[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John, entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:15] Well, I had no idea that Miguel could sing like that. I think we'll have him sing some specials.
[0:26] How many of you agree with that? Say amen. All right, I thought that was great. How many of you enjoyed the two languages? As much as you're in a missionary church, it ought to excite you.
[0:42] If you were to travel overseas with us, you would hear preaching in one language, and translation just like this.
[0:52] So you get these interruptors, and when I go, I will be going very shortly to Morocco, and I will preach a long time, but I will always have an interruptor.
[1:09] But the only place I don't have to put up with that is in the United States and in any Spanish-speaking country. But it is beautiful to have all these different folks.
[1:26] And I don't know if it blessed your heart, but to have a Spanish man standing here and to have a Filipino man standing here in our church is like a wonderful, magnificent blessing from God.
[1:45] So look back and see Filipinos, Indian, and all the different people is a great blessing.
[1:57] And by the way, when you get to heaven, you're going to find out heaven's got a whole lot of color. You'll have a whole bunch of black people. I get to preach in Africa, and when I preach in Africa, on Sunday morning, I speak in English.
[2:19] Brother Shoemaker puts it into French, and then the brother further down the line puts it into one of the tribal languages. And if you have any idea about how fast I like to talk, and I want to talk before he gets through finished, I have been known to preach in Africa, and I'll start saying something, and Brother Keith will say it, and then I'll start it again, and the black guy on that end, he's black.
[2:57] He looks over at me and goes, hey, so let me know, I've got to wait on him. But we get to heaven, we'll all speak the same language. And we will all love the same God, and serve him, and God's going to do a great and wonderful thing in all of us.
[3:18] Open your Bibles, if you would, to John chapter 14, and verse 12. We're going to read like three verses here, and some of these verses you're going to need to look up when you go home, because it's going to take a lot longer to get the message out, because I've got to wait on the interrupter, and that's why we teach all our missionaries to learn the language, because if you speak the language, you don't have to wait on anybody, you don't have to wait on anybody.
[3:53] And then you don't have to worry about what he says. And when he's speaking in Spanish, if he doesn't say it right, I will correct him.
[4:05] The other night, we were preaching at a university Baptist church. I was preaching in English, and he was translating into Spanish, and we'd been going about 30 minutes, and he didn't say something like I wanted him to, and so I corrected him, and we got in the car, and he said, I was going to fix it in the next one.
[4:34] You could have given me a break. I'd already been talking for 30 minutes, and I was doing good. So he's doing good tonight. Okay, look at your Bible if you want, at John 14, 12.
[4:51] And I'll just read this, and you can leave out the Spanish. You guys, tell them to look it up in Spanish and read it. 12 to 14.
[5:03] Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.
[5:15] And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
[5:26] I want to say, I want to, on a lot of the verses, I'll tell you where they're found. And I'm going to pick out the parts that I want to get across to you. And then you can check them out later.
[5:42] And I'm pretty sure they'll keep up with me on the wall. But I want to get across to you one of the most fantastic promises we could imagine. Look in the verse, if you would, John 14.
[5:58] And verse 12. And it says, it talks about he that believeth on me. And then it says, further down in the verse, it says, greater works.
[6:08] Siguiendo, siguiendo el versículo, dice, y las, él las hará también. Las obras que yo hago, él las hará también. Greater works. Y aún mayores hará.
[6:20] See that? He messed up. Malo que no todo, eh? No. Greater works. Dice, mayores obras hará.
[6:31] And then look at verse 12, and he says, y versículo 12, él dice, because, dice, por qué, and what he's saying is this, you believe in me, you'll do the same works I do, harás las mismas obras que hago yo, you'll do greater works than I do, harás obras mayores que yo, because I'm leaving.
[6:50] Porque yo me voy. That's a powerful promise. Esa es una promesa muy poderosa. So, would you go with me through the story and I'll give you three points you can write down. The first thing I want you to know, Jesus is leaving.
[7:06] You remember John chapter 14 verses 1 through 3? He says, let not your heart be troubled. I'm leaving and I'm going to prepare you a place, but I'm coming back.
[7:21] I want you to understand, there would have been a little bit of fear, uncertainty, if you can think about walking with Jesus, and I mean, this is not a man, this is God.
[7:42] When the president was killed, when I was a kid, John F. Kennedy, you know, that caused a great uncertainty in our country.
[7:55] The country didn't know what to do. And quickly, men stepped into leadership and tried to let us know that everything was going to be okay.
[8:09] When the Twin Towers were attacked, very quickly, our leadership steps up and they let us know everything is going to be alright. Now, Jesus is leaving.
[8:22] And I want you to imagine, he's talking to these 12 men and he says, I'm leaving. And I could just see Peter and John looking at each other. What's he talking about?
[8:34] You've got to remember when he said he was going to go to Jerusalem and he was going to be killed and Peter said, I'm not letting that happen. And Jesus said, get behind me, Satan.
