Podcast - i61 Sydney: Recent Episodes
i61 Church Sydney
If God’s house is the place where His presence dwells, then what should that presence produce?In Part 2 of this series, Tim moves from exploring the nature of God’s house to asking what happens when His house is established according to His design. Drawing together the prophetic promise of Haggai, the vision of Isaiah 2, and the lives of David and Solomon, this message reveals that God’s presence was never intended to remain within the walls of worship. It is meant to shape people who carry the wisdom, creativity and strategies of heaven into every sphere of life. Isaiah prophesies that in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established, and the nations will come saying, “Teach us His ways.” Tim explores what that looked like in the life of Solomon. Raised in a household marked by worship and the presence of God, Solomon became a leader whose wisdom drew kings and nations from across the earth. His insight wasn’t limited to spiritual matters. It transformed leadership, justice, creativity, innovation and every aspect of life.This message challenges the Church to recover that same expectation. A genuine house of prayer doesn’t simply produce meaningful gatherings or powerful worship experiences. It produces people who carry heaven’s wisdom into the marketplace, education, business, government, technology, the arts and every other sphere where God’s Kingdom is advancing.More than anything, this is an invitation to pursue God’s presence with fresh purpose. As we dwell with Him, He desires to place His thoughts, His strategies and His creativity within us, so that our lives become a tangible demonstration of His Kingdom.Because when God’s house is established, the world doesn’t come looking for better religious programmes. It comes looking for the wisdom of God.
What is the Church Jesus is actually building?In this message, Tim explores one of the great biblical themes that runs from Genesis to Revelation: the House of God. While we’ve often understood the Church through the lens of the ecclesia, this message introduces another equally important picture — God’s house — and asks what that really means. My House - Sunday 12th July 2026_transcript.docxBeginning with Jesus cleansing the Temple in Mark 11, we discover that His passion wasn’t centred on religious activity or programmes, but on something far deeper. “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Throughout Scripture, from Jacob’s encounter at Bethel, to the Tabernacle in the wilderness, to Solomon’s Temple and the prophetic words of Haggai, the same pattern continues to emerge. God’s desire has always been to dwell among His people. His house is the place where heaven touches earth, where His name rests, and where His presence is made known.Tim unpacks how that pattern finds its fulfilment under the New Covenant. The house God is building is no longer a physical building, but a people. Together, we are becoming His dwelling place, a people who carry His presence into the world.This message is also a call to recalibrate our understanding of what success looks like as a church. If we measure ourselves by programmes, activity or numbers, we’ll miss the very thing God is most passionate about. But if we become a people who know how to host His presence, who make room for His glory, and who build our lives around His heart, then we are cooperating with what He has always been building.More than anything, this message is an invitation to become the kind of people among whom God delights to dwell. Because the House of God has never simply been a place where people gather.It is the place where heaven and earth meet, where His presence is welcomed, and where the King of Glory makes His home among His people.
In this powerful Mother’s Day message, Debbie explores the story of Deborah in Judges 4 and 5 and unpacks what she describes as “the Deborah anointing” — an anointing marked by wisdom, worship, humility, courage and spiritual authority. Beginning with the name of God, El Shaddai, Debbie reflects on the Father’s heart to nurture, provide and pour out His goodness on His people. Just as a child confidently places a demand on a loving parent, we are invited to approach God as sons and daughters who trust His provision, His love and His sufficiency.From there, Debbie moves into the account of Deborah, the only female judge of Israel, who led from a place of humility and intimacy with God. Sitting under a palm tree, accessible to the people and attentive to the voice of God, Deborah carried wisdom, released prophetic strategy and partnered with others to bring breakthrough and peace to the land.This message is not about competition between men and women, but about honouring the anointing on one another and learning to walk together in covenant, maturity and unity. Deborah’s leadership carried both the tenderness of worship and the fierceness of a warrior spirit, and Debbie challenges the church to recover both again.There is also a strong prophetic call throughout this message for the Church to walk in greater transparency, humility and unity in worship. In a time where there is so much division, noise and self-promotion, Debbie reminds us that the people of God are called to pursue peace, honour one another, and become a unified sound in the earth that displaces darkness and releases the presence of God into regions and cities.More than anything, this message is an invitation to deeper surrender — to become people who carry the wisdom of God, who worship with abandon, who pursue unity instead of division, and who are willing to let the refiner’s fire burn away everything that hinders the fullness of Christ in us.Because the land finds peace when the people of God walk in wisdom, worship and unity together.
We are in a threshold season. And thresholds require a different posture.In this deeply prophetic and pastoral message, Michelle Wilson explores the contrasting responses of Zechariah and Mary to the announcement of impossible pregnancies in Luke 1. Both were visited by the angel Gabriel. Both received a promise that defied natural reality. Both asked, “How can this happen?” Yet the response from heaven was completely different.Why?As Michelle unpacks the story surrounding the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, we begin to see the importance of surrender, honour, hiddenness, and yieldedness in moments where God is birthing something new. Zechariah nearly disqualified himself at the threshold through dishonour and unbelief, while Mary’s surrendered heart created a landing place for the glory of God to break in.This message carries a timely warning and invitation for anyone navigating transition, promise, waiting, or breakthrough. Sometimes God hides what He is growing. Sometimes the embryonic stages of a move of God require protection, stillness, and deep trust. And sometimes the greatest danger at the threshold is not opposition from the outside, but careless speech and dishonour from within.Megan Grigg then leads the church into a powerful moment of reflection and repentance, asking the Holy Spirit to expose any place where dishonour, resistance, or hardened posture may be hindering what God wants to birth in this season.
The Great Commission was never just about people. It was always about nations.In this message, Tim brings together the threads of the past few weeks and reveals the fuller picture of what it means to displace powers and take cities. Starting in Matthew 28 and moving through the book of Acts, we see that discipling nations is not a passive idea — it’s a strategic, sustained invasion of the ways of the Kingdom into every sphere of society. Education, media, institutions, culture — not by force, but through truth, influence, and the demonstration of power.Again and again in Acts, a pattern emerges. The gospel is preached, the Kingdom is demonstrated, and eventually the stronghold behind a city is confronted. Sometimes that confrontation leads to breakthrough, with whole regions turning to the Lord. Sometimes it leads to resistance, persecution, or partial impact. But the strategy remains the same.We don’t primarily fight powers by confronting them directly. We displace them. Through a sustained pattern of discipling, and through the unmistakable demonstration of the Kingdom — healing, freedom, authority — the influence of darkness is pushed back until it has no place left to stand.This message is a call to lift our vision, to move beyond a small, contained expression of faith and step into the assignment of seeing cities, regions, and ultimately nations shaped by the rule and reign of Jesus. Because the end game is not just full churches. It’s this: “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.”
Our battle is not against flesh and blood — but if we don’t understand how that battle works, we’ll fight in the wrong place.In this message, Tim builds on the foundation of principalities and takes us into the next layer: powers — the spiritual forces that shape ideologies, systems of thought, and cultural patterns within a nation. Drawing from Colossians 2 and Ephesians 6, we see how these powers work to disciple territories through philosophy, worldview, and institutional influence — shaping how people think, live, and ultimately what they worship. Behind every ideology is a spirit. And whether we realise it or not, every one of us is being discipled by something.Here we uncover the Kingdom strategy for nations and regions.Jesus didn’t just defeat the powers at the cross — He disarmed them. And instead of calling His people to “fight” them directly, He commissioned us to disciple nations. To bring the ways of heaven into the fabric of society so that darkness is displaced, not just confronted.This message is both a wake-up call and a commissioning.A call to discern what is shaping our thinking, what is discipling our children, and what is influencing our culture.And a call to step into our assignment — to carry the Kingdom into our spheres, to live as light, and to demonstrate a better way.Because the question is not if you are being discipled.The question is — by what?
