Acts 1: 8 “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Only if one is living in a cave and never comes out or on a desert island thousands of miles from the nearest continent, the certainty of the disarray in this world is obvious.
The scriptural prophesies are happening before our eyes. We find ourselves wondering what will happen next. Jesus said we would be hated and killed for His namesake (Matthew 24: 9). Christians being murdered is not unusual and a report of such surprises no one. Many in the secular world applaud the murderous intent of the enemies of our Jesus.
Matthew 24: 6 “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Wars are a certainty in a world of 195 countries and a population of now over eight billion people.
Local wars (those located within the borders of a specific country) are usually not reported by the news media. The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law reports as many as 110 armed conflicts in the world today.
Local wars and conflicts contribute to the enormous death toll of these wars. Most of these we will not hear of but the dead are no less dead.
With technological advancements in weaponry, the potential for killing is phenomenal. And the high-tech war gadgetry is not isolated to the western world. The rocketry possessed by those attacking Israel is advanced to a greater scale than many could imagine.
Isaiah 5: 20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” The evil that engulfs our world is unprecedented. We have failed to learn the differences in right and wrong.
For a civilized society to remain civilized, some reasonable characteristics must be expected of everyone. To abandon the human values of acceptable and unacceptable actions, a death sentence is issued for our world society.
1 Timothy 6: 10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Crime will increase as the love of money increases.
Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes 5: 10 “He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase: this is also vanity.” This insatiable love of money in our world society provides no end to the evil that people do to have money and there is never enough.
Acts 1: 8 tells the followers of Jesus to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Jerusalem and Judea are mostly localized geographic locations. Samaria and the uttermost open doors of opportunity we may not completely comprehend.
As these conditions of wars, greed and the love of money increase, Samaria and the uttermost become closer as the days go by.
The Samaritans were despised by the Jews and to be seen simply talking to one was a forbidden action. Samaritans were cross-breeds. Their parents were Jewish and another race, usually, Philistines.
By using Samaria as an example of where to preach the gospel, Jesus may have been telling us more than a geographic location. If we are selective about who we are going to share the Gospel, we may have missed the point altogether.
Possibly He was telling us, “If you are waiting for someone exactly like yourself to tell about Jesus, you may be waiting a long time.”
The “uttermost” may not be entirely referring to the other side of the planet. There may be areas in your own town, state or even your family that may be considered the “uttermost.” There are areas in many towns and cities around the world that are not safe. Some people can be difficult, even relatives.
Hostility exists in our world and “dangerous” takes on new meaning for the Christian witness. We are told of precautions we must take when going out into the world to tell others about the saving power of our Jesus.
Sharing the Gospel is a mandate of the New Testament based on the last words of Jesus before He ascended into Heaven. To tell others about Him is a privilege and an honor. What a greater blessing could a Christian have than that of winning another to the Lord Jesus?
The need for boldness is greater in this twenty-first century but so is caution. The uttermost may be closer than we think and it may not be a place we would want to go.
The fundamental of the Gospel is based on belief. John 3: 16 makes the point (whosoever believes) that what we believe is important to God;
We must always teach that eternal salvation is attained by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) in Christ Jesus crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (1 John 1: 9) and resurrected (Matthew 28: 6).
Yes, Samaria and the uttermost may be closer than you think!
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary. His email: vmy2121@outlook.com
