Church in the WildSample

We are Ready

As we move through Acts, we see the Christians spread out geographically, carrying the good news with them. And it was good news! Most people were living under the belief system that god or gods would only help them if they made the right offerings or lived a certain way. The elements were cruel, medicine barely existed, and life was short. But the Church had good news in this terrible time.

In the gospels, we see that there were unlikely people who followed Jesus like the Centurion (Luke 7:1-3), tax collectors, criminals, prostitutes, a stream of unlikely characters joining Jesus, and now in Acts, we have a stream of unlikely people joining the early church as it spread across new regions. We have the citizens of the city of Samaria (Acts 8:4-8), Simon the magician (Acts 8:9-13), an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure (Acts 8:27), and Saul who had been dragging Christians off to jail is transformed in Acts 9 into the Apostle Paul.

It took several radical events for the church to begin to see outside of itself and outside of its immediate context. In Acts 8, we see the beginning of serious persecution of the believers in Jerusalem, causing a massive dispersion or scattering of believers to other cities and nations. In Acts 10, Peter has a revelation from Jesus that the gospel is not exclusively for Israel but all nations. He had to remove his natural bias to see the people that needed salvation.

Today let us remember that there is no one on earth that Jesus cannot save: no atheist, no terrorist, no criminal, no billionaire. With God, nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37).

"The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” - Acts 10:15

Prayer Point: Heavenly Father, we thank you for every spiritual blessing that is ours when we receive Christ Jesus through faith. Holy Spirit, direct me to those hungry to hear about Jesus. Remind me again that no one is out of Your reach, and all are welcome in Your kingdom. I pray today for _____, who seems so far from You, that they may get the chance today to hear Your good news. Amen