2024-11-10_Sunday 2nd Service_Uplifted Kingdom Refreshment. By PBC Associate Pastor, Rev. Dr. Simon Mwangi

The theme this month is Uplifted Kingdom Refreshment an open door renewal, and I'm bringing a message titled Uplifted Kingdom Refreshment.

I will read from Isaiah 61, verse one to seven, and then Acts, chapter three and verse 19.

Isaiah 61, verse one to seven the spirit of the Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.

And after this he mentions, like 10 different ministries, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor Verse 4.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated.

They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

Strangers will shepherd your flocks, foreigners will walk your fields and vineyards and you will be called priests of the Lord.

You'll be named ministers of our God.

I like this part.

You will feed on the wealth of nations and in their riches you will boast.

Let us read verse 7 together.

Instead of your shame, you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace, you will rejoice in your inheritance.

I want us to read it once again.

I think it came late on the main screens.

Verse 7, put verse 7 again.

Let's read together Instead of your shame, you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace, you will rejoice in your inheritance.

Do you want to make it fast person?

Let's go back again.

Instead of my shame, I will receive a double portion, and instead of my disgrace, I will rejoice in my inheritance.

Let's keep going, and so I will inherit a double portion in my land and everlasting joy will be mine.

Let's give a hand to Jesus.

Yes, then we have Acts, the book of Acts, chapter 3 and verse 19.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

We'll just be reading one verse from the book of Acts Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, father in heaven.

We thank you for this season.

We have declared it's a season of refreshment.

Thank you for what you are doing and what you're about to do.

As I share this word, god, I pray that you speak to our hearts.

In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.

We may have our seats Uplifted.

Kingdom refreshment I have divided it into three areas Refreshed spiritually, refreshed materially and refreshed purposefully, that is, purposefully.

This is the refreshment.

We are trusting God for this month.

And all these are avenues and channels of refreshment, and God is ready to do so.

Tunnels of refreshment and God is ready to do so In Isaiah 61.

God has chosen to refresh Jerusalem and also to refresh Israel.

As he does so, he is removing the cloud of despair, the cloud of sorrow, the cloud of grief and the cloud of discouragement, and he is replacing those things With the cloud of discouragement.

And he is replacing those things with the crown of beauty, with the oil of gladness and with the garment of praise.

God is our beautifier and it doesn't matter whether your life would be described as ashes, as you heard in this scripture.

God is able to work with ashes and out of ashes God is able to work with ashes and out of ashes God is able to bring out something beautiful, a crown of beauty, and I thank God for divine interventions.

God has always intervened in history and wherever God has showed up and wherever God has come through, something good always happens.

You know, when Jesus met the woman who had an issue of blood and she had suffered for 12 years and she had used all her money with the doctors she just touched the hem of the garment of Jesus and suddenly the issue of blood actually stopped.

When Jesus met the blind Bartimaeus, he had suffered blindness for a long time and then Jesus heals him and from that day blind Bartimaeus begins to see.

What looks difficult for man is very easy with God.

Where Jerusalem and Israel is at this particular time, it's the lowest it could ever go because of the devastation that they had actually experienced.

But God comes through a very beautiful word, Isaiah 61, we just read verse one to seven.

You can read the whole chapter through a very beautiful word and begins to say how he can read the whole chapter Through a very beautiful word and begins to say how he's going to refresh them this word refreshment.

You can even use the word revival, you can use the word restock, you can use the word restoration, and I'm sure even as I'm speaking, there are other words that are beginning to be drawn by this statement as I say refreshment, and I'm sure there are pictures coming to your mind when this word is spoken from this pulpit again and again.

And God is painting pictures, and God is showing beautiful things, either about your children, about your career, about your family, about your dream and about your destiny.

And so God is able to pick material that has been shunted to the sidelines or has been thrown into the wastebaskets.

God is able to pick that material and work with it and therefore I'm very, very happy for this month and very happy for the theme of this month.

