To the Ends of the Earth!

Each fall there is a great push for missions in churches across North America. It is an opportunity to re-focus on the Great Commission. Our need for focus is just as real. At a recent chapel session with the Missionary Training Center, Danny German, a veteran NTM missionary reminded us that within the next couple of years our class of 105 students would literally be spread around the world.

One of my favorite passages of scripture when it comes to the mission call is Acts 1:8. The task begins first at home, in and around our community, to our extended community, and ultimately to the farthest reaches of the earth, well outside of our usual reach. Just to put this in it’s proper context let’s look first at Acts 1:4-5;

4 “And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." (NASB)

Surprisingly the disciples seemed to have had little concern for the ‘promise’ spoken of here, which we know to be the Holy Spirit. Their concerns were on the restoration of the kingdom (vs. 6). In other words, their concern was for the ‘here and now.’

It’s awesome to note though that Christ at this point, though He could have, did not harshly rebuke His disciples. He simply replied, “It is not for you to know… but…” (Acts 1:7-8a). It is with that simple three letter word ‘but’ that Christ transitions their thinking beyond the here and now to something more eternal.

Acts 1:8 “but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (NASB)

What an awesome task the Lord has called us to and to think He is willing to use you and me. To often we lose focus and get our eyes on the here and now. Please pray that we can unhesitatingly keep our eyes on Christ and on His goals and purpose, which is to glorify the name of our father in heaven through the redemption of sinful man throughout the nations, at home, in our own country, and to the ends of the earth. And let us not forsake the means by which this is accomplished. It is by the power we receive through the Holy Spirit.

We live in a very needy world and there is much work to be done. What an awesome privilege we have as His church to be a part of that task.