Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru

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.

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.

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?