Joel 2:28-29

English Standard Version Chapter 2

The LORD Will Pour Out His Spirit             28        “And it shall come to pass afterward,       that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;                   your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,       your old men shall dream dreams,       and your young men shall see visions.             29       Even on the male and female servants       in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

CAMP STATS

6 churches

224 students

48 cabin leaders

33 staff members

56 first time salvations

90 Rededications

24 reported physical healings

52 holy spirit baptisms

80 students called into ministry 

English Standard Version Chapter 2

The LORD Will Pour Out His Spirit             28        “And it shall come to pass afterward,       that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;                   your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,       your old men shall dream dreams,       and your young men shall see visions.             29       Even on the male and female servants       in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

All means you. Is this our reality?

generations, centuries, almost 1,000 years of God’s people hoped to experience this  promise in their lifetime.

Here we are born into it, do we care?

Can you imagine talking to a member of Joel’s 9th century audience?

Them asking you, what is it like to experience the spirit of God?

We have to have a better answer than “cool”, than “goosebumps”

NEPO BABY OF HEAVEN

Anything can prompt a spiritual reaction, only the Spirit of God can prompt a spiritual transformation

Where the old is gone, where a new creation lives

A life where by our own invitation and willingness to the Spirit of God we are filled with the character of God, the gifts of God

Through our devotion to Christ we are offered this Spirit

And what does this spirit bring?

The spirit of God brings Heaven to you and brings Heaven out of you

The presence of God and the products of God

Peter at Pentecost

Peter looking around seeing the promise ofJesus happen in real time and being brought back to the words of Joel. A prophetic and poetic image of a world where the Spirit of God is found in both sons and daughters, in both old and young, where influence and powerful is not a factor. Where there is no inequality, no marginalization, no social stratification in the Kingdom of God.

We see a new state of the world where there is universal access to  divine revelation

English Standard Version Chapter 2

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,       your old men shall dream dreams,       and your young men shall see visions.

Prophesy - to proclaim a message from God, to speak inspired

That the sons and daughters through the Spirit of God are given a voice to echo the father’s

Dreams - dream, given revelation from

"I dream my painting and I paint my dream" - Van Gough (maybe)

“I dream the kingdom of God and I live my dream”

Why are dreams hard? Why would the old man dream? Just want us to sleep!! No the more refined of us in this room, have been refined through the years of life. You have lived years upon years in a beautiful word, but also a grueling world. A life with highs and a life with lows. A life where a head in clouds can neglect the feet on the ground. But could it be that the Spirit of God has dreams for you that don’t suspend your reality, they support it. Because the reality is that that the kingdom of Heaven is here NOW. And what a gift it is that the Lord wants to cultivate and preserve the awe, the wonder, the anticipation, and the hope that dreams provide us. That we are not holding God to our reality we are following him into his.

Visions - divine communication

An intimate, holy, and personal connection

a promise where God will continue to reveal himself

A promise where God will reach out his hand and open the eyes of the young for his glory, for his will, according to his plan.

This is happening. We are living in this reality. Are you?

Stories of how the young are experiencing spiritual transformation.

God is poring out his spirit on the high schooler who says “over this past year i really have struggled with anxiety i would get really bad anxiety to the point where i couldn’t even get out of bed and didn’t go to school for around a week until i started to pray to Jesus to help me get out of this dark place and protect me from my anxiety which he did do both of those things, it felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. Then, on June 13th 2026 one of family members passed away and i just felt guilty because i wouldn’t spend as time with them so my anxiety started to get really bad. But at camp i pulled a leader aside and asked him to pray for me and my anxiety which was one of the most life changing experiences i have had in the moment i just felt a wave of anxiety go away and joy express through me and ever since then i have not had any bad anxiety attacks”

God is pouring out his spirt on the young man that says “Before I went to summer camp this year I felt really lost. I was questioning my faith and felt like sin was following me left and right. I felt trapped, and I really couldn't pull myself out. And I felt like I had tried everything. I really wanted to break it, but | just couldn't get out. Going to camp, I was able to forget all of this. I was able to leave all this behind. I spent time with friends and made memories I'll never forget, and I really felt the lord reconnecting with me. But I didn't wanna go back to the way it was when I went home. So I got prayer from a leader and when I went home I felt like a completely different person. I'm so much happier now than I was and I truly just feel like l've felt the lord just reach me and pull me out of this ocean of darkness. I finally felt the lord's presence which I had lost for so long. I'm so grateful that I got to go to camp and feel the lord again, and I've continued to stay out of that cycle of sin after camp ended.”

