The Gospel-Spreading Game Plan — Acts 1:6–8
The Gospel-Spreading Game Plan — Acts 1:6–8
Sep 11, 2026 8
How does the good news of Jesus reach the end of the earth? Jesus gives us a gospel-spreading game plan, and ordinary people have a part in it.
Acts 1:6–8
[6] So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [7] He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. [8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (ESV)
The King has a worldwide mission
The disciples have a question. Will Jesus now restore the kingdom to Israel?
Their hope for restoration grows out of God’s promises. They have seen Jesus rise from the dead and heard him teach about the kingdom. Now they want to know what happens next.
Jesus tells them to leave the timing with the Father. Then he sets before them a mission that reaches all the way to the end of the earth.
The kingdom will expand as the King’s message is shared across the world. Jesus rules and reigns, and people everywhere are called to trust him as their Saviour and submit themselves to his rule.
[Watch this week’s video devotion with Dave Miers]
The gospel-spreading game plan
Acts 1:8 sets up the whole book. The Spirit will empower the apostles to be witnesses of Jesus, beginning in Jerusalem, spreading further into Judea and Samaria, and then to the end of the earth.
These are the people who saw Jesus alive after his death. They will make known his life, his death and his resurrection.
Notice the assurance Jesus gives them. As David Peterson writes in The Acts of the Apostles:
“Acts 1:8 is a prediction and promise of the way this divine plan will be fulfilled, rather than a command.”
Jesus promises that his witnesses will receive power. The mission before them rests on what he will provide.
This is the gospel-spreading game plan: ordinary people, empowered by an extraordinary God, to make King Jesus known.
As Acts unfolds, we see that message spreading further and further. And we know it has continued to spread, because it has reached people like us.
We were not eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. We have received the apostles’ testimony in Scripture, and now we can share the good news we have come to believe.
The Good News is…
The message of the King is good news for the people who hear it. Jesus died in our place and for our sin, and rose again to offer forgiveness and life to all who trust him. This is the news his witnesses carried from Jerusalem towards the end of the earth. And it’s the best news! Praise God that it has reached us. And praise God that the Spirit of Jesus continues empowering ordinary people like us to make it known.
Reflection
The good news of Jesus has reached you. Who could you share it with, depending on his Spirit to help you?
Rev. Dave Miers
President, Good News Unlimited
