Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru: Recent Episodes
Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru
Talks from Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru. Trinity Vineyard Church is a multicultural community of Faith in Nakuru Kenya. We seek to be a community that relentlessly pursues God and each other and together serve our community with acts of Justice, mercy and compassion.
Let’s talk about the importance of raising up an altar to God in our homes. How do we do it? Will the generations that come from us after us find us faithful and meet God in the way we order the lives of our families?
We underscore the significance of recognising one’s heart as the ultimate altar, highlighting the necessity of stirrings within the heart that reflect our devotion to God. With insightful anecdotes, this episode eloquently navigates the complexities of worship and our relationship with God. Our goal is to inspire listeners towards a heartfelt honesty in their spiritual journey.Finally, we delve into the heart's role as the centre of our intentions and actions. Exploring the implications of valuing worldly desires like power and fame, we remind listeners of the dangers of idolizing these transient pursuits. We emphasize self-examination and repentance, assuring that our spiritual growth lies in aligning our hearts with God, remaining steadfast in faith, and recognizing that renewal starts with repentance.
God’s baseline feeling towards us is mercy and he always acts favourably toward us. He is not angry at you or the world.
Jesus was the answer to Moses’ prayer, ”Show me your glory!” Our hope has come. If we ever want to know more than just God’s character but come to know Him, Jesus is the answer to this hope. Through Him we get to truly see and know God as Gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love, a forgiving God forgiving us.
God’s mercy and justice work together so that we always get His love. How God does this is by offering to forgive us. Every way we fail to be truly human, sin, has real impact, consequences and ripple effects. Justice requires that we are held accountable. God offers to lift the burden of sin and all it brings off of us. He keeps His promises of love longer than sin can cause pain to us, He keeps his promises forever.
God’s name is not just a label for him, it reveals His Character. Today we look at the center point for the theology of God in Scripture when God himself proclaimed His Name Yahweh and what is in the Name.
In the first encounter between Moses and God in Exodus, He introduces himself and says his personal name. His Name is YHWH. This is the name he is to be called through all generations. While words like god, mungu and others work they are only titles and just like in that time they are often used to refer to many other beings and ideas that people worship.
In this episode, we get into the theology of the Kingdom as a framework for how to think about and what to do with unanswered prayer, especially for healing.
Today we talk with Sean and Meredith about their journey of praying for people, receiving prayer, seeing healing, receiving healing and even battling unanswered prayer while receiving the gifts God has given them.
"Healing can be instant or sometimes gradual, yet in all times it is gradual." The healing Jesus offers is holistic. Sometimes there is such a focus on physical healing or deliverance as if it is the end all of things. It is bigger than that. It is about being fully restored to wellness in all areas that have been out of joint. Sometimes even after people get healed, there is still work to be done on the emotional, psychological and communal impacts of what they have gone through. This is why healing cannot be outside of the community, is not for show and is always tied to the Kingdom of God and our discipleship.
Jesus healed the sick, trained his disciples to do the same and even sent them out to do it. If God does heal today and all of us can participate, why is it Important for you, as a follower of Jesus, also practice laying hands on the sick to pray for them? It is tied to our discipleship and obedience to Jesus, it shows deep compassion for those around us and it is Spiritual Warfare. Join the conversation.
Jesus healed out of compassion and two, Jesus healed as a demonstration of the Kingdom of God. He felt people’s pain deeply and it moved him to action. And if Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, he still feels the pain of the sick. The question is, will the church which is the hands and feet of Jesus be moved to action?
Healing the sick was a significant part of the ministry of Jesus. It is a part of the presence of the Kingdom. Our discipleship to Jesus also involves doing what Jesus did. We get to not only proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom but demonstrate the Good News of the Kingdom.
As we meditate on scripture we not only get the interpretation of what the scripture is, but scriptures then begins to interpret us. Meditating on the scripture and the promises of God day and night is a practice recommended for our spiritual growth, reflection, and connection with God.
When we forget the character of God, we soon forget who we are. When we forget who we are, we live in shame. Whether it is for what we have done, what has been done to us or what has been done around us, shame is what happens when we forget that Yahweh is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love, He forgives sins and rebellion and remains faithful to generations. Yahweh responds to us when we are riddled with shame by being present with us. He reminds us that He knows us and we are familiar with his kindness from times past and promises to be with us.
God has created us all for increase. What is it in your life that God wants to increase?
We were blessed to be a blessing. Today we talk about how we join Jesus as a faith community to bless our families and the world around us. Like Jesus, we are to see people, see what God is calling out of them, speak that over their lives, and commit to participate in seeing that come to life.
Moving forward requires becoming aware of what narratives we live from and putting them under obedience to Jesus while destroying any that is consistent with the way of Jesus.
The other thing we get from our families of origin is our relational patterns. Our primary caregivers gave us our templates for relationships and attachments early on in our lives. Though they may have loved us deeply, they were equally broken and so they hurt us alongside that. That gave us a warped view of love and formed our relationship patterns. Discipleship calls us to investigate our relationship patterns and find out where they are not in sync with the way of Jesus and seek healing and growth.
Sin, done by you, to you, or around you, impacts you and those around you. And unless dealt with some of these impacts go from one generation to the other. Who you are today is a direct product of your family of origin, key events in your life, and where you grew up. To move forward you need to look back to identify key events in your family and generational line that have impacted and formed you, identifying where you need healing.
One of the things we inherit from our families of Origin is blessing. All families derive their name from God and He has put something of Him in all of us and some uniquely in each family.
For Jesus, it was common practice to withdraw from the crowds, go to a lonely place, and quietly be with God. This is one of the core practices of the way of Jesus. It is one of the places we get healing for our souls as we just sit beheld in the father’s loving-kindness.
A rule of life is the ordering of our practices and rhythms of relationships in order to intentionally be formed in a certain way. We all have a rule of life. Everything we do and our relationships are forming us. That is not a church thing, that is a human thing. Sadly, so many people are unaware of the rule of life or have one that does not quite match their values and faith. Through Lent, in pursuit of radicle discipleship, we will learn to develop a rule of life that matches our rule of faith. We will be equipping you and our community to attempt to order your day and rhythms of relationships in a way that matches your faith in Jesus and is geared to creating room for God to do what only He can do in transforming you.
Lord, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
Do not bring your servant into judgment,
for no one alive is righteous before you.
Did you know a decision can be both not wrong and unwise at the same time? Paul encourages us to live life wisely, redeeming our time. Nothing in this culture will necessarily call you to wisdom or follow Jesus. Nothing will necessarily encourage you to live life better to be better at life.our culture seems to have just two refrains; more not less, and Now not later. It seems to entice us with the lie that self is King. As long as it pleases you then it is permissible. This is what leads many people down a terrible path. Eventually sabotaging their future for present short-term pleasures.We explore one more question that could help us become better at making decisions that are wise.
