You're From the Same Stock As Jesus!!

"It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, make perfect through suffering the leader of their salvation. For the consecrator (Jesus) and the consecrated (us) are all of the same stock! That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters!" (Hebrews 2:10-11)

Jesus knew who he was! He was God's beloved and massively favored Son, the perfect ambassador of His father's Kingdom, and the inheritor of absolutely everything that belonged to his Dad!

Do YOU know who YOU are? Jesus knows who you are! So does the Father! And so does Holy Spirit who lives in you to convince you of the truth!

Jesus' status as God's beloved son is exactly the same status that you have as God's son or daughter! Exactly the same! That phrase, all of the same stock can also be translated "we form a single whole" with Jesus! There is no separating us out from him. He shares his identity with us and we are perfectly one with him!

The Mirror Translation puts it like this:

"Because both He who performed the rescuing act and those rescued and restored to innocence, originate from the same source, He proudly introduces them to be identified as His immediate family."

Come on! How much better can this get? Jesus has his arm around you, beaming, so very proud, and says about you, "This is my AWESOME bro! This is my AMAZING sis! We've got the same genes and Dad loves us ALL the SAME!!"

Jesus, who was given all authority in heaven and on earth by our Father, says to us, "You are a purebred from heaven just like me! You're made of what I'm made of! And what's mine is yours. Let's all use the authority that Dad has given us. Go and ROCK the world with his love, grace and power! I showed you how and now I'll go with you to the ends of the earth because I'm your true brother and I've got your back! We're family!!

By the way, your family with us, too!

Love,
Brent & Suzanne

A Doting Father!

When my oldest son, Derek, was a few months old, he would make the cutest cooing sounds as he was waking up in the morning. My wife, Suzanne, and I would hear him and get out of bed and quietly tip-toe over to gaze through the crack in the door and watch with utter delight as our son would look around and make the most adorable gurgling noises. I can’t tell you how precious he was! After a time, we would push the door open, enter the room and begin sweetly singing over him a good morning song. Immediately, he would begin searching the room for us with his eyes until he spotted us, squealing with delight!

Your Father in heaven gazes on you all the time! Not so that he can somehow spy on you, but because he can’t take his eyes off of you! Yes, God is smitten with you! I can picture him calling the angels over to himself, pointing towards you and saying,

“Hey! Come take a look at my awesome son! He’s remarkable!”

“Would you just look at my daughter? Wow! She’s beautiful, isn’t she?!”

And then he begins to sing his love song over us…

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

And as his song fills the air with choice words of adoration and approval for us, we begin to search for the origin of that sweet voice. Then we squeal with delight,

“Oh, Papa! There you are! You LOVE me!”

The Kingdom of God is YOURS!

Last Saturday I preached that the Kingdom of God is Yours! Jesus told us, "Do not be afraid, little ones, for it has pleased your Father to GIVE you the Kingdom!" (Luke 12:32)

The KINGDOM IS YOURS!! Which means that Righteousness is YOURS!! Peace is YOURS!! Joy is YOURS!! (See Romans 14:17). The question is, what are we going to do with what we've been given?

While you're thinking about the answer to that one, ponder this from Hebrews 2:6-7 in the Mirror Translation (www.mirror.scripturetext.com):

"What is it about man that God cannot get him out of his thoughts? Why would God bother to benefit the son of man? Why would God make so much of man? He has made man all but equal to himself, he crowned him with his own glory and dignity, and appointed him in a position of authority over all the works of his hands.”

Did you catch that?! Come on!! God not only loves you with a passion that surpasses anything we know about passion, but he says to you, let's rule my Kingdom together! Of course, that means that it has to be done according to his specs--love, grace, honor, mercy, but also power, signs and wonders, seeing the impossible invade this earth! If you are wondering if that description could possibly be for you, read the above scripture again from Hebrews. Go ahead, read it again!

You are crowned with God's own glory and dignity AND you have been given a position of authority in His Kingdom. Looks like you and God have some work to do together! And God's promise is, if you take care of my business (mostly loving and encouraging people), he will take care of your business. He summed it up this way,

"Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be added to you." Matthew 6:33

That's a promise you can bank on!

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing!

Blazing Fire Church exists so that you have a place to come and enjoy the Lord’s presence within the framework of our unique life-transforming Core Values and for you to be empowered to go give it away!

Our first and most important Core Value is this: We value intimacy with the One who loves us! God's presence is the prize and the goal of our life with Him!

No matter where you are in life and no matter what you are going through, only one thing will bring you true joy--the sweet, transforming presence of the Lord! This is why we are in no hurry at all to rush through worship at Blazing Fire, but instead to linger with Him. However, this is not supposed to be a Saturday night only experience. The Lord desires to take you to His intimate place of rest every single day of your life!

My strong encouragement is for you to take time--even this very moment--to focus your heart and thoughts on Jesus who loves you with an everlasting love! And He reminds you of a Father who has always wanted you and who has only the very best plans for your life! God is working absolutely everything out for your best--that's His covenant promise to you--one that He will never break. This is a Father you can trust, so allow yourself to be taken into the depths of His heart. Be still and know that He is God. THIS is the presence that you were made for!

By keeping the Main Thing (His presence) the main thing, you will find true rest in the mist of any storm, and eventually you will no longer even see the storm becuase your gaze is so perfectly fixed on the Lord's eyes of blazing fire--His passion for you!!

Baptisms This Saturday - July 24th.

