It's really an easy thing to do. We've all heard different phrases tossed around. "Don't Shoot the Messenger" "Don't Be The Bearer of Bad News" "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk." What happens with phrases like this is : B L A M E and rightly so because those are the trepidations of playing with those phrases. It brings on one more ample phrases "Poke the Bear and Find Out" Never one to shy from an argument or to stand his ground, Peter, pokes the bear.  Right in the lair of the bear. The Temple.  It's a rough place. A rough audience. It is what needs to be said.  It it the audience that needs to hear it. And, it's not without interruption.  Lets take a look.  What's it like to preach through an entire church service with nothing but interruptions? What's it like to sit through a service with nothing but ins and outs and crying babies and people talking? Yea, its rattling. It's disturbing. And, in the b...

  Pentecost What's Next? These last couple of weeks we have been focusing on Pentecost (which was June 8) and we ready to move forward. I have contemplated as to what I should cover going into he weeks ahead and feel we shall stay with the Book of Acts. I have covered this amazing book several times. After some consideration and prayer, we are going to move through the Book of Acts. What will be a challenge for me is to give the book a fresh look. I hope not to repeat any material I have used before and at the same time I know there will be things I have to say at certain points. I'm looking forward to the way this all works out. I hope you are as well. As we launch forward, we find ourselves in Acts 3. One day... Ok, so we really have no idea how long it was after the day of Pentecost this next moment happens. It doesn't say the next day . It doesn't give any time reference. It could have been a week later. Just, one day. It sounds like the start of a joke, doesn't...

  Pentecost What it's not Well, last week was Pentecost and we saw from the scripture exactly what was happening. It was a wild moment. It also brought clarity. It was not without confusion. It also brought understanding. When God is at work, what seems strange and unexpected becomes clear and concise when the Holy Spirit is leading the way. However, it won't be long til people like the Apostle Paul will run into a disorginzed mess in place called Corinth. There are those when John is writing his first letter who are confused about the origin of sin and think they don't have any. Some seem to think they know more than the disciples and apostles who actually walked with Jesus. There is a disparraging line between what people think they know about Jesus, God, Christianity and the Holy Spirit. Even in the church. Yet, it is not up to us to decide who those people actually are. Jesus makes it clear that He will, someday, decipher the goats from the sheep. On this day of Penteco...

  Andd, here we are.  It's one of the milestones on our church calendar. Pentecost. The birth of the Church. The promised coming of the Holy Spirit. Those are just some bare bone facts that we all seem to know and accept.  But, that is it? What is Pentecost? What happens on this day causes it to be such a stir in the life of the church? And, maybe a better quetion is, why don't we pay more attention to it? Those questions have their answers in these next two messages. Today, we are going to focus on what Pentecost is, directly.  Next week, we will take a moment to look at what Pentecost is not.  There are factors that play into what we have predetermined in our minds about the truth surrounding this special day. Some of those factors are turn offs about the biblical event that might cause some to say, "You know what, how 'bout we skip this passage."  That is a travesty. We need to appreciate and envelope ourselves in wha this day is all abut let the new lif...