Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru

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.