Our battle is not against flesh and blood.In this message, Tim takes us deeper into the unseen framework behind that statement — tracing a biblical worldview from Deuteronomy 32 through to Ephesians 6 that reveals the reality of territorial powers, spiritual authority, and the cosmic nature of the battle we are in. Beginning with the Tower of Babel and the dividing of the nations, we explore how Scripture points to a spiritual geography — where nations were given over, where principalities took influence, and where God set apart a people for Himself with a redemptive plan to reclaim the nations.From the divine council language of the Old Testament, through to Paul’s categories of principalities and powers, this message brings clarity to what is actually happening beneath the surface of world events, cultural movements, and even national identity.But this is not abstract theology.As the Lion of Judah begins to move in justice and judgement, this teaching calls us to discern rightly — to understand the nature of the battle, to refuse agreement with what God is confronting, and to step into our mandate as a prophetic and intercessory people.Because the assignment is not just personal. It’s territorial.This is a call to lift our eyes, sharpen our discernment, and pray in alignment with what God is doing in our nation — so that His Kingdom would come, and His will would be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
In Matthew 11 we encounter a surprising moment: John the Baptist — the greatest of the Old Testament prophets — sends word to Jesus from prison asking, “Are you the Coming One, or should we expect someone else?” How does the very prophet who declared “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” end up questioning whether Jesus is really the Messiah?In this message, Tim unpacks the prophetic tension behind John’s question. John had seen something real in the Spirit — a Messiah who would come with a winnowing fork in His hand, separating wheat from chaff and executing the justice of God. Yet the Jesus he was watching seemed very different: eating with sinners, touching lepers, extending mercy where John expected judgement.What John was experiencing was the tension created by prophetic compression — when two realities that appear side-by-side in prophecy are actually separated by time. John saw the Lion of Judah. But in that moment he was encountering the Lamb.The challenge for us today may be the opposite.We are deeply familiar with the Lamb — the healer, redeemer, and friend of sinners. But Scripture reveals another dimension of Jesus: the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the King who brings justice, confronts corruption, and vindicates the oppressed.As the world and the Church move through a season of shaking and exposure, this message calls us to know Jesus in the fullness of who He is — Lamb and Lion — so that we are not offended when God moves in ways that stretch our expectations.Because if we only know the Lamb, we may struggle to recognise the Lion when He begins to roar.
Levelling up sounds inspiring. But what does it actually require?In Part 2 of this message, Tim moves from prophetic theme to practical framework. If 2026 is a year to level up, then we need more than language — we need transformation at the level of our internal operating system.Opening in Romans 12, this message unpacks what it really means to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The Greek “nous” is not just your thoughts — it’s the faculty through which you interpret reality. If that internal system is misaligned, it will naturally keep producing the same results. Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.So if we want different fruit, something deeper has to shift.Tim explores generational flows and inherited constraints, unprocessed wounds and vows that quietly limit capacity, skill sets required for the future God is calling you into, constraint theory — identifying the true bottleneck in your growth, and Physical health as a legitimate Kingdom stewardship issue.This is not a “try harder” message. It’s an invitation to present yourself to God and allow Him to confront the internal architecture that is capping your capacity.The struggle may feel like a chrysalis — tight, uncomfortable, even suffocating. But what if the fight is actually building the strength required for the next level?If glory to glory is real, then staying where you are is not an option.The question is: Who does your future require you to become?
The world is shaking. The church is shaking. But God is not.In this tag-team message, Tim and Debbie name the tremors rocking the body of Christ and the broader world — from public moral failures in high-profile ministries to the collapsing foundations of celebrity church culture. Against that backdrop, Haggai 2 becomes a prophetic lens: though the former glory may feel like a distant memory, God promises, “I will fill this house with glory.”Tim opens with a call to reckon with what we’ve anchored our faith to. In “consumer Church”, we are anchored to the “superstar Christians”, and when they fall we are shaken to the core. When we are anchored the the Rock - Jesus - we will not be shaken.Then Debbie brings a timely word from the Father’s heart: stillness. Not passive denial, but the kind of stillness that positions us to remember His promises, hear His voice, and let Him be our Defender. Whether you’re facing external battle, internal storm, or trauma response, the invitation is the same: be still and know.This message is a calibration moment for 2026 — and a prophetic alignment for those who feel the shaking and are asking, “What now?”“Do not be afraid or discouraged… Take up your positions. Stand firm and see the deliverance of the Lord.” (2 Chron. 20:17)
What if the limits you’ve accepted as normal… aren’t even close to God’s version of normal?In this end-of-year message, Tim calls us to confront the thinking that has kept us playing small — not just in areas of obvious struggle, but in the zones where we’ve “settled” for good instead of contending for God’s best. This isn’t about trying harder. It’s about letting the Spirit confront our old defaults, and partnering with heaven to rewrite the narrative.We dig into the short but powerful story of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4) — a man born under a name that meant pain and toil — who refused to let that script define his future. His bold four-part prayer becomes a template for breaking through restriction, reclaiming lost territory, and asking God to confront our inherited limitations with Kingdom perspective.This message presses into themes of divine favour, renewed mindsets, prosperous soul, strategic influence, and generational redemption — and closes with a prayer of consecration and commissioning.“God is asking to confront your normal with His normal. Will you let Him?”
“Thanksgiving isn’t polite appreciation. It’s powerful, prophetic agreement.”In Part 2 of this transformative series, Michelle Wilson leads us deeper into the biblical pattern of thanksgiving — not as something offered after a miracle, but as a bold, faith-filled act that precedes breakthrough.From Abraham’s altar to Jehoshaphat’s audacious worship strategy, Michelle explores what it means to give thanks based purely on what God has said, before there’s any sign of fulfilment. The battle in 2 Chronicles 20 wasn’t won with swords — it was won with song. The singers went out first.This message exposes the spirit of forgetting and the subtle ways our culture has swapped biblical thanksgiving for hollow gratitude. Through Scripture and personal revelation, we’re called to recover the sword of thanksgiving — to remember, to rejoice, and to stake our ground in joy and trust.It concludes around the communion table, where we remember not just what Jesus has done, but what His blood has secured for what’s still to come.“Give thanks to the Lord, for His faithful love endures forever.”Even before the victory is visible.
“Not giving thanks is a slippery slope to forgetting, which is a slippery slope to idolatry.”In this timely and insightful message, Michelle brings fresh revelation on the power of thanksgiving — not as a vague attitude of gratitude, but as a spiritual weapon that aligns our hearts, our worship, and our memory with the truth of who God is.Drawing from both Hebrew and Greek biblical roots, Michelle contrasts the cultural trend of gratitude journaling with the active, intentional command to give thanks to God. From Deuteronomy to Luke, from the Psalms to the Eucharist, she uncovers how thanksgiving is far more than polite appreciation — it’s an act of warfare, a discipline of remembrance, and a key to carrying spiritual authority in the land of promise.This is Part 1 of a two-part message, calling us to pick up the sword of thanksgiving and rediscover its power to anchor us, transform us, and prepare us for what’s next.
