Pastor Joe Johnson. Jesus ascended into heaven without starting a church. He promised to send the Holy Spirit who would give believers power to do His ministry on earth.

Peter and John are on their way to worship. As they are headed into the Temple to pray, a crippled man begging for some spare change calls for their attention. There no telling where the Spirit of Jesus will take us.

Peter and John are arrested by local religious authorities and put on trial for what happened outside the temple. The answer that those in power receive from Peter and John is not what they expect even as it is exactly what they feared.

Encounter the stark reality of the early Christian Jerusalem community. Its members shared. Radically. And the community grew as a result--in a way we can’t ignore. Together let us dare to consider that ours is an all or nothing faith.

The body of Christ exists as an unstoppable force. Opposition and resistance only embolden the potency of the truth of grace, love and hope that is ours in Jesus. May we continue to be inspired by the enduring witness of the early church.

Internal strife. The rise of new leadership. Rapid expansion. Debate and protest. Secrets and lies. A historic speech. Bold witness. Murder most foul. And in the end, the Way of Jesus goes viral...

Even in the midst of great persecution, the Holy Spirit starts “taking it to the streets.” We see how he works through the lives of Peter, John and Philip...and even a permanent outsider-an Ethiopian eunuch-is baptized.

A critic becomes a convert. A persecutor becomes an evangelist. A harbinger of death for believers becomes a witness of resurrection life for non-believers. One who seeks to silence words about Jesus will become Jesus’ most prolific author.

Is prayer a part of worship or are we to understand worship as prayer? Is prayer to be a one-way expression of praises and petitions or a two-way communication? We look at these questions through the lens of the Lord's Prayer.

What is worship? Why does it matter? How does liturgy, style and preference factor into how we worship God? These are the questions that we will be wrestling with through the scriptures in the weeks ahead.