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Acts 1:8
The Mission of the Church
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
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Why it is worth knowing
- The Holy Spirit is the empowering presence for witness, not human charisma
- The four geographic rings (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of earth) map the expanding mission
- “Witnesses” implies personal testimony to what has been seen and experienced
- This is not a suggestion but a promise and a commission
Where it sits: Acts 1:6-9
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Hear the passage it sits in, sung word for word, on BibleDo's Acts page.
Background
These are among the last words Jesus spoke before his ascension. The disciples asked about the restoration of Israel’s political kingdom; Jesus redirected them to the mission of the Spirit-empowered church. Acts 1:8 serves as the outline for the entire book of Acts: the gospel spreads from Jerusalem (chapters 1-7) to Judea and Samaria (chapters 8-12) to the ends of the earth (chapters 13-28). The pattern remains the model for the church today: receive the Spirit, bear witness, expand outward.