The Wonderful Holy Spirit by Pastor Russ Fochler

Last weekend was the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, also called Pentecost -- which is 7 weeks (50 days) after Passover.  Shavuot is celebrated as a harvest feast and in remembrance of God giving the Torah to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.   On the day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus died as our Passover Lamb, the Holy Spirit came in power upon the those who followed Jesus and obeyed his command to wait in Jerusalem to be endued with power from on high. The children of Israel were unable to stay faithful to God's commandments in the Torah (also called "the Law").  And the more legalistic they tried to be, the harder their hearts became.  But God prophesied through Ezekiel his answer to this great problem: 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.  Ezekiel 36:26-27 NASB God's Spirit within us, replacing of our hearts of stone with hearts responsive to God's heart!  So, we can now have the Spirit of the Life inside -- showing us the life-giving intent of God's statues and ordinances, instead of our continued striving to follow the letter of the law with a hardened heart.  (See 2 Cor 3:6)   Thank you Wonderful Holy Spirit! Here is something Jesus shared about the Holy Spirit with his disciples.  I'm including two of the translator's notes (using underlined words and italics) because I found them intriguing and helpful.   Jesus is speaking to his disciples: 15 “Loving me empowers you to obey my commands.  16-17 And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Savior the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be to you a friend just like me—and he will never leave you. another The Greek word allos means “another of the same kind.”  As Jesus is the Savior from the guilt of sin, the Holy Spirit is the Savior who saves us from the power of sin by living through us in fullness. Savior  The Greek word used here is paráklētos, a technical word that could be translated “defense attorney.” It means “one called to stand next to you as a helper.” Various translations have rendered this “Counselor,” “Comforter,” “Advocate,” “Encourager,” “Intercessor,” or “Helper.” However none of these words alone are adequate and fall short in explaining the full meaning. The translator has chosen the word Savior, for it depicts the role of the Holy Spirit to protect, defend, and save us from our self and our enemies and keep us whole and healed. He is the One who guides and defends, comforts and consoles. Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, our Savior.  The world won’t receive him because they can’t see him or know him. But you will know him intimately, because he will make his home in you and will live inside you." 18 “I promise that I will never leave you helpless or abandon you as orphans — I will come back to you! 19 Soon I will leave this world and they will see me no longer, but you will see me, because I will live again, and you will come alive too. 20 So when that day comes, you will know that I am living in the Father and that you are one with me, for I will be living in you. 21 Those who truly love me are those who obey my commands. Whoever passionately loves me will be passionately loved by my Father. And I will passionately love you in return and will manifest my life within you.” 22 Then one of the disciples named Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “Lord, why is it you will only reveal your identity to us and not to everyone?” 23 Jesus replied, “Loving me empowers you to obey my word. And my Father will love you so deeply that we will come to you and make you our dwelling place. 24 But those who don’t love me will not obey my words. The Father did not send me to speak my own revelation, but the words of my Father. 25 I am telling you this while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Spirit of Holiness, the One like me who sets you free, he will teach you all things in my name. And he will inspire you to remember every word that I’ve told you." Worth meditating upon and embracing! With expectancy and wonder, Pastor Russ Fochler

Living In Prosperity by Pastor Brent Lokker

Last Saturday we heard a powerful message from Jim Baker about prosperity from heaven's perspective. He defined prosperity in this way: "You have no financial debt, you have more than enough money to fulfill every design assignment God has for you, and enough left to help others fulfill theirs." I believe our heavenly Father is getting our attention about the ways in which we've been placing our trust in money rather than in His ability to take care of us. He's drawing our attention to this not because He's angry or impatient with us, but because He wants to bless us in such a profound way and He knows that our wrong mindsets are getting in the way. His plan is to bless us in order that we would be a huge blessing to this world. He's placed seemingly outlandish dreams inside of us to bring about His goodness and justice on the earth and the fulfillment of these dreams will require great resources! If we're looking to our own abilities, or if we're giving fear the time of day, we'll give up on our dreams. It's time to lay down our worn out fears about not having enough and embrace the extravagant goodness of Papa God for such a time as this! Kris Vallotton just came out with a book, Poverty, Riches & Wealth: Moving from a Life of Lack into True Kingdom Abundance. As I share some contrasts that Kris outlines in his book, I want you to ask Holy Spirit to show you areas of your heart that need upgrades in truth. Remember that the Lord never condemns us or "puts us in our place," but always lifts us up to His place of truth as kings and queens in his court of honor. So as Holy Spirit shows you places in your heart and mind that need to agree with His truth, choose to agree and make a positive declaration about what is true in your life (even if you're not feeling it yet). First, a contrast of poverty vs. wealth (Kris uses the word wealth in the same way Jim Baker uses the word prosperity): Poverty lives for today, but wealth leaves a legacy. Poverty finds a problem in every opportunity. Poverty feels entitled, while wealth feels empowered. Poverty fears the future, yet wealth makes history. Poverty blames others for its condition, but wealth takes responsibility for things that are not its fault. Poverty asks, "What are you going to do for me?" Wealth asks, "Who is worthy of my investment?" Poverty hangs around with other disgruntled sorts who validate its accusations, but wealth surrounds itself with other powerful influencers. Next, a contrast of rich mindsets vs. wealthy mindsets: Rich people get their identity from the things they own. Wealthy people's identity comes from who they are. Rich people either spend a lot of time trying not to lose their money, or spend time wasting it on themselves. Wealthy people's money is just an expression of who they are, so they are confident in their well-being. Rich people think of their assets, but wealthy people dream of their legacy. Rich people think their money protects them, but wealthy people are inherently humble because they are thankful, knowing the source of their provision is the Lord. Rich people step on others to move up. Wealthy people measure success by the people they help up. The rich person's business goal is to make money, whereas a wealthy person's profession yields profit as the fruit of serving others well. God is taking all of us to a whole new level of deep trust. Are you ready to go? The stakes are huge, but don't worry, God has put His Spirit inside of us to lean upon Him big time in this journey. With Much Love in My Heart for Each of You, Brent, beloved child of my good, good Father

