THERE
IS MORE - MUCH MORE!
INTRO: We are currently living
at a time when everything seems in short supply. Some of this has to do with recent
events the past couple of years, a pandemic, supply line issues, the threat of
war and rising costs, etc.
At such a time, the church has been hit hard with
losing ground, the average church from the pandemic lost 30% of their
congregation, most of that has never returned. Stress levels in ministry have been very
high, resulting in a large exodus of people in ministry, many simply quitting
the ministry out of exhaustion.
It feels like a struggle to keep going in the midst of
all this, but there is good news for those who are willing to still keep
working; there is more, much more that God has for us to do, and for His church
to do. And, God is not short of
anything to see ministry happen in abundance
still!
PROP.
SENT: The Bible encourages us
to remember that God will do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or
think; that there is so much more that He has for us to do, and the power to
enable us to do it. Ministry has
always been symbolized by four elements:
The Word of God, The Oil of God, The Servanthood of God, and all this
while Shepherding.
I. POWER! (Word) Jn. 1:1-4; Gen.
3:1-7;15
A.
God’s Word! Jn.
1:1-4
1.
One of the items the candidates will be given tonight is the Word of God,
the Scriptures. When there was
nothing in this universe except chaos and darkness God simply spoke and
everything that exists came into existence!
a.
Talk about “There is More!” – there was so much
more!
b.
The power of God is not found in just the skills that we have, it is
found in the power of God’s Word in and through our
lives.
2.
Jesus was the “Word made flesh and dwelt among us.” Imagine that, God entered the very
creation He had made, He became flesh for us so that we would have so much
more!
3. We
not only live in an amazing universe, but because God’s Word is so powerful, we
live in an amazing relationship to God through the living Word of
God.
a.
This is why preaching the Word of God is so
important!
b.
God didn’t expect us to figure out a way to save ourselves, we neither
had the wisdom nor the power to do that, but God’s Word taught us
how!
c.
The Word of God is powerful, more powerful than a two-edged
sword!
4.
You can’t build His Church on your skill, or your wisdom, or your hard
work alone – His church is built upon the Word of
God!
B.
God’s Grace Gen.
3:1-7;15
1.
Even in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned and destroyed the very
relationship man had been created for, a real relationship with God – God had
something more in store for us than just to leave us destitute in our
sins!
a.
Gen. 3:15 states that though the
serpent had bruised humanity’s heel, God would yet crush his head through the
seed of the woman (Messiah) – the first word spoken about much more than all the
loss!
b.
This is the Gospel, THERE IS MORE even
after sin! Most of us in this
building tonight have experienced the “more” in Christ – the promise of the
Word!
c.
God spoke a promise at the moment of the greatest loss – humanity was not
at a dead end. This is why God
drove Adam and Eve from the garden, not to punish them, to prevent from eating
from the “Tree of Life” and living eternally damned! Even the act of driving them out of the
garden was an act of Love and Grace, to redeem us later – more was coming – God
still had something more, LIFE!
2.
Satan and all his schemes cannot destroy the Word of God, the living
Christ as the Living Word had more after the cross! Satan won nothing, and we gained
everything!
a.
How did Jesus resist Satan in the wilderness, by the Scriptures, God’s
Word.
b.
How did Moses help Israel become a nation belonging to God, through the
written Word, the commandments of God which were carried their entire journey in
the Ark of the Covenant.
c.
Satan will never get the last word, God always does! Not one Word of God’s will fail, not
even the jot and tittles.
3.
PREACH THE WORD!
II. PRESENCE!
(Oil) 2 Kgs 6:14-17; Jn. 20:19-23; Acts
1:8
A.
God’s Anointing! 2 Kgs
6:14-17
1.
God’s anointing is really His presence! It isn’t just some mystical sensation
you feel or ask for when you are going to preach, it is the actual presence of
God!
a. In
this sense, you don’t have to ask God for an anointing, but just His presence,
when His Presence is with you, and in the Church the anointing is
there!
b.
What the world doesn’t see or know, is the very presence of God, and
sometimes we forget it is here already
too!
2.
Elisha had his servant Gehazi with him when the “King of
a.
