A Christmas Wish by Pastor Brent Lokker

How was your Christmas?  That’s a question we often get asked in these handful of days that stretch into the New Year. Let’s see…how to answer that one.    Many of you experienced the joy of multiple family gatherings, but some of you were isolated and alone.  You may have experienced an odd mixture of feeling the warmth from Christmas songs you’ve known since childhood along with a tinge of sadness that certain people are no longer around so things can never be quite the same as they were.  You may have struggled with not having the same desire this year to put up all the decorations or to bake goodies while at the same time wanting to preserve certain traditions to pass along to the next generation.  Perhaps you wanted the people you love to feel special but just weren’t into the frantic gift buying that ensues each December.   So…How was your Christmas? It’s not such an easy answer, is it?   When children ask each other this question, they’re really asking, “What new toy or game or electronic device did you get?”  But as adults, for the most part we understand that the gifts aren’t the big deal. We really do. The older we get, the more our wish list of items one can buy in a store dwindle and our true wish list is something with much weightier significance.  So, while I had many special moments this Christmas (including the deeply moving Christmas Eve Eve service we shared with several other churches last Saturday), I would like to share with you my current Christmas wish list…   I wish each one of us truly knew and felt how loved we are by our heavenly Papa. I wish each one of us genuinely loved ourselves with no more self-hatred or shame. I wish each one of us were so healed from the deep wounds in our hearts that we were able to love each other without any weirdness…ever! I wish random acts of kindness that seem to be less random this time of year would be a way of life throughout the year. I wish we all were a bit more present with each other in the midst of all the things we have to do. I wish all of the abundant resources around the world were able to find their way to those who need food and shelter and clothing. I guess my wish list is really for more of heaven on earth until the day when heaven is our only reality and we are all gazing into the beautiful face of Jesus together.   I’m the first to admit I don’t always get it right, but my heart knows what it’s been created for.  I suppose this is why the older I get, the easier I cry when I hear the stories of how love is making a difference. Life is precious and life is short. Rather than that leading to a sense of panicked urgency, my prayer is that it will lead to a life that cherishes each moment and looks for ways to make someone else’s life a little bit better.   And if you’ve been feeling a little lonely or depressed or out of sorts, please do what you can to come join us this Saturday. Nobody there is without flaws, but we’re there together because we need each other. We really do. Our heavenly Father made us to need each other because He wanted it that way.   This Saturday as we embark upon a New Year, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus together. Worship has a way of pressing the reset button of our hearts. It brings back the peace and fills us with the joy of belonging to our Father who adores us as His kids. Please come and enjoy God’s presence with us. And in the midst of 4 hours of worship (with three worship teams from 6-10 pm) there will also be the opportunity to receive encouragement from our prophetic teams as they speak out the heart of God with His truth that sets you free to be the real you. (You can find the details in the banner below.) If you can't join us Saturday, know that wherever you are, you are never alone and you are greatly loved!   I declare over you that the true miracle of Christmas, God with us who has become Christ in you  will fill your love tank every day of the year!   With Much Love,   Pastor Brent

The Child Who Changed Everything by Pastor Susan Fochler

A lot of prophetic words and actions in the Old Testament culminated in the birth of Jesus Christ.  Many of them seemed clear in meaning, others were hidden or obscure.  Some seemed figurative, others literal.  Hebrew tradition long heralded the coming of Messiah, and many traditional Jewish people are still looking for Him.   Jesus has Many Names Jesus was prophesied to be from King David’s lineage, and would be born in Bethlehem, David’s home town.  (Micah 5:2)  We read words about Him that seem in conflict with one another; He was a King, a Mighty God, the Prince of Peace; a Wonderful Counselor, a Savior, a Light; but He was also born a Child; and Broken, Wounded, Forsaken.  (Isaiah 9, 53)  So many words, no wonder it was hard for many to recognize Him when He came.  But those who were hungry to truly know Him found Him. Hungry for the Truth Wise men came looking for Him, recognizing the prophetic significance of a Great Light in the sky, long prophesied in Isaiah 9 to declare His coming.  They came looking for a King to worship and lavish gifts upon.  They were hungry for the True King. A Shepherd and a Sacrifice Angels came dramatically to visit shepherds out on the hills with their sheep to announce Christ’s birth.  Shepherds know better than anyone else how much sheep really need a Shepherd to take care of them.  Those shepherds also recognized the significance of the swaddling cloths Jesus was wrapped in-the same swaddling cloths shepherds wrap lambs in order to keep them perfect as they’re prepared for sacrifice.  The shepherds were hungry to meet their Shepherd and their perfect sacrifice. The Hungry will be Filled Did Mary recognize the significance of Jesus being born in Bethlehem (House of Bread) in a food trough?  Perhaps, perhaps not.  When she encountered her cousin Elizabeth the Spirit came upon Mary and she prophesied over her baby, “those who hunger for him will always be filled”  Luke 1:53 (TPT).  A strange thing to prophesy over your own baby!  But she knew her baby Jesus was the answer every human heart is beating for-to know the unconditional love of a perfect God who willingly came to earth and live as us. Prophetic Significance for our lives In the same way so many prophetic words played out to mark the birth of Jesus, God is at work in all of our lives causing His word over each of us to come to pass.  Some of those prophetic words we’re aware of, some we’re not.  Some are obvious and straightforward, others more unclear.  Some may be those things Jesus Himself is praying and prophesying over our lives that we may not fully know until we’re on the other side.  But even as the birth and life of Christ was carefully planned out and orchestrated to come to earth at a certain time and way in order to fulfill His destiny,  so is God at work in your life.   In ways hidden, in ways revealed, God is manifesting His Light with ever increasing brilliance in and through you.    Wishing you a Joyful and Light-filled Christmas; Susan