Once again, we are trusting God for refreshment and we are praying and we are saying Lord, refresh us, send the rains of refreshment.

And in the eyes, with the eyes of the Spirit, I'm seeing the rains of God's refreshment coming.

And every patched ground, every dry space in your life financial dryness, you know, idea, idea dryness, whatever that dryness might be this rain which is coming is not going to leave anything.

The same way, in Isaiah 55, if you give me on the screen Isaiah 55, from verse 10, verse 10, isaiah 55 and verse 10, we see the kind of refreshment that is there, and I want to read up to verse 13.

As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater.

So is my word that goes out from my mouth.

It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Now, listen to this.

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains and hills will burst into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn, bush will grow the juniper and instead of briars, the mato.

Is that a mato?

Yes, go back a little bit.

Yeah, the mato will grow.

This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign that will endure forever.

And I'm saying in the spiritual, I'm seeing showers of blessing and I'm seeing the showers of refreshment upon you, and because of these showers, I am seeing something new emerging out of your life, in Jesus' name.

Is anybody receiving what I'm saying?

Yeah, glory to God, because God has determined to do it.

He did it for Israel and Jerusalem.

He's doing it in our time, in our day, when the Samaritan woman came to the well.

In John, chapter 4, verse 10 to verse 15, her life was very dry, but by the time she left the well where she was going, something had happened.

John 4:10

Jesus refreshed her life and this lady left different from the way she came in.

When God touches your life, you can never be the same again.

In verse 10, it says Jesus answered her.

If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

So the woman said and let me say to somebody here these things we have in this life never satisfy, they never refresh.

Money will not refresh Money will not refresh Education will not refresh Power and status will not refresh All those experiments of life.

Those are not the spaces to go to Listen to this lady.

She goes to the right place.

She says the right thing.

Sir, the woman say you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.

Where can I get this living water?

She's asking the right person.

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?

Jesus answered everyone who drinks this water, will be thirsty again.

That is water from Jacob's well.

But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.

Indeed, our wells of water, indeed springs of water welling to eternal life, go to the next verse.

The woman said to him in verse 15, sir, give me this water, and I pray.

Somebody is saying Lord, send the showers, hallelujah, send those showers of refreshment.

Give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.

She went to Jacob's well.

She had been there many times, but Jacob's well water never refreshed her, never really satisfied her.

But this particular time she comes, finds Jacob's well, but she also finds the uplifted kingdom refreshment, and his name is Jesus, and Jesus begins to interact with her.

Her life changed.

This lady was never the same again.

I gave my life to Jesus when I was a young person, just the shy of 17 years old.

And those earlier years 16, were very eventful for me, trying everything and anything a young person can try In the city of Nairobi.

He even became part of a gang that used to harass people in Nairobi and we used to upwatch them.

And we used to upwatch them, yani nafea.

We used to upwatch them, and when we upwatched them, we would run around the person and scavenge, literally just go everywhere in their pockets and then disappear in the bushes to go and divide the spoils among ourselves.

But, thank God, after meeting Jesus, hallelujah, I don't have to do all of that.

After meeting Jesus and you're there, you've tried everything, you have run everywhere, I can tell you, run and run, but there's only one place when you can fully be fulfilled, refreshed and satisfied and that is the place where you meet Jesus.

After I met Jesus, my life has never been the same.

I am blessing people, I'm preaching the word of God and it's exciting to do it.

I want to say find Jesus and you'll find your refreshment.

In Isaiah 61, of course, jerusalem and Israel have wondered, they have experimented and they have tried to search for their fulfillment and refreshment everywhere.

Some have turned to idols, others have turned to immorality, others have turned to sin, and that experiment is not taking them to a nice place.

But I thank God, god, for Isaiah 60, isaiah 61, isaiah 62.

These are chapters of restoration and they are beautiful texts.

Isaiah 60, there's a lot of light in it.

Light, light, light, light, light.

You know.

Isaiah 61, I just read, starting with the Spirit of God.

