Building the Church and Expanding the Kingdom as Kings and Priests - Joel Pollard

Jesus declared that “The Kingdom of God is within you”, meaning that it was already within reach and available for people to experience now, in this life. Luke 17:21 in The Passion says, “The kingdom is not discovered in one place or another, for God’s kingdom realm is already expanding within some of you”. In the Aramaic, the implication here is that God’s kingdom realm is a person, Jesus Christ. The reality of God’s kingdom appears when Jesus lives within us by faith. Paul explains in Romans 14:17 that the Kingdom of God is for now, and it consists of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The inheritance that we have in and through Jesus is for now, not for when “we get to heaven” but it’s a living inheritance for now, “on earth as it is in heaven”; we inherit everything that is ours as sons and daughters of the Most High. Not only is Jesus Lord over a Kingdom, but He is building a Temple, the House of God to dwell in, the Church! He’s building it made out of His living stones (sons and daughters) and in Matthew 16:18, Jesus told us that this Temple (Ekklesia) would be victorious and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. THE CHURCH IS NOT THE KINGDOM!!! To see this distinction, think of the Temple and the Kingdom in Solomon’s day. Solomon’s Temple was glorious, yet small compared with the Kingdom which encompassed the Temple and reached to lands far beyond it. Similarly, the Church is glorious, yet smaller than the Kingdom of God over which Jesus reigns. Why does the Church and Kingdom exist? The primary purpose of the Church is to be a dwelling place for God. Of course, there are other purposes, e.g. equipping, inner healing/deliverance, sending people out for ministry but the foremost purpose is to be a community of believers in whom God dwells. In contrast, the primary purpose of the Kingdom is to establish the rulership of Jesus Christ, and that’s why we pray out of Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” It is time for you to be released in to Kingdom. It is time to discover who you are! This is the time to arise in your own giftings! What does it mean to be a King and Priest? Jesus came into the Earth as both King and Priest. Now He sits at the right hand of the throne of God as King, and He is making intercession for us as the Highest Priest. He rules over a Kingdom and He is building a Temple. Through our inheritance in Jesus, we are Kings and Priests. Some of us may be called to serve within the church or it may be to expand the Kingdom of God into every area of society, every area of influence. We are the salt and light, hands and feet - Jesus unlimited. Marketplace ministry is not going to happen just because it’s a good idea. We must renew our minds and change our theology, allowing the paradigm shift to embrace the values which yield these compelling kingly motivations. This is not about how to be successful at your job. It’s about how to be successful at your dream, allowing the Lord to unveil the oneness of your vocation, your pursuits, your ministry, and God’s purpose for your life because working with God instead of performing for Him is fun, addictive, pleasurable, adventurous, joyful, meaningful, and rewarding. Holy Spirit, help us shift our mindsets. Take us from a place of “religious” to “relational” motivation and keep returning us to our first love. Amen! Love, Joel

Control or Surrender? - by Karena Lout

Does it feel that life has been unpredictable, uncomfortable, out of control? Unfortunately, that’s been the reality for most people (especially the last few years.) There’s a tendency to want to jump in the driver’s seat when that happens. It takes a great amount of trust to surrender areas of our life that still feel “in process.” Control can be more appealing than trust because it gives us a false sense of protection. But ultimately, our safe place is in knowing that Jesus is our good Shepherd.   Jesus doesn’t just want to be our Savior. He wants to be our King. His leadership is perfect in every way. He uses his power to heal us; to love us. I heard someone once say, “In the world, we surrender when we lose. But in the kingdom, we surrender to win.” I’ve found that surrender isn’t a one-time thing. Every day, I have a choice to hold a firm grip on all the things I think I can control OR I can live with my hands open, giving Jesus access to it all.    “Father, into your hands, I commit my Spirit.” Luke 23:46  “Father, I surrender my Spirit into your hands.”  (TPT)   As we took communion last Saturday night, we remembered how Jesus completely submitted himself to his Father when he went to the cross. I encourage you to tell him today, “Father, I surrender my Spirit into your hands.” Then ask him to show you what that looks like every day in your life.   Love, Karena

