The Church Of Acts

Speaker: Pastor Greg Sanders

Passage: Acts 2:41-42

The Holy Spirit Working At Vintage

Hey, I want to push pause on Romans, where we’re at. 

We had a board meeting last Sunday after church and we were just sitting in my office as a team. Just kind of honestly drinking in the after-effects of our gatherings. So last week, this is the 8:30 Gathering, the 10:30 — I don’t know what happened. It’s like the Lord just landed in a way that I have not seen in my lifetime. 

If I have the counts right, I know for a fact that four people gave their lives to the Lord for the first time last Sunday in the 10:30 Gathering.

And there were 4-6 random baptisms, where people were just like, I’ve got to get in the water and get right with Jesus.

I’m not doing this for statistics. I’m just saying, in my lifetime, I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen a move of God where people supernaturally just — all of it, because one of our young men just said, “Hey, I feel like they’re supposed to give you a call for surrender to the King and baptism.” And then people just started flocking. 

I stood there and went, “huh.” There was no teaching. Maybe that’s why it was awesome. Worship just, it just was just…And I thought 8:30 last week was spectacular. I mean, we had people getting healed of hormonal depression. We had people coming up going, “Hey, God supernaturally healed me. I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

The point for that, and we sat in our board meeting, we just talked about it — we cried, we sat and wept. Just, what a privilege. What an honor to be in a season like this. And we were talking about a business meeting we have coming up this Wednesday night, our annual business meeting. Generally, they’re pretty much a hoot. Because we just worship and thank God for His faithfulness. It’s what it’s really about, which is what we’ll do again. 

Discussing Church Membership

But this year, we have some things we have to vote on. We have board member shifts and changes. And those have to be voted on by membership. And the question came up, do we have a membership? And then three guys in the board meeting were like, I’ve never actually signed anything that I was a member. And I went, you know, now that you say that? I’m not sure. We used to do that. And we started laughing and realized this is a problem. 

So we were discussing it and went back through the history. Well, you know, something happened during — how many know that the pandemic broke stuff everywhere? Broke our system. Somewhere in the midst of that, we quit inviting people to actually make a declaration that this is the family I want to be part of. And based on our government, our governing documents, that has to happen. 

So we were talking about well, we should do maybe just a mass intake, which is what we’re going to do today. So I was sitting with the Lord and like, “Lord, our gatherings have been so sweet. I don’t want to do business and have it just be like wah wah, the air leaves the room.” 

The Fear Of The Lord Is Clean

And I feel like the Lord reminded me of two places in Scripture. One was the phrase that I’ve always lived with, which is “the fear of the Lord is clean,” what the Scriptures teach in Proverbs. What does that mean? That means the Lord honors organization and systems. He does things right. He never takes shortcuts. I want you to hold on to that in your lifetime. When you try to take a shortcut, you are sacrificing the fear of the Lord. The willingness to dig in and do things right, correctly, and honorably invites the fear of the Lord.

Every time I do my taxes, I remind myself the fear of the Lord is clean. Because I’m just like everybody else. The first thing that comes up inside of me is, “I don’t want to pay that.”

I got a speeding ticket about a month and a half ago. I thought it was incredibly unfair. So a youngster, very new to his job, he was going to make an example. I drove up, pulled out of the carwash, and kinda hit the throttle to drive my car off. I’ve been a car guy since I was — I was born into a car family. So like cars really, really, like, I just really enjoy them. Like I grew up building hot rods, grew up tinkering with cars, grew up building motors, it’s just always been a thing. 

And there is something about a really fun, loud car. And so, at that moment, my car was loud. And I started to get angry. And I took a deep breath and went, “You know what, Lord? I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was above the speed limit. And the fear of the Lord is clean. So I’m going to pay this thing and move on.” Because I don’t want to fight in a stupid area and sacrifice the move of God. I don’t want to sacrifice the fear of the Lord anywhere. You’re like “He got a ticket?” Yeah. What about me doesn’t say I drive fast? It’s a constant concern, like, “Alright, Lord, obey the speed limit, obey the speed limit, obey law of the land.” If I had missiles on my car, I would use them. Because people get in the way. So the Lord reminded me, the fear of the Lord is clean. 

Having The Humility To Prepare

And the second thing was a story about James and John. It says that Jesus, when he selected them to be disciples, when he found them, they were mending their nets. Which is a really interesting idea that he selected people to go, be the ones that would carry the gospel, be the ones that would impact the world. And he was looking for people who had the humility to prepare. 

