One of the clearest instructions Jesus gave his disciples was what we all know as the “Great Commission.” We usually quote it from Matthew which begins, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” Every Gospel includes a similar instruction from Jesus and in the book of Acts we have the last words of Jesus before his final ascension into heaven. He tells us in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The disciples were in Jerusalem, so their instructions were to begin where they were. Most commentators will recognize that this phrase might just as accurately be translated “as you go…” meaning that in the course of living our daily lives we should all be making disciples. I remember as a kid we used to play hide and go seek. Remember? When you gave up looking you’d shout “come out, come out wherever you are.” I see Acts 1:8 as a similar call on Christians.
Everyone knows of Heinz, of the “fifty-seven varieties,” but few know of his zeal as a soul winner. At a revival meeting one day, the minister turned to him and said, “You are a Christian man; why aren’t you up and at it?” He went home in anger and went to bed, but he could not sleep. At four o’clock in the morning he prayed that God would make him a power in his work, and then went to sleep. At the next meeting of bank presidents which he attended shortly afterward, he turned to the man next to him and spoke to him about Christ. His friend looked at him in amazement and said, “I’ve wondered many times why you never spoke to me about it if you really believed in Christ.” That man was the first of 267 people Heinz won to Christ after that time.
Chuck
“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke 24:46-48