But Isaiah 62, there's a whole thing about a new name, and so these are amazing, amazing passages.

After that terrible experiment, then the divine intervention comes in.

So let me say something about uplifted kingdom refreshment.

First of all, we got to be refreshed spiritually, and secondly refreshed materially and thirdly, refreshed purposefully.

Let me read Isaiah 61, verse 1 to 3.

Isaiah 61:1–3

The entry into the text starts this way the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God.

To comfort all who mourn, let me say I said the other day in Christ we have the full menu of what we need In the Holy Spirit are the waters of refreshment, and the Holy Spirit, he's the one who is able to refresh a person completely.

On the day of Pentecost.

Ordinary people, they are there in Jerusalem, very, very scared.

But God has a plan, god has an idea, god has a refreshment, you know, intervention, and he will do it suddenly.

And on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes upon the believers in chapter 2, if you remember and they were re-energized, they were revitalized, they were strengthened, they were refreshed.

Right, you know Isaiah 40, verse 31, I think, probably from memory.

Isaiah 40:31

It says they that wait upon the Lord shall do what he shall renew their strength, they shall fly with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint the Holy Spirit.

They were waiting, they were tarrying in the presence of the Lord and then the Holy Spirit came upon them and they were renewed in terms of their strength, they were re-energized.

And these guys who are locked in and they are so fearful, you know, suddenly they go into the town, jerusalem, and they start speaking to the people there.

And thank God for the conference I've just come from in South Africa, those languages I was hearing there.

Now they are there at Pentecost and people are enabled to speak languages.

You know, they are refreshed in terms of linguistics and they are able to go and speak to people in languages that they understand.

I want to say the things that the Lord is about to do in refreshing you, that yoke can only be broken through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's the Holy Spirit who will bring healing and deliverance and salvation to your family and to your situation.

The Holy Spirit, and that's why the text begins by talking about the spirit of the sovereign Lord.

And he says the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me.

I pray that somebody will desire the impartation of the Holy Spirit because he's able to penetrate everywhere and inside, even in the valley of dry bones.

God's spirit is involved in Ezekiel, chapter 37.

Ezekiel 37 · chapter mention

And you know, when the spirit of God hovers over in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, I mean chapter 1, verse 1 and 2, everything was formless, without shape.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

But you know, the Holy Spirit comes like a mother chicken, the way they lay on the eggs, and because of the warmth of the Holy Spirit, reconstruction and healing, salvation.

Now things begin to be fixed.

So, uplifted kingdom, refreshment comes first of all.

It's a spiritual activity, refreshed spiritually.

Everything starts in the spiritual, manifested in the physical, physical, and a lot of people try to fix things from the surface, like from the, from the spirit, you know, from the physical here.

But let me say this at the root of every uh thing there is a spiritual dimension, and I thank god ritual dimension, and I thank God that the entry into Isaiah 61 is the spirit David.

When Samuel came to their home 1 Samuel 16, verse 13, and he anointed him with oil, the Bible says the spirit of the Lord rested on him from that day and because of that, david becomes very, very successful.

1 Samuel 16:13

Of that, david becomes very, very successful.

I am praying that somebody will open up to the Holy Spirit.

Acts, chapter 2, verse 16 to verse 18.

Acts 2:16

We shall just read it the young generation of Africa.

God bless you.

God bless you.

God bless you.

The young generation of Africa.

God bless you.

God bless you.

Now, from verse 16.

No, this is what was spoken to the prophet Joel In the last days.

God says I'll pour out my spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy Somebody who has a son and whoever has a daughter.

Can you connect with this verse and you tell your son speak to your son now, as you're here, and your daughter and this is a spiritual activity and say my son and my daughter, you will prophesy.

Your young men will see visions.

You know they will have dreams and see visions, even on my servant.

Your old men will dream dreams.

Is that correct, brother Joe?

Yeah, the old men are dreaming Even on my servants, both men and women.

I'll pour out my spirit those days and they will prophesy the spirit.

