"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
First of all, we see the necessity of the empowering of the Spirit of God. Apart from Him we cannot hope to be effective witnesses for the Lord. He gives us the strength, courage and wisdom to speak, and He moves in the hearts of those we are hoping to reach with the Gospel. He also enables us to bear the spiritual fruit in our lives that demonstrates the power of the Gospel we speak of.
Second, we recognize the responsibility of the disciples to be faithful to their task. While God would empower them, they still had to step out in obedience. The same is true for us today. As we humbly rely on the power of the Spirit, we need to step out boldly to love others and seek opportunities to share Christ with them.
Finally, we see God's heart for all people. The Gospel was not just for the disciples, nor just for the Jews. It was to be shared with the whole world. And in that whole world, there is no one that is beyond the saving grace of God.
I recently finished reading The Unexpected Journey, and I was really challenged by the testimonies of so many different "unreachable" people that came to follow Jesus. We don't know what is going on behind the scenes and how God is working in the lives of those around us. So we must be faithfully obedient to love and pray for those around us, sharing the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them, and trusting that God is at work and will continue to add to the number being saved!
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