Preparing to Dive In by pastor Russ Fochler

This Saturday February 23rd, Brent Lokker begins our exploration of the Book of Acts.  Last Saturday I shared a message about preparing to "dive in" to the Book of Acts.  You can listen to the podcast here: https://blazingfire.podbean.com/e/preparing-to-dive-into-acts-%E2%80%94-russ-fochler/   Mostly, I focused upon what Jesus shared with His apostles about the Holy Spirit as recorded in the Gospel of John.  I believe Book of Acts could not have happened without the Holy Spirit. We're looking for personal and societal transformation as we explore Acts with Holy Spirit as our teacher, leader, and empowerer.  As you read this book for yourself, I encourage you to invite Holy Spirit to make it experiential for you -- to "dive in" and be immersed. As I promised during my talk last Saturday, here are some enjoyable and helpful overviews of the Book of Acts by The Bible Project. These first 2 videos are quick summaries with sketches Part 1: Acts Ch. 1-12 (~ 8 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGbNw855ksw Part 2: Acts Ch. 13-18 (~ 8 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-17KxpjL0Q The next 4 videos are animated and include helpful background information. Acts 1-7 (~ 6 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQhkWmFJKnA Acts 8-12 (~ 6 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiVAbkINtRU Acts 13-20 (~ 5 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fglsbcGSr3A Acts 21-28 (~ 5 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJsiwOB0Pvg Please see below to learn the background behind why we're focusing on the Book of Acts now. Affectionately, Russ Fochler

We Are On Offense Not Defense by pastor Brent Lokker

This past Saturday at Blazing Fire, all six pastors got up together and shared elements of where we believe God has been leading us and is leading us in this time in Kingdom history. I encourage you to listen to the podcast here. During my portion, I shared about the authority we have in Christ to reveal more of heaven's culture wherever we are and I included an upgraded revelation I received about what Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-45: You have heard the saying, “You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you to love your enemies, and pray for those who put curses on you! Then you will really be the children of your Father in the heavenly places." (The Source NT) Too often we’ve been on the defense, focusing on defending ourselves from blow after blow. But Jesus said we are his Ekklesia, and the gates of hades will not prevail against us, meaning we are on offense, not defense. We have been given powerful weapons, if you will. Not to destroy, but to transform with love and blessing and light! Yes, people have cursed us by making agreements with darkness to encroach upon us. But instead of stopping at defending ourselves by breaking curses, we must understand the authority we have in Christ to bless those who curse us and make declarations that will change the very heart of those who curse us, thus bringing about transformation. “Father, bring those who curse us into the light!  Let light penetrate every place of darkness! Let them experience the freedom that Jesus brings!  Holy Spirit, surround them with your presence. These are ones that you love, Father!!!!  Set them free!!!” We are Christ’s ekklesia, the ones empowered by Him and filled with His Spirit to agree with heaven’s culture here on the earth. When we do so, heaven will respond!  We are on offense with love and grace and mercy and power to heal and set the captives free! With Love, Pastor Brent P.S. We've felt God's leading to go through the book of Acts starting this month!

Metanoia - Turn it Around - Change Your Mind by prophetic overseer Bill Hernandez

The Kingdom of Heaven is near and we are empowered to change our minds accordingly. We are given the command to do so. Metanoia is the greek work used for changing your mind which subsequently leads to changes in behaviors over time. Jesus said, "Change your minds, for heaven’s realm is near," Matt 4:17. We can proactively choose to let go of the bad stuff and replace it with the Lord's provision of solutions, empowerment, Holy Spirit, wisdom, joy and peace because they are right at our very door just like Jesus says. A whole new world beckons. I believe this is a timely message for some of you even into the far future for any who read this later on. Some of you may have wandered off the path or have gotten lost and you don't know where you are going or what you are doing with your life in your career, your ministry, your relationships. Some have fallen into negative behaviors or thought patterns where you feel stuck. I call these rabbit trails in our lives - time wasters. They stop the clock to going forward and worse we can pick up the enemy or tormentors along the way. There is a solution. We've heard the word "repent" and it's often understood as changing your behaviors, however it begins with an invasion of your mind with God's perspective. Change the mind and the behaviors will follow. Romans 12:1 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Transformation begins in the mind. This mind transformation is vital to victory. While we are changing our minds and our thinking, we may still be struggling with bad behaviors and those behaviors come under siege when we allow the Lord in to invade our minds with the kingdom that is near. In time the behaviors succumb to the fruits of the Spirit as stated in Gal 5:22 - love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. During this whole process of being transformed we are greatly loved, acceptable and respected by Him even if we are making serious mistakes along the way. In time you will change. He never condemns and if you condemn yourself that just delays the progress so give up condemning yourself and accept that He loves you and keep on going. If we can't discern or feel God, this could be because we are hurting or going through things, but it does not mean He is not near. A radio that is broken that can't receive does not mean the broadcast is not there. We can be tuned into the wrong channel listening to and acting on bad info, but it does not mean God is not sending good stuff because the kingdom of heaven is indeed near. Here are a few exercises that you can repeat to yourself. I believe it's important that when you let go of something fill that vacuum with the God stuff. Here goes:   I give up negative thoughts and replace them with a Holy transformed mind. I give up drug and alcohol dependency and replace them with being filled with the Holy Spirit. I give up anger and replace it with Your reconciliation and forgiveness. I give up bitterness and hurt and replace it with a softened heart. I give up lust for anything, power, money, sex, persons and replace it with a desire for intimacy with you Jesus. I give up shame and guilt and replace it with Your love and acceptance for me. I give up manipulation and replace with cooperation & respect. I give up vengeance and crawl into Your lap to hold me. I give up lying and replace it Your truthfulness and honesty. I give up fear and replace it with Your protection and care. I give up impatience and replace it with Your compassion & calm. I give up greed and replace it with generosity. I give up suspiciousness and replace with it with true revelation. I give up religiosity and legalism and replace it with being my true self made in Your image. Phil 4:8 "... whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. ... practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Ps 139:23 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." Check out the podcasts for my sermon on this subject - https://blazingfire.org/podcasts Blessings, Bill Hernandez Prophetic Overseer