Refreshment starts with the spiritual reconfiguration.

Everything must start, and the essence of a man is the spirit.

The core of a human being is the spirit and if the spirit is not refreshed, every surface refreshment is a lie, is just a deception.

It doesn't fulfill, it doesn't satisfy.

In Matthew 6, verse 33, the Bible says seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you the spiritual first, the vertical, the spiritual first and get the spiritual refreshment and reconnection.

Matthew 6:33

The rest will follow.

So if you're here, you have never known Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Where you need to start in this season of refreshment is actually to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Nicodemus was probably looking for a different formula.

In John, chapter 3, verse 2 to 8.

John 3:2–8

John, chapter 3, give me that verse 2 to 8.

John 3 · chapter mention

Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, probably looking for a different formula.

But Jesus will not give any other formula except what I'm reading here.

He came to Jesus at night and said Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher who has come from God.

No one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him?

Jesus replied very truly.

I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

You see, you cannot begin to prosper, even be refreshed, until that happens.

How can someone be born when they are old?

Nicodemus asked Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born?

Jesus answered very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but spirit does what Gives birth to spirit.

This is the formula.

Our refreshment must start in the right place.

The rest is peripheral and we could go around talking about many things, but we must do a zinger right where it matters and ask how is your spiritual condition?

Isaiah 61, verse 1, therefore means God's spirit must be the place where we start and we review our spiritual condition in terms of our relationship with God.

Isaiah 61:1

Spiritual refreshment must therefore be that first refreshment that we desire.

John, chapter 1, verse 12, says to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave them power to become the children of God.

John 1:12

Yet go now to the next verse, verse 13.

The children of God.

Let's see how that happens.

Verse 13.

Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

Hallelujah, are you born again?

Are you born of God?

Have you had a spiritual encounter?

The Samaritan woman was not going to be satisfied by physical water alone.

She needed to meet Jesus, she needed to have her start at the foundation called Jesus, and her life would take a different direction.

And you know, after she connected with Jesus, she left everything, the water jar, and she went back to the city, because she's a different woman.

She has been refreshed.

Even her demeanor is different.

She's ebbing out the glory of God and she goes to that city, and the city cannot but just wonder and get amazed at what has happened to this woman.

She is a different woman, and people leave their shops to follow her so that they, she could take them where she was and so that they could also be refreshed.

And a whole group of people are now following a person who was living an insignificant, mundane, mediocre life, not impacting anybody, but suddenly, just by meeting Jesus Christ, now this lady is leading a whole city to Jesus.

And so refreshment must start in the right place.

It must start at the Spirit.

Now, if you're home, there are so many issues and you want to see a change, connect first spiritually and identify the spiritual departures that may have been there and begin to now collect things, bring them, align them again, align them with Jesus.

So Jerusalem and Israel need to do this.

But secondly, spiritual material refreshment.

Refreshed materially.

This is material restoration Verse 4 to 7, isaiah 61, verse 4 to 7.

Isaiah 61:4–7

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated.

They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

Strangers will shepherd your flocks, foreigners will work your fields and vineyards and you will be called priests of the Lord.

You will be named ministers of God, of our God.

You will feed on the wealth of nations.

I want somebody to say I will feed on the wealth of nations.

Receive it in Jesus' name and in their riches you will boast Once again.

Let's read verse 7 together Instead of your shame, I will receive a double portion.

Instead of my disgrace, I will rejoice in my inheritance, and so I will inherit a double portion in my land, and everlasting joy will be yours.

I have this conviction that poverty is not the will of God.

I don't see my God planning that somebody becomes poor, whether spiritually or materially or idea-wise.

Whichever way you look at it, I know that poverty is not God's will for anybody.

What I understand very well is Deuteronomy 28, verse 12, that God has opened the heavens.

Deuteronomy 28:12

We'll have it on the screen.

This is what I understand from the scriptures Deuteronomy 28 and verse 12, that God has opened the heavens and the storehouse.

Let's read it together.