“You are noble. You have a voice. And it’s time to take it back.”In this powerful and deeply prophetic message, Megan Edward calls us to step fully into the identity God has spoken over us: a people of nobility, dignity, and authority. Building on a word from Sandra Sellmer-Kersten — nobility — and revisiting the Hebrew decade of the mouth (5780), we’re invited to consider how fear, trauma, and spiritual resistance have tried to silence the voice of the Bride. But no more.From Genesis to Proverbs to Romans, Scripture reminds us that the tongue carries life and death — and God is calling us to speak again. To prophesy again. To declare truth again. Through stories of King George VI and the film The King’s Speech, Megan draws a striking parallel: we reclaim our voice as we are healed from past pain and trauma that has shut us down. This is a word for anyone who has felt disqualified, disheartened, or held back. The season has shifted. The church must speak. It’s time to stand, take our seat, and release the sound of heaven.“You carry nobility. You carry authority. And your voice matters.”
In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk this past week, Tim challenges us on our need for a discernment upgrade in the body of Christ. One factor that increases our discernment is seeing patterns in Scripture. When you recognise a pattern, you see things in a different light. Tim looks through all the incidents of civil unrest in the book of Acts and pulls out the narrative that was played to the authorities versus the reality of what actually happened. If we don’t have our eyes open to this pattern, we will just buy the narrative that is being fed to us, because on the surface it seems to add up. But even a shallow dig below the surface and the peddled narrative starts to fall apart. The events of this past week make it clear that we need our eyes open to the reality of the supernatural battle, while not falling into the same wrong spirit as we take on that battle.
In the final message in this series on Ephesians, Tim looks at 6:10-24. Understanding the nature of the battle is the critical foundation for taking ground and establishing Kingdom territory. Understanding the “powers” empowers us with the knowledge of how the enemy keeps cities and nations in captivity, and has massive implications for how we go about discipling cities and nations. Understanding the armour of God makes us like teflon to the powers - anything they try can’t stick to us. The call is for us to be an awakened and alert army that displaces the forces of the enemy in the second heaven and ultimately sees their dominion brought down, leading to the kingdoms of this world becoming the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
In this 10th message on the book of Ephesians, Tim looks at 5:21 - 6:9. This passage of Scripture has been used to justify some of the must destructive practices in the Christian world through an ignorance of the context of the whole passage. The passage speaks to three pairs of people - husbands and wives, parents and children, and masters and slaves. Any interpretation of these verses that justifies one dominating the other misses the immediate context which is “submit to one another…” We also need to understand the true nature of submission and headship. These verses set an impossible standard if it wasn’t an outflow of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
How many of us have been in severe physical pain, and thought to ourselves, “This is awesome - it’s so life-giving…”..? It’s the enemy’s work to steal, kill and destroy. At this second Combined Churches Regional Gathering, Tim Ferris looks at Jesus’ healing ministry through the lens of the apostle John. Jesus came that we might have life, and life more abundantly. Sickness and pain works against the life of God in us. So, whose work is sickness? At the very least, it is life in a fallen world. At worst it is the enemy’s work of stealing, killing, and destroying. Either way, Jesus came to fix it, and we were given the same commission when Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Prayer and ministry for healing follows.
In the ninth message of this series, Tim found some unexpected gold in Ephesians 5:15-20, having planned to start at verse 22 this week. Not all moments are created equal. There are “kairos” moments, where what you choose in that moment has a disproportionate impact. Paul’s counsel here is to not be distracted, and to not dull your senses in such a way that you miss a window of opportunity to advance in your Kingdom assignment, and deliver a harvest that is less than what you were created for. At i61 we are in one of those moments where what we choose now will impact us for potentially the next decade. We need heaven’s wisdom to steward this moment into Kingdom breakthrough. Prayer and ministry follows.
Tim continues our series on the book of Ephesians, looking at Ephesians 5:1-21. This section follows straight on from chapter 4, taking us into the practical side of mature love. In short, mature love looks like something. The Kingdom of God does require something of us in terms of our behaviour. But, it is critical to know that our behaviour doesn’t define our identity or our standing before God. The process of maturing brings our behaviour into sync with the identity and standing we already have. Verse 6 gives us a warning - DON’T BE FOOLED BY THOSE WHO TELL YOU OTHERWISE! We will be called to give an account for what we have done with what God has put in us. This is not a salvation issue, but it is a reward issue, and heaven’s reward system is not equal.
Tim takes a second pass at Ephesians chapter 4. Everything that God creates has order and design. His church is no different. He has designed it with offices, anointings, and a structure that, when infused with His presence, results in a mature community that reflects the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”. That means more than we behave like Jesus. It means we occupy the space in the spirit realm that He occupies - and that is a much bigger mandate. Maturity looks like something, and Paul gives us clear direction on what mature community looks like. There’s a particular “foothold” that we need to be aware of - a false refuge - that replaces forgiveness with forgetting (a form of denial) and leads to hardened hearts toward each other and a robbery of our freedom and destiny.
In part 6 of this series on the book of Ephesians, Tim looks at Ephesians chapter 4. This chapter introduces us to the governmental, or ruling offices in the Body of Christ - often referred to as the “5-fold” giftings. The purpose of these giftings is less about running an organisation, and more about bring us to maturity in love so that we fully represent Christ to each other and to the world. They are a healthy parental motif rather than a political power motif. To the extent we resist these offices in our life, we will stay immature and fall short of the fullness of Christ we are created for.
In a first of its kind gathering in the Rouse Hill region, many churches gathered to worship Jesus and minister healing. Tim & Debbie Ferris lead the teaching a ministry time from Isaiah 53, where we see that our healing was purchased for us at the cross. As we follow Jesus’ way of ministering healing we find that breakthrough becomes a normal expression of the compassion of Jesus. We heard a number of testimonies of Jesus healing people, and then as ministry time unfolded, more healings happened in the room.
Tim returns to the series on the book of Ephesians, picking up at chapter 3, verses 14-21. Here we see an apostolic prayer of Paul’s where he opens the curtain and gives this body an insight into how an apostle prays. It’s a different kind of prayer than one a pastor prays. This powerful prayer shows the importance of both power and love being demonstrated through the ekklesia, such that the full character and nature of God is expressed to the world.
In this first teaching of 2025 (despite two failed attempts), Tim revisits the foundational teaching on “the Ekklesia” - the Greek word Jesus used when He said, “I will build my church…” A core part of our journey right now is discovering what Jesus really envisioned when He made that statement. The word wasn’t typically used in a spiritual context in that day. Jesus took a secular concept, which was more akin to a parliament or a board than a synagogue, and infused it with Kingdom DNA. If we want to be a part of the only thing that Jesus said He would build, we must get this picture accurate, and have a vision for far more than what we are currently doing.
In the fourth message in this series on the book of Ephesians, Tim takes us through Ephesians chapter 3 - well some of it anyway... Verses 10 and 11 are some of the most powerful verses in the New Testament in describing how God wants to work through the church to accomplish His mission of bringing everything under the headship of Christ. What is the “manifold wisdom of God” and how do we make it known to the principalities in the second heaven..? Both terms - wisdom, and manifold - are incredibly rich. When we get just a sniff of what they are about, we see the importance of us stepping into all the God has created us to be. Strap yourself in for a wild ride.
