i61 Sydney

In the final message for 2023, and the final one for this series on “Getting Established”, Tim looks at getting established in destiny and calling. The process of calling begins with understanding that I am a “sent one”, not just a “saved one”. From there, we go on a process of discovering who we are and what we are called to. The process the Father takes us through is to bring us to a place of authority that comes from passing our tests and dealing with our stuff. The final part is understanding that the establishing is spoken to a people rather than a person. It’s a collective establishing with me established in my part. Therefore, to find your destiny, you need to find your tribe.

Tim continues the series on “Getting Established”. In part 2 of getting established in love, Tim opens up 1 John 4:7-21 where John delivers us some challenging truths above the nature and practice of love, which are critical definitions in the day we are living in. Then, from Ephesians 3 and 4 we see the process - the how to - of getting established in love.

Tim continues the series on “Getting Established”. This message part 1 on getting established in love. Moments of encounter with the Father’s love are so important and wonderful, and yet, we need to steward those encounters well so they lead to being established. There are two things that can’t stand when we are established in love. One is rejection, and the other is offence - which comes from a bitter root that stirs up trouble and defiles many. How we listen to the struggles and pain of others is critical, otherwise we can end up defiled by their unprocessed pain.

In part 2 of this series on Getting Established, Tim looks at getting established economically. God’s heart for His people is that they be completely immune to what is going on in the economies of the world and that they would have their own self-sustaining, abundant economy, so that they never have to consult the bank account to know what the will of God is. This establishing is not automatic. There are some clear prerequisites to being established in this way. When it comes to giving, God is not so much interested in your money as He is your heart. But, there is no clearer indication of where your heart is than what you do with your money.

God is not just about saving you, getting you to heaven, and letting you do some good along the way. His plan for you is so much more powerful than that. This is the beginning of a series on “Getting Established”. The action of God to set you up as immune to the conditions of the world around you in the same way a strong lighthouse is unmoved no matter how powerful the waves that crash into it. Scripture speaks of a number of different “establishings”. This message lays the foundation that will be built on in the weeks ahead.

In the week following Father’s Day, Tim speaks to the value of fathers. Fatherhood is under attack, and the world is preaching a message that fathers are unnecessary. Yet, so many social statistics tell us the exact opposite. When fathers are absent, things go badly wrong. Malachi foresaw a time where fathers and children will be disconnected in such a way that the land would come under a curse as a result. What is needed is healthy men who know what real “headship” is - being the strong, intentional source of love and empowerment in their homes, their Kingdom communities, and to the world who is so broken in this area.

Vaughan Blackwood continues this short series. In this message, Vaughan focuses us on the “sacred companions” by exploring the true nature of covenant love. “Family” is not a goal. It is a by-product of covenant love, which produces the fruit of mature sons and daughters. We are being called into a culture where we go deep with each, and learn to love each other like Jesus loved. That’s easy to say, and tough to do!

We have been called into an epic quest with sacred companions - a quest that started with Jesus, and was passed to us in the final moments of Jesus’s life on earth. Vaughan Blackwood digs into the beginning of the upper room discourse in John 13 - the final meal Jesus had with the twelve before going to the cross. Do we realise the seriousness of what has been passed to us from Jesus - this quest upon which the redemption of the entire world hangs? It’s not a Sadducean mix of capitalistic lifestyle pursuit mixed with some spirituality, nor is it a Pharisaic adherence to strict rules. When we resolve this epic quest in our hearts, we know we need a living relationship with the scriptures to guide us.

In a challenging prophetic message for this season of change and transition, Tim opens up Haggai 1 and 2. The remnant had returned from captivity in Babylon but had given up on rebuilding the temple and were just focused on their own lives - living comfortably, while God’s house was still in ruins. God spoke through Haggai to call the people back to His priorities. Then, from 1 Cor 3 and 2 Cor 5, Tim reminds us that we will all have to give an account to The Father for what we have done with what He put in us.

At the start of the year, God spoke two key strategic words to Tim - set the table, and raise the army. (They are on our podcast back in March and April). We are heading into a new wineskin - a new paradigm, and the new is in you … that is, how church will look and what we will do will form around the unique callings and blueprints of the people. The day of fitting people into a “church” structure is done. The new day is church structure is built around the people, to empower and enable people to set the tables they are called to set, in combination with others with like callings. What started as a “prophetic potpourri” ended up as a significant strategic word.

