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JESUS LIVED THE BEATITUDES - by Brent Lokker

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Jesus shared the beatitudes with us to illuminate the truth of our being, enlightening our authentic selves by waking us up to the divine nature we share with him. The great mystery of the Gospel is Christ in you! Which then becomes Christ through you to others. The beatitudes were never meant to be a checklist to the blessed life, as in, if you do these things then God will bless you. Rather, Jesus was showing us the way to a flourishing life by seeing that even the difficult aspects of life can be viewed entirely differently if we can see they enrich our lives as essential parts of our spiritual journey. Then, Jesus walked this out before us in real time so we could watch what our lives were to look like. Even more than what he said , he lived the way of love in a beautifully breathtaking way. Jesus was poor in spirit . He acknowledged his continual dependence on and deep need for his heavenly Father. Jesus mourned. He felt deeply, had extreme compassion, and wept real tears, hur...
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HOLY SPIRIT LED PEACEMAKING - by Russ Fochler

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  Last Saturday (September 12), I shared another remarkable Jamie and Donna Winship story of peacemaking through following Holy Spirit’s leading and risking their lives. Here is a link to the Youtube video of the service My talk starts at about 1 hr 42 min.  But, I encourage you to watch or listen to the whole service.   So much was moving, beautiful, and insightful: Todd’s worship leading, Sarah talking about Rosh Hashanah.   God encouraged us through Susan, Jim, Esther, Gilbert, and Bill.  And Brent blowing of the shofar called us to receive what God is saying and doing in this season. Here are some of the memorable points from Jamie & Donna Winship’s story: - Jamie is told by the group leader they plan to drive him out to the desert, give him a trial with an Islamic cleric, and then execute him.  Jamie concentrates on staying in the present moment and focusing on Holy Spirit’s leading.  He resists going with his imagination into the terror of th...
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KEY PEACEMAKING INGREDIENTS - by Russ Fochler

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  “Happy are the peacemakers for they will be called God’s children.”  Matthew 5:9 The Source New Testament This past Saturday night, I had the joy of sharing two stories by Jamie and Donna Winship that beautifully illustrated many things - including peacemaking, suffering persecution for the sake of justice, and experiencing insults and all kinds of evil lies about you as you follow Jesus. (Matthew 5:9-11) You can find the whole service here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyRfuYL9KsM&t=6590s My talk starts at about 1 hr 23 min. Here are what I consider key peacemaking “ingredients”: Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  The “Sar Shalom”.  Jesus is the One whose reign is Shalom: Completeness, safety, soundness, welfare, health, and prosperity.  Jesus orchestrates the establishment of peace in situations of conflict - and He includes us in this beautiful, important work when we obey Him and surrender our fears, offenses and judgments. Focus on forgiving those who ...
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AS ONE WITH CHRIST - by Susan Fochler

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  Paul encourages us in 1 Corinthians 14:26 that each one of us carries something vital and unique that helps “build up the church family”.  We saw this in action last Saturday night as the Holy Spirit moved in our midst through worship, testimony, teachings and prophetic revelations.  One of the resonating themes was that of our union in Christ as several people shared inspiring revelations of what Jesus had been showing them.  To be one with the God of all creation is a concept beyond what our minds can comprehend, but which our spirits welcome with open arms.  Our God, the source of all that is good, loving, and life-giving wants to be intimately in union with you in every moment of your life.  We are reassured in John 14:18 that “At no time will you be orphaned or abandoned by me; I come to abide face to face with you.” (The Mirror).  And that “face to face” promise is for always in every circumstance. If we really believe we are as one with Christ...
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SHOW ME YOUR GLORY - by Bill Hernandez

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  I used to pray or sing about the Lord showing His glory. In a group setting, we would enthusiastically call upon the Lord to show His glory or sing that His glory filled the temple—with our arms raised, tears streaming down faces, people falling to their knees, lots of shaking and baking, and some doing the Pentecostal shuffle. Sometimes these events fell flat for me. I sat there completely disconnected, watching everyone else launch into the sky. But there was nothing wrong with me. I simply wanted to connect with the Lord, person to person, and eventually it became clearer to me how I could do that and have a true encounter with His heartfelt love. In Exodus 33:18–19, Moses asks the Lord to show him His glory. The Lord instead said His goodness would pass before him. That goodness was entirely relational, not flash and dazzle. His goodness was about compassion, mercy, forgiveness, patience, and restoration. It was a heart-to-heart connection, and we can all have that in deeper ...
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THE RIVER IS ALREADY FLOWING - by Brent Lokker

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I believe most of you reading this want God’s Spirit to surprise and even interrupt your daily routine. God can and does certainly do that on occasion but what He’s really after is for you to awaken to the blissful truth that His presence saturates every aspect and moment of your daily routine. Let me explain… I had a message all prepared leading up to last Saturday’s worship service for our Blazing Fire family. Apparently, God had other plans. At about 4:30 am last Saturday, somewhere in my deep sleep gratitude began bubbling up, first as a thought, then mouthed by my lips in a sleepy whisper…  “Thank you Holy Spirit that you have been poured out! You HAVE been. All has been done. Thank you!” At this point, I’m still mostly asleep, but a slight smile is forming and I think I’ll be going right back asleep. Instead, I woke up a bit more from this deep sleep when an old Vineyard song began running through my mind and then across my lips in a whisper:       ...
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THE BLESSED JOURNEY - by Brent Lokker

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The beatitudes (blessings) Jesus shares in Matthew 5:3-11 were never meant to be a checklist of things you need to do to be right with God, nor requirements you need to fulfill to earn God’s blessings. See them, rather, as a portrait painted by Jesus of your most authentic self—your in-Christ, made in the image of your divine Creator self. In a way, Jesus is splashing cold water on our faces as if to say , “Wake up to your true self! The way I fashioned you is nothing like how the world wants to define you. I am reminding you of your original design in my divine image which will open you up to the joy your heart has been longing for.” This is how you will experience the blessed journey of life. Your life is a unique song that was meant to be sung in this world. Jesus is the only one who can sing it to you until you can hear it clearly for yourself and sing it out with childlike joy and confidence. Here is a paraphrase I wrote of the beatitudes, along with us being light and salt in th...
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