In part 3 of this series, Tim looks at Ephesians chapter 2. This is a letter to a church that was extraordinary in its influence, such that from Ephesus, the gospel went out and filled Asia as they knew it at the time, and there was nowhere left to for Paul to preach. The start of this chapter reminds us not to become proud of our progress. Tim then unpacks three architectures from this chapter - the architecture of us as God’s poetic masterpiece, the architecture of the heavenly places, and the architecture of the church, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. So much of the modern church as we have known it has been built on the foundation of pastors and teachers, which puts a ceiling on the whole environment such that the church becomes ineffective in its mission. Tim calls us back to building on the foundation that God designed for His church so that the church will become everything that He intended in the earth.
In part 2 in this series on Ephesians, Tim opens up the first chapter, which is so rich and full! Ephesians introduces us to the second heaven - the heavenly places, or the realm of the spirit. This is the realm where the mission of the ekklesia is first enacted, and then becomes manifest in the earth realm. In this chapter we see the clearest revelation on God’s personal mission statement, and we see how that links to our own personal mission and calling. And, we see in Paul’s apostolic prayer, the exceedingly great power available to us as believers to be victorious in life, and fruitful in our Kingdom calling and assignment.
Tim begins a new series on the book of Ephesians. Of all of the New Testament letters, and the cities they were written to, the ekklesia is probably best demonstrated here in Ephesus. It is also a letter where we get one of the best and fullest descriptions of the full gospel, that came to a city that was deeply steeped in witchcraft and occultic practices. As we begin this letter, we see the foundational authority and architecture of a church that can be entrusted with the full power of God such that it shifts the spiritual climate for an entire region, and becomes a missional hub from which the whole of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
Have you ever battled with self-sabotaging thoughts, behaviours or habits? Have you ever wanted to really pursue God, but find it hard to sustain that? Have you ever felt like part of you wants God, and another part of you has a completely different agenda? Scripture talks to this. Psalm 86:11 says, “Give to me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name.” We often talk about a hard or soft heart, and a broken heart, but the divided heart is another dimension. In this message Tim explains what a divided heart is and how it works, and how to walk the journey towards “wholeheartedness”.
We often think about our calling and assignment in terms of the ground we are to take, the people we are to reach and what we are to do… and that is all absolutely valid. There is a piece of the puzzle that we often miss, and it relates to resolving the unresolved issues - sins, false covenants and the like in our own bloodline. The ancient ruins and places long devastated for generations spoken of in Isaiah 61 is the brokenness in our own bloodlines that Jesus wants to undo and then redeem. The temptations we face are often served up to us to bring us into victory such that the generations that follow don’t have the same battles we did.
Our dear friend Sandra Sellmer-Kersten from Elijah House brings a weighty prophetic word to i61 about a season of testing. It takes character to carry the heavy anointing of God. God wants to build in us the character that enables us to carry the gift. God tests us in difficult times, and also in times of favour. Drawing on scriptural stories from the life of Joseph and Hezekiah, Sandra reminds us of how crucial it is to let the Father do His work in our hearts so that we can carry the high calling and bring the orphans home. The higher the building, the greater the call, the deeper you need to go.
i61 is in a new season, but there are some keys in past ground that we’ve covered that are relevant and prophetic for us now. The book of Nehemiah holds some critical blueprints and keys for what we are building, so we are posting a 5-part series that Tim did back in 2015. It takes more than one person to change the world - to leave a lasting legacy the lives for generations. It’s important to know what part of the “wall” we are called to build - what is our specific assignment, otherwise that part of the wall won’t get built. Our unique assignment is often linked to something that is very close to our heart - something we deeply care about. It takes all of us discovering who we are, and putting our hand to the plough, to accomplish something significant. Often the catalyst to the kind of unity needed is one person being bold enough to step into who they really are, then others unite around that. You can’t wait for unity to act. You’ll get the unity once you act.
i61 is in a new season, but there are some keys in past ground that we’ve covered that are relevant and prophetic for us now. The book of Nehemiah holds some critical blueprints and keys for what we are building, so we are posting a 5-part series that Tim did back in 2015. In this fourth message of the series Tim shows us the different accusations bought by Sanballat and Tobiah, and how they mirror the spiritual attacks that the enemy brings to derail us from our mission and weaken our hands for the work. So we pray, “God strengthen my hands!”
i61 is in a new season, but there are some keys in past ground that we’ve covered that are relevant and prophetic for us now. The book of Nehemiah holds some critical blueprints and keys for what we are building, so we are posting a 5-part series that Tim did back in 2015. In this third message, Tim looks at the fact that whenever you are doing something significant, there will always be criticism thrown at you. How you handle it is critical, so that the great work continues, you don’t get distracted, and the work doesn’t get derailed.
i61 is in a new season, but there are some keys in past ground that we’ve covered that are relevant and prophetic for us now. The book of Nehemiah holds some critical blueprints and keys for what we are building, so we are posting a 5-part series that Tim did back in 2015. In this second message, Tim looks at the part divine favour plays in the living out of your God-calling.
i61 is in a new season, but there are some keys in past ground that we’ve covered that are relevant and prophetic for us now. The book of Nehemiah holds some critical blueprints and keys for what we are building, so we are posting a 5-part series that Tim did back in 2015. In this first message, Tim looks at the importance of the God encounter when it comes to our calling. The strength of the encounter carries us through the challenges of living out the call.
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.
Deliverance has been on the rise. Breakthrough is increasing, and we’re coming out of a season where we have been shut down and silenced. This week went very different to plan, and that’s ok. Tim was going to teach on how to occupy territory that’s been conquered - i.e. what to do after the deliverance has happened. More on that next time. It seems there was more breakthrough needed in the room, so that’s what we pursued. Listen to this with your heart and spirit, not just your ears.
This is the 3rd in this short series on The Spirit of Elijah. Isaiah 40 describes in part the spirit of Elijah, prophetically declaring the ministry of John the Baptist, who we know came in the spirit of Elijah. What preceded the spirit of Elijah was “comfort My people”. We have been through an extended traumatic season, and it’s easy to miss its impact, as it is something that has happened to everyone. Comfort is the answer to trauma, and God wants to minister to, and lift off the trauma of the past season, so we are free to bring that same comfort and healing to the world around us.
God wants to return to us His normal for us, which is double portion. God woke Debbie in the middle of the night and said clearly, “Disengagement has to go!” The disengagement has been a trauma response to the COVID season, and God is bringing His people back. To fully receive the double portion He has for us, we have to re-engage with His apostolic call - that which He has sent us to do.
This is part 2 of 2 messages on the spirit of Elijah. Isaiah 61 shows us what the anointing that was on Jesus will do. It will heal broken hearts and set people free. But it doesn’t stop there. Isaiah 61 goes on to tell us what those who were once broken hearted - and now healed - will do. They will disrupt, heal and restore generational cycles and patterns of dysfunction and brokenness. We need healing not just for ourselves. Our healing becomes the launchpad that sees others set free in the same area that we were once held captive. You have been placed in the midst of pain and brokenness to be an agent of healing to the world around you. It is time to be activated and sent out!
The spirit that was on Elijah was not only that of prophet. Malachi 4 tells us that the “spirit and power of Elijah” will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. John The Baptist came in that spirit to “prepare the way of the Lord”. This anointing to heal hearts and heal families precedes the full ministry of Jesus. As we are sent out to heal broken hearts we prepare a highway that Jesus can come in on.
