Tim takes some time to cover a key foundation - the heaven to earth paradigm. Taking ground means making the situations in front of us look like heaven’s reality. Prayer is less about a spiritual discipline or routine, and more about seeing what God is already doing, and seeing our situation from heaven’s perspective then declaring what we see.
Fathering, The Lost Foundation
Vaughan shares his journey of how God has been highlighting the foundational piece of Father and Son. Lack of spiritual parenting has led to men losing their way as leaders in the family and particularly in the spiritual community.
He gives an encouragement to find some brothers and rediscover the ways of fathering that God has intended.
Freedom, Powerlessness, and Choices
It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Maturing in freedom means I am increasingly aware of the choices I have in every situation. The language of powerlessness is so insidious. I can’t always choose what happens to me, but I can choose my response. I can choose my stance in my circumstance. Tim finishes by praying for God to prompt us every time we use powerless language, and to make us aware of the options that are in front of us.
i61, Isaiah 61, and 2019
Tim opens up our foundation scripture - Isaiah 61 - reminding us of the core thumbprint of God on our community, and calling us into our destiny and inheritance as restorers, healers, and breakers of generational bondage.
Taking Ground - Bringing Down Strongholds.
It’s 2019, and Tim takes the first Sunday in Feb to set the prophetic direction for the year. Too often we go seeking a new word when we haven’t fulfilled the existing words, and while we took good ground in 2018, we haven’t finished with that word. In 2019, we’re still about taking ground. Tim unpacks 2 Cor 10:3-6 ... there are strongholds in our territory, but we have been given “God dynamite” to strategically tear them down and destroy them from the root.
The Will, Vows, Judgements, and a Healthy Father.
Too many of us, under the guise of surrender and obedience, live with a checked-out will. Tim shows the importance of our own will in terms of our authority on the earth, and then unpacks how, in response to pain and trauma, we make judgements and inner vows to protect ourselves from further pain. Because God is a good and healthy Father, He doesn’t violate our will, and as a result, these judgements and vows continue to bear negative fruit in our life until we break agreement with them. Tim finishes by challenging us out of learned powerlessness into an intimate engagement with the heart of God around our dreams and desires.
Love - And What Wars Against
God defines Himself as love, so it’s imperative that we mature in love so that we represent Him accurately. Most heart issues come down to experiences of absent or distorted love especially in our formative years, and to how we interpret our strongest emotional events. In response, we tend to form inner vows and judgements to protect from further pain, but in the long term, these vows and judgements wage war within us against the manifestation of mature love and undermine our mission to the world.
Covenant - The Highest Expression of Love
Our mission is to show the world what love is, and the highest expression of love in a relationship is covenant. In this message, Tim looks at the example of David and Jonathan to unpack the core aspects of a covenant relationship, and invites us to be a covenant family.
Building Family
Aimee Talbot talks about Maturing Love - a love that chooses depth of connection and Oneness within church family every day even when it costs. Using her personal testimony and convictions learned in the dark, Aimee challenges The Bride to reconsider the gift she is to people and to reconsider our value for corporateness.
Your Behaviour And Your Worth
Tim reminds us that the foundation of all freedom and security lies in knowing your true worth, which comes from hearing the Father’s voice over you.
You Are Who He Says You Are!
We explored Galatians 5 & 2 Corinthians 5: 14-18 in The Passion Translation. We discovered that we are completely & wonderfully free because our past with all it’s bondage to the law was crucified with Jesus. Our old self is dead & our new self is alive in Christ.
We watched a short clip from the movie Moana. This showed us a great example of how powerful it is when we speak to the gold in each other & we call out who we truly are in Christ. You are not defined by your past or your behaviour, you are defined by the voice of God over your life. You can view the video at https://youtu.be/A4QuKwfv6Wk
Moana Restores the Heart
I have crossed the horizon to find you
I know your name...
They have stolen the heart from inside you...
But this does not define you
This is not who you are
You know who you are...who you truly are...
Cultivating God Awareness
In this final message in The Practice of Corporate Presence series, Tim and Deb tag team. Tim looks at two of the outcomes of the fall - we became more conscious of ourselves than of Him, and we gained the ability to self-evaluate apart from the voice of God. In Christ that curse is broken, and it’s now our choice to cultivate that place where we are more aware of Him than of ourselves. Deb reminds us that ultimately it’s all about Him - no other agenda than Him, and that cultivating God awareness goes against the momentum of our “me first” culture.
Learning To Receive From God
We've been looking at the importance of learning to receive from God. Rather than do another teaching, we want you to hear from three of our people, Hannah, Sarah, and Steve on how they learned to receive from and experience God, and how they access His presence at any time.
You can see a full video version of this message on our website at www.i61.com.au/teaching
Confessions of a Serial Head Tripper - The Importance of Learning to Receive From God
The religious spirit wants to keep you operating in one direction with God - from you to Him. The Kingdom is heaven to earth - Him to you. Learning to experience God is a core Kingdom discipleship discipline. Jesus’ first miracle, the birth of the Church/Bride, and the metaphors of the Bride in Song of Songs all involve wine. Learning to drink of the wine of heaven, and living out of “first love” is something we cannot forsake.
Worshipping Bigger Than The Room - Part 2
In part 2 of this series, Deb goes deeper into the “assignments’ we receive in worship that empower us to take ground. As we worship bigger than the room we are taking ground well beyond the room we gather in. It’s part of who we are supposed to be as sons and daughters of God.
Worshipping Bigger Than The Room - Part 1
Continuing our theme of taking ground in spirit together, Debbie unpacks the power of our priestly function and authority - a function that marries intercession and worship. We start by exercising this function in our own world, and as we use our priestly “super powers” our authority increases beyond our own world into cities and nations and begins to shape history.
The Practice of Corporate Presence - Part 4 - Present Your Bodies
Tim continues on the theme of sacrifice in worship. In this session he looks at presenting our bodies as living sacrifices, and what that looks like in the practice of corporate presence. True worship that breaks through in the spirit realm involves our whole selves - spirit, soul, AND body. It’s much more than just the words we say or sing.
You can see a full video version of this message on our website at www.i61.com.au/teaching
The Practice of Corporate Presence - Part 3 - Unity and Following The Lead
A great example of a corporate people taking ground together was Israel taking Jericho under the leadership of Joshua. If that was a modern day church service with the standard consumer mentality, that situation probably would have played out a little differently. Tim draws principles from this story on the role of leadership and our response, and the power of agreement to create a "critical mass" that leads to corporate breakthrough.
You can see a full video version of this message on our website at www.i61.com.au/teaching
The Practice of Corporate Presence - Part 2 - Bring Your Fire
We're not meant to come to corporate worship randomly or unprepared. Paul said, "When you come together, each of you has a..." - each of you - not just those "on the roster". Fire falls on sacrifice, and as we all learn to step out of the consumer mentality and bring a sacrifice of praise, His fire falls and we ALL break through to a higher level in the spirit.
You can see a full video version of this message on our website at www.i61.com.au/teaching
Four Shifts in Worship and Corporate Presence
Steve Frost shares his own journey around four shifts in worship and corporate presence, and encourages us, like a good Aussie BBQ, to always "bring a plate to share" when we come together.