He
says we will do that too!
But how can we do a greater work than that? I don’t believe
it’s talking about quality, but quantity! Think about it:
more were converted in one day at Pentecost than during the entire
earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. Look at Jn.
4:34, then on to v. 35 – “white unto harvest”
Is He talking about a physical harvest of wheat or a spiritual
harvest of souls? A harvest of
souls! We need to pray for
another Great Awakening!
We can do a greater work than He did, because we’re building upon
what He started! Acts 1
1
The former treatise (what other book did Luke write?
Luke!)have I made, O Theophilus, (the awfullest name I ever hoid!) of
all that Jesus began both
to do and teach… Jesus BEGAN a
work that we are supposed to bring to completion.
He BEGAN
it in His earthly body, and He will CONTINUE it thru His spiritual
body (us!) Jn. 4:36
“reap wages” = rewards v. 37-38
Jesus has already sowed (we don’t have to be sowers, but reapers!)
It’s like cherry picking to go out into a world that knows it’s lost,
and find many who WANT to be found!
Granted, Americans all think they are saved, but elsewhere the fields
are white! Read Jn. 4, it’s
about the woman at the well…Jesus led her to the knowledge of salvation,
then look at what the disciples said in… v. 27a
And Jesus says, that was nothing compared to what is coming.
You think that was marvelous?
You are going to reap in fields that have already been cultivated and
you are going to do a greater work than I did!
You will have the privilege of harvesting multiplied millions of
souls! The fields are
white and ready to harvest! And
the darker our
world gets, the brighter our light can shine! To do the
greater work that Jesus spoke of we need an expanded vision…of our
community, and also around the world!
We need to get a world-wide vision of how to get the gospel to those
in other lands! Jn. 14:12 will
not be accomplished by merely focusing on our community.
It’s mission impossible to reach the world unless we have a plan of
how to reach outside of our city limits! Acts 1:8
8
But ye shall receive power,
after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
1.
We
need an expanded program
2.
We have to pay an Expected Price
13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How precious a verse!
But we should continue to the next verse...
14
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they
hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach,
except they be sent? There’s only 1
way to see the gospel taken to other lands, we have to send missionaries…and
what does it take to send them?
Money! It’s God’s plan
that God’s people in His church provide the means to send missionaries…that’s
why we have a program called faith-promise missions.
Next week we’ll mark our card indicating how much we’ll contribute
over and above the tithe to promote world-wide missions.
We need an
expanded program We have to pay
an expected price
3.
There’s an Explicit Promise Jn. 14 Right after our
text in v. 12 says that we’ll do greater works, v. 13-14 says He promises to
do it thru us! It applies to
our witness here and our giving around the world.
When we ask something according to God's will...something which we
KNOW is God's will, God promises to make it happen.
Why wouldn't we take this amazing promise all the way to the bank?!
And, it’s all for an…
4.
An Exalted Purpose v. 13b This is what
we’re all about…bringing glory to God by seeing people saved!
There's a life worth living.
There's a purpose worth committing yourself to.
It's bigger than just ourselves and our problems.
God didn't leave us here just to work a job and make money to pay
bills. We're here to keep
people out of hell and finish His work on earth...and in so doing we bring
great glory to our Father in heaven!
5.
Explosive
Power 12b, 16-17a Jesus limited
His presence to the location of His physical, earthly body.
The Holy Spirit is omnipresent (Christ in you) It’s better to
have the Holy Spirit than that Jesus remain here. 16:7 Now let’s talk about the
Extra-Mile principle: Mt. 5
41
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. When Jesus said this,
At any time, a Roman could pass thru that province, and could force a
Jew to carry his baggage for 1 mile…that was Roman law…Jesus said to
voluntarily go further! God loves that attitude:
in our service—go the extra mile
Plenty of people will just do the minimum…enough to get by.
But we need some people who will make missions one the most dominant
priorities in their life. Yes,
we will raise funds but just getting everyone involved at an entry level
amount, but I promise it will do more for you than anything.
We also need those who have already been involved to step up and go
the extra mile. Stretch and
grow in faith! It's the only
investment you can make today w/ guaranteed results, and the only investment
w/ eternal results! I'm praying
God also leads some to make missions their main thing.
Some give triple digits to missions every week, or every month, and
those big amounts really help us take on and add missionaries.
Just $20/wk. allows us to say yes to one of these missionaries who so
desperately need our support in this economy...and praise God for some of
you who will personally support one, two, or 5!
Why
go the extra mile?
1.
There’s a great need. I still believe that the
lost go to hell for eternity, and that Jesus is not just a good way to
heaven / best way / but, the only way! The world has a deadly
virus, we have the cure, and yet untold millions are still untold!
We need to go the extra mile because there’s a great need!
2.
We
possess a great salvation. Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we
neglect so great salvation? What a wonderful
salvation!
While every other religion in the world is trying to give man a boost
from beneath, Jesus Christ offers a birth from above! Other religions are man
trying to reach God…Christianity is God reaching down to mankind!
3.
We
have a great commission. All 4 gospels contain it,
as Jesus left this world it all came down to a point: Mt. 28
19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you Mk. 16:15 Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature Lk. 24
47
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations, beginning at Jn. 20:21
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto
you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. We have a great
commission, we preach a great salvation, we face a great need… …and yet none of those are
the main reason we need to go the extra mile and be involved in world-wide
missions. Here’s the #1 reason:
4.
We
serve a great God! If you don’t understand
that, then nothing else we do over the next week of missions conference will
make sense.
But if you get a hold of that, it will all make sense. If you give to missions
because I say you should, you’ve missed the point.
Or because you like the missionaries we have this week / guilt The best reason you can
get involved in worldwide missions is because God gets great glory from
it…it’s the greater works of Jn. 14:12!
“But, I thought the purpose of missions conference was to raise more
money for missionaries!” That’s not the ultimate
purpose…that’s just a means to an end…the goal is to bring glory to God by
doing the greater works! I’m convinced some pastors
promote missions to teach their people to sacrifice and be unselfish.
That’s a wonderful by-product that will go along w/ missions, but
it’s not the purpose! So don’t miss the
point…don’t miss 2+2--nothing else will make sense.
We have a great commission, we preach a
great salvation, we face a great need…and we serve a great God!
The key is total involvement:
Give missions an equal portion as the cable company, the internet
provider, or what you spend on your dog, and our church’s involvement in the
greater works will triple! Even if it’s just $1 a
week…the amount is not as important as the percentage of involvement…100%!
God will get great glory.
And you’ll have to think about missions each week when you write your
check…say a prayer for one of them at that time too!
You might pledge $10 a week, and that’s great, but if you also teach
your child to give 25 cents a week, then God gets twice the glory! …and if God leads some to
go the extra mile, it's gonna be awesome!
Grace Notes Sermon Ministry:
NOTICE! Our sermons are free to download, copy and paste, edit and use as you see fit...but only our free subscribers get the newest messages, featured sermons, and some free gifts we shower on them from time to time! Help keep this service free by recommending it using the links above the sermon
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