As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world(Jesus, to His Father in prayer. John 17:18)

What is Jesus’ appeal? On a base level His appeal was in His willingness to care for people’s basic needs. He accepted people in their current station of life. He healed the incurable, spoke for the voiceless, and was a Shepherd to the wandering.

As noble as that short list reads, many other people have done similarly. As God, as sinless, Jesus touched lives like no other. In John eight He resolved a dispute over a women caught in adultery. All the accusers, condemned by their own lifestyles, walked away. To the woman Jesus spoke lovingly yet pointedly, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Like the Psalms says, “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other (85:10). That action is unforgettable; her life was changed. Her interaction with others may also have been affected for years to come.

The first point being, Jesus touched lives out of His very nature. He was love therefore He loved. He was gentle therefore His words and actions were gentle. After a brief encounter with Jesus, Zaccheus changed his whole way of living, “Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much: (Luke 19:8). Conversely, Jesus was talking with the rich young ruler and trying to get him to raise his level of lifestyle to include reaching out. Mark 10:21 says Jesus loved him as He spoke to him. That love and that godly desire did not bring about the result Jesus was looking for.

Jesus came to do His Father’s will; He came to give mankind a human example of the heart of Jehovah, “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). Included in that Father/Son relationship were principles Jesus lived by. “I only do what I see My Father doing” (John 5:19). In John 5 Jesus walks to the pool of Bethesada and heals one man out of a crowd of infirmed. The question arises, how can a Man of healing and compassion step over the many and heal the one? Simplistically, the answer is Jesus doing exactly what Father did, no more or less.

Jesus was blunt and seemingly without compassion for the religious leaders of His day. They were deterrents to the Father’s will. Those religious leaders called for their own system of laws not God’s law. Their motivation was to make disciples in their own image not that of God’s. To propagate a system, with God’s Name but without God, brought out Jesus’ anger. They were dishonoring God therefore Jesus spoke and acted accordingly.

Another aspect of Jesus’ life that affected the way He reached out to people was His goal of raising up disciples. Jesus was different with the Twelve than with the multitude. The Twelve represented the future after the resurrection. They needed a great deal of time and effort to prepare them for what was to come. They were the audience for the Sermon of the Mont, they saw His priority with the Father, and they experienced the calming of the seas and Him walking on the water. Molding twelve followers into twelve Apostles is a whole life’s work. We can only imagine the rich times that were spent walking from one village to the next or the conversations after the crowds went home. Those twelve, who soon become eleven, changed the world.

In Matt. 16 Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He really was. Peter correctly said Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus was pleased with Peter yet told all of them to keep that revelation to themselves. Verse 21 states:

With the establishment of one level of discipleship (Who am I) came the beginning lesson of the next (What am I called to do). Getting the Twelve to believe in the purpose of His death and resurrection was never really accomplished.

As much as Jesus lived by principles each human encounter was individualistic. Jesus showed great honor to His mother, yet showed contempt toward His brothers (John 7:3-8). He called a woman a dog then boasted about her faith (Mark 7:27-29). He believed the words of a thief dying on a cross yet told a Pharisee he was a liar and his father was the devil, the father of all lies John 8:44).

Jesus touched lives out of the abundance of who He was as a person and out of His relationship with His Father. Disciples today, as they grow in knowledge as to who they are in Christ will also positively affect their generation.

We have all eternity to tell of victories won for Christ, but we have only a few hours before sunset to win them. (Anonymous)

From the time of the Twelve to Constantine (317) the Christian world experienced tremendous persecution. That pressure did not diminish the growth and development of the Jesus people, it strengthened them, it emboldened them to go forth in the face of death.

As if the devil saw that persecution was not working he tried the opposite tactics, success. Christianity went from being despised to being accepted; that acceptance brought with it a dissipation of the force of God’s people. Christians became defensive of their faith not aggressive in outreach. That same strategy is effective today.

Yet, during those first three centuries the Coptic Church was established in regions of Africa. Pantaenus in Alexandria founded a training school. At the same time the group of churches Paul founded in the region of modern Turkey were outreaching churches.

Evangelistic spirit was replaced by apologetics, political and social concerns. Good is always the enemy of the best. That same pendulum swings today when it is popular to spend mission dollars on the care of orphans, clean water and business development. It is not a matter of evangelism or social concerns but the priority must be Father God’s priority. Well-fed and educated sinners still miss heaven.

The man known as St. Patrick (389-461) was an Irish slave in Scotland who escaped back to Ireland to preach the gospel. There he established training schools and was instrumental in discipling his nation. He was known as a Bible-reading, Bible-believing, Bible-preaching missionary.

Later, Boniface (680?-755), an English missionary went to Germany and there preached and baptized many thousands of Europeans.

The time of the Reformers (1517-1700) brought little to the efforts of missionary progress. This was largely due to their doctrines and other priorities. Calvin, with his teaching on predestination, had no thought of missions. Luther believed the apostles fulfilled the Great Commission. Others, like Knox, were preoccupied with strengthening the home front, leaving no effort spent elsewhere.

Not trying to oversimplify church history at and after the time of the Reformers, the time line is now divided between the history of the Roman Church and that of the Reformed Church. Both had strong allegiances to their leadership and central doctrines. This becomes one of those times when, if people do not learn from history they are apt to repeat it. Back to the core of Christianity, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32).

When The Church’s fundamental motivation is centered upon itself and the propagation of itself there is an obvious deviation from the central principles of Christ. When Roman Catholics’ primary concern is spreading Catholicism or when Protestants focus upon distinguishing themselves from the Romans, the real Church is crumbling. In this time churches endeavor to distinguish themselves over small theological or procedural differences. If the only outreach of our assemblies is defending our positions, our generation will remain in peril.