God is pouring out his spirit when a young woman shares her journey of the last year by saying “Jesus changed my life. My first realization of Jesus was when I decided on my own behalf to go to church as someone who grew up in a pretty non-religious family. We would only really go to church on Easter and Christmas but that slowly stopped happening as I got older. I was in a very dark place at that time feeling constantly exhausted by shame and guilt. My grades started to drop and I just felt so alone all the time, so Christmas rolls around and I decide to go to church with my mom and that service changed my perspective forever. As the pastor told us to bow our heads and pray, which I had never done before. As I’m praying I get chills down my arms and feel water in my eyes. That’s the moment I realized that Jesus is truly our savior. Over the course of the next year of learning to be a Christian, there are so much I didn’t realized.

Loving Jesus doesn’t mean just to follow him but to also help others. I mean this by not just hanging out with other Christians but everybody. My first time at Eastside, my friends invited me and I was so scared and nervous to be imperfect. I slowly realized you go to church to heal not to be perfect. So my testimony shows just how fast Jesus can turn your life around”

God is pouring out his spirit upon the 15 Trey who saw a room at the end of a simple prayer of repentance. A room where a generation cried out to the father. Warm lights, exposed bulbs, a simple cross. The weight of each word was felt as the crowd declared the glory of God. Such focus, such intention, such desperation. As if every utterance communicated a lifetime of longing. An image so real it felt like taking in a breathe of air. The air was desperate, the air was sacred. As the people worshipped their God, his spirit washed over them. In there desperation he delivers his blessing.

I remember trying to tell others this and not being able to communicate it. I just kept focusing on the string lights and the minimal set up. I really thought edison bulbs would be the way to heaven. All of my ministry from that moment forward was a pursuit of that atmosphere. That was the standard I chased and I didn’t even know if it was a real place. June 28th 2026 was our last night of camp. From the first night there was a desperation, there was an anticipation and that desire only grew as we spent days pursing more of Gods presence. I started the last night with a simple direction, to stay in your seat. To stay in your seat until you are ready. To take a moment to again recenter yourself, to re establish Christ as the center of all that you are and when you have had that moment come to the alter.

 But understand that when you are coming forward you are saying yes to Gods will for your life. You are saying yes to his kingdom. Your walk to the front of the room is a commitment. As we started worship slowly students began to rise out of their seats, one by one. By the third song 95% of the camp is at the alter. And as I’m standing in the back of the room looking at what the Lord is doing I breathe. And I realize I’ve breathed this air before. How did I not realize it. How did I not know. This is the room the Lord showed me. This is the generation returning to the Father. Im standing there shocked and overwhelmed and I just start thanking God for his faithfulness. It’s in this moment I feel a hand on my chest, I look and it’s my dad who we brought as our camp pastor. His eyes are watery and his voice is strong as he says “June 28th, 1996 I was in a room just like this. I was in this room. And it was in this room that I experienced the accepted Christ and experienced the love of the Father. it was in this room that I was baptized in his spirit, it was in this room that I was given a plan and a purpose for my life. In this room 30 years ago to this day the Lord met me. And look hes doing it again. He’s doing it again.”

And we stand and we look and speechless at what’s unfolding before us.

The visions and the dreams the past and the future it is not different revelation. It is not even different pieces of the same puzzle. It is the same. That it is all according to his plan in purpose. That if we want to experience the unity of kingdom we need the spirit of God

The Lord gave me a vision as a boy and 10 year later I realize it wasn’t just a goal it was a generational blessing

And out of this room I can’t imagine the future generations that will be blessed.

What will it take, our continued yes, our continued willingness, our continued desperation for the spirit

These moments are not limited to camps or to youth ministry. The air of heaven is not exclusive to crammed chapels with broken ac and not enough deodorant.

Don’t you want to take advantage of when you have been born. Born on this side of the life death and resurrection of Christ. Born into an inheritance of the spirit of God. Don’t you want to dream? Don’t you want to see visions. Experience new revelation? Ongoing transformation.

Joel’s whole point in his writing is to turn ourselves back to God to repent, to return and in this return to him we experience his blessing. The same simple prayer I prayed at 15.

Joel is preaching a call to repentance

“rend your hearts and not your garments” (Joel 2:13)

It is not just about what team your on, what you appear to stand for

YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT

Joel starts with their current situation. Drought, famine, hardship, suffering. They have felt the physical separation from God but Joel is pointing to the spiritual

We have been unfaithful, yet the one whom we serve is faithful

Our God, a God of grace, or promise, of redemption

There will be a day when the land is healed, when the spirit of God is poured out amongst his people, where all that is unrighteous will be brought to judgement.

In repentance, we don’t get even, we gain blessing. 

Prayer

1.   Commitment to Jesus

2.   Willingness for the spirit