Occupy Spiritually (Nairobi Full Life)

If you knew you would NOT fail this year, what is the one thing you would do differently? What’s the one thing you’d do if you knew you were guaranteed to succeed? Invest everything? Go back to school? Start that dream business? Stop paying rent? Propose to the girl of your dreams?

2013 is a new year, and a new beginning, a time to leave the past behind and press on to what’s ahead. In the bible, every 50^th year was the Jubilee and during that year, all that had been lost or taken away was restored. (Lev.25:10) As we listen to and apply God’s word, 2013 – our 50^th year as a nation – will be a Jubilee year for the people of Mavuno Church.

It will be a year of freedom and celebration, a year of debt cancellation and release from bondage in our lives and in the lives of those  we love.

I once bought  shares from a local airline company and they did badly; I grumbled then a wise man told me they were a great buy. I held on to them and they ended up helping us pay for our first house. I’m so glad I listened to his advice and didn’t sell but if I could go back to that moment, what do you think I would do differently? Sell everything and buy all the shares I could get! I look back and think ‘if only!’

Fear will often keep us from maximizing our opportunities. Many of us know what it means to live fearfully; doing the minimum that we can get away with. Perhaps it’s in the area of…

·      Investments – Some of us know a lot about investments but we’re so terrified of making mistakes that we never commit. What if I lose it all? So we talk the talk, but we stay broke!

·      Careers – some of us are stuck in a career we don’t like – we’ve had a business idea for a while or we’d like to go back to school.  But what if I step out and it doesn’t work? And so we cling to the perceived security of where we are

·      Marriage – some of us are afraid to commit to a marriage relationship because we’ve seen marriages that don’t work. And some who are married are afraid to give everything to the relationship because they’re afraid the other person may take advantage and not reciprocate.

·      Spiritually – some of us would love to spend more time in prayer and see breakthroughs as we trust God for the big things – but what if God doesn’t come through for me?

In 2013, fear will keep many people from maximizing on the Jubilee opportunities that God has in store for them. But this is not your portion in Christ Jesus!

Read Luke19: 11-27 (THE MESSAGE)

Jesus and His disciples were drawing closer to Jerusalem, the capital city. A crowd was following them. They were convinced that God’s leader had appeared, and they thought that Jesus going to Jerusalem to take over the government by force and then all their problems would be history. Once God was in charge, there would be no more hunger, poverty,  death, and oppression. Of course they were excited that God was about to solve their problems! What could possibly be wrong with that?

Well actually, a lot! And that’s why he told this story. We’re told in other versions that the master gave each of his 10 servants 10 minas, the equivalent of 3 month’s salary. He said to them, ‘operate with this until I return’. Another version says ‘invest this for me while I’m gone’ (NLT). The KJV version puts it more dramatically; ‘occupy until I come’. The word used here means to take responsibility over, to invest, to grow, or to multiply.

Each servant had the exact same starting point, but it was what they did with what they were given that distinguished them.

So here’s the message for 2013; Mavuno, IT’S TIME TO OCCUPY.

But first, you must learn to think and act like an owner, one who has every right to be where he is. There’s a huge difference between an owner and a tenant! I currently live in a rented house. Even though it’s not my house, I like to plant beautiful flowers wherever I live. But there’s always that risk – what if I beautify the place so much that my landlord decides to increase rent OR kick me out and move in himself? So I’ve come up with an innovative solution. We grow most of our flowers in pots. That way if we’re ever kicked out, we hire a pickup and move with our investment! That’s how tenants think! An owner’s question is ‘what more can I invest to multiply and improve what I own?’ The tenant’s question is ‘what’s the minimum I can give and still get away with it?’

I sense this year that God is saying that too many of His children have been living like tenants!

It’s time to occupy.

It’s time to start living like the son or daughter of a king – like a person who has every right to be where God has placed you, taking ownership of every aspect of the life God gave you. Over the rest of the month, I’m going to talk about how we must occupy relationally in our family, physically in our health, economically in our finances and vocationally in our work. Then in February, we’ll talk about how we must occupy politically, in this important election year.

But today, I want to begin with the foundation – the first and most basic place of occupation is spiritually. Unfortunately we’ve been taught a ‘gospel of salvation’ – one that teaches that the most important thing Christ came to do was to save us from hell. And so if you don’t want to go to hell, put up your hand, pray a certain prayer and bam – you’re now ready for heaven.

Salvation is like a fire-insurance policy. Real honest now – how many of you got saved multiple times in high school or college whenever there was a challenge weekend? Some of you remember the play Heaven’s Gates Hell’s Flames – it scared the hell out of you! The result was a 100% conversion rate! Actually150% – because many of the saved people got saved again!

This gospel results in a bus-stop faith. Get saved and then sit in the nice bus-stop away from the rain and wait for the bus to heaven! Like the people in our bible story, we believe that God will come and sort things out – since I’m heaven bound, what I do on earth doesn’t matter anyway! ‘This world is not my home’

There are two major problems with this ‘gospel of salvation’.

