Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru

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.

It is in the presence of God’s Spirit and Truth that we are formed into the image of Jesus. Do not let the enemy isolate you. When he isolates us he then lies to us. To fight off the enemy’s lies, invest your time in being with the father and community and Truth.

A Key part of Spiritual warfare is believing truth over lies. Being set free from the enemy’s lies and deception by the weapon of truth.

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.