Changes Outside the Churches and Within Tempt Christians to Compromise Truth and Practice
Just before Jesus was taken up into heaven He told His disciples: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Witnessing about who Jesus is and what He taught was to be cross-cultural. As His disciples faced new social and cultural changes, they were expected to hold fast to truth and righteousness so as to be bright lights of His kingdom all over the world.
Today, rapid changes are taking place throughout the world in which we must carry out the Great Commission. The world continues to be marked by men who are “lovers of themselves,” “lovers of money,” or “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3). These tendencies of fallen human nature constantly discover new ways to manifest themselves in each society of the earth. There remains a critical need for Jesus’ witnesses to be counter-cultural where sin abounds.