Destined for Greatness by Prophetic Overseer Bill Hernandez

I believe that we are headed into a time where the Lord will be visiting every church leader around the world to bring healing and wholeness into their lives. He is going to draw them back to their original passion and love for the body. He is going to revive the Good Shepherd heart in us all. That heart is a heart of love and this heart of love is our destiny because it's inborn. I asked the Lord what was my assignment in life and in essence I was asking Him what was my destiny. I was expecting an outline of what to do, but instead He qualified the bottom line of what my destiny was to reflect. He then began to show me that every single one of us is a piece of Him. We were created from His heart, His very being. We were breathed of Him. The DNA of our personhood was wrought in Him. Since He is love, we were spawned of love Himself. The Lord showed me that He is the assignment in us and through us. In the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 it states, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The kingdom is Him, so stated in a different way the prayer could say, "Your personhood come on earth as You are in heaven."  "Your love come on earth, through us to others as You love in heaven." Being a piece of God's love we have the potential to exercise that love perfectly on earth if we say yes to Jesus and allow ourselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into a vessel or conduit of His perfect love. How that love is played out is unique to each of us through our various talents, passions, giftings and callings. This uniqueness was established long ago before we were ever born as it says in Psalm 139:16 - "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Every person on earth was created in His image and every one, being a glorious piece of Him, compels us to honor and respect every human being. In loving others we are affirming that they are indeed a reflection of Him and have just as much potential as anyone to yield themselves fully to righteousness having become new creations in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All of humanity are brothers and sisters because we have a common DNA. If we cannot love others we run aground with His values. He values all and makes this poignantly clear in Matthew 25:45 - "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me. " If a person is a piece of Him and we hate that person, we are pretty much hating Him. We are all bound together is this great cosmic reality. We are family and He is recruiting us through Jesus to spread the good news until hopefully everyone says yes to Him. We are assigned to be reconcilers and that's the impetus that fuels our destinies. If we walk in that and play out love through our individual passions He will back that up with power and anointing. He backs up His purposes, His assignments and great destinies in us. "... Apart from Me, you can do nothing." John 15:5 Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. You are destined for greatness! Bill Hernandez

Pregnant, Process and Promise by Pastor Karena Lout

“He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” Romans 8:28 (The Message)

I’ve been feeling very “pregnant” with some things God has put in my heart lately. Being pregnant isn’t always very comfortable, but it’s so reassuring to know that God knows and sees our condition. Paul told the Galatians that he felt labor pains until he would see Christ fully formed in their lives. What is it that Jesus is forming and developing in you? What promises and dreams are you currently pursuing? There are some great treasures God wants you to gain during this “middle part of your story.” Here are a few things I’ve been growing in this process:   Permission to Make Mistakes Many times we don’t want to try something unless we know we’re going to succeed at it. The truth is, falling down is inevitable and actually necessary for growth. It’s when we start defining ourselves by our mistakes that we lose the ability to get back up after we’ve fallen. As you take some steps toward the dream God has given you, give yourself plenty of room to color outside of the lines, to take risks and fall down on occasion. Jesus will be right there to pick you up and give you courage to keep going.   Resilience and Hope I read this quote from author Andrea Thompson the other day that really stuck with me:

“It’s hard to bounce back from setbacks when you see every obstacle as the end of the world. Resilience is not a synonym of toughness; it is a response of hope. If you kill hope, resilience dies with it.”

As you rely on His strength and allow your heart to be filled with hope, you’re going to find a new determination and tenacity that you didn’t know was there before. Hope doesn’t disappoint. But misplaced hope does. Hoping in our own ability to accomplish things never ends well. God wants to strengthen your spirit with might as you put your hope in Him.   Trusting in His Ways I wasn’t aware I struggled with trust until God put an impossible dream in front of me. When fear and lack take the driver’s seat, we tend to logically try to figure out how it’s all going to work out. In John 6, Jesus is met by a massive crowd of hungry people to feed. He already knew how he was going to feed them but he asks Philip, “Where will we buy enough food to feed all these people?” Philip comes up with a response based on what he saw in the natural. Jesus is continually inviting us to see from His vantage point. When we rely on our own strength and abilities, we miss the joy of leaning. Ask Jesus to show you His way of doing things.   Keep going! Keep surrendering your dreams and all He’s promised you to Him. They were first birthed in His heart to begin with. Watch as He takes your little something and multiplies it. Don’t lose heart. Jesus is so faithful to finish all He started in you. The process, the journey is all worth it.