Our lives are an unfolding story. We write this story one decision at a time. When living out current moments we can oftentimes become myopic and unable to see the ultimate and end up making decisions that are good for the immediate but leave us with stories we are not so proud to tell. How can we turn this around? Is it possible in the heat of the moment to make decisions that are better for the ultimate and leave us with a story worth telling?
Our Culture's best advise is to follow one's heart. But that is never helpful as we have all experienced when later in regrets we ask ourselves, "What was I thinking?". That is because we easily deceive ourselves when our minds are made up about something. Of our hearts, scripture says they are deceitful above all things.How then can we make decisions better to make ourselves better? Learn to make yourself tell yourself the truth about each decision you make. You owe it to yourself.
Joy is a gift from God, it is also a practice we need to have. As the year ends it is easy to be aware of the disappointments from the year and where you did not see God in the ways you expected. To find joy we need to learn to see the unexpected King. The one born in a manger instead of a palace. The King has come. We need to be full of expectation while abandoning our agendas and picking God's vision and story over our own and the one from our world.The intentionally choose joy over worry and practice themselves into being joyous people, like our God is.
Offence will happen and disagreements will come. But we are to do all we can to hold on to the unity of the Spirit in our communities of faith. Disunity serves no good and quenches the Spirit of God. As people boldly step into the community, it increases the chances of all these, what does it look like to be faithful to remain united?
Honour is a big deal in the Kingdom of God. Honour is what sustains relationships. We can only follow Jesus well in community. How can we honour each other when the culture of our day is one of contempt, anger and resentment? How can we, in Paul's words, "outdo each other in honour"? We cannot afford to ignore the New Testament teaching on honour regardless of how self-centred the culture is. We reflect God's character, walking in obedience and it is far more than that. When we honour people, we open ourselves up to the blessing and life they carry.
Following Jesus can only be fully realised when we commit ourselves to do it within and alongside a loving community of believers. This includes both corporately in large gatherings and in smaller groups around tables.
The Invitation to follow Jesus is an Invitation to community. Which flies against our culture's over-emphasis on individualism. In community, just like in silence and solitude, we are naked and unashamed. It brings out the best in us and the worst in us. The only way we can grow and be transformed is in these places of acceptance and love.
We would like to be formed to be as generous as our father in heaven is. Generosity is more than just being able to give but is a posture of our hearts. Generosity is who our father is; it frees us from the hold of possessions and money and allows us to enter Kingdom Joy. However, you can't learn to be generous for the rest of your life until you are generous with your possessions and money. Because where one's treasure is, so is their heart. A discipline for followers of Jesus that helps form us into Generous people is giving in a considered, consistent and progressive way. As we tithe, give offerings and give to the poor as Spiritual Discipline we open ourselves up to our hearts being formed to be as generous as our father in Heaven is.
God is inviting us to be people whom others will experience the Kingdom of God breaking through for them, people whom others will experience heaven and earth meet. Thin places, little pockets of heaven breaking in. In the ordinary things of life or the dark and painful things of life.
Again, Kenya is a few weeks to its big elections. We are not to be unengaged but our engagement is to be different. It is incidental who wins the elections. Because for us, it is settled in Heaven and on Earth who is our King and we are called to be fully devoted to Jesus and His Kingdom. If Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not.
John4:10 (NIV) Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”
True power serves love, not the other way round. Where the presence of God is, so is his power to heal, restore, and cast out evil. Yet it is all for love because God is love. We are called to become love, that is the only true context for God's power to be demonstrated. Like in Jesus, everything he did and displayed power was because he loved. He was filled, moved and compelled by compassion, healed the sick, raised the dead and cast.out evil.
Jesus promises that anyone who believes in Him will have streams of living water flowing from them referring to the Holy Spirit. He also promises that anyone who believes in Him will do what He did and even greater things. Many of us intellectually accept that statement but often disqualify others and even ourselves. Are we really the 'anyone' Jesus refers to in this promise? God is a good and generous father, and he promises to give the gift of the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks. Not because of what we have done or not done, not because of what we know or do not know but because He is our father.
When God pours out his Spirit we receive authority to speak his word. The spirit of God and the word of God are always tied together. When God speaks the word, the Spirit creates. When the Spirit fills us, it causes us to speak in the same authority as Jesus. Sharing prophecy in the church is so important. It reminds people and the community that God knows them so intricately, that God cares about them It always points to Jesus and invites us to partner with Him.
The father is more than willing to pour out his Spirit. And it is for anyone who will ask. You do not need to know any more than you know today to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person to be in a relationship with, not a power to be harnessed. He is God. And the Invitation is to first experience life with Him, in Him and all other things we get to do will flow out of that place. Everything we get to do through the power of the Holy Spirit is out of our relationship with Him. He enjoys our company and loves inviting us to join Him anyway. The invitation is to come and drink, and then living waters will flow out of you. Come, we go. Come, we go.
Jesus was very excited as he talked about us receiving the Holy Spirit. This promise excited him, that as it was always to be from the beginning, God would be in all of us. That our bodies would be temples of the Holy Spirit, filled with the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord. We would contain the presence and glory of God. And it is everyone and anyone who believes. You, you, you and even me.
Jesus came and did what the first Adam failed at. He conquered the devil. Through his life, ministry and finally death and resurrection. And this victory was a victory for us all. Yet, it was not just a victory for us but also a showing us how to fight and win. If we want the life of Jesus, we must take up his lifestyle. In his showdown with the enemy in the desert, Jesus fights and wins and the enemy retreats until another appropriate time. How does Jesus do this? He has formed or rather he has been formed by certain habits or practices from which he lives his life. Jesus is alone in the desert praying. He is fasting, starving the flesh to feed from the Spirit. He leans on the truth and wisdom of scripture every time the enemy tries to entice him with a lie. These are what we call spiritual disciplines. Spiritual Disciplines are Spiritual Warfare. It is how we fight against the flesh, the world and the devil.
There is a cost to discipleship. The cost is the cross of self-denial. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and strength. Love always costs us something.
And we are invited to love God with all we are. It will cost you time, money, habits, and relationships, it will cost you the world. Any other message would be cheap grace. Getting saved, as we call it, is just the beginning of the journey not the end of it.
According to Jesus, there is a cost to non-discipleship. And the cost is worse. What is the point of gaining the whole world and losing your soul?
The ways of our world are opposed to the way of Jesus. Our cities, cultures and the world will often normalise ways of life that enthrone the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. To love the world is to be God's enemy. While we are in the world and not of the world, we are called to mount a beautiful resistance. The church is called to be anti-culture. Maybe one of the best ways to love our city is to disobey our city and its pull away from God.