Four words that are significant right now - chaos, Emmaus, eramos, osmosis. Vaughan Blackwood reminds us that in the plethora of distractions, we MUST find the quiet place to be with The Father so that we can walk into the chaos of the world empowered to make a difference and be an agent of transformation.
Tim continues to speak on the two giants in the land of Kingdom breakthrough and heaven being fully manifested on earth … those being unbelief and orphanitis, Paul said to the Corinthians, “you have ten thouand teachers in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers”. Paul points to this as being the reason they are still stuck in immaturity. In our call to “grow up into Him” (Eph 4) we MUST shift from our focus on programs, events, and tasks, and truly open our hearts to giving and receiving adoptive love - growing together as family. Much of the immature fruit we see in the Body today is a “pandemic of the unparented”. God is wanting to raise up mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, so that the world experiences the fullness of Jesus.
As the church, we are commissioned to bring heaven to earth - to see the reality of heaven tangibly manifested in the earth realm. There are two key giants in our way at the moment - unbelief, and orphanitis. Today, Tim focuses on unbelief, and specifically our role as individuals to grow into a place of faith. When it comes to faith, size matters, and is a factor that makes a difference in our ability to usher in Kingdom breakthrough.
One of the primary ways Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom was through healing and deliverance. Healing is not an added extra - a bonus. It’s in the atonement. Tim looks at three key truths about the ministry of physical healing, mixing teaching with stories and testimonies of different ways that healing has come. The onus is on us to learn and understand how the Kingdom of God operates. We also need to process our past disappointments in a healthy way. These are both critical so that we don’t create room for unbelief to grow.
Like earth has the law of gravity, the Kingdom of God has “laws” by which it operates. If we are not seeing what Scripture promises manifested in our life, chances are we haven’t fully grasped how His kingdom works. One such “law” is the law of sowing and reaping. Sometimes we are not reaping what we want because we haven’t taken God at His word and applied faith to what we sow. Sometimes we are reaping what we don’t want, because we have sown something in the past that has now grown a crop in our life. We blame many things, but don’t realise we are actually reaping something we sowed. Other times we lack because we haven’t sowed anything at all. Tim explores this law of sowing and reaping, so that we can work with it and start to experience everything that Scripture has promised us.
It’s Mothers’ Day, and a great day to talk about one of the fundamentals of the culture of heaven - honour. Scripture says to “honour your father and mother that it may go well with you…” There is a sowing and reaping that happens around this particular area of honour. If things are not going well for you, there’s a chance that you have sowed dishonour somewhere, and you are now reaping from that. Tim tells of his own journey in this, and then Debbie releases a powerful prophetic word and commissioning for the women.
Paul said to the Corinthians, “…we are not ignorant of the devil’s devices,” and he said to the Ephesians, “…put on the full armour of God so you can stand against the devil’s schemes.” What the enemy is doing is not our focus, and at the same time, we can’t be ignorant of what he is up to. Right now, the enemy wants us overwhelmed, and to dissociate/check-out as a protection against all that’s happening in the world. This empowers a sleepy, “wet blanket” kind of feel in spirit. At the same time God is doing an Isaiah 60 work of waking us up. In this season, it is critical that we do not give up ground to the enemy by accepting something that’s not our Kingdom inheritance as “normal”, or “just the way it is.” Do not give up ground right now!
Our measures of church “success” in the western world are a bit messed up. When Paul prayed for the churches he fathered, he prayed different things to what we typically pray. Tim builds on previous weeks to bring clarity to where we are going as an i61 family, and what we are working to build. He unpacks the five core “discipleship pillars” that underpin everything we do.
Over the past 2 years, fear seems to have become a normal part of our lives, yet it is not a normal part of the Kingdom life. Tim opens up Isaiah 60 and 2 Timothy 1:7. In the context of “deep darkness covers the earth…”, we are called to arise and shine. Fear becoming familiar in this past season wars against what we are called to. Love, power, and a sound mind are in direct opposition to what is happening in the world right now. We are to be of a different spirit, so that world looks at God’s people and says, “you have what I need!” Then “nations will come to your light and Kings to the brightness of your rising.”
In our first corporate gathering for 2022, Tim opens up our core Scripture - Isaiah 61 - to remind us of the calling on us as a house, and set our calling in the context of a global strategic prophetic word from Chris Reed from Morningstar, and explained by Mike Bickle from IHOP Kansas City. We have been divinely positioned and prepared “for such as time as this”. Tim calls us to be bold in asking Jesus to touch us and move on us so that our lives truly become “a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour.”
To get the full and complete story on the global prophetic, see Mike Bickle’s message at https://youtu.be/fpFEXVg7QbA
You can see the graphic Tim was speaking from at i61.com.au/i61-vision-map
Unbelief is not “the lack of faith”. It is a substance - a weed growing in our garden. When Jesus healed the boy with the mute spirit in Mark 9, the boy’s father said, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” He had two trees growing in his garden. One that believed Jesus, and one that battled to. When we have “stuff” in our life that is less than what scripture promises, it is evidence that more than one tree is growing in our garden. Jesus wants to deal with the tree at the root. In this season, dreams in the night are increasing, and God is revealing the root of our fruit, and giving us keys for advancement.
It’s not hard for a global event of COVID-19’s magnitude to throw us off centre a bit. There has been grace for that. Now the season is turning. It’s time to stop thinking just about survival and start thinking about advancement. Tim reminds us that there is a kind of faith that attracts the realm of heaven to our situation. It’s time to start building that kind of faith and re-orient ourselves back toward our Kingdom assignment.
There is so much opportunity to be offended right now. So much division in the air. So easy to judge those who see things differently to us. Yet, we have been given a mission to show the world what love really is. Tim exhorts us to continue to grow in mature love. If we can only love those we agree with, the problem is us rather than them. In a world that is deeply divided, God want us to be famous for our love!
We are in unusual times, and it is so easy to get pre-occupied with everything that is going on around us - what the government is doing, whether people are vaccinating, masking, cooperating, protesting, and so on the list goes. John chapter 5 gives us some keys to stay away from victim thinking, to stay powerful, and to cooperate with what The Father is doing in this time to build His Kingdom.
We’re in lockdown and it feels like we’re just waiting. Lockdown or not, this side of heaven there is always a sense of waiting for something. Waiting in Scripture is an active stance. Debbie reminds us that our stance in the waiting determines our advancement!
The story of Jesus calming the storm is very familiar to many of us, yet it speaks so powerfully to our current circumstances. The disciples needed their external world to change to feel ok on the inside. Jesus had peace and calm on the inside and released that into the external atmosphere. He lived from the inside out. As Kingdom people, that is our mandate!
Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Our heart thinks! We are learning to respond to the voice of the Spirit of Adoption, but we undermine that voice if we cultivate something different on the inside. We need to pay attention to our internal atmosphere - the things we have playing on repeat inside us. We know the Kingdom is established in us when our internal world is dominated by peace and joy.
Our dear friend Matt Beckenham - Senior Leader of Haberfield Baptist Church brings us an encouraging word about “Permission” - intermingling the message with personal and corporate prophetic ministry.
Debbie leads us in a time of prophetic ministry and prayer for healing, then Tim follows on from two weeks ago and ministers into the spirit of adoption - that voice from The Father that chases away fear. The language that The Father speaks isn’t just about the words spoken. The nature of the voice - it’s tone, it’s essence brings with it the touch of His presence. It’s this voice that allows us to be connected back to the child-like fire at the core of our true identity.