The Keys of the Kingdom--Discovering Your Authority by Pastor Brent Lokker

Our Father has always had amazing plans for His children! “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.”  (Jeremiah 29:11) However God’s plans are not just to bless us as individuals, but through all of us together, to bless the world that He so loves. This is why He calls us His ekklesia, which means an assembly that has been given authority to bring heaven’s culture to impact the earth.  And this is why He has made us a family so we can provide love and acceptance for the lonely to belong. And this is why He calls us the Bride because our continual gaze is upon Jesus, the groom, who is the fulfillment of everything our hearts have desired and who gives us the keys to heaven’s Kingdom to unlock all that is good and just and right. “I will build my legislative assembly, and the power of death will not be able to overpower it! I will give you the keys of heaven’s kingdom realm to forbid on earth that which is forbidden in heaven, and to release on earth that which is released in heaven.”  (Matthew 16:19) (You can listen on podcast to last Saturday’s message, The Keys of the Kingdom—Discovering Your Authority, to help you understand the direct connection between authority and intimacy with Jesus and how specific breakthroughs require specific keys. And you can view the slides from my message here) I encourage you to allow yourself to be drawn into the mystery of the authority Jesus has given us and what we actually have been given permission to do. Here is a poem by Jennifer Shannon that expresses the wonder… Here we are Bringing Heaven to Earth Standing with our King We gather together Heart to Heart Looking into Father’s eyes Here the journey begins Our destiny is being realized This is the breakthrough We have been waiting for Now we can fly With new eyes to see The paradigm is shifting The heart is beating The mind is transforming The spirit is clinging To what it has known all along Singing True Love’s song The Bride will finally rise to be all Her bridegroom intended her to be Gentle, strong and full of purity Chance has arrived, Missing it would be our demise So, arise, arise…. Embrace this new thing that will Forever change our lives and The songs we sing This is what we were made for This is what He has longed for The gathering of sons and daughters In true Ekklesia, in true Ekklesia… Declaring God’s courage and hope to fill each of your hearts! With Love, Pastor Brent

Ekklesia: Rediscovering Our Lost Identity - guest speaker Greg Simas

This past Saturday, Pastor Greg Simas from Convergence House of Prayer in Fremont received a standing ovation at the end of his message because it brought so much freedom and empowerment for us to be who Christ intended as His Ekklesia (Matthew 16:18). You can hear Greg’s message here:

EKKLESIA - Rediscovering Our Lost Identity

Instead of one article this week, listed below are several of Pastor Greg’s blog posts (each about a 3 minute read) to empower you with Christ’s mandate to impact every realm of society with a far greater level of heaven coming to earth until Jesus is truly the desire of the nations. When you click on any one of these blogs, you will see at the bottom an invitation to receive a free copy of Pastor Greg’s new e-book: Ekklesia Emerging.

GOD'S INSTRUMENT TO DISCIPLE NATIONS - Introduction to Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:13-18.

I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH? - Why Jesus uses the word Ekklesia (legal ruling assembly) and not Kurjakon (church).

WHEN "EKKLESIA" BECOMES "CHURCH" - Why, historically, the word for church replaced the word Jesus used when He said, "I will build my Ekklesia."