Our war in the world is not against human beings. It is not against your conservative brother or liberal sister. It is not even against people who worship differently from you. Neither is it against a government or institution. Instead, we must be aware that there are real spiritual forces behind the ways of the word that are in open rebellion against God. This is who the fight is against. But fear not, Jesus has conquered the world. He has defeated these elemental forces and shamed them on the cross. And we are in Jesus, sons and daughters of God. Because of this, we are victorious over the world in him. To fight the world, behind enemy lines, we must learn to take every idea from the world and submit to obedience to Jesus. And any argument that is in opposition to the knowledge of God should be demolished.
The enemy's go-to strategy is lies. How do we then fight the enemy's lies? It is by Spirit and truth that we are formed into the image of Jesus. This is why the enemy is always trying to isolate people from the Spirit of God and community before filling them with lies. In our super busy world, people are isolated from the presence of God and from each other and we are ripe for the enemy's lies. Commit yourself to communion with the father and with a church community and a small group and invest in the truth.
When Jesus stood before Pilate and was asked if he was King He famously said that His Kingdom is not of this world instead He was born to testify of truth.
For Jesus, the key to Spiritual warfare is being liberated from the devil's falsehood and deception by the weapon of truth. This is why Jesus comes to as a teacher, to give truth. He famously said: You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Paul encourages that we stand firm so that we may withstand the schemes of the enemy. To do Spiritual warfare well, we need to know our enemy. The devil's main goal is to destroy all that is good. He afflicts both humanity and creation, being the source of sickness and death, natural calamity and chaos in the world. Jesus on the other hand came to destroy the works of our enemy. And through his life, ministry, death and resurrection we receive life and life in full.
The book of James continues to teach and challenge us. We see how the way in which we speak to one another reflects what is going on in the heart. We are also encouraged to look at how we respond to the poor. Sometimes this can make us uncomfortable, yet it is so important to look at what is going on in our hearts. God’s Good News is always Good News to the poor. True loving of God must lead us to love other people. We learn that right believing without right living is incomplete. We need the Holy Spirit to empower us to love the way Jesus loves, to see things the way He sees them, and to examine our hearts as we are being formed and becoming more like Jesus.
As we dive into the story of the book of James this week, James encourages us not to give up when the journey is hard, he encourages us to hold on. The journey of transformation is about leading us to a place where our desires are formed again into what God intended them to be in the first place. We are constantly being invited to a journey of self-denial, a journey of being with the Father because that’s where transformation happens. James also encourages us that everything good comes from God, and God wants to bless us as we are transforming. We can receive and recognize the good things which come from Him in our lives and realize that His heart towards us is always good.
Jesus had a little brother called James. James went from calling Jesus his brother to actually calling Jesus his Messiah. James then wrote a letter to the church which we are starting to look at together as a community. This letter continues to speak about how the things of God can sometimes seem very upside down and foolish to the world. We learn about how we can find joy in trials, how wisdom comes from God and not always from knowledge, and how we are to remember and think about the poor in a very different way. Let’s dive into this story together and see what God has to say to us.
As recipients of God’s grace and love the constant invitation is to become the messengers of God's grace, speaking of the glory of His kingdom, making known His mighty acts. God’s compassion is given to “all that he has made.” Just as God’s own creation is the recipient of God’s compassion, so it is the creation, God’s own works, who return thanks.
The focus of our prayer should be on the glory and eternal nature of God’s kingdom. God’s gracious and merciful nature, God’s slowness to anger, and abundance of “steadfast love” are foundationally informing our relationship to God. “All his works shall give thanks to him.”
Jesus is making a beautiful invitation, inviting us into the Kingdom of God. He is also calling us to respond, there has to be a response on our part. God has done the heavy lifting, the Father has made the first move. Our response to entering into the Kingdom of God will take shedding away of our previous containers of life.
The Kingdom has come, but our old ways cannot contain what God has invited us to. The life God has invited us to is so much more than we can ever imagine. It is so much better than anything we knew before.
When Jesus teaches us about the Kingdom of God, He calls us to repent and change our worldview.
He uses stories to teach us and to cause us to lean in more to what He is meaning.
Sometimes we think the Kingdom of God should look or feel a certain way.
Yet Jesus teaches us that the Kingdom of God can often be found in very unexpected places. Sometimes we almost miss it, if we aren’t looking.
The Kingdom of God slowly transforms us and everything around us. As we keep following Jesus and allowing ourselves to be transformed, we offer our transforming selves to the world. Through this, the world will see the Kingdom of God.
The Big Story of the Kingdom of God has been God's story from the very beginning, and He has always invited us in. Jesus came in-person to explain more about the Kingdom of God, imagine what the people expected to hear Him say. Maybe they expected to hear that He would change society, that He would give them everything they ever wanted. One day Jesus stood on a mountain and taught the people about the values of the Kingdom of God. When we look at the things Jesus said, we begin to understand that His Kingdom is an upside-down Kingdom. It doesn’t make sense in the eyes of the world, yet that is the thing that makes it life-changing. The upside-down Kingdom of God is full of heavenly blessings, those who enter into it are blessed. These blessings are more than we could ever ask, or think to imagine!
We find and experience the Kingdom of God in different ways. When we pray for the sick and they get healed, the Kingdom of God has come. Sometimes we stumble on the kingdom of God, sometimes we weren't even searching. Sometimes we find the Kingdom of God breaking out in our day-to-day lives. Jesus is showing us that the most valuable thing is the Kingdom of God. It is like a hidden pearl, it is like treasure. When we discover it, it calls for surrendering everything we have, even when it looks like foolishness to everyone around us. It’s possible, it is here and now and you are invited.
The Biggest story Jesus is calling us into is the kingdom of God, and the king himself has opened his door to each and every one of us. We are all invited into the great party where the lord is the host and he has brought all there is needed, you just need to be there.
God's grace is a gift and through grace, he interacts with me and you because his grace is at work. the grace we receive is the manifestation of his love to us he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing if we believe.
In the midst of turmoil and tribulation, we are required to stand firm and hold firmly to our faith, holding on to the truth. when we are faced with trials God is simply shaping us he is refining us to become better people of faith.
God is bringing order into his people because he himself is the unity therefore we are to emulate him. divided people have little authority, and the secret to unity is abiding in the lord and he in us to get that incredible authority.
It's amazing how the holy spirit works sometimes it may seem confusing and weird but the best way we can live by is partnering with the holy spirit for we are people of the spirit. and the spirit is always working and he shows up.
We find it difficult to define our true identity as the church or as Christians because we are all focused on ourselves, If everything else was stripped away, at the core, who will we remain as? Who are we meant to be? Experiences, events, conversations, have shaped or are shaping who we are, but we want to look at the word of God and learn about who we truly should be, both as individuals and as a Community.
Living in a world that is changing now and then, we have to learn to transition. we have to move forward to our destiny even though we may not transition well while being taken from glory to glory there's doubt confusion and fear but we still have to trust in God and move because God has called us for a purpose.
