To Jerusalem And Beyond

• Which of your online friends lives the farthest away from you?

• How can you make someone new feel comfortable with you?

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8

Jesus explained to his followers how they were to spread his message. They would start locally, in the city of Jerusalem. From there, they would move throughout the entire region of Judea. After that, it was on to Samaria, where the people were very different from the Jewish disciples. Beyond that, they would head to the ends of the earth.

On a smaller scale, the verse gives us a model of evangelism that we can follow. We start with the people closest to us: our family and friends. Since we already have a relationship with them, and since they probably already know about our faith, we don’t have to worry about how to break the ice.

Once we’ve gotten comfortable sharing our faith with them, we can expand our circle a little to include casual acquaintances at work, at school, on the team, in the neighborhood. After that, we can expand again to include people who are different from us, people who don’t share our views or background. Finally, we can expand our circle completely to include the entire earth.

If that sounds too ambitious, consider these two words: social media. We already have easy access to the world. We can support those who are already working in the world through encouragement, prayer and financial support as they bear witness in other places. And we can use our access to others in the world by being witnesses ourselves. Spreading the Good News of Jesus “to the ends of the earth” can be done.

PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for trusting us with your message and giving us such an important assignment. Help us recognize the opportunities we have to share our faith. Amen.