By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Religion, Samford University
Going Out
Acts 16:6–15
In the opening chapter of the book of Acts, we find the disciples learning from Jesus during the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension. Having recovered from the terrible shock of the Messiah’s death and finally grasping the implications of His resurrection, the disciples now wondered if this was the moment when Jesus would establish His kingdom here on earth. Was this the moment He would restore the kingdom to Israel?
Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question was essentially to tell them that they had other matters to attend to first. Before the kingdom would be restored in Jerusalem, the message of the good news of Jesus must first leave Jerusalem and head out to the broader world. “You will be my witnesses,” Jesus commanded, “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
We see this charge fulfilled step-by-step in the ministry of the disciples. Having received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Jesus’ messengers first proclaimed Him to their Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.
This good news then began to reach out to the surrounding region of Judea, first gradually as people heard of miracles performed by the apostles (Acts 5:16) then suddenly as believers persecuted in Jerusalem fled to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1–4). When Philip preached in Samaria, men and women came to faith there, just as they had in Jerusalem.
For the gospel’s journey to what the King James Bible calls “the uttermost part of the earth,” God pressed into service a man who had originally been a sharp critic and even persecutor of the early Christians: Saul, better known as Paul.
Persevere in your efforts to reach others for Christ. (6–8)
Almost from the very moment he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was a man on a mission. In the same chapter that he was called (Acts 9) he was already proclaiming that Jesus was the Son of God and urging others to embrace Him. With Barnabas, Paul would take the gospel into Asia Minor, and when these two parted company he would work with Silas and Timothy to continue to spread the word.
Paul, Silas and Timothy are pressing onward, this time trying to take their message into Asia. So determined were they that the Holy Spirit twice has to forbid them to move further in that direction. God’s plan to spread the gospel to the world would run through the west rather than the east.
Embrace the opportunities before you to represent Christ. (9–10)
Having been stopped by the Holy Spirit from going into Asia, they received a new calling. In the night, Paul received a vision of a man from Macedonia, urging him to come and help the people there. Paul did as the vision instructed him and immediately set out to take the message to the people of Europe.
Share Christ with those you encounter. (11–15)
Among the first in Europe to hear Paul’s message were individuals from the city of Philippi. When Paul found a group of worshippers gathered for prayer by the riverside on the Sabbath, he shared with them the gospel. It was Lydia, a seller of purple goods, who was first to respond, and her family followed suit. These would not be the last though. Countless more followers, from the first century to the 21st, would join Lydia as her spiritual descendants, embracing the same message of Jesus that would soon reach every corner of the world.
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