Getting Ready For Great Things

Intro: This is a wonderful passage. It is a passage that is full of Jesus. Jesus is comforting His disciples who are just beginning to realize he is going to die. Thomas says we don’t know the way Lord and Jesus says I am the way. Philip is looking for a spectacular sign and Jesus just wants them to look to Him. Many people are looking for greater things today. Some look for greater salaries, some look for greater and grander homes, greater things, greater status, greater self-worth. But it seems many go about the wrong means to acquire the greater things or realize greatness. Jesus is comforting His disciples with an astounding statement. He who believes on me the works I do he will do and greater works. If you have ever desired greatness Jesus is saying you can do great things, great works for the kingdom of God. Great things will come into your life from a great God. However these great things, great works, will not fall into your lap. Great things come through faith in a great God. But that faith is not one sided. Our faith is multifaceted like a beautiful diamond. However we have one object of our faith, one thing that makes our faith shine. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. Four facets of our faith that bring great things from God are, a personal faith, a practical faith, a patterned faith, finally a powerful faith.

Greater things come from.

I. A Personal Faith

John 14.12 “He that believes on me”

Believe is a Greek word that means to be persuaded and place confidence or trust in. How is it that Paul could say “for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

Paul had taken the leap off the porch of life into the arms of God. He was persuaded and confident in God because Paul’s faith was a personal faith. We do not place faith in traditions, faith in our ancestors, faith in a building or faith in a denomination. We place our faith in a person Jesus Christ.

Your momma can’t be confident for you, your grandpa can’t choose Christ for you, your church can’t be persuaded for you, you must know Him yourself!

Look at the rebuking; I believe sad words of Jesus, in John 14.9 that are directed at Philip.

John 14.9 “have I been with you so long and yet you have not come to know Me, (ouch)

This was in response to Philip asking for Jesus to show them the Father!

Our God is great enough to create all there is but personal enough to treat us as if we are all that ever was!!

Jesus came down out of heaven and clothed himself in flesh and became a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in order to relate to us. He did this to build by his life and death a relationship between us and God.

When you enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ it is like getting married. As the day, weeks, and years go by you grow to know more and more about the person.

(Do you know more about God today then 20 years ago?)

There is a wonderful story that is told about a man trying to cross the Mississippi River close to its source in the north.

He decided to cross the apparently frozen river rather than go farther to the bridge. He said to himself “I believe I can walk across. I won’t have to take the longer walk to the bridge.” So he began his trek across the frozen river. When he got a distance from the shore, he looked at the other side and thought, Maybe I ought not be out here. Maybe this ice won’t hold me up. If I fall through, they’ll never know what happened to me. I’m a fool. What am I doing out here? And as he turned around to go back to the other side he said to himself, “I better walk softly.” Then he thought I better get down on all fours, so I won’t put my weight in any one place. Then he said to himself, “That’s not enough. I better lie down and squirm across. I may go through the ice. What a fool I am. My wife will never know what happened to me. “ He began to whimper and cry, and then he heard it, a roaring, cracking sound. “Oh,” he said to himself, “The ice is breaking; I’m a goner.” HE put his face down and began to pray, “God save me, help me Lord.” The noise got closer and closer – that rumbling and roaring – but the ice didn’t seem to be breaking. Then he looked up, and there was a man with a team of horses with a wagon loaded with logs driving across the river. That was the noise he heard. When he saw that, he jumped up brushed off the ice and took his stroll across the rest of the river.