We have been learning so much about prayer, so much about what to do and what not to do when we pray. Jesus is drawing us to the father through his teaching about prayer and the best way to be with the Father is through prayer. it has always been an invitation to intentionally practice these teachings in full submission to the holy spirit.
Jesus draws us to the loving father, He urges us to seek and pray in confidence, He on multiple occasions said that the father would answer our prayers, but some prayers go unanswered. So why do prayers go unanswered? We are being invited further into the loving father to make us aware of the complexity of unanswered prayers and therefore make us more ready to sit in the tension of the now and the not yet kingdom of God.
Intercession simply means to petition an authority for something. Should we ask God for things, being that he already knows what we need even before we need them? How should we ask if we should? And does it even make a difference that we do? Jesus knows our prayers make a difference. Your prayer can turn the trajectory of your life and the world around us. You really need to ask the Father for what you need and want. What if you don’t have what you need because you have not asked. And yes, there is a question about unanswered prayers and we will talk about that next week. But what if an even bigger tragedy is prayers that have not been made? So keep asking. Ask, ask, ask and ask again. Actually, ask God for your needs shamelessly, just like a child with their father. The father delights in and genuinely would like to hear what your heart desires.
It is more important that you pray, even when your prayer is just a phrase, a sentence, a breathe. It is important that you pray because your father in Heaven longs to be with you and prayer is the means through which we experienced life with the father. Jesus teaches a few things about what prayer should not be about. It should not be about showing off and it is not about the many words. Instead, it is about humility and delighting in the father.
Scott, started following Jesus at 24 from a life drugs, illicit sex and all that goes with it. He believed in Jesus but was not interested in following. It is possible to be believing the right things and in the right God but living in the wrong path. So one day after a close shave with death Scott decided to follow Jesus and soon was hired to stand on the corner of a street and talk to people about Jesus. It is on that corner one day that the Holy Spirit gave him a simple tool, Jesus at the door, that can be used to share Jesus with anyone.
Jesus commands his disciples to go make disciples. To share the reason for our hope. This is the great commission. It is a co-mission because we get to partner with the Holy Spirit. He moves, we move. He shakes the tree, we pick the apples. And the harvest is plentiful.
Often times people think sharing Jesus is the mysterious work of the evangelist and only very few can do it. Well, we all get to play. We all have been invited to this. One of the greatest honours is to share the reason for our redemption coz God wants everyone in.
Jesus at the door is a simple tool that demystifies sharing Jesus. All of us can do it.
At the table of communion we meet a vulnerable God. Open enough to tell us that he has longed to share it with us and open in u story say that he wants us to always remember him.
At the table of communion, we do not just bring to memory what Jesus did for us, but we are re-membered. We are joined to him again. We are joined to each other again. Our broken bodies, minds and emotions are re-membered.
Will you and your family and small group do everything it takes to devote yourselves to sharing meals and communion?
The early church devoted itself to generosity. It was radical, habitual and spontaneous. They gave to everyone and anyone. They even sold possessions so that they could have something to give to those in need.
This the church continued to do even as it spread across the globe. The thing is, generosity is a reflection of the heart of the father, a generous God.
However, a lot in our culture discourages generosity and pushes people to only think about themselves and amercing of wealth. That is why for us, just like the early church, it has to be a devotion. We have to do all it takes. Will you radically rearrange your life and finances to do everything it takes to be radically, habitually and spontaneously generous?
The early church did everything they could to devote themselves to the teachings of the apostles. This is what shaped their worldview. How they saw the God, others and themselves.
There are some people who have shape dour history significantly, precisely because they were reliant on and dependent on God's word.
We are living through a season that will definitely shape our generation. If the church is going to live out it's Kingdom of God mandate, we must as well do all it takes to see that our worldview is shaped by God's word. We must devote ourselves to God's word.
There is a big and important conversation on racism all across the globe and protests everywhere against police brutality even here in Kenya. The church was meant to be the voice for the weak and also be the bringers of peace and reconciliation.
Pastor Edgar interviews Alexander Venter a pastor and church planter and author of the book 'Doing Reconciliation' birthed out work done by both black and white pastors across South Africa and Vineyard South Africa during and in the wake of Apartheid.
How should everyday believers and Christian leader both around the world and in Africa bring racial and tribal reconciliation?
At pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured in such a powerful way that it gave birth to the church. And every other time the Holy Spirit fell on them or falls on us (the church) there is alway something big happening. Something is always born. One other such times was at Antioch where the disciples were first called Christians, 'Little-Christs".
Yet the context of all these outpouring was the church gathered in unity. Every tongue, tribe and nation, women and men and every race. The church was devoted to, given to, committed to, doing everything possible to united. Every tongue, tribe, nation and race. This is the context in which the Holy Spirit is poured out in such power.
In days where division is rife ethnic and racial division is rife, will and the church today choose to do everything it takes? Where the silent and unbothered speak out for the weak, where the powerful step back and speak welcome. Will we do all it takes to see our churches together gathered every tongue, tribe, nation and race as one.
So much so that our own will think of us as sell outs and any other people will be unable to identify with us but what they will say is common is that we are Jesus in us and the Holy Spirit on us. Enjoying the joy that diversity brings and sitting through the tensions that come with it faithfully.
Join us in conversations on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who births the church and gives us power to join God in what he is doing around us.
On ascension day, Jesus gathers his disciples and friends and declares that he has been given all authority and power and then gives them instructions. To go, make disciples and baptise them and teach them to speak the Kingdom of God and demonstrate the Kingdom of God.
These things are a question of obedience for disciples of Jesus. Not for only when we feel like it but because this is what Jesus did.
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to hundreds of people. Encounters that completely changed their lives. This encounters kicked off the Jesus movement.
And these encounters were so important because of the calling of the apostles in the coming future as leaders of the church and sharing the Gospel of the Kingdom from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria and the rest of the world. Quite like the season we find ourselves in. With a coming future that is different from what any of us have known or would have expected as the year started, we are called to take our place in the story of the Kingdom to be ready for what God is inviting into the next few months and years.
This Sunday, we talk about Jesus’ appearance to Peter who is struggling struggling with shame and feeling like he has let Jesus down. Jesus appears to him to take away the shame, restore him and remind him of his call. And of course all this is done over a meal
There is something about times of confinement and contraction that exposes our faith and what it is made of. We get to see our true confession. So some of the things we just believed out of the social pressure of corporate worship are being revealed in times of separation from each other.
Today we look at Thomas’ encounter with Jesus. The encounter with Jesus behind closed doors led Thomas to a new, deeper and more intimate confession.