Ephesians 4 tells us that we are pursuing mature love - the fullness of Christ. There is a spirit that is rife in Australia culture that wars against mature love - the spirit of rejection. Tim unpacks how the spirit of rejection gets a hold in us, how it operates, and how The Father wants to bring healing to our rejection wounds and connect us back to our core identity.
i61 Church was birthed out of the message of Isaiah 61, which prophetically describes and declares the ministry of Jesus. Tim and Debbie take today to unpack this prophetic passage to describe the blueprint for i61 that God dropped on them back in 2012. We cannot settle for anything less than ALL that Jesus came to do, for our own sake, and for the sake of the world around us, who need to encounter with the authentic Jesus.
This message uses slides on screen to bring the vision to life, which is harder to capture in audio only. There is a full video version of this message available on our website at http://bit.ly/i61Vision.
It’s the start of week three of our 21 prayer and fasting season. Fasting seasons have a tendency to reveal what’s happening in our heart. When our normal “comforters” that silence our heart aren’t there, our heart starts to let us know how it’s doing. Tim looks at a story in Acts 28 that illustrates what to do in “fire seasons” when stuff comes to the surface so that we are transformed people. It takes transformed people to transform cities and nations.
Today begins our “Saturate” season - 3 weeks of prayer, fasting, and pursuing Him with laser focus. In week 1 we pursue our own personal breakthrough and upgrade. Tim and Debbie speak and minister into the “ruined cities” spoken of in Isaiah 61. God wants to heal those “ruined” places in our life that have been devastated for generations, so that you can become a restorer to the world around you.
Debbie speaks into the three key prophetic themes she is hearing for 2021, then leads us into a time of connection with The Father’s voice to hear His heart for us.
In our first in-person gathering in nearly 10 months, Tim kicks off 2021 with the core question of “What is your life building toward? Are you just living, or are you BUILDING?” This is the year to do whatever needs to be done, and deal with whatever needs to be dealt with, so that we can be intentional and active in building His Kingdom in line with our Kingdom assignment.
Since 2017, one thing (among many) that God has been doing is “exposing” - works of darkness and things that are out of order have been brought into the light. That is intensifying in this season. Globally, we need to be on the side of truth, and praying that every hidden thing would be brought into the light. Personally, 2020 has had the effect of exposing the true condition of our heart - especially in relation to our prophetic destiny. 2 Chronicles 20:20 has been, and is, a defining Scripture for 2020.
The Father is taking us on a journey of helping us grow up - particularly in the realm of maturing love. We know from 1 John 4:18 that the RESULT of mature love is that it chases away fear. But what is the NATURE of mature love? In part 2 of this message, Tim makes some more comparisons between immature and mature love, and then minister’s into a fresh revelation of the love of the Father - a fresh awakening of first love.
We’ve all been raised by imperfect love, so it’s no wonder that at times we fear.,, but, it’s important we don’t stay there. The Father is taking us on a journey of helping us grow up - particularly in the realm of maturing love. We know from 1 John 4:18 that the RESULT of mature love is that it chases away fear. But what is the NATURE of mature love? Tim makes 3 comparisons between immature and mature love and then prays for us that God would lead us to a massive love upgrade so that we can be a Kingdom family that shows the world what love really is.
The word “established” is standing out prophetically right now. There’s a number of different “establishings” that scripture talks about. Today, Tim focuses on “being established in love”. Once we are established, God has ordered the body with apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists, with the purpose that we may then mature - grow up. We all need spiritual mothers and fathers in our life for us to properly mature. It’s the tribe of Kingdom people that have secure love on the inside which manifests in mature love on the outside - to those around us. It’s that kind of love that will heal a community, a city, a nation.
How do we create a culture where we make it easier for everyone to strengthen themselves in the Lord? We all have an individual responsibility for our own heart, and, how we are when we are TOGETHER either helps or hinders that. Tim follows on from Deb’s message, showing us how to create a culture that means we are a refreshing oasis to each other, and ultimately to the world around us.
We’ve been talking about this next season being one where the body of Christ is a place of refreshing to the world. It’s not possible for us to do that if we are feeling horrible and depleted. The solution - we need to learning how to strengthen ourselves in the Lord, from the inside out, so that what flows out of us is life-giving. Debbie speaks of the shift that is needed - getting our soul adequately discipled, and getting our spirit to lead. Deb will be running a “Strengthen Yourself In The Lord Bootcamp” in the coming weeks. Have a listen and get in touch with us if you want to join in.
Tim follows up from last week, digging into Isaiah 60 as a key strategic prophetic word for this season. God is releasing fragments of revelation around our identity and our assignment to enable and empower our rising. He’s breathing in fresh passion, awakening our first love - getting us into a place of deep refreshment - so that we are positioned and ready to rise into the fullness of the glory of God in and through us.
Isaiah 60 tells us that when the earth is covered with darkness and deep darkness is over the people, that’s the time when God’s glory comes and causes His people to rise. The key here is it’s YOUR RISING - not God’s, but YOURS. Tim unpacks this “reset” season, bringing a prophetic perspective and promise so that we are perfectly positioned to do our part in seeing the world covered with His glory.
In another epic tag-team, Debbie & Megan explore the power of the confession of our mouth. What we say has power and authority. What we say is fruit of what is happening in our heart, so rather than put tape over our mouth so we don’t “say the wrong thing” we need to let the Spirit touch and heal our heart so that our confession is naturally in agreement with His voice. When our confession is in alignment with heaven, we produce heaven’s atmosphere around us.
Deb Ferris & Megan Edward powerfully tag-team to bring this word about humility - going low. Humility is often misunderstood as being a door mat, or being in poverty. In fact, humility is a Kingdom secret weapon that the enemy has no answer for.
When chaos and craziness abound, our biggest unfair advantage is that we have the voice of God. One of the biggest disciplines/skills we need is the ability to quiet our soul to the point where we can hear the voice of God above all the other voices that are shouting at us right now. There’s lots of ways God speaks. In this message Tim focusses on hearing the voice of God through scripture, and the power of scripture to anchor us so we can thrive in any circumstance.
In crazy and chaotic times, it’s so important to know how to get your soul restored. Tim leads us through an experiential exercise to help you get anchored to the unconditional love of God and have Him restore our souls.
Tim & Deb Ferris do a live and interactive chat around all we’ve been digging into over the past few weeks on “the normal Christian life”, including testimonies, live questions, and a visit from the legendary Steve Frost.
In part two of this series, Tim continues looking at the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and reminds us that one of our most important roles in this Kingdom family is to tend to the fire of the Holy Spirit in our midst and keep that fire burning bright.
It is critical in this season for the people of God to be positioned according to their design and calling so that we are bringing the Kingdom into every sphere of society. We will never disciple a nation without that. But, before we take our place, we MUST experience the baptism in the holy spirit that John The Baptist and Jesus spoke of. Tim introduces the foundations of this experience and the transformation it brings.
The world is more than a little crazy right now, and more than ever, the church needs to rise up and be the Ekklesia that Jesus spoke of and said He would build. Tim looks at two areas that are foundational to us rising into all that we are destined to be, and to become the disciplers of nations the Jesus intended.
The world seems to have gone crazy. With so much happening in the world it’s easy to be distracted. It’s critical to look below the surface and understand what is really going on from a Kingdom perspective, so we can pray and cooperate with God’s agenda in the earth. Right now, the battle is over nations, the warfare is economic, and the stakes are higher than ever. The “reset” for the church is less about the “program” when we meet and more about the shift to being the “Ekklesia” that Jesus spoke of and said He would build.
