Before the days of television I enjoyed listening to college football bowl games on New Year’s Day. Back then there were only four; the Sugar, Cotton, Orange and the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl.
Today there are thirty five bowls represented by seventy teams and the telecasts run from December 17th to January 9th. Most bowls are named after their corporate sponsor such as the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the Taxslayer.com Bowl and many I have never heard of. My all time favorite is the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. If you can name the two teams playing in this bowl you are far better than me. Talk about overexposure.
At the beginning of Christianity there were twelve apostles sharing the Good News across many lands. According to various estimates there are now 1.2 billion Christians worldwide. There is no formal census conducted for this question so there might be more or maybe less but the number is staggering. If these figures are correct it means roughly one-third of the worlds’ population is Christian. And all this from twelve men chosen by our beloved Jesus Christ to spread His message, to baptize in His Name, and to prepare man for the eternal homecoming. Now that’s exposure!
Read what the imprisoned Apostle writes to the early church in Ephesus,
“It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
But everything exposed by the light becomes visible –
and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
This is why it is said:
‘Wake up sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Ephesians 5:12-14
I interpret these words from Paul to mean we should stop our sinful ways, walk in the Word, go about God’s work, and receive the promise reserved for all His followers. Above all, bring the unsaved to Christ. It is called evangelism.
Hear again the words of Paul as he instructs the young pastor,
“But you, keep your head in all situations,
endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist,
discharge all the duties of your ministry.’
2 Timothy 4:5
From twelve to the billions. Wow!
Manna and Coffee 