This Saturday, July 24th, we have the awesome privilege and celebration of baptizing about 20 people during Blazing Fire's worship service! I will say much more about the significance of baptism on Saturday night, but to whet your whistle for what is coming, read this from Galatians 3:26-27:

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

Here's those same two verses in The Word on the Street by Rob Lacey:

"You're all God's kids 'cos you took Jesus the Liberator at his word. The baptism thing symbolized it and now it's a daily habit--like getting dressed. You wouldn't dream of not putting on Jesus. It'd be like going out naked, middle of the winter. 'God's kids' -- that's the only designer label we need!"

And one more paraphrase of that same passage from The Message Bible by Eugene Peterson:

"By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe--Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise."

Baptism doesn't save you. Jesus saved you by his death on the cross that set you free from a life of destruction and shame. Your agreement with his sacrifice that makes you right with God is what allows you to enjoy what he already paid for in full. Baptism is our agreement with heaven that our union with Christ and our new life in him is complete! Now it's time to start living it out!

Let's go, Saints!!

(If you desire to be baptized Saturday night, email immediately to let me know.)

A Testimony of Freedom!

Last Saturday, I spoke about the choices we make to use the freedom we have to protect what is most valuable to us. I want to share with you a remarkable testimony of freedom as openly shared by one of our Kingdom School of Supernatural Ministry students, Dana Ortiz. Dana writes a daily encouragement e-mail called "Rivers of Living Water" (you can subscribe to this free encouragement e-mail by writing to her at danaortiz@prodigy.net. Here are two of her daily entries that describes her journey into freedom:

Hebrews 4:5-16: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to hep us in our time of need."

Reading this scripture for me is like standing out in a meadow full of flowers, wind blowing and I looking up to heaven, with the biggest smile on my face! FREEDOM surrounding every part of me. But I didn't always feel this way. I returned to the Lord in 2004, not with confidence, because I had just spent 10 years turned away from God. My biggest fear was failing him once again. The first four years of my return I tried hiding all my junk from him. My junk was the size of a huge auto wrecking yard! Now seriously, how did I ever think I could hide that? Well I'll tell ya, I worked! I tried being the best little servant I could muster up. The more I did, I was hoping, the more I would begin to outweigh all the sin I had done, and unfortunately was still doing. Talk about a vicious cycle! The enemy loved it--I was in bondage and exhausted! I was absolutely no threat to him, just one he could torment and laugh at. Broken and helpless I literally crawled to the cross. I stretched my arm up and Mercy took hold of me. I found Grace smiling down, compassion consuming me. Humility no longer bitter, but so very sweet! No one understands you better than Jesus!

Galatians 6:9: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Three years ago, I chose to face my drinking problem. It was impacting every part of my life. Imagine your living room and in the living room is an enormous ball. To walk around it you really have to maneuver your body. That was my drinking. Once I was unable to work myself around it, I had to really see it for what it was. A huge problem! I had two choices: allow the addiction to take me, or take the addiction! I chose to take the addiction. As I was walking my freedom out, nothing around me was changing. The very reasons why I chose to drink were still there, but I knew that what I was doing was GOOD! Little by little a shifting was taking place. Each area of my life began to change for the better. Today I have one year, ten months sober. I am reaping a wonderful harvest. Papa God is my everything! I can't imagine one breath without inhaling him! My children respect me, count on me, and seek me for wisdom! My husband and I communicate at a level that I thought would never be be possible. My physical body is healing. And the real kicker: the harvest will never end! I can't wait to see next year's harvest!

Are you facing something difficult? I want to encourage you to push onward! do what is right and good! You will reap a never ending harvest!

Fatherly Advice

On Father's Day weekend, I gave some fatherly advice and encouragement. Some of you were asking me to send it out in this newsletter and I also wanted to encourage out to those of you who weren't there that night. Enjoy your place as Daddy's favored one!

1. You're doing better than you think! (Phil 1:6; Proverbs 4:18)
2. You're making more of a difference than you know! (Hebrews 6:10)
3. Be Yourself! No one can re-present Christ the way YOU do! (2 Cor. 3:3)
4. You can't change other people--You can only give God permission to change you. (Psalm 139:23)
5. Introspection will kill you--ask Holy Spirit what He sees
6. Take the time to encourage someone every day! (Here is the link to that amazing video called "Validation": www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao --you may have to copy and paste the address)
7. Take the plunge into God's love and joy! (Psalm 37:8)
8. You don't have to choose side--you can choose to be for everybody!
9. Let old offenses go (Matthew 18:21-22)
10. Have more fun along the way! Your destiny is a journey, not an end point.
11. No one can take your joy away from you! (Nehemiah 8:10)
12. Take a step towards one of your dreams--see where it takes you...
13. Don't hang on to past regrets--Nothing is stopping you from living life to the fullest TODAY!
14. When you make a mistake, you get to know God's grace in a deeper way! (Romans 11:32)
15. The truth really will set you free! But it has to be the genuine truth of the gospel (I then read from portions of Colossians 1 and 2 from The Mirror Translation--www.mirror.scripturetext.com--an AMAZING translation to enjoy!!)
16. Advice from Papa Bill Johnson: "I can't afford to have a thought in my head about me that is not his!" and "Make a case FOR God not against Him."
17. Advice from Papa Kris Vallotton: "You will always produce the environment around you that you cultivate within you." and "Royal people have a powerful sense of justice in the depth of their souls compelling them to action when they come upon injustice."
18. Advice from Papa Danny Silk: "Accurately acknowledging who people are will position us to give them what they deserve and to receive the gift of who they are in our lives."
19. And one more from me: Rest more in Papa's love!

At that point, about 10 papas from Blazing Fire came up and gave a piece of fatherly advice to us. All of this is on podcast (www.blazingfire.org) if you want to listen to the entire message.

Your Father in heaven is so proud to call you his very own!