(Note: The broadcast dropped out near the end, and we scrambled and got back online. This is both parts - the whole message. Apologies for the technical issues!)
On Pentecost Sunday, Tim Ferris and Megan Edward tag-team prophetic words and prophetic context for this season. The valley of dry bones was awakened into a mighty army by the breath or wind of God. Pentecost released that same breath/wind that ushered the church into an entirely new and unprecedented day. We’re in unprecedented times, and God is moving in extraordinary ways - shifting us into a new season.
Lockdowns and restrictions are starting to ease, and we’re beginning to think about getting back to “normal”. It’s important that we don’t miss the divine reset that this season has been, and go back to life without stopping and considering what “normal” should look like. Debbie and Tim tag-team to talk to us about sorting our schedules and ordering our world so that we “seek first the Kingdom”.
Our dear friend Matt Beckenham speaks to us on the power of your yes. Looking at “the man formerly known as legion”, not even a thousand demons could stop one man’s yes to Jesus. Matt finishes with some prophetic ministry.
If the goodness of God is so expansive, you MUST be included in that. “The goodness of God breaks our addiction to white-knuckled self-striving.”. In this timely message, Steve Frost reminds us that the goodness of God is far greater than any challenge we face right now, and should be the anchor that gives our soul peace and rest.
No matter what is happening in the world, God has a dream for you and for your life - and it’s no different in this season. In this message, Debbie encourages us to lean into God’s dream for us personally, and for our community and our region during this time. God releases His dreams through us, so let’s cooperate with what He is doing and building.
This season we’re in has been called a “divine reset” by some senior prophetic people. Tim gives us 3 key messages on how to cooperate with what God is doing in this season. Everything that was prophesied earlier this year about 2020 still stands - God knew what was coming, and maybe this season is actually meant to position you FOR that increase rather than being a delay FROM it. It’s important that we don’t just go back to business as usual, but allow God to make clear HIS priorities for our advancement into all He has promised, then for us to rebuild our lives around those priorities.
On Easter Sunday, Tim reminds us of the resurrection power of Jesus that lives inside us, and it’s our job to learn how to live in that power, rather than to “avoid the virus”.
One of the key features of the corona virus pandemic is the prevalence of fear. That’s not the spirit that we have been given. Tim gives us 3 keys to demolish fear and undermine any chance it has in our life. Ministry into the breaking of fear and torment follows.
As we kick off week 2 of our corporate fast we’re contending for corporate breakthrough as a church. Our dear friend Maria Mason from The Tribe Byron Bay ministers on the breaker anointing. There is always greater levels of His presence available to us, and it’s our job to contend for the greater levels of breakthrough. God put His Spirit on us, and it’s up to us, individually and in community, to stir up that breaker anointing. (Prophetic ministry for first 26 minutes, then message begins.)
In the first week of our three week fast, we’re pursuing personal breakthrough and upgrade. When we’re praying for breakthrough, we often pray like we’re expecting God to do some miraculous work outside of us that just “happens”. Often what God wants to do is answer our prayer by giving us a strategy to co-labour with Him to bring about the breakthrough we are praying for. This week, don’t just pray for breakthrough. Listen for divine strategy.
Why is it that some people are able to shift some things that others can’t seem to? Obviously Jesus was able to shift things that others couldn’t, but He never pointed to His divinity as the reason. In this message, Tim looks at the practice of fasting by looking at two different situations, and the breakthrough that came through fasting.
Tim looks at the key prophetic themes for 2020 and beyond, gathering from our own prayer & prophetic process at i61, and also from key trusted prophetic voices around the world. There’s a fresh consecration required for a fresh season, where suddenlies, acceleration, and an increase in the supernatural are to be expected.
The normal Christian life is absolutely and continually governed by the voice of God. And we know that no word spoken by God is without power (Luke 1:37). Why then do so many of us live with unfulfilled prophetic words, promises, and dreams. Jesus gives us a clear answer to this. Tim unpacks one of the most important Kingdom parables of Jesus - the parable of the sower, and helps us find Kingdom keys that will undermine disappointment and see us walk into everything God has promised us.
If you have unfulfilled prophetic words or dreams, then this message from Deb is for you. Too many people abort their destiny because they don’t know how to walk the critical journey between promise and fulfillment. Learning to do the waiting season is one of the greatest immunisations against bitterness and disappointment.
Tim & Debbie set the foundation for 2020. Our world is more divided than ever right now, and it’s easy to claim “God is on our side”, but He is showing up, like He did with Joshua, and asking us a critical question. At the start of a new year, we come back to the priority of His presence, and the truth that if we want the fire of God to move in our midst, we need to be the sacrifice that brings the fire. We prophetically commissioned our youth as ministers of fire.
No conversation or journey on healing and freedom of the heart is complete without looking at the concept of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a very misunderstood concept in the church, and as such, many are not experiencing the deep freedom that comes when we are able to forgive from the heart. Tim explores what forgiveness ISN’T, what forgiveness IS, HOW to forgive, and HOW LONG do you keep forgiving.
In this message Phil Mason explores the theme of flourishing in the Old Testament and the Sermon on the Mount. God wants our hearts to flourish in Christ. The impartation of heaven’s shalom is central to the cultivation of a flourishing inner life.
Here’s the links to the videos…
Video 1 - Riley Runs Away From Home - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wm_-8EMqL8&feature=youtu.be
Video 2 - Joy Chases Down Sadness - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fogkb6Y4pjU&feature=youtu.be
Video 3 - Sadness Helps Riley - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISaHt3ps1dM&feature=youtu.be
Tim continues to dig into the prophetic word around waves of healing. This week he gives us a window into how our emotional realm is designed - fearfully and wonderfully made by God to serve us well. When we get “stuck” it’s in our emotional realm. Tim gives us practical tools that help us get unstuck and helps us cooperating the God’s heart healing processes.
We have been unpacking a prophetic word around “Waves of healing that will push us back onto our “ask”. Our focus so far has been on what we are asking God for. In this message, Tim focuses on the waves of healing. Using Ezekiel 37 as an anchor, Tim lead us to “paint the target” for the waves of healing to touch and heal the “dry bones places” in our heart.
Vaughan develops the amazing central theme that we are made in God's image and each one of us has an extraordinary capacity and imperative to love above all else. To be known as a community of great lovers of God, each other and the needy world!
Tim wraps up our series around our “ask” and the processes of faith, with a word anchored in Joshua 6 and the taking of Jericho. There was a reality in front of Israel, but God asked the to “see” something different. What we see determines what we manifest, and one of the greatest challenges to what we see is unprocessed disappointment from past seasons.
We looked at the new season & era we are entering into this week with the New Hebrew Year 5780 ‘Pey’ the mouth. We also looked at what our ‘asks’ are. We explored whether we are ‘settling’ for just enough or are we asking with boldness for our big & possibly scary dreams & desires. We gave our disappointments & fear of Rejection to Jesus & chose to trust Him with our big ask which we then shared with someone...prophesying that very dream over our own lives!
In part 2 of this series on faith, Debbie looks deeper into the process of how faith forms in us. Then, it’s no good having faith if we don’t put it to work - i.e. use it! Debbie looks at how we use, or release our faith, giving some real life examples of the faith process in action, so that faith is turned into reality.