When Gehazi the servant got up and saw all he saw was the enemy! He became quite distraught and said to
Elisha, “Oh,
sir, what will we do now?” (2 Kg. 6:15b)
b.
Gehazi only saw the presence of the enemy and his power and might! And yes, for what he could see the odds
against them were absolutely impossible, surely this was the
end!
c.
Elisha however SAW MORE!
THERE IS ALWAYS MORE! And so
he prayed not to defeat the enemy, but for Gehazi to see God’s presence with
them, he prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” (2 Kg. 6:17)
3.
God opened Gehazi’s eyes and he saw that the entire hillside around
Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire – and there was MUCH MORE on
their side than on the enemy’s side!
a.
God’s anointing was there, right
there!
b.
And with His anointing (His presence) the enemy is already
defeated!
4. If God is in your heart, He is
anointing you, His presence is upon you and with you! The most common phrase in both the Old
Testament and the New Testament is this: “I am with you” – or “and I will be
with you, etc.”
ILLUS: On March 5,
1994, Deputy Sheriff Lloyd Prescott was teaching a class for police officers in
the
5.
When God called Moses His only request to the call was this: Exodus
33:16-17 (NIV) “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with
your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people
from all the other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses,
"I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I
know you by name."
a. It
was never about Moses’ ability to speak, nor his skills, it was always about
God’s presence with Him, and with the people God had uniquely called His
own!
b.
God’s anointing makes all the difference in ministry, if He is present in
your leadership, if He is present in your preaching, if He is present in the
Church there will always be chariots of horses and soldier’s with flaming swords
greater in number than what the enemy brings against
you!
c.
Even when Jesus was ascending into Heaven, He promised not to leave us,
nor forsake us, but to send another comforter to be with us! And the Spirit of God will lead us into
all truth and be with us!
d.
Jesus’ final promise to His disciples was, “Lo I am with you
always, even unto the end of the ages.”
(Matt. 28:20)
B.
God’s Empowerment! Jn. 20:19-23; Acts
1:8
1. In
John 20 Jesus meets up with His disciples behind closed doors and breathes on
them to receive the Holy Spirit.
a.
This was stage one on their journey to be empowered differently from
before.
b.
They were at this moment transformed into “New Birth” – their spirit made
alive! This was the inauguration of
the New Covenant in them, Salvation!
2.
But this wasn’t the end; Jesus also instructed them to go to Jerusalem
and wait for a special empowerment, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit!
a.
This was critical for the mission!
b. It
still is today, Jesus had more for them!
c.
This was unique from John 20, it was an
empowerment for ministry!
d. We
ARE a
ILLUS: Great
miracle of instant healing in Vergennes on the worst Sunday service of my
career. Mary healed immediately of
breast cancer in spite of the fact that I had both preached poorly that day, and
the service has been pretty dead!
III. POSTURE!
(Towel & Staff) Jn. 14:12-13; 15:12-21;
16:12-15
A.
God’s Favor! Jn. 14:12-13;
15:12-21
1.
Jesus was the consummate servant!
He did great works, but His promise to the disciples was the they would
do EVEN MORE or EVEN GREATER works than He did! Talk about God’s
favor!
a. We
don’t see great miracles without great
servanthood!
b.
The towel was all about this, Jesus wrapped himself with the servant’s
towel and washed their feet, He who was the greatest was willing to serve the
most!
2.
God’s favor rests on those who are servants first, not dictators or pushy
leaders.
a.
The real power in ministry is found in your ability to serve others, not
expecting others to serve you!
b.
There was no place among the disciples for those who wanted to sit on the
right hand and the left hand of Jesus, instead Jesus told them all to be
servants if they wanted His favor!
3. We
would see more miracles in the church if there were more
servants!
a.
Notice the verse that follows Jesus talking about serving: John 14:13-14
(NIV) “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son
may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I
will do it.”
b. So
often this is quoted out of context, you see, when you are a servant you don’t
ask for anything that would displease the Master; so yes, when you act as the
servant you can ask and God will answer – because you are NOT seeking your own
desires, but the master’s!
4.
The staff symbol is the same thing, the shepherd would lay down his life
for the sheep, so it wasn’t about His own life, it was about the
sheep!
a.
