Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Proverbs 1
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 24:13-14
Jesus: But those who do not waver from our path and do not follow those false prophets—those among you will be saved. And this good news of God’s kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, a testimony to all people and all nations. Then, beloved, the end, the consummation of all things, will come.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Growing up, I always wondered about that part Jesus’ prophecy to His disciples that the end would come after the good news of God’s kingdom is preached throughout the whole world. It always seemed that’s what He was saying in the words He gave to His followers. They must have thought that would be a long time coming since news traveled so slowly in His day.
It took months and years to get news from one end of the known world to another. Modes of transportation were as fast as a horse or a ship or a man’s feet. And the path from east Asia to Spain to Egypt and Africa was a long treacherous one. Surely it would be a long time before Jesus returned if this was one of the things that must happen before His return.
When I was a boy, missionaries would come to our church and speak about the things they saw and the places they had traveled. Some to previously unexplored parts of the Amazon and the darkest parts of Africa. But today, there are few parts of the world that have been unexplored. There are few pockets of people who have been untouched by civilization. Few populations can say they have no knowledge of the at least some events that happen outside their community.
But what of the sharing of the gospel? Has the good news of God’s salvation reached around the world, yet? That’s the question we might ask ourselves. How close are we to reaching the world with the message of God’s kingdom at hand?
I’m sure my grandparents use to wonder if Jesus’ coming was right around the corner with the advent of radio. That invention made possible the transmission of the message to every square inch of the globe as long as someone had a receiver to pick up the radio waves and hear the message transmitted. Of course, the question then would be whether they understood the language of the speaker. I never worried about that translation, though, because I knew of the miracle of translation when Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost. People from every nation were gathered to celebrate and heard him speak in their own language. They understood even though he spoke in Greek, they heard in their native tongue. Translation for God is not an issue. Transmission of the gospel is the issue for us.
So then our parents wondered if perhaps television was the answer to spreading the gospel. This new media that rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s now invades every home in almost every nation of the world. The flick of a switch (or the push of a button on the remote) puts ideas into the minds of those who sit in front of the screen. Unfortunately, more of the world’s ideas than God’s come through that media. But it still gave hope to some that God’s message might be spread around the world through television.
For our generation the Internet seems to be the vehicle that promises to reach the world. You just can’t get away from it. The Internet permeates our lives. It seems to control almost every aspect of life. Our banking, our entertainment, our medical systems, our jobs – whatever they might be. The Internet is everywhere. Perhaps it might be the vehicle by which the gospel moves across the globe to every nation to spread the news that Jesus died that we might live.
There’s a very interesting statistic I’ll share with you about this podcast that amazes me every time I see it. I don’t understand it, I don’t know why it happens, I don’t know how it started, but one day I was curious as to where the downloads for my podcast went. One of the categories I can use to parse information about the podcast is the geographic origin of downloads, so I clicked on it and was astonished at the results.
I expected San Antonio to be the city with the largest number of downloads and it was. That’s where I live, so no surprise there. But the next cities in order did surprise me. I’ve been around a bit and have friends in a lot of places, but here are the next for cities in order San Francisco, Washington DC, Beijing, and Seattle. San Francisco? Shock. Beijing? Super shock! Did I think my podcast would reach around the world and anyone would be interested in what I had to say on a consistent basis in Beijing, China? Never in a million years.
But God’s message goes where He wants it to go. One day, and it’s coming closer every day, it will spread around the world and then, as Jesus says, the end, the consummation of all things, will come. Be ready, it’s not far away.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.