Drastic Measures to Reach the World – Acts 8
“Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” — Acts 8:4
The commission of Christ required His disciples to be witnesses unto Him in Jerusalem, in all Judaea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). His disciples would do that, but it required drastic measures to get them moving at the start.
The catalyst for moving the gospel outside of Jerusalem was persecution – very severe persecution that began with the death of Stephen and resulted in many people be drug off to prison (Acts 8:1-3).
Persecution continues to be a way that God scatters His disciples throughout the world. God uses it to get us moving and to get His gospel message to spread.
If God would allow something that drastic to scatter the disciples, then it ought to show us how much He wants us to go everywhere with the gospel. We really need to make world evangelism a super high priority and take whatever drastic measures necessary to obey the command of Christ.
Let’s get moving. Let’s stop settling in. Let’s get on the road. And let’s get serious about reaching the world. Perhaps God will send persecution to get us moving. Whether He does or doesn’t, we need to get a move on because world evangelism is super important to God.