I was in a meeting last week and Brandon Bell brought up a great scripture as we talked about reaching the lost on the college campuses.
“This went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” Acts 19:10
In two years everyone heard the word of the Lord in the whole Asian province. This is pretty amazing! Now this was probably not all of Asia Minor as we usually see on our Bible maps, but it was still a large area with lots of cities, towns, villages and people. And all of them heard! My immediate thought was, if they can do it, we can do it! But how?
The previous verse gives us a partial answer.
“But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” Acts 19:9
Not the only thing, but I believe the Daily training of disciples had something to do with this large number of people hearing the word of the Lord.
Also back in chapter 5 and 6 when the church was expanding rapidly we find they were doing something else daily.
“Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.” Acts 5:42
Most of us have things that we do daily that are important to our spiritual health. We read the Bible, mediate and pray daily. But according to these verses the early Christians and Paul did something else on a daily basis; they taught disciples and proclaimed the good news. This has to be at least one of the keys to the spread of the gospel in Asia and beyond. This is convicting!
What if 10 of us were intentional about teaching a disciple or sharing Jesus daily for a week? It would make a difference. What if 100 of us did it for a year? What if 500 of us either taught a disciple or proclaimed the gospel every day for 2 years? Might we be able to say that everyone on the campus of UNT, in the city of Denton, in the county of Denton or maybe even in all of North Texas heard the word of the Lord?
Something to think about! Something with eternal consequences! Why don’t you try it with me for a week? Teach a disciple or proclaim the good news every day for a week.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:37-38
