Good Morning Friends,
“Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they
were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal
to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and
preach the good news to all creation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not
believe will be condemned. And these
signs will accompany those who believe:
In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison,
it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and
they will get well.’” (Mark 16:14-18)
Jesus’ final words express what was utmost on
His heart – He wanted everyone to know about Him and to be offered the good
news that He came to bring.
There is no more important assignment that
God has ever given to mankind than this final assignment that Jesus gave to His
disciples then – and that continues to be our assignment now. Jesus cared about the whole world. There isn’t a country that Jesus doesn’t have
a heart to save. There isn’t a language
that Jesus doesn’t want the Gospel to be preached in. There isn’t a people group – no matter how
remote or how wicked – that Jesus doesn’t want reached with the Gospel. There isn’t anywhere that Jesus doesn’t want
His disciples to go with message and isn’t anyone that Jesus doesn’t want to
have hear. Jesus has a heart for the
whole world and everyone in it.
Jesus invites – even commands – all of those
who follow Him to allow Him to develop that kind of heart in us. America is a great place to live, but it
isn’t a place that God cares about more than He cares about Ireland or Mali or
Lebanon or Japan or any other place you can name. God has a world heart – and He wants us to
have a world heart, too.
And Jesus promises that He will release His
power as the Gospel is taken around the world.
He promised His first disciples that miracles would accompany the
preaching of the Gospel. The Book of
Acts confirms that what Jesus promised did come to fulfillment. God worked miracles to confirm the Gospel
that was being preached to those who were not saved. And the Gospel is still accompanied by that
same power and that same willingness.
When we faithfully take the Gospel to places where it has never gone and
to people who have never heard, God accompanies the preaching with power. Missionaries around the world confirm the
truth of that statement as they testify to the miracles God continues to do to
confirm the truth of His message.
God cares deeply for the world. The question is – do we?
His, by Grace,
Steve
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