Monday, March 1, 2010

Greater Works

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12

The promise that Jesus made regarding prayer in John 14:12-14 is almost breathtaking. Preparing to place His ministry in the hands of His disciples, He said to them in the upper room (and to all of us today), “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.” When Jesus was on the earth, everything He did, He did it through His earthly body. Now Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. Everything He does now, He does through His spiritual body—the Church of the living God. And Jesus says that we, His Church, will do greater works!

The works of Jesus refer to His miracles, healings, signs and mighty acts of power. His works included healing every kind of disease, casting out demons and raising the dead. He controlled the wind and the waves, walked on water, multiplied food, and turned water into wine. The promise here is that every believer can receive the Holy Spirit and be endued with power from on high so that he potentially can do all the works of Christ. But more than that, we are supposed to exceed Him. How?

The “greater works” are works greater in quantity and further in global reach. Jesus had scores of converts; the apostles numbered in the thousands. Jesus ministered only to the Jews in Palestine. Peter opened the door for Gentiles to be saved at Cornelius’ house. Paul and the early Christians soon took the gospel to reach the known world.

When Jesus preached, His biggest crowd at any one time may have been 5,000 to 20,000 people. But at his Millennium Crusade in Lagos, Nigeria, German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke had 1,600,000 people attending a single gospel service. That night, 1,093,000 lost souls responded to the altar call. At the end of the six-day event, a total of 3,450,000 people had registered decisions for Jesus! In his 30 years of faithful ministry, Evangelist Bonnke has given out 68 million copies of follow-up booklets to help new converts who got saved in his meetings.

Today, with television, radio, satellite broadcasting, the Internet, and printed media, hundreds of millions of people can hear the gospel all at the same time. We must harness all the power of God and the technology available in the world to win the masses for Christ. We must put our faith in Jesus’ words. Our Savior would never lie to us. This is truly the day of the harvest! We are the people of the greater works!

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