[8:50] So Jesus is on his way and he wants them to know that when he leaves, that's a good thing. That's never a good thing for us when we lose somebody we love.
[9:07] Honestly, it's a very difficult thing. But Jesus said, it's going to be okay. It's going to be good for you. In John chapter 14 and verse 10, he reminds them and he has done everything that he's done by the power of his father.
[9:29] He says in that verse, the last part of the verse, the father dwelleth in me and he does the work.
[9:42] Okay, look just, wait just a second. Jesus is about to leave and by the way, we're going to start learning about Holy Spirit power. We're going to learn about his ministry over the next two or three weeks because that's where we are in the Bible.
[10:00] But Jesus said, I'm leaving. Everything's going to be all right. It's better for you. Don't forget what I did, I did in the power of the father.
[10:13] It was the father who did the work in me. And my father is greater than me. So y'all don't have to worry. In John chapter 14 and verse 16, he lets them know the Holy Spirit's coming.
[10:29] And he calls him another comforter. He said, you got another comforter coming. You got another person coming just like me.
[10:41] Now listen to this. The Holy Spirit is never it. Everybody look at me. You never call him it anymore than you want to be called it.
[10:58] It was leading the singing tonight. That doesn't come across real nice. That doesn't come across real nice. And the Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead and he is not a power.
[11:13] He's not some kind of wind. He's not some kind of force. He is a person. And Jesus said, I'm sending another comforter somebody like me.
[11:24] Here's an almost unbelievable promise. You 11 men, a bunch of you fishermen, you're very ignorant.
[11:38] You never went to Bible college. You never went to the seminary that the Jews had. But you're going to do greater works than I did being Jesus God in the flesh.
[11:54] Now some people say he said that to the, we aren't to the message yet. And I'm going to quit in about nine or ten minutes and we may have a lot of this for another day. But watch this.
[12:05] In 2 Corinthians 12, 12, the apostles had this wonderful miracle working power. It was called the signs of an apostle.
[12:20] And they were wrought among them, they were worked among them, in great patience and signs. And so you might say he was talking to the apostles.
[12:33] Except that in the verse he said, he that believeth on me. How many of y'all believe on him? Hold your hand up. I want you to know you have the power of God to do great works, not just great works, but greater works.
[12:56] We can do great work, but this isn't a promise that we're going to raise more people from the dead than he did, or that we're going to walk on water, or that we're going to work miracles, but we can glorify his father by sharing the gospel of truth, the good news.
[13:23] Now walk through the passage with me. Look if you would, look if you would at 14, 12. The first thing I want you to write down is true believers do the same works that Jesus did.
[13:40] Now your first reaction is, okay, where are all the miracles? But I want to show you that when he started his earthly ministry, he told us what his works were.
[13:53] He told us what he was going to do, and I'm going to read that to you in a second. The fact is, you can go ahead and look up Luke 14, and verse 17, and I think I'd check out 4, 17, and we'll see if that don't work, we'll just get a book and shoot me, I mean a gun.
[14:15] That is the right one. Luke 4, 17. Now before, let me, let me, look at, look just wait a second. You see, the gold, the apostles and Jesus worked great miracles.
[14:32] And I will go over this with you later. But they were what would be, they're a transition period. And contrary to what a charismatic church might tell you, there are very few miracles in the Bible, and they take place over short periods of time, when God is changing some way he's working.
[15:00] For example, the first group of miracles you're going to come across in the Bible, is going to be after Genesis, into Exodus, there will be 10 miracles worked, because Moses is about to lead the children of Israel out.
[15:18] And so God uses miracles to say, hey, changing gears here, and I'm fixing to do some great stuff. He did the same thing with the prophets and judges and judges, and then he does the same thing with Jesus and the apostles.
[15:40] But I want you to know, we can do the same works, that Jesus did, and watch what he said he was going to do. He walks into the synagogue, and he is ready to start his public ministry, and he opens the Bible to the book of Isaiah, and he finds this part of the Bible.
[16:03] They didn't have chapters and verses, but he reads from this passage. They brought him, put it back on 17, they brought him, they brought him the book of Isaiah, and he opened the book, and he found the place, and he read what was written, and then he said in verse 18, look at it, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
[16:37] Now listen, I'm going to, instead of reading the whole verse, I want to walk with you through what he is going to do. Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor. He came to give the gospel to needy people.
[16:53] There was a sad thing going on. It was happening in Israel, and it's happening in America, and that was that the gospel was often for the people who had money.
[17:10] In the Old Testament, there was a Levite, and he wanted to have a ministry. He didn't have a ministry, so he found the man, and this man offered to pay him a salary if he would lead the worship at his house.
[17:31] No, not worship, worship, real worship, not just singing. He was going to lead the worship. And so, he built this false, he built this false gods, I mean.
[17:46] And he made some idols. And this Levite sold himself for money to lead. And then here comes one of the tribes of Israel.
[17:59] And they come into town, and they steal the gods, and they steal the preacher, and the preacher says, I work for him. And this rich guy says, hey, how much are you paying you?