As God meets us in these times he will lead us to new, deeper and more intimate confessions of him. Confessions that will set us up for the next season. The world will need the church to take its place when it reopens and it will have to be a church more convinced of Jesus and intimate in its worship of him
The dinner table was very sacred for the Jews. The thing Jesus did right before his suffering gun was have a special dinner with his friends. The first appearance he makes to all of them again was at supper time.
Tables are places of family and gratefulness. And every Time we teach ourselves to be grateful, joy fills us and fear leaves.
After Jesus is raised from the dead one of the first things he does is appear to his disciples to comfort them. Mary sees him and thinks it is the gardener. Contrary to the Christmas story with angles singing in the skies and a big star leading people. Resurrection seems to be very low key yet it is one of the most important events. It seems Jesus makes it a priority to comfort his friends first.
This comfort is what not only heals them but sets them up for their calling as apostles to share the gospel through the world.
This Easter Sunday is special one. The world seems stuck on the cross of GoodFriday while celebrating resurrection Sunday. COVID-19 cases still growing, death tolls rising and economies struggling to reopen while keeping public health safety rules.
Yet our faith, like the life of Jesus, reaches its crescendo at both the cross and resurrection. This two were not separate events, one of defeat and another of victory, but one event of glory. One event of the Kingdom of God breaking in, of Jesus being King.
So let us not wish to rush past the cross of GoodFirday as it is the doorway to Resurrection Sunday. And resurrection started that Friday afternoon as the earth shook and rocks broke, as the temple curtain was rendered in two, Romans giving their lives to Jesus and believers being raised from the graves. Even at the cross of GoodFriday, resurrection was already reaching out long before Sunday morning. There is resurrection even for a world stuck on the cross of GoodFriday, long before our Sunday dawns.
This Holy Week we are led in devotion by Adam Mosley one of our friends. It is easier to be in one season while expecting and looking forward to the next and even more now in what seems like a dark season.
How about leaning in to this season since it is where we are. It is where our feet stand. Lean in and find restoration, redemption and resurrection.
Today we are faced with uncertainty. It’s easy to give in to fear because we do not know what the outcome will be, and how long this will last.
The very first Palm Sunday led to a very dark week for Jesus. He entered Jerusalem to shouts of praise knowing too well that the week would end in his arrest, torture, crucifixion and death. But Jesus did not quite because he knew that victory was on the other side. He knew that beyond the cross was glory. For him, Friday was very dark, but it was only Friday and Sunday was coming.
We may now know what’s on the way but because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we know what our destiny is, we know what his promise is. Because of Jesus we can weather this season knowing that, it is only Friday. Sunday is coming.
In these uncertain times it might not be fair to just say that things will be okay. We still do not know what we are dealing with. A few things we do know however, are God is in control. His love for us has not changed and his invitation to us to join him in what he is doing has not changed.
We also know that the church has a heritage of loving the world through crisis. Whether created by man or nature. We are living in a moment of history and again the church is being called to not cower in self preservation and instead to rise and with God heal and love the world.
To speak peace into the world we need the Holy Spirit's peace inside us. to be a non-anxious presence in the world. Only then can we, like Jesus, calm storms around us. But to get there we must give up the illusion of control and focus on God.
We are loose change in God's pocket and he can use whichever way he wants.
Jesus leading his life towards the cross for our complete freedom and us becoming sons and daughters of God leaves on this trail freedoms for us to experience. He calms a stormy sea showing that he has power over nature which means as God's children we do not have to fear things that happen in nature.
The interesting thing is that, he was asleep in the boat as the storm raged. He had a peace inside him that could silence the storm outside. He was in perfect peace held in the father's arms. His confidence in his identity allows him to be in perfect peace, and only from this place of peace could he speak peace to a storm. The storm did not shake him yet love for his scared disciples moved him.
As the world navigates response to the COVID-19 pandemic Pst. Edgar invites us to allow the Holy Spirit to remind us of our identity as sons and daughters of God which will give us peace even as the storm rages on and as the world panics. And from that place of peace, the church can speak peace to the world. Even as we respond in different ways; caring for affected and infected family, self quarantine, ceasing of meetings and praying for the world, it is not from a place of panic or fear but a place of love for a the world.
"A frightened world needs a fearless church" - A.W Tozer
Jesus lived his life towards the cross. Each day leaving us glimpses of the freedom he was going to win for us at the cross and at his resurrection. Today on our Lent Journey, the trail to Freedom, we talk about the forgiveness Jesus offers to all of us. Jesus met a paralysed man immediately offered forgiveness first before healing him. Because the human soul desperately needs forgiveness and to be reconnected to the father.
And, yes, God would pay the ransom for our forgives precisely because he is our father and a father would pay anything to see their children free.
Often in church we say that we are children of God which is really true when we accept Jesus. But how often do we really liv our lives from that place of being in God's family? In freedom? We are not guests, we are not workers or slaves, we are sons and daughters because of what Jesus did in with his life, death and resurrection.
Kicking off the Lenten series, Trails to Freedom, we are starting with an invitation to ask the Holy Spirit to show us each day how to live as children of God.
Arise and Shine for your light has come. It is a new season not just for Trinity Vineyard but for the church. Pastor Edgar encourages us to dream with God about what different areas of our city could look like because we are aware of our identity and are boldly living out as children of God.
Responding to the physical felt needs of our community is part of showing compassion on the world around us. It is as spiritual as praying for the sick and sharing the good news. And all it takes is opening our eyes to see the world around us. The unemployed, those who cannot afford shelter, healthcare or an education. The church is God's plan to heal the city. And the resources to respond to our city are already in our hands. It is what we have already marked for ourselves just like the boy had 5 loaves and 2 fish for his own lunch. Partnering with the Holy Spirit multiplies what we trust in his hands more than we could imagine.
When we join God in what he is doing in the world by showing compassion to the sinner and the least of these we allow ourselves to meet Jesus in a way that forms us.
Jim and Trena are the Directors of Haven of Hope, a ministry focused on rescuing abandoned babies and restoring them to families by also showing compassion to the parents. Today they share their story of walking in compassion with us.
God is in the business of compassion. And as a church we are invited to join in our father's business. The true character of the church will be revealed in the way we respond to the least of these, just as Jesus revealed the true character of God's heart by always showing compassion. He was always stopped in his tracks to show compassion on sinners, the poor and the sick and those oppressed by the powers of evil or the wickedness of human beings.
Will you join in God's business of showing compassion to your city?
Is it not interesting that sometimes even the wisest people we know do not make very smart choices and end up in places we did not expect them? Just like King Solomon who was the wisest person that ever lived. Well that is because in life it is direction that determines destination. Not great intentions or great convictions. Your marriage, finances, parenting and even discipleship will eventually get you in the direction you are leading them in. So, what really is that direction? Jesus makes the invitation to us to follow him. That if our lives are to ultimately end up in the destination we really are hoping for, he is the real deal. He is the way. Following Jesus might just make us better at life too, wanna try? Both for believers and those who have never made the decision to follow Jesus, do you wanna try following Jesus?