WHAT IS THE EKKLESIA? - We've been given the keys from Jesus to access locked gates and reclaim that which is lost (Luke 19:10), legislating Heaven to Earth. How we've drifted from Apostolic to Pastoral ministry.

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN - What Christ's Ekklesia is called to do.

PRAYER - The number one functional priority of the Ekklesia.

THE EKKLESIA AND THE GATES OF HADES - Defining Hades' gates and our authority over them.

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM - What is needed to invade these gates and destroy the works of darkness? "Doing church" puts Kingdom keys out of reach. We don't think to reach for them, given that we are so busy using inferior keys.

BINDING AND LOOSING - The two offensive weapons Jesus gives to His Ekklesia to govern and expand the Kingdom of God.

Change Is Good by Pastor Brent Lokker

We may try to fool ourselves that we like change, but statistically that’s really not the case. In a book by Alan Deutschman, Change or Die, a study found only one of nine people will make lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, etc.) even after they are told they could prolong their life, restore their health, and even reverse diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. Get that? Only 11 percent of people choose life over death. Yet, change isn’t only inevitable—it’s good and it’s part of God’s plan! Last Saturday I talked about a paradigm shift that the Church around the world is going through— a massive change that needs to happen. You can hear my message here:

Saturday's Message

In a nutshell, instead of embracing the excitement of being chosen by God to take part in a global redevelopment program (ushering in the Kingdom of Light as heaven invades earth!), we’ve been duped over the centuries to believe we are passive consumers who look to a few paid clergy to help us make it through another week. Much of this paradigm shift has to do with embracing who Jesus says we are as the Ekklesia. “I will build myEekklesia, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18 Ekklesia is the Greek word most bibles mistranslate as “church” yet the word means “an assembly of called out ones” who’ve been given all authority by Jesus to usher God’s Kingdom and be change agents on the earth. Lou Engle teaches that “when Jesus said He was going to build His Ekklesia, He meant He was going to build His governmental center. He was going to establish His ruling body with the revelation that He is the Messiah and the supreme ruler of the earth. The gates of hell would not prevail against the kind of assembly Jesus intended to build. A change of mindset is needed in the Body of Christ. We are not just going to a building on Sunday [or Saturday night!]. We are joining an assembly, a spiritual body governing our cities, states, and nations, with Christ as our Head. We are not just leading a prayer session in our houses of prayer. We are gathering an assembly around the throne of God, and releasing leadership. We are binding principalities and powers. We are part of an Ekklesia. Understood properly, an Ekklesia is a threat to every corrupt government, drug lord, rebellious king, and demonic principality.” This Saturday I’m so excited to announce that Greg Simas, a pastor from Convergence House of Prayer in Fremont, will be preaching at Blazing Fire Church and sharing a life-giving message about the Ekklesia. You’re going to hear a bit about what happened in history to get us off course, why most translations mistranslate this word (starting with the King James Version) and what God is doing on the earth to bring His bride back into proper alignment with the purposes of His Kingdom of love, grace and power. You are going to be brilliantly challenged and sufficiently fired up to live as the world changers you’ve been created to be! With Excitement for God’s Future Plans,                                                                  Brent