During the thirteenth century Francis of Assisi was traveling throughout Europe teaching and establishing his fresh ideas of caring for the poor. At the same time Marco Polo was with the Mongol leader Khan. Khan was overly impressed with the Christian ideals and requested Polo return with 100 missionaries. Only two responded and they turned back before ever reaching the Mongol territory. To many, this was a lost opportunity with devastating ramifications. It would be instructional to see this position of history from the Lords point of view.

A Chinese convert once said to Hudson Taylor, “What, for hundreds of years you have had these glad tidings and only now have come to preach it to us? My father sought after the truth for more than twenty years, and died without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?”

In Hebrews eleven, after the writer tells of individual acts of faith he writes, “and what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak…” Now, in this brief writing of church history, time will fail if we speak of the Huguenots going to Brazil, the brave Moravians, of Jonathan Goforth in China, of the Student Volunteer Movement, of the great writers, the great preachers, the great thinkers who have all enriched their generations and ours.

Countless thousands, filled with the love of their Savior and armed with the example of the cross have marched across all the continents. Many lost their lives, many will never be included in written history but served a Master who knows of every sacrifice, every act of faith, and every expression of love.

What we need to be assured of is not that we possess an excellent system of doctrine and ritual, but that the gift of the Holy Ghost is a reality. (Roland Allen, Missionary Principles)

The last post resurrection encounter the disciples had with Jesus was just prior to His ascension to His Father. On a previous encounter Jesus told them to “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Now in Acts chapter one the disciples meet together with Jesus in anticipation of being clothed with power. Jesus’ last recorded words are verse eight:

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

The power of the Holy Spirit did come on the Day of Pentecost. The lives of the disciples were radically altered. They were bold to speak the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The results were the Lord adding to the church daily such as should be saved (Acts 2:47). There were signs and wonders (5:12) and the whole city was full of their teaching (5:28). The Church was off to a dominant launching.

Jesus gave the disciples authority in Matthew 28, authority to speak in His Name, authority over all the power of the enemy. Here, Jesus promises power, which is inherent ability. They were to possess the capacity to be witnesses and to affect change. It would be impossible to quantify that power within the New Testament believer. Only to say it is the power of the Holy Spirit who, as God, is omnipotent, all-powerful. Thus, the believer, after receiving this power, is bound only by the limitations of his/her walk in the Spirit. Peter, Stephen and Paul seemed to live at times in the unlimited power of the Spirit. Twenty-first century disciples are called to live this abandoned lifestyle of Spirit empowerment.

In the Gospel of John Jesus spoke often of the function of the Holy Spirit in believers. He was to be their Teacher, their Comforter. He would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. From Jesus’ perspective the Holy Spirit was of more value than He was in that the Spirit was to live in them not just with them (14:17).

The purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8 was to empower the disciples, making them witnesses. In a courtroom a witness can only speak what they saw or heard or experienced. They do not ascertain the meaning of what was experienced only declare the pure incident. The disciple does that very thing; they speak what they have experienced in their relationship with Jesus. The testimony of a witness is undeniable in that what was experienced is undeniable. Combined with the Holy Spirit’s ability, a witness can proclaim the truth of the gospel message with convincing evidence and a powerful confirmation of the gospel.

Next Jesus delineates how He sees the gospel spreading geographically. Jerusalem is the starting point; it is the city of the Great King (Ps. 48:1). Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and it is only fitting that the capitol city would be ground zero for the launching of the Church. Even for the Jews scattered throughout Asia Jerusalem was home, it was the center of their spiritual being.

From Jerusalem the gospel was to go to the rest of Israel, including Judea and Samaria. Ultimately the Message was to go around the world. While Jesus was with His disciples they limited their outreach largely to the Jews.

As was just stated, Jesus was the Jewish Messiah yet His vicarious sacrifice was for the whole world. Every racial and cultural divide is wiped away with the cross and the resurrection. “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Jews will always have a unique roll in the Kingdom but the heart of the Father and the Son is for all. “And I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them also…” (John 10:16).

Throughout the Book of Acts the reader easily sees how the Holy Spirit used the disciples to spread the message of Jesus to each of the four regions specified in 1:8. The questions we should be asking include:

Is there a geographically progressive plan for our generation?

Where and how does my local church fit into the Holy Spirit’s purpose?

Who is responsible to hear the Spirit’s plans?

It was not until Stephen’s martyrdom that the Church began to spread out of Jerusalem. It is conjecture to conclude that it took persecution to move the disciples into God’s timetable. Regardless, in Acts 8 the church, without the Apostles, scattered to Judea and Samaria as a result of Saul and the persecution from the Jewish leadership. Philip went to Samaria and there saw great results for the Kingdom. From Samaria Philip went to Gaza (8:26) and then to Azotus and Caesarea (8:40).

Peter began traveling to Joppa via Lydda (9:32-36). While in Joppa Cornelius the Centurion had a vision and an angel instructed him to send for Peter. In response to his own prophetic dream, Peter is prepared by the Spirit to visit the home of a Gentile. Culturally this would be unheard of but the Spirit moves Peter over the voice of history and culture. At Cornelius’ home the Spirit is poured out upon Gentiles for the first time. They were saved, spoke in tongues and were baptized. Upon receiving approval form the leaders in Jerusalem (11:1-18) the outreach to the Gentiles proceeds with earnest.

At this point the church at Antioch becomes the hub of Christian outreach. The disciples went everywhere out of Antioch. With the reintroduction of Paul in Acts 13, the first missionary journey commences. In the next years the gospel went throughout Asia, into parts of Europe and northern Africa. Churches were planted, leaders set in place and in spite of severe persecution, the church grew rapidly.

As extraordinary as the Book of Acts is, it is only a record of one century of the results of the Holy Spirit empowering men and women to go be witnesses. Now it is our turn.