They weren’t just randomly hoping the Lord would deluge their nets with fish, they were preparing themselves and getting ready for the next day. I think all of this for me is the Lord loves structure, and He loves to pour out His presence on systems that are organized and structured. 

We often assume that the more random it is, the more God it is. I don’t believe that’s true at all. I have said this my entire lifetime, God is not weird. He’s not strange. He’s holy. So He’s other than. But we’ve got to let go of this propensity to believe that the more chaotic it is, the more God it is. 

If you look at the temple, and you look at Israel in the desert, and you look at how Byzantine the system was the Lord called for the detail, the measurement, there was not a single aspect of that temple. It was portable church. And if you thought I was tough during portable church, when the precision that I was hoping for when I would measure the drapes to make sure everything was right. If you look at the Scriptures, the Lord was calling for pristine accuracy. What does that teach us? It means He loves order. He’s not afraid of it. He also loves to pour out what is supernatural and beyond explanation in the midst of that. And He loves the people who will prepare for what’s coming. 

Joining Together As A Family

So as I prayed into it all week, because I was a little concerned, I want to take you through the four core elements of what we’re doing here at Vintage, how we’re building this culture. Basically, this is what we do at the Connect Dinner, I’m just doing a mass intake. So that when it comes time to do things like voting as a church on things that happen, we actually have the ability to do that correctly and legally. 

But I also think there’s a deeper, more important underlying principle. All the way through the Scriptures, the Lord will do things with every nation, every tribe, every tongue. I actually had a friend — he and I had this conversation the other day — he was at a church he was visiting. And he’s like, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I couldn’t feel the presence of the Lord there.” I was like, huh. I mean, the evidence is very clear, the presence of the Lord was all over the gatherings. I know the church he was at and I Know the leadership team. And I said, “Perhaps the Scriptures teach every nation, every tribe, every tongue, perhaps there is a familial thing that we’ve been invited into that we’re to congregate as families, and maybe perhaps our ability to even discern the presence of the Lord is connected to that family.” 

And that we’ve assumed incorrectly that we can just bounce around, do whatever we want, and it doesn’t matter. That actually, maybe the Lord has this deep familial thing He’s doing in h=His people. And in this next move, the families of God that we’re in actually matter. Every nation, every tribe, every tongue honors the fact that there are differences in what He’s doing. And He’s going to do unique things through different houses, does that make sense? 

So having a mooring and being rooted and grounded in the house that He’s put you in actually matters. We’ve adopted an American idea that says if I don’t like the restaurant, I’m going to a different restaurant. Church, I actually think that sin.

Pastor Gary used to teach this my whole life growing up out of Joseph’s life, that God places the lonely in families. It’s never been in His heart to have a disconnected people. So as I was chewing on this — you know, the Lord leads you to these things. And you’re like, “Oh, I get it. Okay, this is why we’re going to go here.” 

I believe we’re standing on the precipice of a move. Some of you have been praying for that for 30 – 40 years. We’ve been praying for it in this house for 13. Just the belief that what the Lord wants to do in this region is supernatural.

I want to be ready and prepared for the move of God. I don’t want to be scrambling to catch up. And I think it matters. I think there’s a unity that happens when we come together and say, “I’m in. This is where I’m at.” 

Can you imagine what the military would be like? If they just said, anybody who wants to show up, show up. We’re going to head over to Afghanistan, if you want to show up, go ahead and be free. No, there’s, there’s a requirement, is there not? To just kind of enlist. 

And I feel like, in a really healthy way, I had never seen it before. I’ve always been very soft on these things. I rarely talk about giving. I rarely talk about joining the family. Because I grew up in church. Those are like the two sacred cows of like, oh, everybody is so tired of these, please stop talking about them. But the truth is, these things matter in the kingdom because they’re issues of honor and the fear of the Lord. 

Acts 2:41-42

Let’s go to Acts chapter two. We’re going to be in verses 41 through 42.

Can I just tell you guys, I don’t care about the clock today? I believe in clocks, I believe in honoring time, I also think there’s a moment when the Lord is doing something and we just stop worrying about it. So I’m saying that more for my team, that’s going have to deal with the chaos. For other parking people, I’m sorry ahead of time. 

“Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church, about 3000 in all. They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer.” 

The first thing I want to highlight is this word devoted. The root word in the Greek is “proskartereo” meaning to be earnest towards something, to persevere, or to be continuously attentive to something. The simplest understanding is it’s a word that leans towards a call to live with a conviction of truth and make consistent life actions based upon that conviction. This was the attitude the Early Church applied toward their faith in Jesus.

