THe works that I do you will do greater works! WHat works did he do? DId paul demonstate the word without power?
That is a wonderful thing..someone entering into the KINGDOM of God! I do appreciate my roots in the Baptist church....because they can get you to the cross! Life in Christ is wonderful! IF they would only teach the power of the Holy Spirit and how to recognize and not quench Him!
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
When Paul came to Corinth he did not come with signs and wonders. He was not performing miracles in the midst of them. That is not the "power" that he is speaking of here. In fact he says plainly, that in contrast to the false teachers that were in the midst of the Corinthians, he came "in weakness, in fear, in much trembling."
His speech and preaching "was not with enticing words of man's wisdom."
It was in the "demonstration of the Spirit and power" of God.
But nowhere is he speaking of miracles, signs, wonders, healings, etc.
He is speaking of the power of the Word of God spoken through the Spirit of God. Look in Acts 2 and in chapter 4. When Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit then he preached. In chapter 4 when he was filled with the Holy Spirit he spoke the Word of God with boldness. The filling of the Holy Spirit did not bring about miracles but rather the ability to speak the Word of God boldly.
Miracles never led one soul to Christ.
Abraham told Lazarus that his brothers would not believe even if they saw one that was raised from the dead--the greatest miracle of all.
He continued to say: "If they believed not the law and the prophets neither would they believe if one rose from the dead."
The power is in the preaching of the Word. The power is in the Word itself.
Hebrews 4:12 For
the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
It is the Word that is powerful. Your experiences are lame. They are ineffective. They won't save anyone. It is the Word of God that saves.
When you ask the question what Jesus meant when he said:
THe works that I do you will do greater works! WHat works did he do?
He meant that we have a much longer life span than he did (3 years) to preach the gospel, that others might be saved. At the end of the ministry of Christ there were 120 disciples gathered in an upper room. That is all. Just 120!
I have been in full time service for a length of time that is over 10 times the period that Christ began his ministry. In that period of time multitudes have come to know the Lord, and through those that have come to know the Lord many more have come to know the Lord. These are the works that he was talking about. In comparison to that the "works" of the sign gifts are nothing and irrelevant.
He clearly said that those people who seek after such gifts as miracles belong to a wicked and adulterous generation. Jesus doesn't contradict himself.
But the angels in heaven rejoice when one soul enters into the kingdom of heaven.
Which group are you in? The one that brings joy to heaven or the other?