Let's read this one together also the Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on my land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.

You will lend to many nations, but will borrow from none.

Let's make it first person because we are inviting something.

Yeah, this is a material refreshment here he opens the heavens.

Let's make it first person because we are inviting something.

Yeah, this is a material refreshment.

Here he opens the heavens.

Let's make it first person.

The Lord has opened the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on my land in season and to bless all the work of my hands.

I will lend to many nations, but I will borrow from none.

That is what God has planned for each one of us.

Let's give a hand to the Lord.

That is what God wants, you know.

In Psalm 37, verse 25, the Bible says I have been young and now I am old.

Psalms 37:25

I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

God is coming through for someone.

May I decree and declare you shall walk in the overflow.

Your wallet I don't know mine, I've left it somewhere.

Your wallet may just be having papers, receipts, like receipts, full of receipts, but I'm telling you, this month of refreshment, god is replacing that.

Hallelujah, he is replacing that.

And for the ladies, maybe it's your handbag, but God is replacing those papers and receipts.

And God is filling that.

What do you call it handbag?

Yeah, with the bounty straight from heaven, because God is our source.

Philippians 4.19 says what my God shall supply, all my need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus.

Everything that God has up there belongs to the covenant people.

Give me Deuteronomy, chapter 8, verse 17 and verse 18.

Deuteronomy 8:17

Part of the covenant God was going to bless them spiritually, but he was going to bless them also materially.

When he came to Abraham, he engaged him on the premise of spiritual growth and expansion, but also material growth and expansion.

Now you may say to yourself my power and strength, the strength of my hands, have produced this wealth for me.

But remember the Lord, your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to do what To produce wealth.

But the last part is very important, so that he does what Confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors.

As it is today, part of the covenant promise and stipulation is that you will prosper spiritually and you'll also prosper materially.

Right now, I am breaking the yoke of poverty by the words I'm speaking in Jesus' name and I am breaking that dryness in terms of financials, the whole realm of need that comes out of lack of finances here in our country and also across Africa.

I'm breaking it now.

In Jesus' name, I decree and declare that Africa is coming to a place where we shall not go with begging bowls to the IMF and the world bang and then they give us conditions and we have to fire people from their jobs Because conditions.

The think tank is in the west.

That is breaking.

God is refreshing Africa, he's refreshing us and God is coming through for someone.

Are you receiving what I'm saying?

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

Therefore, god will refresh our young generation with ideas that will fetch money Instead of being deserted.

You shall be sought after.

You shall come with an idea, people will look for it and they will pay for it and you shall walk.

I'm prophesying Somebody, huh, you shall walk in the overflow.

In Psalm 23 says that is the plan of God.

And you know, in Genesis 13, from verse 14, god is giving assets to Abraham.

God is giving you assets for the purpose of his kingdom.

And the Lord said to Abraham after Lot had parted from him look around, from where you are To the north, to the south, to the east and to the west, all the land you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then you, your offspring, could be counted.

You know?

And so he goes Go, walk through the length and what and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.

Abram went and he walked and he did it, and it becomes his inheritance.

Our God is granting you an inheritance today and it's coming straight from him.

You're not looking to man, you're looking up to God.

And God is saying today I'm breaking the yoke of poverty, kenya and Kenyans.

As a pastor, I know I'm in Nairobi and we interact all the time.

The debt burden is very heavy.

That is not God's will, it is not God's plan and people are walking and it's all too much, it's all too heavy.

You know I'm cold at night.

People come here during the day and they're in my office and they are crying and they are saying, pastor, this thing is too much, I don't know what to do, and people are getting sick, you know, out of that and that's why, as a pastor, I appropriate, in this month of refreshment, uplifted kingdom refreshment.

I appropriate everything that belongs to you in the storehouses of God and now, in Jesus' name, with the authority I have and you know, with Jesus, I release it to you.

Receive it, receive it, receive it, receive it, receive it, receive it, receive it, receive it.

