People are precious to Jesus, no matter who they are. This lame beggar was not allowed to worship in the Temple because of his physical condition. It took an encounter with Jesus to heal the man so he could worship God. The same is true for each of us today. We need the healing power of Jesus just to come before the throne of God.

Christianity is a unique religion. It tells us something no other religion tells us – God came to man. In every other religion, you must do something to go to God for salvation. Not so with Christianity. Christianity says that God loves you so much that He came to you to offer you salvation. That salvation was bought for each of us by Jesus dying on the cross, being placed in a borrowed tomb, and being resurrected three days later. Our faith rises and falls on the resurrection, but what does the resurrection mean for us?

Luke gives a majestic picture of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He shows the symbolism of a triumphant hero returning from battle, and the crowd cheering Him on. We see the religious officials worried about the commotion. rebuke of Jesus because of the crowd, rebuke of the officials by Jesus. There are fulfilled prophecies and prophetic statements about the future of Jerusalem. And yet, there is a small, but often overlooked detail - Jesus weeping for the city. Did you know that in the Gospels there are only three times Jesus cries? John 11:35 where He weeps at the grave of Lazarus. When He rode into Jerusalem. And in the Garden the night of His betrayal. Why did Jesus weep? Come with us today as we see that Jesus weeps for us.

When God shows up, people are changed. The church's responsibility is to teach the converts the faith's foundations and befriend them so they are supported.

What happens when God's people are obedient, and God shows up? People are moved, hearts are changed, and the Kingdom is impacted. When we are confronted with the reality of who Jesus is, then we need to decide what we are going to do.

As we look at the second part of Peter's Pentecost sermon, we see that he is telling his audience that all Jesus did does attest that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of mankind. Today, we look back with a complete picture, but that was not the case for Peter's audience. They missed the suffering Savior and looked only to the Kingly Messiah. Both are prophesied in the Old Testament. That is why Peter used the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus to show the Jews who were gathered that they killed the Messiah. You see, it is the resurrection that makes Christianity special. In many other religions, you die for your god. But in Christianity, your God died for you to redeem you from your sin. Without the resurrection, the death sting of sin still holds us. With the resurrection, our sin debt has been paid and we have a blessed hope for eternity.

Acts 2 is a special chapter. Here we see that the church is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Through that empowerment, the church is commissioned to take the gospel to the world. As we start looking at Peter's Pentecost sermon several things jump out. First, the people of Jerusalem came to see what was happening, and some jumped to the wrong conclusion. Second, Peter stood and dealt with the false accusations, then began to explain what had happened and how it all points to Jesus. The result was the salvation of many people.

When you flip a light switch, something is supposed to happen. Electricity flows along paths that are either open or closed. An open circuit turns on your light, and a closed one turns it off. However, it does not matter how many times you flip the switch, if the main is not on, nothing will happen. The same is true of the church. We can go around trying to do many things for God, but unless the Main is on, nothing will happen. That is why Acts 2 is so important. This chapter shows us that before the church was formed, the disciples had to be empowered by God to do the work of God. As they were gathered, God showed up like He promised and prophesied, and energized the disciples with the Holy Spirit. As we will see, the day, the event and the people were all impacted by God and would be used by Him to fulfill His divine plan.