THE SEND: Luke & ActsSample

The Holy Spirit knows no boundaries.

Throughout the book of Acts, we see the gift of God’s Holy Spirit moving—not just across geographical borders, but into deeper places in human hearts. Again and again, we see God meeting his people in ways they never expected.

Acts 1:8 laid out the roadmap for the book: the Gospel spreading from Jerusalem, to all Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

Acts 10, the story of Cornelius and his family, is another marking moment in this journey—where the disciples watch as God does not stay in the box of what they think he can do.

Jews believed at this time that because Cornelius and his family were Gentiles (non-Jews), they were unable to come into the presence of God without being circumcised. A lot of the early followers of Jesus—being Jews themselves—assumed the same thing. But God did something entirely unexpected right in front of their very eyes.

God sends Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, to share the Gospel with Cornelius and his family. But not only that, this story tells us of how God gives this family the gift of the Holy Spirit right in the middle of his message!

This is who God is: He doesn’t fit in the boxes we try to make for him. He radically pursues his children. He longs to give them the gift of his presence.

God is not just desiring a relationship with a few people, but his desire is that all would come to know him (1 Timothy 2:4)! Even the people who haven’t heard yet. Some of these people are people like Cornelius and his family, who would’ve never heard the Good News of Jesus if Peter hadn’t gone and told them.

Did you know there are 3.2 billion people in the world who have never had the chance to hear the Good News of Jesus? And God has one master plan for letting them know about him. It looks a lot like what he did through Peter. He wants to send his people to share the Gospel with them.

There is so much that God wants to do in the people around you, but there is also so much that God wants to do outside the borders of what you know. What does it look like for us to respond to God’s desire to pour his Spirit out on all people?

I believe our faith in God to move can take many forms, and one of these is prayer. I want to encourage you to believe that the Holy Spirit wants to cross boundaries and impact people who have never had a chance to know the name of Jesus. Lives can be changed as you choose to pray.

After reading today’s chapter, visit joshuaproject.net and select an unreached people group to pray for, that they would get to hear the Good News of Jesus and choose him for themselves.