Speaker: Steve Anderson

This Is My City

Good morning, everyone. Some of you are looking up here and saying, “Who is this guy?” It’s been about a year since I taught last year at Vintage. 

I’m Steve Anderson. I’ve been on the Teaching Team for about a year and a half now. My wife, Elizabeth, and I have been members here for about two and a half years. Pastor Greg asked me to join the Teaching Team, which I considered a privilege. This church has grown so much since the last time I taught. There are so many new faces, so I wanted to give you just a brief introduction. I also want to tell you a little bit more about me because it’s going to play into our message today. 

The title of this teaching is called “From Generation to Generation.” As I was walking around this morning during worship, I was just noticing just how many young people are in this room for this service. It’s a lot different than the 8:30 service, let me tell you. You brought the median age of this church way down, which is great because we definitely need it. 

Next week, I celebrate my 62nd birthday. You’re supposed to say, “You don’t look it.” I’ve been saved 44 of those years and I’ve been a pastor for over 25 of those years. The reason I say all that is because I’m standing up here with some history and some context to what we’re going to talk about today. 

I grew up in Fort Collins just four blocks away. Right behind me. I went to Riffenberg Elementary School, Lesher Junior High, and Fort Collins High School. This is my city. This is my town. I call it my town because it used to be a town. Now it’s, you know, 175,000 people. Back when I was a kid growing up, it was 30,000 to 40,000 people. 

The Stirring Of The Holy Spirit

God has so much in store for this city. What I want to do today is bring you a little history of what has happened in the past in this city. How many were around Fort Collins in the early 70s? Okay, everybody else just take a look at the hands that are raised. Okay, now we’ll do a little contrast here. How many were not in Fort Collins in the early 70s? 

Okay, I’m a grandpa. So this is going to be Storytime with Poppy. If you have your Bible, turn to John chapter five. And as you’re doing that, I’m just going to pray quickly over the word. 

Father, we thank you for our time together. Thank you so much for our time in worship. I thank You, Lord, that we can walk into the doors of this place and just feel Your presence. And we don’t take that for granted. Thank you for what you’ve been doing in the hearts so far in the people, I ask that you continue to do that. May your Scripture and this teaching just penetrate the hearts of the people today. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

We’re going to have bread and cup after the teaching today. I pray it’s the best time of communion with the Lord that you’ve ever had. I just ask you now to open up your hearts and let the Holy Spirit speak to you because he wants to speak something individual to each and every one of us. 

We are living in very dark and dangerous times. The deception, the lawlessness, everything that we see going on in the world today is tough to see. There’s been a lot of talk of a revival lately. How many know that we probably desperately need revival now more than ever? 

So let’s look at this Scripture in John chapter five. “Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who are sick, blind, lame, and withered waiting for the moving of the waters. For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever then first after the stirring up of the water stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.” 

There was something that happened a couple of months ago in Kentucky. It was called what people are calling the Asbury Revival at Asbury College, where this move of God just kind of descended on this place. What I will say is the waters got stirred. 

It wasn’t a fancy teaching. In fact, the assistant soccer coach at the college that gave the teaching finished his message and everybody left to go to class except for a few girls that stayed behind. That assistant soccer coach immediately got on his phone, texted his wife, and said, “Well, it was another stinker.” And he left. 

The students stayed behind and the scripture that he taught out of Romans — ironically since we’ve been in Romans for the last year and a half — the scripture in Romans penetrated their hearts to the point of repentance, and they fell on their faces and just stayed behind. And then the worship team saw that they were staying behind, so they decided to stay behind, so they were playing gently as that was going on. 

After class got out, they heard in the auditorium that the music was still going and then people were all of a sudden drawn back into what was going on. Then the auditorium slowly began to fill up and people felt that presence, the stirring of the waters, and the repentance started to take place. Pretty soon the whole college and the seminary, over the next couple of days, were filled 24/7 with people falling on their faces in repentance. 

When I heard what happened last Sunday here at Vintage in the 10:30 service, with all of the baptisms that took place in this service — for those of you that weren’t here and didn’t know what happened, there were baptisms during the Easter service. There were four scheduled. Those four got baptized, and the Spirit of God was moving so powerfully on the people that 16 others got out of their seats and said we’re going in. That doesn’t happen. That does not happen. That’s the stirring of the Holy Spirit. 

