John 14:12 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Here Jesus says that “whoever” believes in him will be doing the miracles he was doing! This of course does not mean that we can go back to the apostolic era where we had the laying on of hands but it means that Jesus expects us to have, in some ways, even greater impact! The ministry of a man or woman of God is not dull or mediocre but rather is exploding like fireworks with powerful miracles!
Today we live in a post apostolic world where miracles no longer come with the laying on of hands and massive supernatural accreditation. In Gods mercy He has already powerfully accredited His plan for all to see and for two thousand years the connection between God and the church is known to every living person with even a passing knowledge of religion.
The role of miracles is critical. When one thinks of miracles one thinks of proof of God’s power. However despite what some may think from a worldly point of view miracles do not actually give faith. Rather, it is the hearing the Word preached that gives faith (Romans 10:17). So giving faith is the domain of the preaching of the Word as we breath faith into those around us as will be covered in more depth later on.
So then, you may ask, what DO miracles do? Why do I need to show them? Well, what miracles actually do is accredit the Minister of God. In Acts 2:22 The bible says “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” At every juncture God used and uses miracles to accredit His servants and His will for the people to know the way that he wants them to go and who he wants them to follow. It doesn’t mean that people will automatically follow but miracles clarify who God’s leader is.
Just surviving in first century Israel would have been a miracle! Bandits, Roman soldiers, disease, Satanic attacks, poverty etc. would have overwhelmed most people. Yet Jesus doesn’t just survive he thrives! He elbows past all the issues and advances forcefully all the way to the miracles!
Similarly today when a church sees the miracles of the change in the lives of those you are discipling and especially when they see your “few”, detailed in the previous article, effectively baptising at a inspiring tempo its at that point that they start to have no excuse but to recognize your godly leadership. No matter how bad the situation is when God’s man or woman appears in the fray things start to happen and happen quickly. Finances, time constraints, persecution, etc. can be hard to deal with and yet according to Jesus “anyone” who follows him will overcome and do the miracles. This is a challenge but as a disciple you are up for it!
In the Old Testament the miracles didn’t keep the people faithful, it took leadership and the preaching of the Word for that. In the New Testament miracles didn’t make many disciples or keep them from abandoning Jesus when he revealed his teaching to them (John 6:66). However the miracles did accredit Jesus as a powerful preacher of God for all to see (John 3:1-2).
What are some of the miracles that will accredit your ministry? Here are six miracles that need to blossom in your ministry:
1: Baptisms: The greatest miracle of all time was the death burial and resurrection of Jesus. However what was the point of that miracle? It was to pay for the sins of mankind and allow the barrier of sin that separates man and God to be torn in two like the curtain in the temple separating the Priests from the Holy of Holys. What is the fruit of that miracle? That many people will come to God. How do they do that? They need to repent and be baptised, dieing with Christ so they can be raised to a new life (Romans 6:2-4). That makes baptisms the fruit or budding of the cross.
To parallel the Old Testament: in the same way that the slaying of the passover Lamb was a symbol of the Crucifixion so the harvest of the Pentecost was a symbol of the harvest of baptisms and new disciples in Acts 2.
Your leadership needs to be characterized by a harvest of baptisms as people are cut by Christs sacrifice in your preaching. Baptisms need to start out monthly, become weekly and finally stay daily as your ministry grows and flourishes.
2: Restorations: Satan has been tricking people for thousands of years and he seeks to pull Christians away from their faith. Sadly he will succeed sometimes. That being said as disciples we always seek to restore our former brothers and sisters to come back to the faith. When people see their old fallen away friends come back to the faith it accredits your ministry in an incredible way. You’ve snatched someone from the flames and brought them back into the Kingdom. (Deuteronomy 30:3) Restorations are an incredible miracle of God that he uses us to accomplish.
3: Repentance: Nothing sends waves through a fellowship like broken hearted repentance. (2 Tim 2:25) It is God who grants repentance, we don’t deserve it as many believe. Disciples struggle with sin as much as anyone else and need help in the battle through your prayer, fasting and the Scriptures to get over sins and be the men and women that God calls them to be. Don’t assume all is well with the army of Israel, every soldier has their Goliath that needs to be slain by the rock of faith. As you disciple your few and deal with your group lives need to change for the better and people need to grow in their relationship with God. As one fantastic repentance after another is confessed light and oxygen replace the chill darkness and stale air of mediocrity and defeat.
4: Leaders Raise Up: One thing that Jesus focused on perhaps more than anything in his three year ministry was making apostles (Mark 3:13). As they grew and developed it astonished those around them. When formerly unmotivated, unreliable, and unqualified men and women become great bible talk leaders, preachers, disciplers, sheperds, deacons, webdeacons, kids class workers, and servants in the church people see God working through you. Never forget its not your show, your job is “…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up…” (Ephesians 4:12)
5: Sacrifices and giving: When churches who couldn’t hire many interns or participate in sending mission teams are lead by a Godly leader they dig deeper, hire more interns who preach to a wider audience and are granted more baptisms, they sacrifice more and participate more in the work (2 Chron 11:16). At first its hard for them because sacrifice is by definition painful however the miracle of giving and lifts them and makes them believe again that God wants to work through them! Ask your members to pray and fast about raising their contribution. Perhaps give out pledge cards and pray for an incredible increase and victory!
6: Dating, Marriage and Family Healing: As you implement discipling and miracles start to abound people stop focusing on the negatives of those closest to them and start to remember what they are grateful for and what they are called to do. They start to act more righteously in their lives and their relationships start to flourish. When disciples stay pure and date disciples the miracle of love rejuvenates the whole church (Nehemiah 10:30)! This is a powerful miracle that needs to happen in your ministry. Unhappy families, bad relationships are not the calling card of God’s chosen man or woman.
Its time to pray for God to blast out all six of these miracles this month! Its time to elbow past the problems and do the miracles without excuses! Bring these miracles to the forefront of people attention to let the people see the incredible things that are happening all around them! Its the Word of God that gives them faith however you must let Christ lead your ministry as you fight by miracles for miracles!