The Origin Of Love - Brent Lokker

“Beloved, love always includes others, since love springs from God; its source is found in the fellowship of the Father, Spirit and Son. Everyone who encounters love immediately knows that they too are born of the same source. It is not possible to fully participate in love without discovering God. To love is to know God; to know God is to love.” 1 John 4:7 (Mirror)   The “knowing” spoken of here is not an intellectual thought about God and his love, but a relational encounter with our Father, our Holy Spirit and our Jesus. It’s an immersion into the deep love they have always shared with one another and have warmly invited us to share with them. Each time you allow your heart to be awakened by Love’s embrace, you soar ever higher into a sweet confidence in their tender affection for you as the Beloved!   Love is not defined by our love for God, but by his love for us. It is not our response to God that attracts his attention; we have always had his undivided affection as declared in the prophetic promise and finally demonstrated in his Son’s commission and work of atonement for our sins. 1 John 4:10   I remember vividly my desire for God that for years and years was marked by an earnest attempt to let God know how much I truly loved him, yet something in me felt like a fraud at times and I was sure God knew it too. My well-meaning attempts at convincing God of my love was rooted in…myself. That was the problem and it took quite a while to be wooed by the Lord to finally see what he knew all along: my deep love for God originated in his love, the only source of love that exists. As I stopped measuring my own attempts at how well I thought I was loving God and simply enjoyed his intense pleasure over me as his treasured son, the love within bubbled up and over in delight for my Father and Lover of my soul!   Loved Ones, if this is true about God’s love for us, it is equally true of his love in us for others. God was never visible to anyone until Jesus brought him into full view; now your love does the same.Our love for one another is evidence of God’s seamless union with mankind as witnessed in his love perfected within us. 1 John 4:11-12   This pure love that originates in and with the Trinity—Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit—is more than sufficient for us to love each other. Friends, our Father has always planned for his kids to be so loved into a blissful joy of belonging to him, that our love for each other becomes the attraction and tangible proof of our Father’s heart is for those who long for genuine love and still need to encounter him. In other words, our genuine love of Jesus within is the first of Jesus they will see until they discover what we already know—that the Origin of Love has made his home right inside of us!   Take a moment to tap into this Living Love. Not by striving to love better, but by immersing yourself in a tender Father and his merciful Son, Jesus and the sweet, eternal Holy Spirit who are all sharing their love and affection and honor and deep joy with you at this very moment!   His own Spirit is the source of this gift of knowing that we are continuously, seamlessly, and very consciously present in him and he in us. 1 John 4:13

The Amazing Gift of Your Imagination - Russ Rochler

Many followers of Jesus have been taught to be suspicious of our imagination.  In the talk I gave on July 23rd, I started by looking carefully at this in the Bible:  Romans 1:21, 2 Corinthians 10:5 as well as Isaiah 26:3.  I encourage you to learn more about this on Blazing Fire’s YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdr4LNBT9Ec starting about 1 hr 50 minutes. I believe our capacity to imagine is from our Creator.  When we connect with revelation from the Holy Spirit, when we engage with the mind of Jesus, this involves our right brain (imagination, emotions, joy, love, and playfulness) as well as our left brain (logic, reasoning, words, historical context, etc.)  I believe revelation from Holy Spirit as well as perceptions and memories from our soul and spirit - can all be displayed and interacted with on the “white board” of our imagination. Creatives use the gift of their imaginations to envision remarkable artistic expressions using the visual arts, music, and words.  Scientists and inventors use the gift of their imagination along with their knowledge base to develop new solutions to needs or problems.  One famous example are Albert Einstein’s “Thought Experiments” which he used to investigate physical truths through his imagination.  Einstein would then seek mathematics that could precisely express these dynamics.  You can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein's_thought_experiments Like other profound gifts from the One who created and loves us, our imagination can also be hijacked and misused.  When we’re motivated by lusts and pride, we fall under evil influences.  Or, when we engage our imagination to “future trip” - to project into the future bad things that could happen.  This robs us of being in the present with the Trinity.  And worry will not magically prevent bad things in the future! Here are some helpful “guardrails” that can help us affirm or correct what our imagination is displaying. Love  Father God’s love for us and love for others.  Are the images, ideas, daydreams, etc.  we are imagining motivated or led by love?  1 Corinthians 13 is a key guide to help us.   Also, living in and from God’s love for us: Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV) “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind (yetzer - imagination) is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Scriptures  Read and meditate about what Jesus is like, what Father God and Holy Spirit are like.  Savor the varied and sometimes startling imagery in the Psalms, Daniel, Ezekiel, etc.  There are many beautiful images that help us recognize when the real Jesus is revealed in our imagination.  And, the seemingly strange visions of in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation help us to not automatically dismiss what our imagination is displaying to us. Discernment  If something appears “right”, but feels off in your imagination, you are empowered to “test the spirit” behind that being .  One way is to ask the One True God to reveal the true nature of the spirit behind the image.  1 John 4:1 ESV  “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” People Who Know Jesus  Sometimes its very helpful to share what appears to be a revelation from God with people who know Jesus well.   Even Paul the Apostle checked with a few trusted apostles about the revelation of the Gospel he received.  See Galatians 1:15 - 2:2 How do we protect this amazing gift of our imagination?  And how do we nurture and engage with it? Protecting Your Imagination  Consider what you are “taking in”: videos or images of horror, violence, sexual lust, occult, etc.  Tune in with Holy Spirit about what you are considering watching or hearing. Nurturing and Engaging Your Imagination Childlikeness: Openness, curiosity, wonder, playfulness Reading and entering in with your imagination into Bible Stories. Be open during worship (and other times) to images, thoughts, ideas, or understandings that may be coming from Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we need to resist what are truly distractions from worship.  Yet, surprisingly often we may receive a download from Heaven and/or an answer to something we asked God about previously.  Sensing the presence of Holy Spirit and paying attention what comes into our mind is an important part of “life in the Spirit”. When praying/ministering to others.  You may get a “word of knowledge” where you “see” body part or feel a pain in your body or just “know” what to agree with God for this person. Towards the end of the talk I gave, we did a fun exercise with our imagination.  If you’d like to experience it too, you can find it at about 2:15  (the 2 hour, 15 minute point) in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdr4LNBT9Ec   Pastor Russ Fochler