The things that matter in life are often very poor competitors for our time, our investment and commitment. It is easy to even do those areas of our lives without knowing what we'd like to see come out of them? What does a win look like in your marriage? What is a win for you as a disciple fo Jesus? What is a win for you as a father? What is the win for your church? Could we be clear about what the win looks like and then do these areas of our lives as if they were a race as Paul talks about in his letter to the church in Corinth. Do it with the discipline it takes, the practice and self sacrifice required as if it were a race and there is a crown at the end. Because often, in the thing that matter in life, the crown is life.
As we start the year and want to spend time having conversations about how to win the important battles in the right battlefield, our mind we start at the very beginning. With the story of beginnings and seeing what implications that story has on us. And as it comes at the beginning could be significant in how we also face our new seasons?
When Jesus stated his mission as he read from the prophets he was quite clear that he came to bring good news to the poor. Sometimes the church forgets the balance. We get preoccupied with everything else we have made the good news to be, most of which is very good. We forget that all of it is incomplete if it is not good news to the poor. We must, as Paul was also instructed by the apostles, always remember the poor.
We never know what lies at stake. In the present we are faced with seemingly small decisions that may even seem unrelated to the possible future God is calling us to be. Yet all these present an opportunity to practice the faithfulness muscle. If we are faithful in small things we will be faithful in bigger things, because it is the same faithfulness muscle. In this repost we take a look at the story of Joseph and how that played out.
But even better news revealed in that story is that God is faithful and he kept His promises and He will keep his promises to you, to the church and to the world.
Even in this season of advent as people get into celebrations and holidays God is inviting us to join him in what he is doing. Just ordinary people, doing extraordinary things by saying Yes to the Holy Spirit. Even in places where we will find ourselves by chance, even there God might just give us an invitation to be part of something beautiful. To bring his unspeakable Joy. The Joy of the Holy Spirit is infectious. It breaks walls down and flushes out bitterness and unforgiveness.
We do not cause ourselves to grow. We keep our eyes focused on God as he is the one who brings the growth.
God desires for us to grow to become all he has created us to be. Jesus said that those who believe in him would do more than he had done. God sees us as we are meant to be and so really desires growth for us.
And we cannot grow outside community. But for communities to function well, it is important that leadership is in place because where there is poor leadership, people perish. Communities, countries, churches and even families rise and fall with leadership.
Leading well is, like Jesus, leadership that is submitted to the rule and reign of God. Constantly seeking God's heart for people in your charge. And like Jesus, leadership that is secure enough to give leadership away for people to grow.
Jesus said that we those who believe in him will do more than he did while on earth. To get to the people God sees us as, we need to grow. To grow we need community because faith is a team sport as opposed to a being a solo mission. And Faith is the kind of team sport where everyone gets to play. You got to have skin in the game to grow.
The invitation we are given in Jesus allows us, even in the mess of life, to see God. See his wisdom. That we can trust him completely. He puts everything in place with no mistake and we become storytellers of his goodness and kindness.
Jesus did not come into the world to point a finger at us and tell us all about the mess we already know we are. Instead, he came to offer Himself to us. To trust him is to get saved which is bigger than just about souls going to heaven. It is about healing for our souls and our bodies. Healing for our churches and our governments too. It is an invitation to real whole life. And the thing about this invitation is that you can put your worst foot forward. Even if you have made if yourself the biggest mess that feels irreversible, you are more than invited. Jesus is still in the business of inviting very messy people to real whole life
We all can identify a mess when we see one. And we can see it all around us. All have us have made a mess of ourselves at some point. We all in some way know that there is a standard and no one has met the standard. We all fall short and by far.
What if the fact that our souls just know what we were meant to be and that we fall short and all around us we can see how the world falls short is a lens and invitation to see God? You see, every time you say no one is perfect you are acknowledging that there is a perfect. You become sharply aware of your and all our shortcoming.
Is it not great news that God would respond in compassion when he looks down on our mess? When Jesus entered the pages of history, no one would have thought that God would move close to a messy people, let alone get into the trenches of their mess with them, yet that is exactly what God in Jesus did. Could you accept God's compassion on you? COuld you give away the same compassion on all the messy people around you?
From the time the seed of the Kingdom is planted to when the fruits are seen there is 'the meantime'. How do we hang on in that tension? In that radicle middle? We keep hoping, we keep praying, we keep waiting. And We keep looking at what God is doing in the meantime. It is a slow Kingdom coming, but it's coming. And just like yeast acting on dough making it rise, we can see things around us change, pointing to so much that is coming when the Kingdom of God is fully here.
The story of beginnings has this beautiful portion where God invites his just created friends to be fruitful and multiply and take dominion of the world around them. This beautiful part of our story can be used sometimes as the reason for humanities destructive behavior around us. But what if it was rather an invitation by a generous God to live our lives generously? What if bringing the world to under our dominion was to just like God look who has all dominion live out our lives to bring out life and beauty in the world around us? We can use our creativity, our intelligence and our very life either to be destructive or to be generous.
And Jesus, is the best example of what generous living looks like. He was broken and poured out for the goodness of the whole world. How can you be broken and poured out for the goodness of not just you and your own, but others too? Your neighbors, your enemies and all of creation?Ge
All of creation is waiting, yearning for the time when the children of God will be revealed. The banking sector, the education system, systems of governance and politics: everywhere the world is waiting for people submitted to the Holy Spirit to lead lives of the Kingdom. Some will be known all over, some will only be known by their family others will be known by association to known people yet each of us has to take their place in the story of the Kingdom of God. The world is waiting, holding their breath, the world is about to come alive.
Every time there is nudge in our spirit to step into something to pray for someone, to share something and in our hearts, there is a huge tension, it just could be the God inviting you to something beautiful. This is the tension of the Kingdom of God. Two different realities tagging in our hearts.
Every time we step into faith like children and obey, we take part in the beautiful things God is doing. People around us leave encouraged that God knows them and is aware of their situation and we leave having been built up in our faith.
Jesus invites people to change their mindsets and belive the Good News of the Kingdom of God. And the world needs hope, the world is looking for God. Our souls are in need of breathing. But we often sometimes have ideas, attitudes, mindsets grown from our culture that make us unable to participate in the great invitation into the Kingdom of God.
Yes, the message of the Kingdom is too good. It is too good and it is true. That our God has come, that our God is here. That life in him is accessible now, just within your reach. Do you dare change your mind? Do you dare abandon narratives you have held on to that make you say not now, not me or even maybe no God? Because, the Good News of the Kingdom is too good and it's true
From the beginning, Jesus declared the Kingdom of God and from the beginning, the religious leaders of his time wanted to kill him. This is because of what the Kingdom of God meant to them. It was too central an expectation of their lives for anyone who did not seem to cut it to talk about it being fulfilled through him.