Any pastor who is unwilling to put the people of God above his/her own
self is not a true shepherd!
b.
When God allowed a King to rule over His people he rejected the warriors,
he rejected the military experts, he chose instead of shepherd boy who knew what
it was to lay his life on the line for the
sheep.
c.
Indeed, even when David showed up in camp when Israel faced Goliath,
David didn’t ask who this giant was who dared to defy the armies of Israel,
instead he said it this way, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should
defy the armies of the living God?”
(1 Sam.
17:26)
d.
His King was God, not Saul. A few verses earlier it states the
David’s older brothers “followed Saul.”
e.
Your staff is a constant reminder that you are called to shepherd the
King’s sheep, they don’t belong to you, but you are to shepherd them as God
would.
5.
Keep the towel and staff in mind always – in doing so His favor will rest
on you.
ILLUS: Years
ago, there was a master violinist in
Then
one day this master violinist was walking by a pawnshop. He noticed an old,
beat-up, worn-out violin. He walked into the pawnshop and asked how much it
would cost. The owner of the pawn shop told him the American equivalent of five
dollars. He bought the violin, and he took it home. He polished it, and he
refined it, and he tuned it, and he re-tuned it, and he built some character
into that violin. Then, when he was to play the greatest performance of his life
in a concert hall, he took out the little, five-dollar, worn-out, beat- up
violin that he had polished and refined. He put it up to his chin, and he began
to play, and everybody in the concert hall whispered, "Listen to the beautiful
sounds of the Stradivarius."
-- Ron Lee Davis, "Rejoicing in Our Suffering,"
Preaching Today, Tape No. 74.
B.
God’s Help! Jn.
16:12-15
1.
All ministry is a challenge, you are trying to do the work of God as an
imperfect servant. There is no way
anyone can fulfill ministry without help!
a.
Fortunately, God promises this, even the stuff we absolutely panic over
because we don’t always know the answer!
b.
You will be stumped many times in trying to figure out what to do, so how
do we get help from God over things down the road that might totally throw us
for a loop?
2.
Jesus tells His disciples that for all the stuff coming down the road
that might be hard to figure out He has help always
ready!
a.
Jesus promises that the “Spirit of truth” – the Holy Spirit will help
us, He will come when we need it and help guide us, direct us, help us figure
out what to do.
b.
Trust me, there will be moments in time when you don’t have the answers,
but God always does!
c.
This is a real promise!
Jesus tells them plainly that right now they can’t bear it all, but when
the time comes the Holy Spirit will guide them into doing what is
right!
3.
Even in our mistakes God can still be at work, so never
panic!
4. We
can minister with confidence, not in ourselves, per se, but in the knowledge
that God’s Spirit is actually working to guide us. John 16:12-15
(NIV) “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now
bear. But when he, the Spirit of
truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he
will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from
what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to
you.”
ILLUS: Building
the South Wall in the sanctuary in Vergennes. A new believer messed up all the studs
by cutting them 2 inches too short at the top. So, we had to put another 2/6 plate on
top of that wall with a ½ inch plywood between to make up the 2 inches. However, when the bank sent the
inspectors to our site to be sure we were building correctly, they were amazed
that we had done that, it turned out that the kind of ceiling trusses we were
putting up in the sanctuary had to have one wall on one site with a double plate
so the weight of snow in winter can allow that one side to flex. It was done the way expert contractors
would have done, and they were shocked that we knew enough to do that! (So were
we! – But, that was God, our error was His design to have it done
correctly! – Dennis Marquardt
5.
The Spirit of God empowers us, He equips us, and He guides us!
6.
What is Jesus saying here at the end: THERE IS MORE, MUCH MORE coming!
a.
There is great ministry coming yet!
b.
There is a great awakening coming
yet!
c.
There is great power coming yet!
d.
There is so much MORE for us to do, and for us to
be!
CONCLUSION: Those who are willing to stay in the
fight for the Good News of salvation will discover that there is no shortage of
God’s supply and help. In fact, not
only is there enough to do what He has called us to do, there is so much more He
will provide if we move out in faith and trust Him! Great things are
coming!