That they were devoted, they were consistent. There were these things that they would give themselves to regularly. It wasn’t going to be just an esoteric belief system; it was going to be something that they would do diligence towards. Every single day it was to be part of their life. And so there’s four things that pop out here — unique practices that they chose to be devoted to. 

Following The Scriptures

I want to be clear. My conviction is that we, the people of God, are to continue in this model. We’re to let go of a desire to invent new vision statements and new mission statements. I want to just say it this way. Our job is not to invent something, it’s to follow something. We’re not creating anything new, we’re just following what the Scriptures say. 

I have always had this angst against vision statements when I’ve been in multiple meetings in churches where their vision, “what’s our vision going to be?” And I’m like, I’m pretty sure Jesus already gave us one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind your strength, love your neighbors yourself and go into the world, make disciples of all nations. 

We don’t get the right to have new vision. He is our vision. He gave it, He gave us marching orders we are to live into it. So this is how the Early Church was built. And I think we’re supposed to uphold these things. We’re standing — I will keep saying it because I believe it’s real. We’re standing on the precipice of what I believe is a nationwide move of God beginning. I believe it’s a generation-marking revival, restoration, and refreshing that’s coming. I know the fear of “is it?” Yes.

The Spark Of A Flame

In 1997, I was at Christ for the Nations in Surrey British Columbia, at the graduation ceremony from school, There were 88 people in my class, a small Bible college. I went to the Langley Vineyard while I was up there, sold hot dogs for the children’s ministry to raise money. Belinda made fun of me because I used to wax the hotdog cart to make sure it was perfect and pristine and clean so I could push it into the church and it would gleam and shine. Because I’m like, this is what they gave me to do. I want to do it awesome. She just mocked me. She’s like, you’re ridiculous. 

About four years later, my pastor came to do a conference with Pastor Gary and I because I was working for Pastor Gary at that time. And I was leading worship. He’s like, “You never told me you’re a worship leader.” I’m like, “You needed a hot dog guy. You didn’t need a worship guy.”

So in ’97, I’m at this graduation ceremony, and how many remember Bonanza, the TV show? How many remember the beginning opening of the show where there’s a map that’s on fire? So ’97 I’m standing in a room, there’s 88 students, there’s 87 of which are already slabbed out on the floor out in the Holy Spirit. I’m the only guy standing I’m like, “You must hate me.” 

And I’m standing there at the front next to the director of the school because I was being invited to kind of be his Padawan. If you don’t know what that is, watch Star Wars. And all of a sudden, I started seeing a picture. It’s a picture of a map. It’s a map of the United States. It’s an old tattered map. And there’s these triangle markings like mountains. I can see them throughout the center of the United States. And there’s flames beginning to spark. 

What was interesting in ’97 is there was a flame that was about the middle of California. I had no idea what was in the middle of California at that time. There was a flame down in the southeast in the Florida area. There was one that was just off the map up in the Toronto area. And I’m staring and the Lord said, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a map.” He said, “This is how I’m going to move in your nation.” And I began to see all these fires crop up. 

Now fire is always indicative of what? The move of God, revival. Looking back on it, what was interesting was, I had never been to Colorado but right in the middle. Right where Colorado’s at, there was a fire. 

I had never heard of Redding. Looking back on the map, there was a fire. So I have held in my heart since ’97, that the word of the Lord for me — I ended up being here. And as I got here, I went out and I’m praying in the Spirit. I’m out wandering through a field, we lived in the south part of Fort Collins and I would go out into this wilderness area called the Longview area which is funny because I grew up in Longview, Washington. But I would go out there and pray and all of a sudden my prayer language started to change. It becomes incredibly like, for lack of a better term, it starts to sound really Native American. To the point where my wife’s like that. “What is happening?” 

And when I’m out praying the Lord just — so I have a deep Native American heritage. So both sides. My great-grandmother on one side is full-blooded Cherokee. My great-grandma on the other side is full-blood Lakota. And the Lord said, I gave this area to your people. And I’m like, “Who’s my people?” Because nobody in my family had talked about it. It was kind of kept quiet. 

I’m just painting a story for me. I’ve been contending since I came to this region in 2002, with a deep belief that what was in the heart of God for this region was to pour out something that was going to set it ablaze.

