The church was started about 120 days after the death, burial & resurrection of Jesus Christ. The setting of this great Biblical scene was in Jerusalem, in a place the Bible calls the Upper Room. You ask what was that?!? An upper room!!!
It was on a day called the Day of Pentecost, meaning 50 which signified Liberty in the Bible. It was a day of freedom for the church.
Freedom from the rigid Law of Moses, freedom from the ruthless ways of mankind and freedom to make Heaven their home.
And this is where it gets interesting!!!!
I want you to take a really close look at this church I am describing to you today. Check it out if you will. You see the closer you look, the better we look.
III. What we Offer
There are however, a lot of things we don’t have to offer you. We don’t offer a baseball or basketball team, but we can play pretty good.
We don’t offer dances, boxing matches, nor wild crazy music filled parties, but I will say this….we do dance, we box the Devils ears in a lot and the partying we do is wild and has some good music!!!
I would like to mention a few things I am proud that we have to offer; we can offer freedom from sin, pain, misery, depression, and yes even death.
For you see my friends, my God is able to provide all my needs. (NOTE… I did not say he would provide all my desires or wants!!! That would make us spoiled little brats… and we don’t like them do we?!!?)
God offers eternal life today, life abundant, a free life, and even a fun life!
In summary, what I can offer you will be a Youth Group that has a lot of fun, a church that knows how to please and worship God, and Youth Ministry that loves you and will care for you!!! And that is all I will promise.
IV. The Church
So this church started in the Book of Acts, after Jesus commanded those that were there the day He ascended into Heaven to go to Jerusalem until “they were endued with Power from on high” !!! They had no clue what Jesus was saying, but they went anyway!!! That is the same type of attitude we need today… an attitude that says, “I don’t know exactly what all this means, but I’m willing to go and see what God is up to”!!!
You take a close look at what I’m saying today….it gets better and better!!!
Well they went to Jerusalem anyway… and waited for this “Power” and this “Promise” from God.
And here is where I have wanted to get all morning… ACTS 2: 1-17!!!!
This is beginning to look like a good looking church…. God stepped onto the scene and made some changes!!! Peter used to be an old sour cussing fisherman!!! Matthew used to be a money swiping IRS dude. And all of a sudden… in just a matter of seconds….they are changed.
I like Cornelius’’ story… He was just an old Italian soldier, look at the Book of Acts, chapter10, beginning at verse 1. (Read through verse 5) He was by today’s standard a good “Christian man”, maybe even a deacon or one of those dudes that gets to park in front of those big important churches!!! BUT, take a close look here…. It gets good…. GOD HAD MORE FOR CORNELIUS to do!!!! And then all of a sudden in verse 44, Cornelius and his whole family got a real good look at what God had for him!!
One more story from the Bible and I’ll begin to close… I know you’re already tired of listening to me talk about how good lookin our church is!!!
Check out a couple of real important disciple dudes in the Bible that took a closer look at Salvation in ACTS chapter 19, beginning at verse 1 (read through verse 6)
Man them dudes got close huh?!!? In fact their good looks got them a first class ticket into Heaven!!! Ya see… some times our good looks do come in handy!!!!
V. Closing
I am so glad the Lord gave me good looks!!! Alright stop picking on me, I mean my looks at Heaven…. My looks at His Bible, and my looks at His Church!!!!
I looked really close at this Church that started on the Day of Pentecost. I looked real close at what those guys said after the Lord did His thing... I went to a good lookin’ church to see what all was going on.
I looked closely at they way they worshipped, the way they talked, the way that they loved….then I took a closer look at the Bible to see if their way was good lookin’ enough for me.
And then I saw this really good lookin’ chickie bear singing on the platform of the church!!! Man did she look good!!! She was Pentecostal lookin’, Godly lookin’, holy lookin.
And this good lookin church we’ve been talking about is the reason we are here today. We’ve got plenty of time to get to know one another, so I won’t rush into becoming your best friend. But I am afraid we are not afforded the luxury of so much time to meet Jesus. I am not attempting to rush you into becoming a Christian today or Pentecostal, I only want you to take a real close look at Jesus today.
Look at His forehead and see the marks where He wore the crown of thorns I should have worn. Look at His hands and Feet, which bear the holes of the cross, where He hung for my sins. Look at His back, where the lacerations from the stripes He took so that I may be healed. Look into His eyes and see the tears of joy He sheds thinking that we may choose to serve Him. Look into His heart and find love.
