Developing A Biblical World View

One of the believers who went to Samaria to preach was Philip. This was the first cross-cultural mission recorded in Acts (Acts 8). In Acts 9, God raised up the Apostle Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles, a missionary to the nations of the world.

In Acts 10 is the story of the conversion of a man named Cornelius. God gave Peter a vision which made him willing to go to the Gentile nations with the Gospel. Acts 11 illustrates the importance of the Holy Spirit in directing the mission of the Church to the world.

In Acts 13, the real program of spreading the Gospel to the "uttermost part of the earth" begins. Paul and Barnabas are called to cross-cultural evangelism. They were to spread the Gospel to cultures other than Israel:

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the Word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

And the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. (Acts 13:48,49)

You can read of the first missionary conference in the home church in Antioch in Acts 14:26-27, and about their first report to the Jerusalem headquarters in Acts 15:2-4.

Paul, assured of the purpose of God for the nations of the world, courageously carried the Gospel to cities, towns, provinces, states, to the educated and uneducated, to free and to slaves:

For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. (Acts 13:47)

The early Church fulfilled its mission with such zeal that it was said they "turned the world upside down" for God (Acts 17:6). The purpose of God was accomplished as men of all nations were made one through the blood of Jesus:

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth. . . (Acts 17:26)

But in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him. (Acts 10:35)