Fully Devoted: The ChurchSample

The Word of God Spread 

The beautiful thing about Acts is that it’s telling the same story that we’ve been following from the very beginning. The story of our Creator God who made everything with His words as an act of love—a God who breathed life into dust to form human beings in His own image. A God who is eager for communion with us and a partnership between us. This God picked a partner named Abram and promised that through his descendants, all the nations of the world would be blessed.

And God gave this family, the nation of Israel, the tools they needed to be a blessing to the rest of the world. He set them apart, planted them strategically in the middle of the ancient nations, and chose to dwell among them. The biblical story highlights moments when Israel got this right and moments they really got it wrong. It invites us to see when they lost sight of the purpose of their partnership and all the ways that they cheapened its significance. The nation that was supposed to bless the whole world used the tools God had given them for that mission to oppress those around them. 

So at just the right time, Jesus stepped onto the scene. The Word became flesh. The Author wrote Himself into the story. He came to remind us what being human was all about. He came to show us what it really looks like to be set apart and bring blessing to others. Jesus came to save us from a way of doing life that actually leads to death. And it looked so upside down and backwards because that’s how far off track we were. Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus charged His followers to spread the good news of this better way. Like Israel, the kingdom that Jesus introduced was intended to continue to fulfill God’s promise of blessing. 

What’s happening in the book of Acts parallels God’s intention for His partnership with people from the very beginning. He said, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the whole earth and subdue it …” As we increased and filled the earth, the blessing and goodness of God was meant to flow through us to every corner of creation. 

And Jesus, by His death and resurrection, became the firstborn of the New Creation. He echoed this same command: 

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NIV

And the Church carries this out. Four times throughout the book of Acts, we read the words, “The word of God increased and multiplied …”

And what is so powerful is that just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He noted four distinct places the word would spread and the powerful way in which it would multiply: 

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NIV

Did you catch it? Exactly what Jesus said would happen is happening! He’s faithful to His word—He’s committed to the story of blessing that He has been writing from the beginning. 

And the nations of the world are hungry for this partnership that Israel often misrepresented. So Acts tells of how Paul embarks on the mission of carrying the blessing of Jesus to all the nations. Other Jesus followers team up with him—Silas, Barnabas, Priscilla, Aquila, Timothy, and Phoebe—to name a few. And they spread out from Jerusalem into the surrounding regions of Judea and Samaria, and continue to go farther and farther, filling the earth with the good news of a new King and a better Kingdom, of a loving Creator who wants to partner with His creation, of a hope that can’t die, and a dead Man coming back to life. 

This is why the Church exists. We’re meant to be a conduit of the promised blessing of God to the rest of the world—ambassadors of this new King and His better Kingdom. 

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 NIV 

Journaling Questions   

• What verse or verses stuck out to you today? Write them in your journal.  
• When you look back on the parts of the biblical story that we’ve covered so far, what portion has impacted you the most? Why?  
• In your own words, describe what you think it means to be blessed by God. What does it look like to then be a blessing to others? 

Memory Verse

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NIV