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The Unstoppable Force of Jesus
Brian Mashburn
March 2, 2008
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Doing Great Things Than Jesus
After impressing Nathaniel with his power, Jesus told him, "You shall see greater things than that."
After explaining that it is the Father who shows Jesus His work, he then piques their interest by saying, "Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these."
At the end of his life, he tells his disciples that "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."
Then he died and rose. In his last of many appearances to them over the next 40 days, Jesus promised them his Holy Spirit and says that "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Jesus only traveled within a 100-mile radius, impacting thousands, to be sure, but in his lifetime, he wasn't even as well-known as King Herod. But Jesus had greater things in mind. Through his Spirit inhabiting his followers, Jesus planned on taking over the world. And thus began the most powerful transformative force in history.
The book of Acts records the beginnings of this unstoppable force. By chapter 5, Jerusalem is filled with the Jesus teaching. By chapter 8, believers in Jesus were scattered all throughout Judea and Samaria. And by chapter 17, only 18 years after the promised Holy Spirit started its work, the whole known world was being permeated by this phenomenal Jesus movement.
The expansion of Christ asks for no highly structured organization, no large finances, no property or buildings, not one program or paid missionary...what is necessary is faith.
For the next three months, our sermons and Bible classes will be focused on how the first followers participated in these "even greater things" that Jesus spoke of. Our hope is that by imitating them, we will imitate Christ. A reading plan is included on our website and in today's bulletin. Let's read and study Acts together this quarter so that the unparalleled power of Christ's movement will continue through us.