The Outpouring Of The Spirit In Fort Collins

A few months ago, I told pastor Greg I had a message on revival. I prefer to say on the outpouring of the Spirit because, can we be honest here, the word revival is not even in the New Testament. Sometimes we hear that word “revival” and we get all emotional and start asking the Lord to send revival and all this kind of stuff. 

I like to just think of the Holy Spirit coming down and dispensing and giving an outpouring. So that’s just my personal preference. You can say revival if you want to. But I’m going to say outpouring. I told Greg that I wanted to do this from a different perspective. Because there are seasons when the Holy Spirit stirs the waters. 

This message today is for those of you who are dry and thirsty, who are struggling with contentment, who are sitting by the waters waiting for something to stir, and who are sitting there saying there’s got to be more, Lord, I’m crying out for more. 

But this is also a message of hope. Hope for something powerful to happen in this city. It all just seems hopeless as the world seems to get darker and more lawless. But I have hope for this city. One thing that has gravitated Elizabeth and me to this church is the vision that Pastor Greg and this church have for the city of Fort Collins. This is my city. This is my town. And I have hope for this city. 

This will not be a political message. Some of you are going amen. Some of you you’re saying why not? It’s not going to be a church growth message. I can guarantee you that. It will be a historical message though. It’s a story about a move of the Holy Spirit that hit a city long ago, but in reality not that long ago. 

Story after story of life-changing salvation, families changed forever. Schools, businesses, government, and culture being influenced by the church instead of the opposite of what we see going on today. The story of the outpouring of the Spirit in a small church right here in Fort Collins. It spread throughout the city and then it spread throughout the region. I lived it, I saw it. It saved my life. It saved my wife’s life. She’s a native of Fort Collins as well. 

It wasn’t just the stirring of the waters that happened back in the early 1970s. It was God taking a boulder and dropping it down, and this place exploded in the presence of the Holy Spirit. You need to know that story. We all need to relive that story. Because God’s not done with that story in the city. It needs to happen again. 

Turn to Judges chapter two. We’re going to start in verse six. As you’re turning there, I’m going to give you a little context to this message. 

It is so good to see you guys. I met my former admin at Resurrection Fellowship when I was a pastor there. My heart just raced. Pastor John and Linda from Resurrection Fellowship are here as well. I’m feeling all good all over. 

Remembering The Past

Let me give you some context of the Scripture that we’re going to read. In Judges, the time of Joshua is now over. Joshua has just released the people to go to the Promised Land to take possession of the tribal allotments that they were given. He takes them to a place called Schechem. Why is that important? Shechem is where God gave Abraham the promise of the Promised Land. So Joshua brings them there, and that’s important because he wants them to remember what God had promised them because they’re about to go take possession of it. 

Now keep in mind, these people had come out of Egypt. They were about to take the Promised Land, and then they fell into disobedience. God said go take it, they disobeyed, and only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to go into the Promised Land. They had to wait 40 years for a generation to die off. They finally get to the Jordan River, and it’s time for them to cross the Jordan River and go into Jericho to take Jericho as the first piece of the puzzle. 

So God rolls back the waters of the Jordan River and dries up the riverbed so that they can walk on dry land. Then they go to Jericho. They take Jericho. Then they disperse the land, and then Joshua has this time with them to remind them of everything that God had done for them. 

He’s about ready to die, and as they’re about to go take possession of the land, he wants to make sure that they remember what God had done. So let’s look at Judges chapter two, verse six. “After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them. And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived them. Those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died at the age of 110. They buried him in the land he had been allocated at Timnath Surat in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gosh. After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel.” 

How can that happen? How can that happen? This generation had just lived all these incredible things that the Lord had done. It was their job to pass it down to the next generation. And the book of Judges is telling us that the next generation didn’t know and couldn’t remember. They stopped serving the Lord.

My mission today is to do what a generation of Israelites failed to do, and that is to pass down the wonderful things the Lord has done. Winston Churchill said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. 

The Story Of First Christian Church

This is the story of First Christian Church. How many have heard about the movie the Jesus Revolution? A lot of you probably have seen that as well. In the late 60s and early 70s, there were two moves of God going on at the same time — the Jesus Revolution and the Charismatic Renewal. 

Those two things were kind of intersecting at the same time and it was causing an incredible outpouring of God’s Spirit throughout this country. There was a small Disciples of Christ Church here in Fort Collins called First Christian, located on Drake and Stover that only had about 200 members. 