In Jesus' name, hallelujah, I want you to invite me because you are finished building a house and you are inviting me so that we can dedicate it and bless it, not inviting me when the auctioneers and I've been invited, by the way, when those trucks are there.

As a pastor, I've been there and you're with this family.

You can see the humiliation of the moment.

That's not God's plan.

I want to be invited when that house is complete and everything is in place the fittings, the plumbing is top notch, you know.

The electrical is top notch, the paint is finished, it's fresh and it's nice.

The flooring is done I'm prophesying Somebody's receiving this.

The flooring is done very nicely and that roof and the bedrooms are spacious and well aerated, and also the lighting is also amazing.

That's what I am seeing in Jesus' name.

And so God is telling Abraham I have prepared something nice for you.

Now go, walk this way, walk that way, walk the other way Everything I've given to you.

I am prophesying that now I'll be coming to dedicate your car and your house and something the Lord has done for you, because God is beginning to refresh us and his resources under an open heaven are coming upon his people, and then we can invite each other for lunch after a service like this one.

And you say the bill is on me, hallelujah, wouldn't that be very beautiful?

Yeah, the bill is on me.

Let us meet at some of these places and let us enjoy these young people.

You will invite us, and those young people in the diaspora.

God bless you big time.

Yes, I know you're inviting me to the place where you are.

There's a time I was invited those sides of Boston.

Brother Njuno and one of our young people, you know, god has a way of blessing.

It is the first time I was ever carried by a stretch limousine.

You know what a stretch limousine?

Yes, I was put in a very nice hotel, yeah, just outside Boston, and you know, this limousine was sent to pick me in the morning to the venue I was being taken to called the Castleton Event Center, and I entered.

My goodness, there was so much and I was just alone.

The driver was on the other side.

I have a whole big space here, but I noticed some wine bottles.

I said, and you know this, yeah, so God is taking us somewhere nice and God is doing a refreshment to the nation and Jerusalem, the walls, everything fixed in the city.

It's going to look very nice when the hand of God is done with Jerusalem and also with Israel.

It's going to look very nice when the hand of God is done with Jerusalem and also with Israel.

It's going to look very nice.

So God refreshes us spiritually.

First Get that in order and then he refreshes us materially, to the extent any one of us can invite another for lunch in some of these nice places and we go there.

Your Excellency Mubea, you know we can invite each other as a pastor.

That's what I'm looking forward to.

Those are the ones of things that are being taken from the house.

I refuse them In the name of Jesus Christ.

I cancel that In Jesus name.

Very demeaning, very humiliating the text.

Another verse I'll give you to read at home 2 Kings 4, verse 1 to 7,.

2 Kings 4:1–7

I won't read this one.

2 Kings, chapter 4, verse 1 to 7,.

2 Kings 4:1–7

A widow who was in debt with her children and they didn't have a thing.

The prophet of God comes in there and they have only little oil and some bread and says with that little oil God will sort out your debt question.

And you know, they brought in jars and they kept filling, filling, filling and filling.

What limited them was the number of jars they brought.

Otherwise, heaven never lacks and heaven can continue supplying.

Their debt was broken, that yoke was broken and they were free again, finally refreshed, purposefully.

This is the restoration of purpose.

This is called the sense of mission.

The sense of mission.

We need to be missional.

Israel and Jerusalem have probably forgotten why God put them together.

And God put them together so that they can be a blessing to the nations, and sometimes we forget why God put us on planet Earth.

And we are just there, day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, sunday, sunday, no difference, changing nothing, changing nothing around us.

God did not add me to the numbers of the populations of the world to become a statistic, but he put me on planet earth as unique, as an individual with an identity and loaded with purpose.

He has put me here in the season, now in time, and he has put me here so that I do something.

This is very important and I wonder, as I speak to you today, do you know your purpose?

Are you able to write it on a half page?

You know, just very quickly.

Are you able to write it?

It is important for us to be refreshed in terms of purpose, why God called you and why God has called me.

