Read Acts 1:8-9
God’s mission is centrifugal. God’s call upon you moves you in the outward direction. In today’s Scripture, Jesus told the disciples their witness began where they were: Jerusalem. Then Jesus described places further away both geographically and culturally: Judea and Samaria. Finally, Jesus pushed the mission to the utmost perimeter: to the ends of the earth. These concentric circles can be applied wherever Christians find themselves.
JERUSALEM
Jesus’ Jewish disciples would be witnesses to their own people where they already lived. This was precisely God’s call to the prophet Ezekiel: “You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel” (Ezekiel 3:5). You learned how to NetWork on Day 16 and Day 17. Are you practicing Prayer, Care and Share?
JUDEA & SAMARIA
Jerusalem was a city. Judea was the whole region. To contemporize: we are witnesses in St. Louis, but also to all Missouri. Samaria really raises the stakes. Samaritans were as different from Judeans as Northerners are from Southerners. This expression of our witness pushes us to reach out to people unlike ourselves. In fact, Jews and Samaritans didn’t even like each other. Are you prepared to witness to people you don’t like?
THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
This catch‐all clause brings us back to Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations.” This is why Matthew 28:18‐20 and Acts 1:8 are the missionary verses of the New Testament. Do you feel convinced one way or the other about being a sender or the sent? Days 73‐78 argue that every person needs to experience two conversions: first a turning toward God and, second, a turning toward the world on a mission from God. We live to know Christ and to make Christ known!
God’s mission is centrifugal. God’s call upon you moves you in the outward direction. In today’s Scripture, Jesus told the disciples their witness began where they were: Jerusalem. Then Jesus described places further away both geographically and culturally: Judea and Samaria. Finally, Jesus pushed the mission to the utmost perimeter: to the ends of the earth. These concentric circles can be applied wherever Christians find themselves.
JERUSALEM
Jesus’ Jewish disciples would be witnesses to their own people where they already lived. This was precisely God’s call to the prophet Ezekiel: “You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel” (Ezekiel 3:5). You learned how to NetWork on Day 16 and Day 17. Are you practicing Prayer, Care and Share?
JUDEA & SAMARIA
Jerusalem was a city. Judea was the whole region. To contemporize: we are witnesses in St. Louis, but also to all Missouri. Samaria really raises the stakes. Samaritans were as different from Judeans as Northerners are from Southerners. This expression of our witness pushes us to reach out to people unlike ourselves. In fact, Jews and Samaritans didn’t even like each other. Are you prepared to witness to people you don’t like?
THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
This catch‐all clause brings us back to Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations.” This is why Matthew 28:18‐20 and Acts 1:8 are the missionary verses of the New Testament. Do you feel convinced one way or the other about being a sender or the sent? Days 73‐78 argue that every person needs to experience two conversions: first a turning toward God and, second, a turning toward the world on a mission from God. We live to know Christ and to make Christ known!