In the earlier years of this church, there were four ladies that got together every Friday night to pray. When Charlie Patchon came to Fort Collins in 1965 to take over First Christian Church, he was warned by his predecessor, there are four ladies that pray every Friday night and unless you kick them out, they’re going to stay there all night.

Those four ladies and their prayers helped usher in something special. The Holy Spirit began to move in Charlie and Emily Patchon, and then it began to move in small groups that they have, then it began to spread over into the main service. Pretty soon, this traditional mainline denominational church that wasn’t used to any type of life whatsoever in their church, all of a sudden had life through the Holy Spirit taking place. It was starting to transform the church. It was starting to transform the region. 

Then you couple that with what was going on in individual people in the region because the Spirit was moving on individuals. During this time of the Jesus revolution, people were seeking. They were searching. There were answers out there that they were trying to find. My dad was one of those guys. 

Now we were entrenched in the Episcopal Church here in Fort Collins, and we were faithful Episcopalians. We were churchgoers. We were not Christian. My dad, if he were alive today, would be the first to tell you that. And proof of that is that he would drag my brother and me from place to place here in Fort Collins. He knew the answer wasn’t in the Episcopal Church. He said the answer’s got to be out there somewhere. Something was stirring in his spirit. 

So he would drag us to the Christian Science Reading Room on Mulberry Street, not there. He would drag us down to the Masonic temple in downtown Fort Collins, but not there. Then a friend of his who was captured by the Spirit at First Christian Church started to share Jesus with him in a real way. In a dynamic way. In a filled with the Spirit kind of way. Because of that, my dad got changed and transformed, and salvation came to the Anderson House in the early 1970s. 

That church changed the trajectory of our family. Because from the time I was 12 years old and I got confirmed at the Episcopal Church, a prophecy was spoken over me that I was going to go into ministry. At 12 years old in the Episcopal Church. Hello. That doesn’t happen. From that time for the next six years. I was involved in drugs, alcohol, and pornography. I was involved in total rebellion. 

Salvation had come to the Anderson household, but Steve was on the run. I didn’t want anything to do with it. I resisted and I was the last of my family to come to know Jesus. But when I got saved after I graduated from Fort Collins High School, when I got saved, I got radically saved. The passion that I saw in my dad all of a sudden was transferred to me. And if it had a pulse, I was going to share Jesus with it. That was the type of excitement that I had for serving Jesus. 

From the time I was 18 years old until right now, almost 62, it’s been nothing but a joy ride. It’s been a roller coaster. I’ve got scar tissue. There’s no question about that. But it’s been a joy ride. I thank God for every single second along the way. I thank God for what He did in this city and what He did for my family.

New believers with new life all over the city. They needed a place, they needed somewhere to go. My dad took us back to the Episcopal Church and he said, “It’s not here, but I heard it’s happening someplace else.” 

He uprooted our family and took us to First Christian Church. I wasn’t saved yet. But he said, “You know what, I don’t care. You’re going to sit in church, and you’re going to like it.” If you’re a parent out there, let me tell you something, you learn something from my dad. Drag them to church. If they say no, you say, I don’t care, drag them to church. 

Because I still remember, even though I wasn’t saved, I remember what was going on in that building. I saw it, and I said, “This is different than the other church, Dad. Something is going on here.” You may not feel like your children are receiving anything, but trust me, they are. 

I love the fact that there are so many young people in the building today. You need to know what happened in this city generations ago. Because it’s going to be up to you to carry it forward. It’s going to be up to me and others in my age group to tell you the story and to remind you of the story. Then it’s going to be on you to take it to the next generation. Every single one of us in this room — we represent a lot of generations — we’ve got work to do. It’s going to be a lot harder than it was back in the 70s. I guarantee you that. It’s a different climate, different culture. It’s going to evolve. It’s going to involve rolling up our sleeves and getting after it. But I believe God can do it again. Can I hear an amen on that? 

That church exploded to 2500 members from 200. If you’ve ever been by that church on Drake and Stover, it’s not that big. They had to go to four services. Drake Road was the southern part of Fort Collins at that time. Horsetooth Road was a dirt road. I’m really aging myself here. Drake Road was two lanes. Stover and Drake only had a two-way stop sign. That’s all that was there. 