In Matthew 4, verse 19, the Bible says Come follow me, I will make you fishers of men.

Matthew 4:19

When God lays his hand upon a person, it's for a reason Come follow me, I will make you fishers of men.

Now, sister, I remember in South Africa, when I was speaking there, I told the global congregation there that when fishermen stop fishing, they start fighting.

When fishermen stop fishing, they start fighting.

When fishermen stop fishing, they start fighting.

You know, the mission of God is big.

It is God's size, the Great Commission.

You know it, and he has given it to us.

The moment we go off mark and we stop doing what God wants us to do, the next thing is to fight, because that space is filled by everything else, because we have wandered away from the mission and purpose for which God called us.

And so the realignment of Isaiah 61 is first of all a spiritual realignment, a material realignment, but also a purpose realignment.

And God is picking a nation that he loves and is a covenant nation and is beginning to bring them back, by this refreshment, to the place where they are, they should be.

And he wants to do it to the extent where it says instead of your shame, you receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace, you rejoice in your inheritance.

And so you will inherit a double portion in your land and everlasting joy will be yours.

And therefore, if we do spiritual correction and I know last Sunday we had a great preacher, deacon Francis Wairago, and he talked about repentance.

I followed when I was in South Africa If we do spiritual correction, god will bless us materially, and when he empowers spiritually and materially, we do his work and the three are correlated because he's bringing us back to where we are, we should be, and that's why, as a pastor, I passionately pray that you'll be spiritually aligned, materially endowed and connected to your purpose and to your life mission.

And I know, as we do this, then, of course, nairobi and Kenya and Africa will never be the same again.

I want to be the first to be counted, to be the first to be counted.

The prodigal son comes back home and although he had lived a life of sin, you know all that time away from wasting his father's money.

But the father embraces him, refreshes him by an embrace and then refreshes him by a nice jacket, very expensive, and then puts a ring and then the shoes, and then the father is saying you know, kill the fattened calf, because we must have a party and we are going to have a celebration.

God is able to receive you back.

I think, pastor Felista, you're the one who talked about the love as you're praying, and also we sang about God's nature.

You know love.

How big, how wide, how deep.

You know the love of God, how deep.

You know the love of God.

God is merciful, god is kind, god is always available and God is ready to refresh somebody.

And so the prodigal son is received again back into sonship, back into given material things.

He's experiencing the love of God.

That's what God is doing with Israel and Jerusalem in Isaiah 61.

Their shame wiped away.

The blood of Jesus is able to wipe away every sin, every shame.

You know, god receives us with his love and then the impartation of the Holy Spirit, and from here you leave this service to go and fulfill that mission that God has for you.

Today, as I make the altar call, I am inviting you to receive uplifted kingdom refreshment, and I have said that you receive it through spiritual correction.

And if there is something in your life that needs to be kicked out, kick it out.

Hebrews 12.1 says lay aside every weight and sin that so easily besets us and let us run the race with perseverance, looking to Jesus, who is the pioneer and perfect of our faith.

That's Hebrews 12.1.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off.

In the Greek this word is a very aggressive word, it's like kicking something.

Kick it away from you.

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, of course fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And so today, in this altar call, I'm inviting us to review and reflect on our lives Psalms 139, verse 23.

Psalms 139:23

The psalmist invites God to search his life Psalm 139, verse 23.

Psalms 139:23

And he's inviting God, and he's very bold about it.

And he's saying search me, god, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, just keep going.

The next verse see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

And so this refreshment starts by that spiritual realignment.

God blesses you materially.

You will never forget God.

You serve his purpose as he blesses you materially.

You will never forget God.

You serve his purpose as he blesses you materially.

But Israel grew to its golden age during the time of David, and then, after that, they pushed God, the blesser, aside and they ran with the blessing.

They have left the blesser.

They are running with the blessing.

The United States of America started nicely, but they become rich and you know there is a scripture that says and Jeshurun waxed fat and he did what he forgot the Lord.

And Jeshurun waxed fat and he forgot the Lord.

