Everywhere

“Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.” –Acts 8:4

Sometimes one little word in Scripture can speak volumes to our hungering hearts. Notice the word “everywhere.” We are quick to complain about the moral state of modern society, yet we are so slow to carry Christ to the masses of lost individuals. What do we expect of a world without Christ when we do so little to change it with the gospel?

The other day I attended a ministerial alliance meeting. The conversation turned to how one particular church in town was started years ago through the outdated method of knocking on doors. Around the table I heard one after another mock the method and proclaim, “That’s just not for me. I’d be too afraid.”

Knocking on our neighbor’s door to meet them, get to know them, and perhaps share the gospel with them is the very best way to extend the kingdom of God into the world. The church was called to be a saltshaker and we must get the word out! Why should we expect those who are blind, dead, and deaf (spiritually) to awaken themselves and come to church? We must follow the command of the Lord to “go out into the highways and hedges and as many as ye shall find, compel them to come in.”

One man recently compared the modern church to a booth next to the river, selling river water. We’ve attempted to make our churches look just like the world in all its dirtiness so that we can reach the world. We might gather a crowd but do we really make disciples? His solution was to get out of the booth and get into the river, to mingle with the people of the world and share the gospel in the marketplace. This we ought to do, to go everywhere preaching the gospel.