The police had to come and start directing traffic because traffic was backed up all the way to College, all the way to Lemay. The police had to come and try to get everybody in. People were sitting out in the parking lot with speakers out there. There were overflow rooms everywhere. They just wanted to come and be a part of what was going on there. It was special. 

There was nothing like Vintage back in the early 70s and the mid-70s. There was nothing like that. What happened there started to spread throughout the region. It started to spread throughout the churches in Fort Collins and Loveland. Even as far as Greeley. 

The Spreading Of Revival In Fort Collins

The DNA of First Christian Church was firmly in Resurrection Fellowship. What happened at First Christian Church was special. The epicenter of what God was doing was at Drake and Stover. 

It was estimated that 60% of the population of Fort Collins during that time was attending church on a regular basis. Think about that. Fort Collins is 170,000 people now. Think about 60% of this population going to church on a regular basis. 

Back then, it was like driving on a regular workday coming to church. 5% of the population of Fort Collins was going to First Christian. That’s amazing. Do it again. Do it again. 

Thanks, Jim. DNA in your family is from First Christian. Kelly, I had a great talk with your dad after the first service. Oh my gosh, her dad and my dad were close friends. First Christian Church. The impact that that church had is still permeating. The ripple effects of what happened are still going on.

My wife, Elizabeth, was saved during that time. She and her best friend got saved and started going to the youth group at First Christian Church. 600 kids were in that youth group. The reason I’m giving you this information is so that you can get excited so that you can get the vision. So that you can say yes, God, do it again, you can do it again. 

Schools were impacted. Former teachers of mine from Fort Collins High School were saved and started going to First Christian Church. I remember Mrs. Patterson. She was my science teacher. When she found out I got saved after I graduated, she invited me to come back the next year to speak at a Bible study at Fort Collins High School. Can you imagine trying to get into Fort Collins High School to do a Bible study? Being invited in by the teachers? 

Pastors from First Christian Church and other churches, all of a sudden throughout the city of Fort Collins, weren’t just in the schools of Fort Collins, they were encouraged to be there. It was a different time. It can happen again. I was saved, baptized, and married in that church on Drake and Stover. 

The End Of An Outpouring

Unfortunately, in a later chapter, the story shows the end of the Spirit moving at First Christian Church. Today, First Christian Church no longer exists by name in this city. 

Now, I’m not going to dwell on this. That’s not the point of this message. Just understand that it doesn’t matter if it’s a church, if it’s a move of God, if it’s a marriage, a family, a relationship, a prophetic word, dream, or vision that God spoke over you, it doesn’t matter what it is. If it was birthed by God, the devil is going to try to come to steal it, kill it and destroy it. If he finds a way in if he sees a sliver of an entrance, he’s going to try to get in there and he’s going to try to wreak havoc. 

That word’s for somebody right now. Husbands, you especially might need to close some things off. You might need to say to yourself, you know what, I have to protect the back door. I have to protect the front door and the back door. I am not going to let the devil come in and wreak havoc on my marriage or my family.

Ephesians 6:12 says, “We are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies. But against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” We are not fighting flesh and blood enemies.

Boy, the devil has done a great job in this country of creating this circular firing squad. You can’t say the names Trump, Biden, DeSantis, and Polis without people’s skin starting to crawl and their emotions starting to rile up. 

He’s created a circular firing squad. He gets our focus on other things. I’m not saying that those things aren’t important, that politics aren’t important, or elections aren’t — they are. They are. But I think we need to make sure that we realize that there is an enemy out there that is creating deception and creating a distraction. We need to make sure that we watch it. We must understand who the real enemy is.

I know the devil has had a heyday over the past several decades of looking at what happened with First Christian Church. This city is holy ground and it belongs to the Lord. I don’t believe God is done writing this story. 

Many of the protagonists of those early chapters have moved on or passed on, including my parents. But there are new generations who need to hear the story of what the Lord did in this city. My son Matt and his wife Katie are moving back to Fort Collins this summer. I plan on taking them over to First Christian Church and showing them where it all started for me. 

When my daughter and son-in-law and my three granddaughters arrive from Omaha later this summer, I’m going to take them over there. I’m going to say, “This is where it started for Poppy. This is where it started for me.” 

My dad helped lead my daughter-in-law’s dad to the Lord. He became a part of First Christian Church. They were here for the first service. It was so good to see them. The DNA of that church, the DNA of what happened in this region, is still going on today. 

