Reliving Pentecost: The Commotion Series

The people were telling others of what the Lord was doing. But like any message there are some who will believe it and some will reject it. Notice the reaction of the people. Some people are interested and want to learn more. Other people are rationalizing the event away. Some people will be curious and some people will write the church news off. Some people say that the Apostles are drunk. That they drank too much wine. People will say the church is a cult if it grows too much, if it is too loving, but we are not concerned with what the people say. You cannot stop this, you just have to continue to tell the message. This reminds me of the story of the teacher doing her best to discredit the miracles of the Bible. She said, "Take, for instance, the crossing of the Red Sea. We know this body of water was only 6 inches deep." Immediately from the back of the room came the remark, "Praise God for the miracle!" Annoyed, the teacher asked, "What miracle?" "Well," explained the student, "the Lord must have drowned the whole Egyptian army in just 6 inches of water!" Some people will discredit the truth, we are to accept the truth.

For this week, I want you to talk up the church. All I want you to do is to mention the church in a conversation. Just bring up something that you have to do with the congregation or for the congregation. Mention one of the programs or the good sermon, you might get paid for that. But just talk about something. Do not worry about the reaction, just mention the work of the church. This will be the key in restoring the power of Pentecost. When we start to talk about the church again, we will have the results like the day of Pentecost. We have something to talk about.

Russell Brownworth’s two older children (ages 9 and 7) seemed to attract every other child in the mobile home park for after-school games of hide and seek. Their youngest, Carrie, was not quite 3—and (in the minds of the older siblings) always in the way. It was something you could count on; ten minutes into the games, the little one would get pushed aside or skin a knee. One afternoon, she came through the front door crying for mommy. She had gotten the worst again. Elizabeth, her mother, attempted to comfort her by giving her two freshly baked cookies. "Now, don’t tell the big kids yet," she cautioned, "I haven’t finished; I haven’t got enough for everybody yet." It took less than three seconds for Carrie to make it to the screen door, fling it wide, and announce to the big kids, "Cookies, I gots cookies!" Well, great news should be shared with enthusiasm!