[18:15] We're going to be treating you a lot better. You want to be the pastor for a one little old family? Or you want to be for our whole tribe? Hey, it ain't that big a deal to work with that handful of people.
[18:29] And that's basically the attitude today. Preachers make their message to make everybody happy, to sell some good books, to make some good money, and to drive nice cars and everything else, but they're not telling the gospel.
[18:49] And Jesus said, I didn't come to give the gospel to those that can pay me well. I came to give the gospel to the poor, to everybody.
[19:01] He said, I came to heal the broken hearted, right here in the verse. He said, I'm here to help hurting people. He said, I'm here to set people free.
[19:16] He said, I'm here to help blind people see. I'm here to help hurting people and to announce that today is the day of salvation.
[19:27] that means God will save you today. You can be saved. Good news to everybody. Everywhere.
[19:40] Doesn't matter what color their skin is. Doesn't matter what language they speak. Doesn't matter how much money they have. Jesus said, I'm here to do a work. Now, I'm going to just stop because I'm real short on time.
[19:54] But I want you to notice this. We can do all that. We can help hurting people. We can meet the needs of folks. Hey, hey, hey, we can preach the gospel to poor people.
[20:08] Our little church, this little handful of nobodies, is given about 150 grand a year to get the message of the gospel to the world.
[20:20] And while we're sitting here tonight, all those guys on that wall back there, all those on that wall back there, and others we haven't hung up their picture, they're preaching the gospel somewhere.
[20:31] Man, we're doing great work. We're telling the gospel to people all over the world. And Jesus said, not only will you do the same works I do, you'll do greater works than I do.
[20:44] Man, the time is up. But listen to this. In one day, 3,000 people accepted Jesus and were baptized.
[20:57] Jesus had a crowd left over, 120 people, and it says in 1 Corinthians 15 that up to 500 saw him at one time.
[21:14] There weren't big numbers, but Peter and the apostles saw 3,000 saved in one day. And God did let them work miracles too.
[21:26] It was wild. They touched people and they were healed. And people used to take their sick folks and put them on the side of the road.
[21:36] people and they would put them in the road. And this is in Acts 5, 12 through 16. And Peter would go walking by and if his shadow fell on their body, they got healed.
[21:51] And the people all over town would come see them and they healed everybody. They filled Jerusalem with their doctrine. They didn't add to the church.
[22:04] The church was being multiplied. These guys wrote the New Testament. I mean, God let them do bigger works than we, that he did.
[22:19] Because he wanted to show us something. He wanted to show us that you are important in his work. Now I'm going to take up with because later. But you know why they could do that, don't you?
[22:32] Because he sent another comforter. He has now given us his word. He has given us the Holy Spirit. Who will dwell in us. Help us live a holy life.
[22:46] Help us preach the gospel. Cause people to get saved. On the greater works part, can I just tell you, the scriptures were written.
[22:58] Churches were started. Leaders were trained. And in one generation, that small church grew from less than 500 to multiplied thousands all over the world.
[23:18] People getting saved everywhere. The apostle Paul was like a wild man. You couldn't stop him. He said, I'm coming by your town.
[23:30] I'm going to preach the gospel to you. But I'm on my way to Spain just to let you know. Cause I don't stop. They beat him up. Left him for dead. Eyeball hanging out probably.
[23:44] Nose is all twinkle. And his ears hanging off. And he's laying on the ground. And all of his disciples are like, I guess it's over.
[24:00] And old Paul goes, hey, get me up. Carry me back to town. Stitch my ear back on. We got to go preach.
[24:12] Greater works. I don't know if you have any idea today. It's not because we're greater than him. But it's because he that is in us is greater than he that's in the world.
[24:27] Man, I'm telling you, all over the world, some of our friends, some of our church members stood up today and preached in Chinese and preached in Arabic and preached in French and preached in Cosa and preached in Spanish and preached in English.
[24:51] Boy, God's let us do big stuff. I have preached in more places than Jesus did. I have preached in more languages than Jesus did. You say, who do you think you are?
[25:04] One that believes. And you are too. And God's got big stuff for us. And when you find out over the next few services about the power of the Holy Spirit and how he wants to use and work in our lives, you're going to get excited about how God can use you.
[25:30] Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, I thank you for all you've done in our lives and I thank you for how you saved us.
[25:42] I thank you for how you gave us your word and I thank you for how you allow us to be in the ministry. God, I pray you'd touch our teenagers and I pray God that their hearts would be soft.
[26:00] I pray God their hearts would jump out of their chest because they want so desperately to do your works, greater works and to see your power in their lives.
[26:15] I thank you, Lord, for the people in our church that are giving and going and they're praying. God, I pray you'd help them to want to do greater works.
[26:28] I pray you'd motivate our church to go on to greater and bigger things. The only reason, Lord, that we're not doing them is because we're not trusting because we have your word.
[26:45] We can do greater works. Use our church. Use me. Use your people and I'll give you glory. And I'll give you glory. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
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