Passing Down Our Jordan River Memorial

I plan on passing down what the Lord did to me to my family. It’s my Jordan River Memorial. When they crossed the Jordan River after that miracle took place, they set up rocks. They set up a memorial. Why? Because God wanted them to go back and they had an opportunity to share what the Lord did. This is the memorial of what the Lord did. This represents the miracle of the rolling back of the Jordan River. That’s a good reminder for us all. 

Sometimes we want to jump from miracle the miracle. We don’t want to do the hard thing in between. When they crossed the Jordan River before they got to Jericho, God said, you know what? We need to stop and take care of some business. 

This is where I want us to open up our hearts. Because I believe God wants to stir in us something new. I believe He wants to have an outpouring in this region like never before. But just like after they crossed the Jordan River. God said, first, we’ve got to take care of some business. 

There’s a place called Gilgal where they had to stop and re-consecrate themselves and return to the covenant. They had to get right with the Lord before going on to Jericho. After they did that and after they had their time of restoration and healing, that’s when the Captain of the Host showed up. That’s when Jesus showed up and Joshua looks at Him and goes, “Who are you? Are you for us or against us?” And Jesus said, “Neither. Where you’re standing right now, though, is holy ground.” 

Where you guys are right now is holy ground. I know that the Lord wants to speak to each and every one of us because every move of God, whether you go back into the Great Awakenings of the 1700s in the 1800s, whether it was Asbury, whether it was the Fulton Street Revival in New York City, every single major outpouring of the Holy Spirit had three components to it. 

Number one is prayer. Number two is repentance. And number three is surrender. That’s what God’s been speaking to me lately. I know He wants to do something in this city. I know He wants to have a fresh outpouring of His Spirit like never before. 

The Stirring In This Region

I’ll close with this. There’s a stirring in this building. There’s a stirring in this region. There’s a stirring in this city. There’s a stirring in my heart in individual hearts. God has clearly said to me over the last few months, are you ready for this? Are you ready for this? 

Repentance gets a bad rap sometimes. We think of the guy standing on the street corner holding up the sign, “Repent, the end is near you sinner, you bad person.” We think “repentance” and we think angry God. But in Romans, it says that it’s the goodness and the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance. 

As I studied that word a little bit more, I found a gentleness and a fluidity to that word. Not something rigid. Not something stoic and hard. But something that means something different for everybody. For the unsaved it might be hey, listen, you are going in the wrong direction. You need to turn away from that stuff and you need to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. 

For those of us that are saved, it might be something different. It might be just a gentle nudge and saying, hey, you’re off track, you need to get recalibrated. Just a little nudge back in the direction let’s get you back to true north. That’s the way it’s been for me lately. It’s those little nudges by the Lord. 

I have a Tuesday morning Bible study in Windsor that I’ve started to go to. I felt stuck. I was a little stagnant. I needed something and I had a couple of guys say, “Hey, we’ve got this Bible study going on in Windsor, why don’t you come and join us?” I love it. I don’t like waking up that early and driving a half hour to Windsor. But once I get there, I feel refreshed. 

I see guys that are dealing with stuff just like I am. We’ve been studying the book of Revelation. I looked at the first two chapters in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapters two and three are the only recorded words of Jesus to the church. The only time Jesus speaks to the church is in Revelation two and three. There are plenty of words of Jesus in the gospels, but when Jesus ascends to heaven and sends the Holy Spirit, that begins the church age. 

Then Jesus has that time with John and the book of Revelation. Seven times to seven churches he says, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Seven times He talks about being an overcomer. Eight times He mentions repentance. 

I couldn’t get away from what He did in Revelation chapter two, which was the first message to the Church in Ephesus. Revelation two verses two through five. I believe this is for me. I believe this is for a lot of people in this in this building. Why? Because this is a good church. This is a really good church with really good believers in it. People that are passionate about Jesus.

Maybe there are some of you in this room who haven’t given your heart to Jesus. You’re going to have an opportunity here in just a couple of minutes. Because this is going to be a time for all of us to get some things right. Some of us need to get the salvation thing figured out. Some of us need to figure some other things out. 

Listen to these words to the Church in Ephesus: “I know all the things you do. I’ve seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You’ve examined the claims of those who say they are apostles, but they are not. You’ve discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for Me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love Me or each other as you did it first. Look how far you’ve fallen. Turn back to Me and do the work as you did it first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove the lampstand from its place in the churches.”

