Wednesday September 21 | Everywhere
Read Acts 1:6-11
“To the ends of the earth.” Just before Jesus went back to heaven, he told his disciples what he wanted them to do. Each Gospel writer captured this command differently. We’ve already talked about Matthew’s version of the Great Commission. In the book of Acts, the author Luke captured it this way:
“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.”
Acts 1:8 (ESV)
Since we believe that God loves the whole world, that God wants all of creation to flourish, we care about the whole world! What happens in Sudan or Japan or Russia or New Zealand matters to the Body of Christ because we know that God is concerned about the whole world!
The WHERE of our focus is broad - everywhere! The whole world! It is easy to forget that our church in our city in our state in our country is just one part of God’s global church. It’s easy to forget that not only does God want to restore shalom here where we are, but everywhere! This is why we partner with organizations not only in our local community, but globally - through Food for the Hungry in Dominican Republic.
Operation World publishes a prayer calendar that offers prayers for every country in the world over the course of a year. For example, from September 20-22 this year, they are praying for Nigeria.
Take some time to go look at the Operation World website (operationworld.org/prayer-calendar). You can sign up for a daily email or download the app. Maybe this could be a way of regularly remembering the breadth of our focus in our mission – everywhere!