Has the Gospel reached the 'Ends of the Earth'? Where's my transformation? Will my children be with me into eternity?

Ask NT Wright Anything

Premier Unbelievable

Christianity, History, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Ask NT Wright Anything, Mike Bird and Tom Wright tackle three big listener questions that sit at the crossroads of biblical interpretation and pastoral care.First, they explore what Jesus meant when he said the gospel must be preached to “the ends of the earth” in Matthew 24:14, and how that relates to Acts 1:8, Paul’s mission to Spain, and the fall of Jerusalem. Is global evangelisation a trigger for the Second Coming, or have we misunderstood Jesus’ words?Next, they address the painful experience of not feeling spiritually transformed. Drawing on Romans, Galatians, and 2 Corinthians, Tom reflects on the gap between our ideals and our lived reality, the role of mental health (including OCD), and the importance of spiritual direction and wise pastoral care.Finally, they turn to a deeply emotional question: What happens when our children walk away from the faith? Tom and Mike wrestle with how to hope, pray, and trust God’s mercy when we fear an eternity without those we love most, and how to live in that tension without easy answers.Support & Subscribe👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡❓Got a question for Tom? Go to askntwright.com👉 Refer a friend to become a subscriber → They can get 10% off by clicking hereFollow usInstagram: https://instagram.com/premierunbelievableFacebook: https://facebook.com/premierunbelievableTik Tok: https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievableX: https://x.com/UnbelievableFE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:59.9	Hello and welcome to another episode of Ask Ante Right Anything, the program where we answer your questions about Jesus, the Bible and the life of faith.
1:04.3	I'm Mike Bird from Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia, and I'm joined by...
1:09.0	Tom Wright from Whitcliffe Hall in Oxford.
1:11.3	Tom, and I believe as we record this, you are probably at the ends of the earth or very close to it.
1:18.0	Yes, my wife and I hang out on the Isle of Harris in the Western Isles of Scotland,
1:23.9	and I have sometimes thought that if people in the first century in Palestine were reading
1:31.3	prophetic passages about God ruling until the ends of the earth, if they had known about the
1:37.3	outer Hebrides, I think they would have said, that's it, basically.
1:41.3	Now, of course, as explorers went further, they discovered one or two other little places out there.
1:49.0	But, I mean, interestingly, when St. Patrick was evangelizing Ireland, apparently one of his reasons for wanting to evangelize the Irish was that he believed, in line with the geography of his time, that Ireland was the furthest west that you could possibly dream of going, so that if the gospel reached the west coast of Ireland, then the gospel would have reached the ends of the earth, and then maybe the Lord would return at once,
2:18.3	once that had been done.
	...

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