When Israel crossed over from the desert into the promised land, it represented the most significant shift in a generation. 40 years of doing things the same - largely focused on themselves and their families and practicing their faith in the desert. Then in one day everything changed. Where God once was, He now was not. The focus of God’s activity in regard to His people shifted - from getting Egypt, the old, out of them, to getting them established in the new, and taking territory. We are at a threshold moment. God is moving us away from self focus to taking territory. We don’t know what the new fully looks like, but we can’t stay in the old. Tim Ferris and Megan Edward unpack the significant strategic prophetic moment we are in, and from Joshua chapter 3 show us what is needed so we can “cross over”.

Last time Tim talked through 4 thresholds in Kingdom life. The second of those thresholds was the threshold of Lordship - where Jesus is not just IN my life. He’s lord of my life. Tim and Vaughan Blackwood have an interactive discussion on the place of Scripture in that lordship threshold. As a church culture we are barely a generation away from a biblically illiterate generation. Without a deep relationship with scripture, we wander away from the ways of God and from truth, and we elevate our own opinions and experiences to be level with what God says. That’s dangerous ground. This discussion calls us back to a living relationship with God through scripture that keeps us off the throne of our life and Jesus well and truly on it.

In part 2 of this series on thresholds, Tim looks at 4 thresholds in Kingdom life. These thresholds are part of a meta-process of growth and development into the fullness of our calling and destiny. At each threshold, there is warfare, and a series of choices that need to be made. The temptation, when we don’t understand what is really happening, is to retreat to our “false refuges” rather than embrace the challenge and step into the next season.

The concept of “thresholds” in Scripture is one of those subjects that you don’t see and until you see it. Then once you see, you can’t un-see it, and you see it everywhere. Tim shows us that a threshold moment is a transition place from one season into another. It happens in the natural (e.g. puberty), and it also happens in the spirit as God leads us into a new season in our calling and assignment. Whenever we are at a threshold, we will generally have an encounter with the enemy who wants to keep us stuck in and old season. Jesus had one such moment at His temptation - the doorway between staying private, and launching into public ministry. Many of us are at threshold moments right now. At i61, we are at a threshold corporately. The decisions we make here are critical if we are to walk into everything that God has promised us. Prophetic ministry follows.

It’s so important to be reminded that we don’t have to commit intellectual suicide to be a Christian. This Easter Sunday, Tim takes us through some of the facts and data surrounding Jesus’ life and death, and the sheer weight of fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, and Jesus’ claims - that completely rules out Him being simply a good moral teacher. Tim ends with a fresh call to respond to Jesus, and to find life in Him.

The last message focussed on the “raise the army” part. Today we focus on the imperative to “set the table” - to create an atmosphere that is welcoming, loving, and healing, so that broken people can come, fall apart, and be loved back to life. Loving well requires a healed heart. My ability to love someone says more about me than the other person. And, love always takes the initiative - because He “first-loved” us.

We are in a transition season, and what we have known in the past is no longer sufficient for where God is taking us. Israel faced this transition after they crossed the Jordan. They moved from a season characterised by “coming out” to a new season of “going in” - taking the land that God had promised them. This was an entirely new operating system. As we finish laying the foundation for 2023 at i61, Tim looks at Joshua 5. Before Israel could take Jericho - the first city they were to conquer - there had to be a fresh consecration for a generation that “had not been circumcised along the way”. It is a season for us to “set the table” and “raise the army”. The dry bones from past seasons are starting to rattle as the Spirit of God is breathing new life over us!

Remnant seasons are a time where there is a focused purifying - often following some kind of correction from God. Not all of the people of God can handle the correction, and many grow weary and lose heart. Tim and Debbie describe the season we are in, looking at Hebrews 12 and Acts 3. God has been working to bring His people back to what it is really all about, and is calling us to a new level of holiness - being set apart for Him alone, so that times of refreshing come.

Tim kicks off 2023, anchoring in Deuteronomy 1, where Moses is recounting to Israel their journey so far. They were at a place that God has bought them to in a mighty way… and where they could no longer stay. Israel had come out of Egypt, but not yet gone in to take possession of all that was promised. This is a picture of where the church is at. We can no longer stay where we are. His glory has come off some things that we are very used to. The days of consumer church are done. Tim looks at 5 areas that His glory is coming upon in this season. He is reorganising His people around His kingdom, rather than what we have made church to be.

Too often, we achieve a breakthrough - a deliverance, a moment of freedom - and we think the work is done. In fact, that’s when the work begins. Jesus taught that when a demon leaves it goes looking for somewhere to rest, and then attempts to return to where it was cast out from. As the people of God we need to become good at occupying territory after the breakthrough - that is, filling the space with the opposite of what got you into captivity. This is true in individuals, and it is true in spheres and geographical regions. Tim then sets the stage for what God wants for i61 in 2023. It’s time for what’s in the house to flow through the house and go out and impact our community and our city.