I think it’s going to be beautiful. And I think it’s going to be really messy. And what I’m asking for us today is that we anchor in as a family and say, “Hey, we’re prepped, and we’re ready. Let’s go. We belong to each other. We’re going to do this together. We’re going to lock arms. And we’re going to do it the way the early church did it: as a family.” 

It’s Time To Belong Together

I actually think the Lord is doing this all over. I don’t think this is a Vintage issue. I think He is beginning to put pressure on His people to say it’s time to belong together. It’s time to put off this aimlessness and this quick, whimsical thing where if you get upset and offended, you leave. Look, Jesus told us offenses will come. It’s not supposed to be a surprise when they show up. How we deal with them is supposed to be governed by Him, not the fact that we have them. 

When we see offenses, we’re supposed to go, “Oh, yeah, You told me this was coming. Thank you for that. All right, great. Let’s work on it.” Instead of letting it divide us. None of this was in my notes. So I hope it’s okay. I’m very off-script. If you know me, I get very verklempt when I’m off script. 

They joined with other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer. The first thing I want us to understand for this house, we are a family that’s devoted to study. We’re not just going to talk about the Bible, we’re going to be in the Bible. The apostles’ teachings are not just to be there to be read, they’re to be ingested and understood. And there’s a dangerous place where we can live where we believe the Scriptures matter, but we don’t actually make them part of who we are. We don’t actually study them.

The Early Church saw the scriptures and the apostles’ teaching as something new. They were being coached and educated in the way of Jesus. And I would submit the same is true for us in our day. We are committed to being a people of study, not just experience. Can I say to you, that means you and I all own our private responsibility to study the Scriptures? 

For this reason, we as a family are going to study three ways all the time. Weekly teachings. We start in the scriptures together. Makes it legal. Our personal, private study. And we’re committed to living a life that is governed by the scriptures. I would love it if you wrote it on your mirror. If the scriptures say it’s wrong, I will not do it. If the Scriptures say to do it, I will do it. How simple could that be? To just live a life that says that the Scriptures will govern how I live, period. 

The second thing they devoted themselves to was fellowship. So we’re a family that’s devoted to gathering together to fellowship. What does that mean? The root word here is is koinonia. And it means fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation. It carries this word intercourse with it, which we were like, Oh, that’s a funny word. But it’s this supernatural thing that happens when we blend together. 

I would say it this way, there’s a guy, some of you know, Brett Costigan. He’s been a part of my life for a long time. He used to say this all the time, and I loved it. One of the fundamental things we forget is that we belong to each other. We’re actually part of each other. We’re not just in a club.

I don’t believe it’s ever been in the heart of the Lord for the church to be adjunct. We just went through a two-plus year season where it became very popular to sit at home and watch church and watch five different churches. I talked to a friend of mine once he’s like, “Yeah, I go to Elevation. I go to Bethel. I go to Vintage and I go to my church.” 

I’m like, that is so messed up. He’s like, why? Because what it forgets is this incredible truth. Watching a gathering is not being part of a family. Being part of a family means we rub shoulders, we spend life together, we commune, and we shape each other. And it’s different. 

I think gathering together for the purpose of being a family really matters to the Lord. Because I think it is in this culture and experience that we actually grow together. We learn about Him. We learn about each other. 

Our Commitments As A Family

So because of that, we’re going to be committed as a family to four things. Number one, engaging in each other’s lives. Not just walking past each other going, “Hey, bless you, brother” but actually engaging in each other’s lives. Joining together for weekly gatherings, it actually matters. coming together as the people of God matters. 

Engaging in small groups, “I don’t want to be in small groups,” you need to be in small groups. Why? Because that’s how people get to know who you are. Nobody knows why they need a small group until they go through crisis. Because then you need to have people who will fight with you, for you, walk alongside of you. What do you do when your marriage is on the rocks and you’ve not built a network of people that actually know you? We watch it over and over again, marriages crash and burn because there’s no accountability. They haven’t given ownership to anybody who could walk alongside them go, “Hey, you’re being a knucklehead, stop it.”

And we serve together on teams. Serve on teams. Part of how we learn to be a family is by hanging out together and working together. It is so easy to live a very individual, independent Kingdom life. The problem is it’s not the way the Kingdom life was built. They intentionally pushed into fellowship, they gathered together. 

The third thing I see here, apostles’ teaching, fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper, and in prayer. They shared. We’re a family that is devoted to sharing. Now this talks about the sharing of meals here. The root word is specifically about the moment you break bread together. 

