Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru

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. 

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.

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. 

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.