Summary: Happy Birthday, Church! That's right, today is our birthday! Today we celebrate the day the church was born by the power of the Holy Spirit! Today we celebrate the day when God's power exploded through the church and officially began its mission of making disciples. Thousands of people were in Jerusalem celebrating the day that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Disciples were gathered together in a house. Suddenly, it happened. Wind and fire swept through the disciples. Everybody was amazed and astonished. Many thought a fraternity party was taking place even though it was only 9 o'clock in the morning. A huge crowd gathered around Peter as he preached and said, "God has given us the Holy Spirit!" Three thousand people confessed Christ and were baptized. Boom--the church was born! Happy Birthday, Church! Now, if we were really serious about all of this, those of us who attend worship on Pentecost Sunday would wear party hats and blow noise makers. We would pass out cake and have a big party. Pentecost really should be the third great holiday of the church, next to Christmas and Easter. But most churches treat it as just another Sunday. This says a lot about the attitude of the modern church. I remember being invited to a birthday party. It was for one of the kids in the church I served. They had the party at home and invited a bunch of kids over. It was quite a scene. They had a big blow-up jumpy contraption in the front yard. They hired a clown to make funny balloons. The place was saturated with decorations and banners. There were excited kids running all over the place.
