Adolfo Kaminsky knew how to remove indelible ink from paper. As a member of the anti-Nazi resistance in France, he altered identification cards to save hundreds from concentration camps. Once he was given three days to forge nine hundred birth and baptismal certificates and ration cards for three hundred Jewish children. He labored two straight days without sleep, telling himself, “In one hour I can make thirty blank documents. If I sleep for an hour thirty people will die.”
The apostle Paul felt a similar urgency. He reminded the church in Ephesus how he’d “served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing” (Acts 20:19). Paul said, “I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you” (v. 20). This urgency compelled him to share with everyone the necessity of repentance and faith in Jesus (v. 21). Now he was sailing back to Jerusalem, eager to “finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus [had] given [him]—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (v. 24).
Paul couldn’t save people. Only God does that. But he could tell them God’s good news about Jesus, the only “name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Who is the Holy Spirit bringing to your mind today? You can share God’s good news with them.
Who do you know who needs to hear “the good news of God’s grace”? How might you share it with them?
Dear Jesus, please open my heart to those who need You and give me opportunities to tell them of Your love.
For further study, read The Power of Prayer in Sharing the Gospel.
In Acts 20:22-24, Paul was compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. No matter what happened to him there, his aim was to complete “the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (v. 24). This urgency likewise motivated him to urge Timothy to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2). Peter too felt the same urgency. Immediately after being filled by the Spirit (Acts 2:4), he began preaching the good news to the gathered crowd (vv. 14-40). The Spirit is the one who empowers and motivates believers in Jesus to spread the good news (1:8; 4:31; 8:29). And He’s the one who gives us the words to speak (Matthew 10:19-20). The Spirit continues to motivate and compel believers today to tell others about Christ. We can trust Him to provide the words to tell of the Savior who died and rose again so that all who receive Him can spend eternity with Him.
