How's the weather by you? Do you have snow or rain?

When I lived in Michigan, I could usually tell how the weather would be tomorrow. I just checked how it was in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In the United States, the weather generally moves from west to east. Michigan's weather was Minnesota's and Wisconsin's weather the day before.

When it comes to the gospel, however, church historians have noted that it generally moves from east to west.

At first the gospel moved out from Jerusalem. The Savior said to his disciples, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

In Paul's missionary journeys we trace the gospel westward, through Turkey and Greece to Italy. We see Paul preach the pure and full gospel, the genuine gospel as it has come from God's heart. Paul does not preach a gospel mixed up with the law or a message he made up.

Martin Luther noted that the preaching of the pure gospel is like the weather: "Gather while the sun is shining and while there is good weather! Make use of God's grace and Word while it is here! For you should know this: God's Word and grace is a passing downpour, which does not return to where it has already been. It has been with the Jews; but what's lost is lost, now they have nothing. Paul brought it to Turkey; what's lost is lost, and now they have Islam. Italians have also had it; what's lost is lost, and now they have Roman Catholicism. And you dare not think that you will have it forever" (author's translation of "Letter to the Town Councilmen").

After that pure gospel was preached in Germany and Scandinavia at the time of the Reformation, believers took it westward to Britain and then to America.

German mothers said good-bye to their sons and daughters bound to preach and teach the gospel in the New World, not certain if they would ever see them again. If you have studied how the gospel came to your family, you might be aware of the sacrifices that families made to be sure that people in North America could hear about the free and full forgiveness of sins through Jesus.

Now the preaching of the pure gospel is moving to Asia. The Status of Global Mission group documents that Asian Christians grew from 20.7 million in 1900 to 293.8 million in the same century, and by 2000 comprised nearly 15 percent of all Christians. The fastest growing Christian communities and the largest Christian churches in the world are now in Asia.

And our own children are moving to Asia. Advances in telecommunications mean that we parents in North America can see our children in the Far East, but it's still far away. It's a sacrifice not to be able to hug them when they are hurting or high-five them when they are joyful.