MONTHLY INSPIRATION – SEPTEMBER, 2020
NO PLACE IS OFF-LIMITS TO THE GOSPEL
(Adapted from The Urgency of Making Disciples, by Abia Friday Abia, Forthcoming)

In order to be obedient to the great commission (Matt. 28 : 18-20 ), the gospel must be preached everywhere. This is exactly what the early believers did. After their commission, the early believers literally went everywhere to carry preach the gospel (Acts 8:4). The went to the temple (Acts 3:1ff.; 5:25), to synagogues (Acts 9:20; 13:14; 17:2-3,17; 19:8), to households (Acts 10:1-48), and to crowds (Acts 21:27-22:29). They proclaimed the message in the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:27; 22:30-23:11; 7:1-60), in villages (Acts 8:25), in cities (Acts 8:25), in prison (Acts 16:19-40), by the river (Acts 16:13-15), and at the place of prayer (Acts 16:13,16). They also preached the word in the marketplace (Acts 17:17), at the Areopagus (Acts 17:19-34), in a private lecture hall (Acts 19:8-10), and before Governors and Kings (Acts 24:1-26:32). They did not consider any location or place as off limits to the preaching of the gospel. It is therefore not surprising that they were accused of filling Jerusalem with their teaching (Acts 5:28). Paul testified that he had preached the gospel from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum (Rom. 15:18-19), and that there were no more places for him to do so in these regions (Rom. 15:23-24). In fact, the early disciples were so zealous and meticulous about carrying out the great commission that it is quite reasonable to conclude that by the end of the first century, they had reached much, if not most of the known world.

Like the early believers, we must consider no location or place as off limits to disciple making. On the contrary, we must deliberately go everywhere to preach the gospel and make disciples for our Lord Jesus. We must never neglect any place or opportunity. To do so would be to neglect our commission.

Today we have the ability to move about easily, something the early believers did not have. And we also have the advantage of technology that they never had. With the ability to travel with ease and the technological advantages that we have today, we have really no excuse for not reaching everywhere for Jesus Christ. Like the early believers, we must be ready and willing to literally go everywhere in order to make disciples for Jesus Christ. For wherever human beings are found, they need the gospel, and it is our God-given duty to take it to them.