Deb unpacks part one of a message on faith. What is faith? God chooses to invade the earth through spirit-filled men and women. This is why faith is important in the Kingdom. Deb looks at the nature of faith and some of the barriers to our asking.
Tim brings together two prophetic words given in the past two weeks that were on an identical theme. God is releasing waves of healing, and is inviting us to ask Him for what we want - especially calling back that which has been stolen from us.
Our dear friend Chris McRae, Senior Leader of Overflow Church Medowie unpacks 3 key truths of the voice of The Shepherd from John 10.
The Great Commission is to make disciples OF nations, not make disciples IN nations. While we have been busy in church, others with a different agenda are being really smart about shaping culture in the vacuum we have left. Tim looks at what our responsibility is as the people of God, how we go about fulfilling it, and where the heart journey fits into it all.
Tim continues where Vaughan left off last week, talking about the power of covenant. Covenant is the highest form of human relationship, and God is a covenantal God. Tim explores the nature of covenant relationships, looking at Ruth and Naomi, and David and Jonathan. We need to understand that Biblically, all fruitfulness flows from covenant. Walking in true covenant relationship opens the door to us truly showing the world what love really is.
Following on from last week, Vaughan Blackwood helps us explore Jesus’ praying in John 17, looking at the critical relationships Jesus prayed into, and the fruitfulness that comes from them, and the role spiritual mothering and fathering plays in it all.
Exploring the implications of establishing a culture of Mothering and Fathering in the context of covenant and intentionality.
VB discusses ingredients, focus and flavours of purposeful discipling using the Mother/Father paradigm.
God is doing a work of internal construction and restoration in us. Tim uses a prophetic allegory of his own house in the theme of, “if this was a dream, what would it mean?”, to speak prophetically in to the areas God is wanting to touch in us.
It was one of those weeks where multiple praying people shared the same prophetic words and themes with us. The theme was… at the end of the financial year, God wants to break financial constriction off us. That constriction is part of the spirit of the air, and Tim speaks into how to come out of alignment with a constricting financial spirit, and how to bring our financial world into alignment with God’s Kingdom and His abundance.
This week was more of a corporate ministry time that a message. Tim speaks again into how the “spirit of the air” operates in our region - by relegating our Kingdom activity to something we do on the side - and how to make ourselves immune to its creeping influence, by “fanning into flame the gift of God that is within us.”
Tim wraps up (we think) this series on the Ekklesia, bringing together the key concepts from the series, and reinforcing that the heart journey is at the core of heaven’s blueprint for the church. The early chapters of Acts are the closest in time to Jesus stating the He will build His Ekklesia. We know they manifested heaven’s blueprint because cities were transformed. Heaven’s blueprint was deeply relational, filled with passionate fire, and out of that place, they demonstrated the supernatural power of God, and as a result, turned the known world upside down.
Sandra Sellmer-Kersten travels and teaches extensively with Elijah House Ministries, and is a world-leading minister of freedom and inner healing. Sandra brings a powerful prophetic message to i61… Pray that your arms may be enlarged so that you may wrap them around people’s pain and bring His comfort and healing.
If our churches are growing, while the social statistics in our cities are worsening, something is wrong with the blueprint from which we are building churches. The Ekklesia that Jesus instituted turned the known world upside down, and it impacted all of society, not just the church meeting. Tim gives most of this message to a documentary by Ed Silvoso on the transformation in the city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. It gives us real life look at a true Ekklesia transforming a city that was once the murder capital of the world. To get the full picture of this message, at the right point, pause the audio, and watch the video at http://bit.ly/2HWnNwH then come back to the rest of the message.
In a key strategic word for i61, Deb and Tim Ferris, and Megan Edward tag team in exploring the fact that we have authority in the earth realm to legislate through acts of justice, and in the heavenly realm through our authority to bind and loose. In our region, the python spirit has been a key atmospheric stronghold. The team looked at the symptoms of this spirit’s operation, and lead in ministry to break off any attachment in us that would give it ability to affect us. As we step out from under the “powers of the air” we establish an open heaven in our region where it’s easy for people to encounter Jesus and get free.
Steve Frost continues our series on the Ekklesia. Jesus’ design and intention for his church, revealed in the word He chose to describe it, was a group of people called out of their homes into the public square to act and make decisions for the welfare of their city. He didn’t have in mind a group of people doing religious activity. His heart is a family that loves well, and practically enacts that love through bringing justice where it’s needed. The way the church loves others and does justice reveals a world gathered under the universal Fatherhood of God and filled with heaven’s presence.
Steve continues our exploration of what it means to be the kind of church Jesus intended, looking at the importance of justice, mercy and faith. As the church, we’re not called out from the world; we’re called out in the world + for the world - to engage in the secret economy of the giving + receiving of love.
Tim continues the series on the Ekklesia. What Jesus had in mind when He said He would build His ekklesia was different to the church we see today. His ekklesia turned the world upside down in a relatively short period of time. The early church’s statisticss were far superior to what we see in the Western world. His blueprint for the ekklesia sees us discipling nations into being “sheep nations” who are ultimately presented to Jesus as a gift.
When Jesus introduced us to the church for the first time, He used a term that was not from any of the religious language of the day, and told us what He would build would advance against the enemy in an unstoppable way. Many of us have had painful experiences with Christ’s Body, the church, and yet, Jesus has not changed His plan. Tim finishes with a prophetic call to be reconciled with the Bride, and an invitation to fall in love with what Jesus loves.
Deb talks about why our authority and our partnership with the Father is so important in prayer. The principles of agreement, faith and the authority we have over the earth realm were God’s idea set up from Genesis 1 and when we partner with Him, with a Heaven to earth perspective, our corporate prayers can bring regional transformation.
1 Tim 2 gives a strategy from seeing heaven released around us that is so simple and practical that we often miss it. We have a responsibility to pray for our civic leaders in such a way that it changes the atmosphere in which they make critical decisions. On the day after the NSW Election, we pray for our new government and elected members.
Tim spends some time interviewing Paul Green MLC - member of the NSW Legislative Council for the Christian Democratic Party - ahead of the NSW State Election on 23rd March. In a wide-ranging conversation, Paul lets us in on the significance of having Christian values and principles represented in government, and shows us just how different the landscape would be in our state if the CDP wasn’t there. Paul then shares with us his crowning achievement of his time in Parliament so far - the establishment of the Modern Slavery Bill. This is critical listening ahead of the NSW State Election.
We have all been uniquely designed by The Father and wired to take specific territory on earth. But, there’s giants in the territory, so we must understand that, in the process of taking ground, we will encounter resistance. Tim unpacks the nature of the battle in the heavenly realms, and some keys to being victorious in the battle.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Aren’t Related! 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
In part 1 of this series, Tim explains that "it's different when we're together". We can't approach corporate presence the same way we approach our individual God time. 1 Corinthians 12 - 14 gives us the clearest instructions on how to do corporate presence in a way that raises the "water level" for everyone.
2018 has been prophesied as a year of taking ground. So far we have been focussed on taking ground IN us. Now Tim moves the focus to taking ground in the spirit, together as apostolic kingdom family. Worship is one of our primary weapons in taking ground, and it is our first and most important ministry. The invitation of this season is to upgrade our fire - our hunger levels. The church in Ephesus found out from Jesus in Revelation 2 that taking a whole city, persevering, and holding fast to truth are not enough. We must cultivate first love!