FIRSTLY it doesn’t result in true personal transformation. Yes you learn the ‘do’s & don’ts’ – read the bible, pray every day and don’t drink, or smoke or chase after women. But that’s not what Christ came for! The bible tells us that he came that we may have life and have it to the full! Jesus’ life was so full of joy and power that sinners were attracted to him. But for many Christians today, their faith is a private affair that doesn’t attract anyone around them, not even their own families.

SECONDLY, this ‘gospel of salvation’ has little impact on the society around us. It results in Christians who are waiting to go to heaven – too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good! An American writer said, ‘evangelized Africa is worse off today in disease, crime, justice, economics and the family than before Christianity came onto the continent’[i].

Ouch! Jesus didn’t preach the ‘gospel of salvation’; he taught the ‘gospel of the kingdom’! The kingdom means that God’s rule was re-established on earth through Him and His followers. Salvation is just the door… it must result in personal transformation, a life of purpose, impact, that changes the world around us; our families, our neighborhoods, our offices, our industries and our politics. That’s the faith Jesus had, that’s the faith the disciples had, and that’s the only kind of faith that’s worth having!

I want to apologize on behalf of the church at large: I believe the church has failed to teach the real gospel – the gospel of the kingdom. We say ‘pray this prayer and then come to church every week and all will be well. We say ‘send money to this Mpesa number and God will bless you’. We haven’t told the truth! The truth is that some Christians need to backslide! Controversial? Let me explain myself… So many Christians are LIVING A HALF LIFE! You’re neither fully inside enjoying the benefits of the kingdom meal nor outside enjoying the meager scraps of the world – you’re clinging to the door of salvation – trying to get the best of both worlds – like the hyena that tried to go to two parties at once and ended up splitting in the middle (Rev.3:15).

When I played competitive sports, there was a saying, ‘GO HARD OR GO HOME’. In other words, don’t bother coming to play this game if you won’t give it everything you have. Jesus was not afraid to release those who were half-hearted, rather than deceiving them with half truths.

I’m saying you must own your faith! Be an owner not a tenant!

Back to our story: The first two servants made 100% return and 50% return respectively. But the 3^rd servant had a tenant mentality! He said ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow’ (NIV). The man was afraid to fail, he was afraid to be taken advantage of. He was afraid that what he did wouldn’t matter anyway. And so he did nothing!

But notice how baseless his fear was! The boss hadn’t actually intended to take back the money he was giving to his employees – it was meant for them all along! You see the man already knew he would need governors when he returned as king. The money he was giving them was really the budget allocation for them to eventually run the cities they would be in charge of!

We have designed the Mavuno marathon to help you to have a vibrant and productive faith that gives real results.

• Mizizi – helps you connect with God & with your purpose.
• Life Groups – connects you with a family that will support you through your life journey
• Simama – helps you deal with past baggage to bring freedom to your family
• Ombi – helps you take over your place of work through the power of prayer
• Hatua – helps you begin to occupy your sector of society

It is easy to do these courses just because ‘the pastor said we have to do them’, or figure out ‘that’s too much hard work, just give me good sermons’. But that’s tenant mentality! A tenant waits to be told by someone else what to do and when to do it. But this thing is for you!

It’s time to own your faith… Be an owner not a tenant!

 If you knew you could NOT fail this year, what is the one thing you would do differently?

What if you knew beforehand that God will answer every prayer you pray for yourself and your family in 2013?

What if you knew beforehand that reading His word consistently will give you the competitive edge that will help you to dominate in your industry and in your sector?

What if you knew beforehand that all those breakthroughs you’ve been waiting on God for in your family or your marriage or your career, He’s actually waiting on you to step up in faith, filled with His Spirit and make them happen?

What if you knew beforehand that God is longing to promote you to the next level this Jubilee year, and is just waiting for you to have the kind of faith that can manage the responsibility and the prosperity He is planning to pour on you?

It’s time to own your faith… Be an owner not a tenant!

 An international company assigned some new cars to their marketing reps.Each rep was given an allowance in their salary to ensure that their cars were well serviced by the dealer. Over the next few years, being clever Nairobians, most of the reps did the ‘smart’ thing; instead of taking their cars to Toyota Kenya, they took them to the cheapest garage they could possibly find and pocketed the difference!

A few years later, the company had a really good year and there were rumors that there would be a fantastic bonus. Everyone was excited! Sure enough, the department head gave the speech about how impressed he was at their performance and at the end he said, “This year we will transfer your car to your name as our bonus!”

How do you think they responded? The few who had maintained their cars well were ecstatic because their cars had a resale value of over ksh.1/2M .But most of the reps were horrified because their cars were held together by wires, string, duct tape and chewing gum! They couldn’t even sell them for 80k! So this year,

Own your faith! Be an owner, not a tenant!