Partnering in Prayer

Last Saturday night we spent time worshipping and praying over our region, joining in agreement with what God was doing during The Sound SF. We’ve heard some amazing testimonies of how God moved during the weekend. It’s such an honor and privilege to partner with what he is doing. One scripture we prayed over our hearts, over our cities and the world around us is Ephesians 3:16-21. I encourage you to do the same. God’s word is alive, living, active. As you pray this scripture, you are agreeing with what Jesus has already done and participating with what heaven knows to be true.   “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”   This scripture is meant to be experienced. I pray that your spirit will receive the width, the length, the height and the depth of his love for you more and more and more!    Love, Karena

Take A Jesus Break - by Brent Lokker

Back in the day when I was a kid, there was a popular phrase used by doctors: “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” It was told to patients who complained of a minor malady by telephone (notice I didn’t say cell phone since those weren’t close to invented yet!). Minor ailments often disappeared overnight and more serious ailments were tended to by the doctor the following day. But this phrase also started to be used as a joking way of telling someone not to bother you with trivial matters.   For what has been ailing us in this world, especially over the past few years, two aspirin certainly won’t do it. Only Jesus will. Though fear would try to convince us otherwise, we don’t have control over other people or world events that might disturb us. What we do have is the choice to trust Jesus over and over again with our hearts—to show us things we could not see apart from him. And not just what needs to be healed or taken out of our way of thinking, but also what’s good and true about who he says we are. This is the beauty of the transforming nature of Christ within us! And the exposure of our false self that allows our true self in Christ to emerge is what actually changes the world around us, one heart at a time, as we allow the light within us to touch others with our Father’s love and hope.   So, when we are feeling overwhelmed or discouraged or disappointed or a hundred other emotions that can bring us down. We need to turn to Jesus. We need a Jesus break! How often? Well, “as a way of life” is where Jesus is taking us! And, by the way, Jesus doesn’t see anything trivial about your life or what concerns you. On the contrary, he wants to be invited into every aspect of your life, even what others might think is trivial. He’s right here within you. How about a Jesus break right now?   “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)    “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.” John 14:18-20 (MSG)    LOVE,  Brent

An Exhortation from My Heartj

I really believe we’re in an opportune moment of time to see Jesus bring light to a hurting world in greater measure. Lately, I haven’t been able to escape this scripture. Every time I read it, my eyes well up with tears because it feels important.   “Don’t let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility and lift your heads to extend love to others. Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere and secure your neighbors’ interests first. In other words, adopt the mindset of Jesus. Live with his attitude in your hearts.” Philippians 2:3-5 (Voice translation)     The farther removed we are from people that we disagree with, the easier it is to criticize. Surprisingly, Jesus surrounded himself with young men who were often prideful, argumentative and didn’t always see from heaven’s perspective. Yet, he chose to sit around a table with them and fellowship. There are so many opportunities for us to choose unity and to toss “us vs. them” aside for good. There is no hierarchy in the kingdom. Heaven sees each of us as equals, even those who think and believe differently than us.     As we learn to lean in and listen to the real cry of people’s hearts, Jesus will show up like only he can. Compassion is an expression of love. It compels you to respond; not out of guilt or obligation but out of the overflow that God has put inside of you. Some of you may be feeling like you’re running on empty and that you don’t have anything to give. Maybe YOU’RE the one you need to give extra compassion to right now. Your needs are just as important as those around you.      I feel God challenging me to not only see those I don’t agree with through His lens, but to also be part of the change I want to see. I once heard someone say that it’s important and healthy to have three different types of people in your life:   1)  Someone who is pouring into you (a mentor, parent, boss, pastor) 2)  A reciprocal relationship (a “give and take” friendship) 3)  Someone you are pouring into     My prayer is that God will highlight these people in your life. We are living in a time where people are looking for connection, for authenticity, for loving mothers and fathers. You have something to give that no one else can. And lastly, I pray that we would be continually reminded that we are not unified by agreement, but by God’s spirit living inside each one of us.   With so much love, Karena