Acting on it

 

When I started my December blog series, I thought I would go through the Bible for a full year of posts. I thought I should share the actual stories instead of always just the verses that inspire me and, I hope, inspire you.

Here we are on the first of June and I honestly don’t know where that idea went to. Okay, so I will plow forward at this point and see how it goes.

The Great Commission

Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20, New Living Translation)

The last words of Jesus in the book of Matthew are like something you would hear at the end of an action movie, where the hero says goodbye to his fans, but he needs to leave it open for the sequel. The Book of Acts would be the first sequel to the story of Jesus.

The first book I wrote was about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up into heaven. Before this, with the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told the apostles he had chosen what they should do. (Acts 1:1-2, New Century Version)

And so, the next act in the life of the disciples begins. Appropriately titled the Book of Acts, it was written by Luke, the physician who wrote the gospel, which bears his name.

In Acts, we read about the travels of the disciples as they spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. We learn about new apostles, the most famous being Paul. We hear of several of them being martyred for their faith.

I’d love to share all of those stories and more, but we’ll see how much time I have. In the meantime, however, you could start reading those stories on your own. I hope you do.

(The picture above is from my second trip to Kenya in 2013, taken on a rutted road near the village of Saikeri. It reminds me of the desolate roads the first disciples traveled, except this one has much more greenery.)