What do we value the most? Answers will vary from one person to another, but sometimes our good words do not match our actions. Are we willing to take a possibly uncomfortable test? Let us take a look around our homes. What do we most noticeably spend our money on? It will tell us what we really value. If there are three expensive cars in the garage, that fact communicates.

The disciples are momentarily immobilized. Jesus has just given them a monumental command, one that, seemingly, has no limits.

“Tell everyone about me,” he says. And by everyone, he means everyone in the world – not just Judea, which is home to his disciples. Not even just Samaria, which is hardly home, but at least nearby.

Years ago, when I was working as a Campus Minister in Berkeley, California, my team faced a dilemma. We needed a leader for a small group of students and a young man’s name was proposed who did not seem experienced enough for the task.

My team prayed over this dilemma and, one by one, each came to the same decision:

Did you know that the largest student movement in the world is comprised of followers of Jesus? Spanning more than 154 countries, this movement is diverse in size, ethnicity, culture and language.

Called the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, this movement is just one of the many ways Peter’s sermon and Joel’s prophecy has been realized in our world.

Lived in its fullest and most rewarding way, the Christian life ought never to be boring. Rather, it ought to be full of adventure, joy and peace … and also hardship, sacrifice and risk.

As he finishes his Day of Pentecost sermon in Jerusalem, Peter wants his listeners to understand the depth and breadth of life with Jesus.

On the first Good Friday three crosses with a man fixed to each jutted out of the rock of the Skull. These were racked with pain as they hung dying between heaven and earth. A closer look, however, reveals that they were three very different men dying in three distinct ways. One was dying in sin, one was dying to sin, and the other was dying for sin.

Between Good Friday and Easter it is good to think about what Jesus accomplished by dying on the cross. As Christians we know that in some sense he died for us, but what does that mean?

The apostles, who were authorized by Jesus to answer this question, use a number of word-pictures.