The book of Acts ends with a statement anticipating what would follow: “God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” And the final verse of the Book of Acts describes Paul sharing the message of the Kingdom, the message that God is calling all people to himself through Jesus Christ. The rest is history. Christianity has spread throughout the earth. In fact, Christianity has spread more in the last 100 years than in any other time in history. The seed is growing as Jesus said it would. The yeast is spreading through the dough (Matthew 13:31-33). God is on the move and that movement is ever outward. God doesn’t work in static enclaves. He is the sending God; he is moving ever outward like the river that Ezekiel saw. It began with a trickle but grew as it moved outward (Ezekiel 37) so that as Isaiah prophesied: “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). God is moving outward, and he calls us to move with him. God does great things in the church, but he will do greater things through the church as it moves outward. Our God is the great shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine for the one lost sheep (Luke 15:4). If you want to experience God, don’t look inward, look outward because he is at work in people’s lives everywhere right now and you can be a part of that. That’s the message of the book of Acts: the Holy Spirit of God is moving ever outwards. Are you willing to move outward with him?
Rededicate your life to God’s mission.
Read Acts 28:28-31, Isaiah 2:1-5 and Isaiah 42:5-9