As I embrace the vision for this church for Fort Collins and I remember all of the good things that He did back in the 70s and 80s when I was part of First Christian Church and when I first got saved in all of those first works that I had. All those times of sharing Jesus out in the streets, all of those times going to Bible studies in Fort Collins High School and sharing with the students that came after me. 

I remember those first works and I begin to get rejuvenated. God’s saying go back to those things, Steve. Go back to those things. Get excited again for me. Rekindle that. Go back to your first love. Do you remember the way you love me when you first got saved? I do and I’m trying to get it back. 

I need to repent for letting my prayer and passion for this city die in the ashes of a great church from decades ago. I need to repent of that. Paul said in Philippians, “I forget what lies behind my regrets. And I press on to the things that are ahead.” I press on to the upper call of Jesus Christ in my life and I surrender the things I need to surrender. 

I feel life’s coming back again. I feel a stirring coming back again. I hope that the life and the stirring that I feel coming back into my life can spill over to you guys. I hope God comes again and drops a big boulder on this place and there are ripple effects throughout this church and then throughout this community. 

May He do again what He did back in the 70s and early 80s. Because that had such an impact on this region. I thank God I had the opportunity to be a pastor at Resurrection Fellowship. Because that was a place where the Spirit of God was moving. It was because God started moving in Fort Collins first and then then it just began to spread. 

Other great churches and other things have happened in Fort Collins and Loveland. All because the Spirit began to move. But it’s sad to say 60% aren’t going to church on a regular basis anymore. We’ve got to get that back. I’m filled with hope. 

God’s Not Done With You Yet

I think about Caleb. I’m getting older in my years, I’ve got a little gray on my head, but I am not losing the bounce in my step. Caleb told Joshua when he was getting that land, you know what? I might be 85 years old, but I feel like I’m 40. I’m ready to go in and take that land. 

This is a word for those of us that maybe you’re 60 years and older, God’s not done. God’s not done with you yet. He’s still going to pour into you guys. John and Susan, you guys led worship at First Christian Church back in the 70s and 80s. Thank you. Thank you. God’s not done with you yet.

Every single one of us is on an incredible journey. I am so glad that God has brought us back full circle. I’m talking about Elizabeth and me. He’s taken us on a great journey. It started at First Christian Church with stops at Resurrection Fellowship, Timberline Church, Genesis Project here in town, and then two years ago, pulls us here. As soon as we walked in the door, we felt the presence of God, I saw familiar faces, and we said to ourselves, this is where we want to be. This is where we want to be. 

The vision for the city, the vision for my city. That’s why I’m telling you this story. It’s to help however we can to see something even more powerful come out of the ashes and happen in this area. To not just embrace the vision, but maybe to add some accelerant to it. Hopefully, that’s what I’m doing to you today. 

It’s a different time with a much different spiritual climate, I get that. But it’s going to take multiple generations for it to take place. It’s gonna take the young and the old coming together, linking arms, rolling up sleeves, and saying, you know what, we’ve got some strongholds we need to tear down. But if four ladies in First Christian Church can pray something into existence, just think what can happen if the body of Christ gets together with one purpose with one vision and says we can do it again. We can do it again. 

As I’ve been thinking about this, if there’s going to be a revival, if there’s going to be an outpouring, let it start with me, Lord, let it start with me. How cool would it be not to just have this blanket outpouring take place, but to have 1000 different outpourings of the Spirit on individual people in this church? 

God does something in us individually, and then we bring it in collectively, and we change the world. That’s what I’m excited about. We’re going to do bread and cup. I’m going to ask the Prayer Team to come up because you might have some things that you need to get done with the Prayer Team before you take part in bread and cup this morning. We want to give you the opportunity to do that. 

If it’s salvation. Don’t be afraid to take that step. You know what? The priests and everybody had to take a step of faith into the Jordan River in order for the waters to roll back. They had to take the step first. Don’t be afraid to take that step. If you need to step into restoration with somebody and get rid of some old wounds — that’s what was so powerful about worship this morning. I believe some things got taken care of in the spirit realm during praise and worship this morning. 

So as we do bread and cup this morning, use it as an opportunity for the Spirit to speak to you. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying. Let the Lord point those things out to you. If you need to repent of some things, repent, but then just surrender it all to Him. Let this time of bread and cup this morning be the most powerful you’ve ever had.