God Is Jealous For Our Whole Heart by prayer team overseer Matthew Guillot

God is jealous for our whole heart. His number one desire in your life is a heart that is fully His.  DEUTERONOMY 4:24 For the Lord, your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 2 CHRONICLES 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. DEUTERONOMY 33:21 They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. (Speaking of the Israelites in the desert)   God’s jealousy is stirred up when we run to other things for comfort besides Him.   Often God’s judgement towards the Israelites was withholding His Presence and allowing them to run to their own devices for comfort and strength. As shown in the Old Testament, this inevitably led to their destruction, leading them to place low enough to realize their need for Him again.  My first thought when I read this for the first time was, "wow, isn’t this manipulative?"  Obviously the answer is no, but Let’s look at why: 1. God knows we absolutely need Him to survive 2. God Loves us beyond our comprehension.  The amount of pain He can feel when we reject him is proportionate to the incomprehensible Love He feels towards us. 3.  God doesn’t want to violate our free will. When we choose anything else other than Him, He allows us to follow our own choices, devices and comfort mechanisms. Even if this causes him incredible pain and rejection sometimes resulting in jealousy and anger. 4. God sees our absolute dire need for Him in the greatest detail, and knows that we will perish without Him.  He also knows that withholding His Presence might as well be the same thing as Him bringing a curse upon us because it has the same result (referring to God's judgement over the Israelites). 5. One of the only ways for Him to draw us back to Him, without violating our free will, is to allow us to sink   to a place of realization that our own devices do not satisfy our hearts. We enter into a place of  desperation where we re-realize our dire need for Him and turn our hearts back to Him again. The question to ask is, when you love someone intensely but they choose to be with someone else, do you feel jealous?  Would that jealousy be more intense because you love the person so intensely?  Yet when we do not choose Him, God still allows us, His most cherished sons and daughters to choose our own path despite the anguish it causes Him.  What does this say about God's desire to control us (or lack thereof)? What does it say about His Love?  How this applies in the new covenant we enjoy Jesus knows we are incapable of coping with our condition in our own strength and power (He doesn’t expect us to).  If Jesus saw us the way we sometimes negatively see ourselves,  He wouldn’t have willingly left His throne to come to Earth to die on a cross.    His Love towards us is so intense, that even though He is God, He willingly came to Earth as a weak, feeble, human being to be tortured, beaten, and nailed to a cross.   We have heard it many times, but do we really get it?  He wants us to come as we are, truly.  The Israelites were no where near perfect, yet God's greatest desire was to have them as His treasured people (Deut 14:2).  If this was under the Old Covenant, how much more so now under the New Covenant where our sins, weaknesses and imperfections were nailed to the cross?  Jesus made sure that there was nothing on His side to separate you from Him and prevent you from having a relationship with Him.  So what is stopping or hindering us? Have you ever been frustrated when you try to encounter Him? I've found that sometimes I want or need God to fix me, heal me, meet my needs more than I want Him. Have you ever come to Him with an agenda? Yes, God absolutely will meet us where we are at. He cares about our needs more than we do. And, if our hearts cry is to go deeper in intimacy with Him, we have to leave agendas at the door. See, intimacy can only happen when both parties simply just want to be with each other--without an agenda. Is it perhaps that we want Him to transform or heal us more than we desire Him.  We often come to Him with an agenda, or list of what we want.  It is true that He will meet us where we are at. However, if we truly desire to go to a deeper place with Him, our agenda has to be left at the door.  When we come to Him we can even put what we perceive to be His goals above the simple fellowship He desires. Have you ever desired to be close to Him, but feel far from Him because you feel you have fallen or failed? The most effective way back to intimacy with Him is to position ourselves in humility at His feet.  Wait upon Him, knowing that He will show up.  With great expectation comes great encounters.  Your expectation will increase every time as you encounter Him.  After all, being with Him was the purpose to begin with (Garden of Eden). Even in my weakness now, I have great expectation of Him showing up because the more of His closeness I have experienced the more I know His eagerness and desire to be with me.  The more I know His eagerness and desire to be with me, the more I trust Him.  The more I trust Him the more my soul and spirit are filled with faith in Him.  The more I am filled with faith in Him, the more I know Who He is.  The more I know Who He is, the more my faith compels me to go tell people about Him and to be a conduit for His Presence to encounter them. It is the simplicity of just being with Him (His closeness) that we start living the life He created us for.  Anything else, ultimately leads us to a spiritual life void of His Presence and riddled by human effort and accomplishment.  Human effort and accomplishment fall short of His intended purpose and rarely have any eternal value.  But when God does things with you in relationship, it is He that performs most of the work with you.  Everything He does is eternal.  And because we did it with Him, He gives us the credit for it.  Jesus is after a bride that can be a true partner with Him.  For too long the church has operated as the servant girl. She is obedient, serves out of obligation, working so hard to please the Master and to keep the appearance of righteousness by her own strength.  Jesus is looking for a bride that is naturally obedient simply because of the Love relationship they share with Him.  This only comes through intimacy with Him.  Jesus desires a two-way relationship where He feels safe sharing His needs with us. We have the honor of ministering to His needs and desires.  When you have an intimate relationship with Jesus, you get to share in the greatest honor of all: to share in His sufferings (1 Peter 4:13).  This is when He starts coming to you and shares His pains, anguishes, and even anger with you and seeks your friendship to minister to His heart.  There is no greater purpose, no greater goal, and no greater honor than to be trusted by the Master with His own heart.  It is this that brings the highest honor and esteem in heaven.  The angels are always ministering to Jesus, but nobody can bring greater comfort or joy to His heart like we can.  We are by far His greatest desire. We are the source of His greatest joy. Do you get it yet?  We have the absolute greatest, esteemed honor and privilege, which He has given no other in all of creation, to minister to His heart and to be His best friend.  To be the one who comforts Him and is with Him in all that He does.  Why else would He want to make Himself One with us, to make His home in us,  to go to the greatest lengths to conquer sin and death and remove all separation between us and Him on the cross?  Do you get it yet?  The good news isn’t just that we are saved from our sin, it is that we have the highest honor in heaven to be the closest companion to Jesus.  There is no higher calling than to be the one that God holds in highest esteem as His best friend and closest companion. Love, Matthew