However, the challenge was that they had very little expectations of Jesus. They expected a militaristic leader who would restore the Kingdom to Israel when Jesus was inviting all of creation to the Kingdom of God, to restoration to what it was always meant to be. To something that no eye has seen, no ear has had and no mind has conceived. Jesus essentially was declaring that our God is coming, Our God is here
Could we be living a life with very little expectation? Is there more to life in the Kingdom of God than you have settled for? If our God is coming, if our God is here, if the Kingdom of God breaks in anytime, anywhere, what could that mean for you, your family and your city?
Jesus central message was an invitation to a life in the Kingdom of God. Life in the Kingdom of God is worth everything that once we find it we willingly give up everything we have been to that point to acquire it. Every time the power of God breaks through, he changes everything. Our convictions, our philosophies, our desires, everything. Every time the Kingdom of God breaks through we are faced with the choice to lay down everything that we have to pick up the most valuable price. God's Kingdom come is to say, our Kingdom go. And it changes everything.
Our Narratives influence our lives and the impact we have on others around us. Really, this is God's story. His is the big story and we are all part of it. There are many other micronarratives that try to get our intention and therefore influence our lives. The only way to recalibrate our narratives is by having an encounter with the one whose story is the Big Story.
The Best way we can be a point of contact for our family and the world around us for their stories to be recalibrated by the Big Story is by being faithful in the things that God has put in us. They may be small and even unimpressive but as we let God do it in us over and over again, just like the burning bush that caught Moses's attention, the world around us will stop and stare and therein, God will call out to them.
If we boldly step into community and open ourselves up to people, we will find ourselves in conflict. It is important in our journey of discipleship and becoming like Jesus that we both call people out and be called out. We all get a turn at being the offender and when we are made aware of it we cannot and should not ignore it. Jesus invites us to go make things right, and it is not business as usual until you have. Whether or not the offense is real or imagined. If a friend is hurt, it matters to God and it should matter to us too.
1 in 3 women is sexually assaulted, and so is 1 in 5 men. Most of whom are often under the age of 15 and sometimes even unaware of it. The church has to be a voice for those voiceless and a place where people who have experienced sexual assault find a place for healing and restoration of their sense of self-worth. BEcause they are who God says they are.
Pastor Edgar Interviews Kay and Zuena who both have journeyed through healing from sexual assault and are intentionally starting these conversations in our city of Nakuru
The bottom line is we will offend and hurt each other in community. Let us be bold enough to deal with it. However we feel, we must Honor each other. Honouring each other with the desire being reconciliation. No matter the outcome of the process of reconciliation, we have to choose to forgive those who have offended us just as we have been forgiven if we want to enjoy the freedom of our forgiveness and also free the ones in our lives
If you ask Jesus who he would like to have invited to dinner, his answer would be, YOU. Jesus is the true host. He often told stories of how the Kingdom of God is a like party that a King would host and invite all the people no one ever thought would be on any important guestlist.
You are invited to God's table and your name on the guest list is not a mistake or a typo. Jesus also hosted meals with his friends as meal times are a way of caring for people and sharing love and life. Meals are a great context for discipleship, healing and reconciliation.
God always leaves seeds of promise in our most broken places. Surprisingly, even when death snatches life, there is usually an explosion of life in that moment as people see the life and beauty that the person we have lost actually had without being blinded by focusing on their weaknesses and brokenness. What then would happen when Jesus the author of life and the one who is true life dies? Humanity and nature itself cannot deny Him. And even better is what would happen when death has tried all it could and lost and Jesus was raised to life again. The Holy Spirit, the power that raised Him from the dead, is poured out on all of us. Finally, we can have true life before death and forever live in the hope of resurrection. We can then see that in the darkest, ugliest, most broken places of our life God is doing some of His best work.
God has always used the most unlikely people. From Noah to Abraham. From David to Rahab. None of them had anything to offer God and were chosen to be part of God's story and as such only God gets the credit. You are not discounted either just because you think you have nothing to offer.
God Goodness is free and Boundless. He has no challenger, nothing can limit him and no one can contain Him. The invitation is to allow the Holy Spirit to make us aware of God's Goodness. To be able to see signs and evidence of God's goodness all around us like bread crumbs all over the place. Radiating with the Promise that because God is good, all things will rise again.
We have been called to be a God-centered community full of diversity bringing life to the city of Nakuru. In four years Trinity has committed to a radical welcome where people can find God and find friends and find holistic life. We have seen people find faith, people continue their journey with Jesus as others decided to try again after giving up on God. And many find community. People from different parts of the world have found a home here or a resting place as the move towards what God has called them. Many have found healing some physical, some emotional and many spiritual. Now one good step deserves another. There is more to this. We are committing to a life of generosity, and a radical welcome and that will mean increasing our capacity.
The Kingdom of God has an open invitation to ALL. This makes the Kingdom of God a Kingdom full of diversity. So we Like People Like You. We want to be the church where you will meet people like you and some who are not. Just like Jesus we want to have a very radicle welcome. All are welcome. We want to rise above the false dichotomy of Us v them. We want to, like God, be for Kingdom's justice, Kingdome healing, Kingdom restoration, Kingdom Joy. We want to be for the Kingdom of God rather than divided by our differences. That means we are invited to the space where, like God, we will be kind to everyone. Even those who are not like us.
We are called to be a church of the Kingdom of God. What that means is that we will Trust God for everything. We long to see God's Justice here on the Earth, God's life here on the Earth and the demonstration of God's power here on the Earth just as it is in Heaven. So we trust God for everything. we long to never lose our wonder, we long to remain wide-eyed and filled with expectation looking for and longing for God to move. Holding on to hope to the last minute.
Whatever will be birthed by Trinity Vineyard will be a reflection of who God has called us to be a Church centred on Jesus. We want Jesus to be the answer to every question there is in life. A church that will stand for justice no matter the cost. A journey that will love and love again and when it is let down come back and love again. It is in our DNA to not be satisfied by only occasionally helping the poor but to continually seek relationship with the weak and the least of these. It is in our DNA to not have a blanket statement that all are welcome but like Jesus open ourselves up to relationship with people like us and some who are not like us. That we will love people in front of us more than words in a book.
The New Life in Jesus which we are invited into is a life of expectation. Living lives expecting God to break through and do extraordinary things. Today, the invitation is that we would live very bold lives that unless God backs us up we will fail. We will make very bold outrageous prayers that only God can answer. The invitation of New Life is an invitation to live lives that demand faith from us, that demand our full dependence on God. A life without expectation of God to move is a life without faith.
