Thursday, January 24, 2013

January 24 – Go Into All the World

The disciples continued to reflect the joy of the Lord long after He ascended into heaven. The Book of Acts records the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth, just as Jesus asked them to do in Acts 1:8.

And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. ... And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:49, 52 

At that time that Acts was written in 61 AD Rome may have seemed like the remotest part of the earth. Now there are more than 6,800 languages in the world with less than 2,000 languages and about 209 million people that still need a Bible translation.  Wycliffe Bible Translators have a campaign to reach all the known languages in the world by 2025. http://www.wycliffe.org/ That is only another twelve years. Most of these people are in what is known as the 10/40 window. http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/1040.htm    

We are told in Revelations that every tribe—that is all the people of those 6,800 languages—will know Jesus. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Revelation 5:9. We should feel so loved, and thus joyful knowing that Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. Like the disciples in Acts, we should be filled with joy. It’s our choice. It is back to the focus of life—choices and attitudes. We need to have an attitude like Christ and go into the entire world—at least our part of the world—spreading the word of the Lord. Do you have an attitude and a plan to do this? That’s what it takes. Without a plan, we fail to accomplish anything of significance. At least I know that without a plan or goals, I just go though my day attending to only the basic needs of the day…the urgent needs—the tyranny of the urgent. With goals attained, joy is also experienced.
 
Training Tip – Show your children a globe or a map of the world and point out the areas in the 10/40 window where people don’t know about Christ. Pray for people in those countries. Talk about people in your community that may not know Jesus and how to reach or serve them. 

Lord – You are worthy of our praise. Help us to see those around us who don’t know You and give us wisdom and insight as to ways to reach and serve them for You.
 
All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.
© 2013 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

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