That’s a really antiquated concept for us. Belinda and I went to Israel, we went with a friend of mine’s, church, to the Holy Lands. And I noticed every time they would sit down and eat, there was stuff in the center of the table, and you just broke it and ate together. For the American sensibility, you’re like, it’s so weird. Why are people touching my food? 

There was this concept of sharing together and understanding like we are together at this event and this moment. That is the overarching idea that’s being communicated here in the text, that we the people of God are committed to doing life together. Where we share meals, resources. What are your resources? It’s your time, it’s your money, it’s your effort. And we share bread and cup. 

Bread and cup’s a sacrament of the church. We do it every week for a reason. Because Jesus said, as often as you get together, do this in remembrance of me. I think He meant as often as you get together. So I’m like, why reinvent it? Why not just have it be a sacred part of what we do just like worship, just like giving, all of it? 

Sharing Our Time With Others

But meals together. Actually investing in life together where we hang out together. Awkward or not? We do it because we belong to each other. We want to get to know each other. Why do I share resources? Why do we share our time, our money, our effort? Because it’s what the Scriptures teach. 

We dispense honor on people by sharing our time with them. They dispense honor on us by sharing their time with us. We dispense honor on the Lord by walking in obedience to what He said about giving. There’s a bunch of teaching out there about giving. Some of it’s really messed up, some of it’s not. If you really want to know what’s the scriptural line in the New Testament, it is to give generously and sacrificially. 

I listened to Jack Hayford teach on it once — I think Jack Hayford has a pretty good track record in the church. And his statement was there’s nowhere in Scripture that says the tithe goes away. What it says is the New Testament goes above and beyond that. We love to invite people to begin with this piece of faithfulness, and then move forward as the Lord asks them. I just think it’s a great principle to live with. 

I Have Something Unique To Bring

Your effort. What’s your effort mean? It means assume your value to the family matters. You’re going to join and help. I want all of you to go home and look in the mirror and go, “I have something unique to bring.” And say it until you believe it. Because you do. 

You have something so unique. The Celtic believe that every person carries a unique fingerprint of God. And we don’t actually see who God is until we put the people of God together. That on that great day, when we see all the people of God together, we start to see the image of God, who He really is. 

I love that idea because it puts value on each person. And then lastly, it says they devoted themselves to prayer. We’re a family that’s devoted to encounter. This is why we worship like we do. This is why we pray so much. Because this root word here for prayer is the idea of the upturned face. It means we, the people of God, are people that are constantly in communication with the King. It encompasses everything we do. 

Practice Prayer Together

We don’t just come together to worship, we get up, we talk to Him, we drive down the road talking to Him, we pray. It’s just our life. But as a family, I’m asking you to join me in this devotion, to practice prayer together. You’re like, “My prayer’s boring.” That’s what the disciples said to Jesus, and they fell asleep. And He looks at them with tons of compassion. It’s like, seriously, you couldn’t give me an hour?

If you can’t give 15 minutes, what do you think His answer is going to be? “Really? You can’t give me 15 minutes.” I’m talking about the discipline of learning to be a people of prayer.

We’re committed to extended times of worship together. Did you catch what happened right at the end of the worship set? There was this thing. Everything in me wanted to just stay there. Because I knew what was on the list. I knew they had one more song. I was like, oh, come on, let’s go. But there was just this moment where the people of God were face-to-face with the King. And there was just this incredible sweetness in the room. We live for that moment. And we’re going to live for that moment. If extended times of worship bother you, I promise you, this isn’t your church. Because that’s never going to change in this family. 

Because we are believing for the supernatural reality that happens when Heaven invades Earth, because the people of God are worshipping. Because He’s enthroned on the praises of His people. 

An Invitation To Fasting

We’re people that believe in fasting to increase our spiritual appetites. If you don’t practice fasting, you should try. Fasting does not make you better before Jesus. Fasting is for you. It is a way to quiet one appetite to open another. 

Now, if you’re like me and you fast, you’re like, “Oh, it doesn’t quite match my appetite at all. My appetite gets really noisy.” Paul says this and I love it “I buffet my body to keep it in submission to the King.” 

If you’re struggling with sin patterns, fast. Commit that fast to the Lord for this reason. “Hey, Lord, my sin nature is out of control. I’m going to shut it down and make space for you. Would you help me bring discipline to this area of my life?” You are in control of you. You have been given metrics in the kingdom to control that. Fasting is a tool to be used by the people of God. 

