the Call: Go and Tell
The Call: Go and Tell
The morning air was quiet, the kind of quiet that feels like God might be about to say something important. Daniel sat at a small wooden table with his Bible open, a notebook beside it, and a cup of coffee that had long since gone cold. He had been reading the opening of Luke again. Luke wrote like someone who cared deeply about getting the story right. In the spirit of The Message translation, Luke explained that many people had tried to tell the story of Jesus, but he had carefully investigated everything from the beginning and decided to write an orderly account so people could know the truth. That idea stayed with Daniel for a long moment. Someone had taken the time to investigate the life of Jesus, to write it down carefully, and to pass it along so others could believe. If someone had not done that, Daniel might never have heard the story himself. And if he almost missed it, how many others had never heard it clearly?
Luke’s story did not end with Jesus’ resurrection. It continued in the book of Acts, where Luke reminded Theophilus that the first account told everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day He returned to heaven. After His suffering, Jesus showed Himself alive again and again with convincing proofs. Over forty days He appeared to the disciples and spoke about the kingdom of God. Before leaving, He gave them instructions that would shape the future of the world. He told them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the gift the Father had promised. John baptized with water, Jesus explained, but soon they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Waiting was not something most people enjoyed, yet God often did His most powerful work in seasons of waiting.
Daniel began flipping backward through Scripture and realized something remarkable. The Holy Spirit did not suddenly appear in Acts. The Spirit had always been present. At the very beginning of creation, the earth was a shapeless emptiness, darkness covering the deep waters, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface like a bird watching over its nest. From the first page of the Bible, the Spirit was already moving. Later, when the people of Israel traveled through the wilderness, God did not abandon them to figure things out alone. The Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night, guiding their steps so they could travel whenever they needed. God was not distant. He was present, leading His people.
Again and again Scripture revealed the same pattern: God calls people, and then God empowers them. When the tabernacle was being built, God chose a man named Bezalel and filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him skill, intelligence, and craftsmanship for every kind of artistic work. The Spirit was not only for prophets and leaders. Even artists and builders were empowered by God. Then there was David, the youngest son of Jesse, the one no one expected. When Samuel anointed him with oil, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him with power from that day forward. God’s choices often surprise the world. The people who seem least likely sometimes become the very ones God uses most.
Yet calling often attracts opposition. When David was anointed king, the Philistines immediately went looking for him. Instead of acting in fear, David sought the Lord. He asked whether he should attack, and God answered clearly that victory would come. David obeyed, and the battle was won. The story reminds us that God’s calling always includes God’s guidance. It was not David’s strength that secured the victory but his willingness to listen and obey. The Spirit of the Lord worked through many others as well. Samson once faced a lion and, empowered by God’s Spirit, defeated it with his bare hands. Gideon, who once hid in fear, was clothed with the Spirit and summoned people to follow him. Othniel rose to judge Israel. Jephthah advanced into battle with courage. Different people, different personalities, different situations, yet the same source of strength.
The prophets also spoke by that same Spirit. Micah boldly declared that he was filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and courage to confront Israel’s sin. Ezekiel described a moment when the Spirit entered him, lifted him to his feet, and he heard God speaking. These moments remind us that the Spirit of God does more than inspire good thoughts. The Spirit raises people up to act, to speak truth, and to carry God’s message. Later, Peter explained that prophecy never originated from human decision. Instead, men and women spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. God’s calling for someone always requires the Holy Spirit working within them.
This truth leads directly back to Jesus and His final instructions. When the disciples gathered around Him, they asked whether this was the time the kingdom would be restored. Jesus told them that the timing belonged to the Father. What mattered for them was something else entirely. They would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they would become witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. They were not asked to become famous speakers or perfect theologians. They were simply called to be witnesses—people who tell what they have seen and experienced.
After Jesus said this, the disciples watched as He was lifted up and a cloud hid Him from their sight. As they stood there staring into the sky, two men in white suddenly appeared beside them and asked why they were still looking upward. Jesus, they said, would return again one day in the same way He had left. In other words, the disciples could not remain frozen in awe. The mission had begun.
At first the believers stayed in Jerusalem, praying and growing together. The church expanded rapidly, but soon persecution broke out. Believers were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. What looked like a disaster became part of God’s plan, because wherever they went they shared the message about Jesus. The mission moved forward not because of comfort but because ordinary believers carried the story with them.
Daniel thought about all of this quietly. The call of a believer had never been complicated, but it often felt challenging. Go where Jesus calls. Do what Jesus asks. That calling was not limited to pastors, missionaries, or people standing behind pulpits. It belonged to every follower of Christ. The apostle Paul wrote something astonishing in Romans. If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then that same Spirit will bring life and power into your own life as well. The same Spirit present at creation, the same Spirit guiding Israel, empowering prophets, strengthening kings, and raising Jesus from the grave now lives in believers.
Later that week Daniel sat in church listening to Pastor Brian Hunt speak about the mission: leading every ONE to discover Jesus and follow Him fully. The emphasis on every single person struck him deeply. The gospel spreads through individuals, through conversations, through everyday moments. Pastor Brian read Acts 1:8 slowly, reminding everyone that Jesus promised power through the Holy Spirit so His followers could be witnesses everywhere. Daniel realized something important: Jesus did not say believers might become witnesses. He said they would.
After the service Daniel stayed seated and wrote a few questions in his notebook. Where have I been stuck following God’s call? What do I want my life to be known for? And who needs to hear about Jesus from me this week? Those questions made the calling personal. Following Jesus was not about waiting for a perfect opportunity someday. It was about obedience today.
The next morning Daniel stopped by a coffee shop he visited often. This time he noticed the barista seemed worn down by life. He felt a quiet prompting inside, the gentle nudge believers often recognize as the Spirit’s leading. So he began with a simple question about her day. The conversation slowly opened into something deeper. Before leaving, Daniel asked if he could pray for her. Right there in the coffee shop, he prayed a short prayer that God would help her, guide her, and remind her she was not alone. It was not dramatic or complicated, but it was real. When Daniel walked out, he felt a deep sense of peace. He had simply followed the call.
Weeks later that same barista visited Daniel’s church, then brought a friend along. The ripple effect had begun. This is how the early church grew and how it still grows today—ordinary people empowered by an extraordinary Spirit, sharing the story of Jesus one person at a time.
Two thousand years have passed since the book of Acts was written. Nations have risen and fallen, technology has changed the way people live, and cultures have shifted dramatically. Yet the mission of Jesus remains the same. He still calls people. The Holy Spirit still empowers them. And the message still spreads through witnesses who are willing to speak.
The question is no longer whether God is calling. He is. The question is whether we are listening and whether we are willing to go. Some people are called across oceans, while others are called across the street. But every believer has somewhere to go and someone to tell. The story that began in Acts has not ended. In many ways it is still being written through the lives of those who follow Jesus today. And somewhere in that ongoing story may be your own chapter, as you answer the call to go and tell.
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