Sermon Central
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Greater Things
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Apr 23, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: How can you do more than Jesus?
GREATER THINGS
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
(NIV)
How can you do more than Jesus?
Jesus never traveled more than 100 miles from where He was born. Jesus only healed a couple of dozen people. The total number of people who claimed to be His disciples forty days after His death on the cross was 120. Doesn’t really sound like He accomplished very much. Dr. James Allen wrote:
He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty
He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself
He was only thirty three
His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth
When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend
Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind’s progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life.
How?
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!)
6 … he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
(NIV)
How? By placing His Own Holy Spirit in us!
The Christian life is a supernatural life. It is the life of Christ lived out in every believer by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not optional in the Christian life!
Having the Holy Spirit’s presence is not like getting power windows and air conditioning in your new car to make it more comfortable. Instead we need to understand that He is the engine, he is what makes it go.
The Holy Spirit is the power of our Christian experience.
The Holy Spirit is not just the personification of good qualities. He is a PERSON, just like Jesus is a person and God is a person. The Holy Spirit is how we can do greater things.
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
15 If you love me, you will obey what I command.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
(NIV)
Paraclete: The word means “one called alongside” for protection or counsel. It conveys the idea of an encourager in the sense of a legal counsel.
A story in Leadership magazine illustrates this phrase: “Jackie Robinson was the first black to play major league baseball. Breaking baseball’s color barrier, he faced jeering crowds in every stadium. While playing one day in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error. The fans began to ridicule him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. Then, shortstop Pee Wee Reese came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd. The fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved his career.” —Daily Bread
The Holy Spirit is The Great Reminder
The Holy Spirit is called alongside of us so that we might remember what Jesus said.