The church was meant to only move under the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus asked the disciples not to go anywhere until they were clothed in Power. To do anything without the power of the Holy Spirit would be insufficient. In many of the powerful moves of God, there seem to be some factors present. A people full of expectation, even if it is just two people. Then they would pray and watch and wait and repeat.
We are wired to desire happiness in life and knowingly or unknowingly we are desiring for the perfect reign of God's Kingdom. The pursuit of happiness is the journey to be like Jesus. The interesting thing though, is that happy people are at peace. Whether they are among the wealthy or the not wealthy, they could be unwell or whole, but happy people are always at peace. With themselves and others. To be at peace with God where we receive forgiveness and we can be at peace with ourselves and because we are peace with ourselves we can have compassion and grace to move towards peace with others around you.
We all wait for our big break and promise ourselves and others that when we get there we will be great, we will be faithful. We genuinely desire to be faithful in our marriages and when we are in public important leadership positions. But the faithfulness muscle is the same in the big things as in the small, seemingly unrelated, seemingly unimportant, no-one-needs-to-know situations. So we have to exercise the muscle.
The best news, however, is that God is faithful even when we are not. he is faithful even when we are seemingly small and unimportant to others or the situations we are in seem so. God is faithful to keep his word to all creation, and that means to you too.
Life is a risk. We are never given the road map. But we have to take the first step and keep following them up with other steps as we walk in faith. We never know what lies in the balance of our choice to step out in faith.
Everything we have has been given to us as stewards. Let us not overstate the ability of the ability of the receiver (us) over the generosity of the giver (God). Some will have more than you but do not forget, some have way less than you so be grateful and faithful with what you have. Risk being alive, Risk investing everything God has given you. Your intelligence, personality, education, wealth and service to create something beautiful. Risk being fully alive.
The Kingdom of God breaks through, it comes with joy that frees people to sing and dance. A joy that transforms us. And we are invited into humility because only in humility can we surrender to God's transforming joy.
Humility Keeps living in hope that draws us into tomorrow and allows us to sleep in peace through the chaos of the meantime. Because we can fully depend on God. God coming as a child was him making a decision to tie His peace to ours. Deciding to make our experience his own and if we are not going to have peace he will not have peace. He will stop at nothing short of bringing peace to all men. Its such a beautiful picture of a baby fast asleep despite the chaos around him. Because babies trust that they are safe in the arms of those who love them. We can also trust that we are safe in the arms of a father who loves us.
Hope is to our souls what oxygen is to our bodies. Hope draws us into the future. Our Souls desperately need hope to even desire to see tomorrow where our today is our past, or at least we are better equipped to live. And God is inviting us to a future where he is King, where He is with us, a future where our souls are satisfied. But to get there we will need hope. But unless hope resonates with us, it does not hit home. and God knows that. So He was humble enough to become human so that the hope he offers can be the story of every human being. God is humble enough to become human so that we can stare into his face as he says, "Hey, you and I, we are going to make it" God's story is our story. God's story is our Hope.
Eventually, we all look like the person or the thing we love. As we fall in love with Jesus the Holy Spirit transforms us to be like him. When we become like Jesus we will be led to love the church and love the world. And love led Jesus to spend his life for us and even give it up. The currencies with which we spend our lives are our time and money. Service and generosity. Both of which have to be intentional and consistent.
Human beings we are not only not good at loving others we are terrible at receiving love. Even when God is with us and our hearts are aware of God we sometimes just push him away. Even though our Souls are wired for love we fear intimacy and we can get too busy. This Sunday we talk about the things that make us fear moving closer to God. Jesus response to all the walls we put up always is, there is nothing to fear. Because he knows that we can and will experience the most freeing love in him.
We are bound to Him by that everlasting loving kindness with which He has drawn us. Consequently, this means that God is bound to us by His everlasting loving kindness with which He has drawn us. This He decreed.
As God invites us into his love, there is one warning being given and that is; terms and conditions do not apply. God's love for us is not dependent on anything in our past, present or future. Nothing can distract us enough to make God not love us. Not doubt, not religion, not politics, nothing. You can never sink love enough to make God uncomfortable with loving you. You will never rise too high for God to love you. Simply, this is the kind of love where terms and conditions do not apply.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Somehow in us, we get it. Love gives up everything. We have sacrificed things for love ourselves. Love sacrifices everything possibly even life itself. But no one dies for their enemy. Now for a righteous man, some might, even though rare. No one would die for a sinner, for a bad person. Think of Hitler and Stalin, and all the people who have caused you pain. Jesus died for them too. Think about yourself, when you were still a sinner and an enemy of God, he died for you. Only Love is bold enough to sacrifice everything.
Only love is bold enough to make creation with so much value. Human beings have intrinsic value that can neither be given or taken away by our laws, culture or socio-economic status. Only Love is bold enough to trust completely and so God trusts us with everything he puts in our hands. Only love is bold enough to give freedom when it is easier to control, manipulate and hold back. Love is Gold enough, God is bold enough.
God knows exactly how to speak love to us. God knows exactly how to speak love to you. Embrace God’s love for you. And it does not have to make sense to other people. If you experience God's love in a certain way, embrace it. If someone does not get it, that is their business. Jesus was fond of stopping everything to pay attention to one person and would look at them with compassion. To this day, Jesus still stops everything to make one person aware of his love. So embrace the different ways in which you experience God's love.
Pastor Joshua Nyamu of Mavuno Church Nakuru Campus takes reminds that when our backs are up against the wall, our faith is renewed. That at the end of the pain, we will still see God's glory
This Sunday we explore further the conversations on suffering in the series "When It Hurts". Margret shares how our hearts can be made either better or bitter by suffering. How we can be stronger at the end of a season of suffering. God may not always take our pain away, but he sure promises to be there with us through it all.
In Jesus, the Hope at the end of the story of humanity comes mid-story. And it is accessible even today. By Jesus coming in the middle of the Human story to bring the Hope that is at the end, he chose to be part of the human reality, journeying with us to that end. He not only cares but understands our pain. He feels our pain with us.
If the Great Commission is about Good news of the Kingdom then it is good news to the poor. It has to be freedom to the captives both economic, spiritual and even political. It has to be bringing sight to the blind both physical and spiritual. It has to be liberty to the oppressed both from both demonic forces and even the wickedness of men. If we are involved in preaching the great commission, if we are in the business of making disciples, if we are in the business of declaring the good news of Jesus it must be good news to the poor.
In this Podcast, visiting pastors David and Gis Downs join the conversation on Justice. They share how important it is to be under God's rule and reign. Any other pursuit of Justice or Mercy is incomplete and not true.
In this talk, we continue the conversation about joining God in bringing justice and showing mercy in the world around us. This week we talk about true worship should show us the heart of the Jesus and the Kingdom of God and that has to lead us to love those considered least in our communities. An invitation made to us both as communities and individuals. This is part of demonstrating the Kingdom of God and is part of our transformation.