Empowered: Processing Forgiveness & Reconciliation by Pastor Russ Fochler

Wm. Paul Young took us on quite a journey last Saturday night with lots of stories, sidetracks-within-stories, hard-won wisdom and beautiful insights.   You can listen to the podcast here. I was deeply moved by what Paul shared about unforgiveness, forgiveness, and reconciliation.  His wisdom felt solid - both empowering and freeing.   Breaks in relationships and issues of unforgiveness touch most of us deeply —  and all too frequently.  Offense is taken over something, and then someone finds themselves feeling distanced or even “cut off” from a relative, neighbor, friend, or fellow member of an organization.    Often this is because we’ve leapt to assumptions about the other person’s intentions.  We can build whole court cases in our minds against someone that are based upon misperceptions and misinformation.  I believe these are examples of “vain imaginations” or “arguments” (the Greek word logismos) which the apostle Paul names in 2 Cor 10:4-5  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (NKJV) As we look to God’s Spirit to help us identify and disempower these assumptions and “cases” we make against each other, we become more and more freed to walk in koinonia - a Greek word meaning to share together in a valued reality greater than ourselves.   And yet, sometimes, the wounds and pain caused by someone’s actions are very deep and truly damaging.  What do we do then? Here is empowering wisdom from Paul Young: People often seem to confuse forgiveness and reconciliation.  And, as a result they can find themselves stuck in revolving cycles of abuse.   Forgiving someone means we let go of their throat.  This is mostly for our own sake - freeing us from staying in bitterness.  Yet, in a mysterious way, it is often felt by the other person.  We don’t need to wait until the other person asks for forgiveness in order to forgive them.   Indeed, many times they aren’t alive anymore or just don’t care about us. Unforgiveness is like a having a dead body chained to our back - poisoning every relationship.  When we decide we want freedom from unforgiveness, it is good to invite God into a conversation about it.  And it can help a lot to also include a few close people in our community in this conversation. Forgiving someone is often impossible to do by ourselves.  But we can trust God to empower us as we lean on Him to help.  Indeed, Paul Young notes that the passage about the faith of a mustard seed in the Gospel of Luke is tied to receiving the strength to forgive - to uproot something as strongly rooted as a mulberry tree and cast it away!   Luke chapter 17:3-6 (ESV):  “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”  The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Forgiving ourselves is often the hardest to do. Forgiveness is a process.  Paul Young shared about a time earlier this year when he became aware of anger towards his now 90 year old mother for not protecting Paul when he was a young boy from his angry father’s beatings.  Paul was surprised by the anger that came up in him, but the process of forgiveness now goes much more quickly than it used to - instead of taking 6 months, it is now more like 6 minutes to 6 hours.  Forgiving someone does not mean you have to automatically trust the person or have a close relationship with them.  Good, strong boundaries are often still necessary!  If we believe that forgiveness also means we must reconcile — even with a person who has little or no value for us, and continues try to bully/control us — this keeps us in cycles of abusive relationships. I’ve seen instances where someone repeatedly bullied another person and then repeatedly demanded they forgive him. “God says you have to forgive”.   A predator was using Bible verses to abuse and manipulate a friend of mine.   Jesus did not say “you have to instantly trust whoever hurt you.”  No.  Instead we can have wise, healthy boundaries without holding on to bitterness.  Jesus frees us and empowers us to live and love like him.   Reconciliation   Most of the time, reconciliation for smaller relational “breaks” can be accomplished by opening our hearts, remembering the love we have for each other, and seeking to understand each other.  Families usually have some kind of "reconciliation model” - how we got back to being "OK" with each other.  I encourage you ponder how that worked (or really didn’t work) in your family of origin - and then invite Father God to teach you the reconciliation processes of His family. Sometimes the damage done to a relationship is severe: betrayal, adultery, repeated bullying, serious manipulation and control, embezzlement, destruction of someone you love, etc. - where bridges of trust have been burned.  The pain in these cases is real and deep, and a slow process is needed to truly reconcile.     Here is Paul Young’s wisdom for seeking reconciliation after a major relational break: Reconciliation is about reestablishing trust once it’s been lost.  It is always up to the person who has been hurt whether they choose to move toward reconciliation.  For Paul Young and his wife Kim, it was an 11-year process and for most of the time, Paul did not know if they’d ever be fully reconciled.  For deep reconciliation to have a chance to work, the person who caused the damage to the relationship will need to: Really own what they did Be specific about what they did and the damage they caused Ask for forgiveness for those specific behaviors and the damage they caused (not generalities) Show real change over time. Paul Young still deeply regrets the pain and damage he caused his wife Kim and others.   But through the love of the Trinity for Paul, the shame has been taken away and only a godly grief remains - in a space where Jesus is with him. I can vouch for these points personally.  As I’ve shared before, I did a lot of emotional damage to my wife Susan in the early years of our marriage by acting in angry, threatening, controlling ways.  Our reconciliation process took many years.  I needed to be patient, own my stuff, have a shared reality with Susan about how I acted and how this hurt her.  And, Susan needed to see real change in me over time.   Because of God’s work in my heart, Susan has been able to see real change in the ways I respond to “triggers” and the ways I treat her.  And our marriage has become a life-giving blessing to both of us.

With Joy and Hope, Russ Fochler