The Early Church fasted two days a week. The Jews fasted on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Early Church fasted Tuesdays and Thursdays, I believe is the layout of that. We can ask Pastor Dustin when he’s back in here. He and I just had this conversation. I just don’t remember which one it was. 

The point was — I love this. Doctor Jay shared this with me. Develop a regular cycle where you never let your body be in control too long. Always keep your spirit in control. Daniel’s pattern was to set aside multiple pockets of prayer per day where he would go sit down with the Lord to refocus his attention on the King. I just think it’s fantastic — what would it look like if you set like six five-minute intervals throughout the day where when it goes off on your iPhone, you just push pause, you go get alone, you’re like, Lord, I just want to settle my heart before you. I need to repent for some stuff I just did the last hour ago, I was mad at somebody. I told them they’re an idiot. Please forgive me. All of that, where we’re just staying focused. 

The Unique Practices Of A Believer

And see what I love is in verse 43 and 44, what this produced in the church with these unique practices of believers. That’s what we’re talking about, the unique practices of a believer. What they produced in the church was a deep sense of awe that came over all of them. The apostles have performed many miracles, signs, and wonders, and all the believers sat together constantly and shared what they had. 

It created a reverence, the fear of the Lord, a release of the sign and the wonder, and a respect for each other. This is what the unique practices of the church create. Would it be safe for us to assume that these practices still produce this?

I remember when Pastor Gary was pastoring in the San Francisco Bay area, they were in Redwood City, and I was leading worship for him. The church gatherings held probably 200 to 250 in that room. And I had been visiting churches because I was traveling and I’ve been in some really big churches. And I remember leading worship and the thought hit me. There is so much spiritual authority in this little room compared to these big churches I go to that have no spiritual authority. 

Spiritual authority is not about size, it’s about devotion. I want to be a people that are so devoted to the King, that the authority of Heaven rests on this house, and people walk in and go, hmm. I want people to walk in in sin conditions and not be able to leave that way. Because the weight of Heaven is so concerning. I want people to walk in who don’t know what worship is, but they watch a people that just go vertical. And all of a sudden, they’re just caught up in it. You see, because worship is caught, it’s not taught.

Commitments Of Vintage

I think local church matters, because it’s how the Early Church modeled it. They modeled a community of faith that were devoted to these practices. What am I asking for? For us to step into these. Commit to live these unique practices of a believer together as a member of Vintage. Commit to offer your giftings to the family. By being willing to engage and serve on a team and get into some groups. Commit to support the family by giving tithes and offerings. 

I’m asking for us to put roots down and say we belong together. Maybe some of you are like, “Hey, I’ve done this before.” We’re just doing a re-up. It’s all we’re doing. It’s a good day, we’ve gone through a crazy season, we admitted that we may or may not have access to who signed that. It may have gotten lost in Google Drive. 

I’m asking you to sign — there’s membership documents back there at the door. I’m asking you to grab one and sign it and say, this is my house, this is my family. And let’s dig in and decide who we’re going to be. Let’s just see a city shaped and changed. 

It’s Teams Sunday, it happened to land together. Timing was perfect and funny. So if you’re like, “Hey, I’m ready. I’m convicted. I want to get on a team.” There’s tables over here. There’s tables out in the hallway. But church, for me this is a very serious moment for us. I think this is the line in the sand moment. I think it’s time to say hey, the Lord’s getting ready to do something. And we need to know who’s in the family. Does that make sense? Okay, would you stand with me please? Man, I went really long today. Wow. Yay, God

Prayer For The Future

That’s very kind. Even if you said hey, I’ve signed in. Great, will you do it again for me, please? And we commit to not lose it again. But more than that, I’m interested to see what the Lord’s going to do with this house. Wouldn’t it’d be fun if we watched something as simple as this open the doorway for breakthrough? What I’m hungry for is the deep sense of awe and the sign and the wonder. That’s what I’m hungry for. 

Lord, we love you. We honor you. Lord, sometimes I think this stuff is way less exciting than just giving a word for healing, but the truth is it takes both and I want us to be a people that aren’t haphazard and random. I want us to be of people that have looked at these practices, which is what you taught, and said, “yep, I’m in. I’ll do it.” Lord, I know that you did this a couple times with the disciples where you put a line in the sand and where are you in? Are you out? We’re just asking for you to build this house with what’s in your heart. And we love what you’re doing. And it’s a privilege, it’s an honor. Jesus be with us today. In your precious name, amen.