And as I'm praying for revival here in Africa, I'm praying for revival in Europe, revival refreshment in Asia and Asia Pacific, in Australia, everywhere in the United States, in South America, around the world.

And God, I believe, is doing something new around the world.

Yeah, something new.

And God is calling us back to the first love.

He's calling us back to the first love.

Spiritual correction, material blessing comes your way and also the purpose is refreshed and you start serving God the way he wanted you to serve.

And therefore, as I close, I go back to the Samaritan woman.

She found the king, uplifted king, who refreshes her life, she finds her purpose and mission and she goes back to the city, she brings a whole crowd of people to Jesus and because of her life, the whole place is changed.

John 4.39 says because of the testimony of this lady, this lady, yeah, because of her testimony, the town, the whole town, believed in Jesus, because of the woman's testimony, and she told them everything.

He told me everything I ever did.

And so today, just where you are, I'm inviting spiritual reflection.

Invite God to search your heart, your mind, everything about you, see if there's something in your life that would hinder you from receiving this refreshment from the Lord.

I'm inviting you to do that where you are, but also inviting us to connect with the message of today Believe God for the yoke of poverty to be broken and God to come through for you, but finally, dedicate yourself to serve God in the field of your purpose.

I'll ask us to stand now as we pray together.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for the beauty of scripture and just like two Sundays ago we learned scripture is a hammer, scripture is a fire and God, this month we have taken time to spend time in your word.

This word is powerful.

2 Timothy 3.16 says All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God and the woman of God may be completely equipped for every good work In this season of refreshment which is ours, times of refreshing you have promised in Acts 3, verse 19.

Acts 3:19

You've called us to repentance so that times of refreshing can become ours Now, as a congregation gathered online and here and everywhere, my God, we bring ourselves to the Isaiah 61 paradigms, first being the spiritual paradigm.

And, god, we invite you, like the psalmist in Psalm 139, verse 23, to search our hearts and see if there is any wicked way in us and lead us in the way everlasting.

Psalms 139:23

Lord, we are inviting you, my God, to pour your spirit afresh, like Pentecost, the fire of the Holy Spirit upon us, that, god, we may be spiritually realigned.

If you're here and you sense you have moved from where God needs you spiritually, you can be aligned right now by a simple prayer, because 1 John, chapter 1, verse 7, says God is light and in him there is no darkness.

1 John 1:7

If we walk in the light, as he's in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sins.

If you say you have no sin, then the truth is not in you and you deceive yourself.

But if you confess your sins, then God is just and faithful to forgive your sin, our sin, and to cleanse us and to lead us in the way everlasting.

It is a moment of spiritual readjustment, realignment.

You are off mark.

Sin means being off the mark.

You are not where God wants you to be.

It's like God coming to the garden and Adam and Eve are hiding.

My God, we are in your presence, we are inviting you to search our hearts.

Lord, send your light upon our lives and God, where we have walked away because you want to refresh us from your stipulations.

Today, we confess.

We confess that we have sinned.

We confess that we have fallen short of your glory.

My God, we confess we have done abominable things.

We have done things that have come in the path of your blessing.

We confess so that these sins may be taken away from us.

Oh, my God, I invoke the blood of Jesus to cleanse us of all sin and all unrighteousness, like the psalmist said in Psalm 51, which is a penitential psalm, creating me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.

Lord, we pray, clean us with the blood of Jesus and, lord, realign us spiritually.

Somebody is praying that prayer.

I know something is happening.

There is renewal, there is revival, there is restoration happening right now, and God is going to heal you as you do this in the name of Jesus Christ.

And so, lord, we pray, forgive us, and even forgive us the sins of the generations that have come from the ages past.

Lord, cleanse us because you are about to do something this month and in the months to come.

Lord, you are sending rain of refreshment.

Anything that comes in the way we declare is removed in Jesus' name, father.

Secondly, as you set us apart and you put your spirit upon us, I pray that you open the gates of provision, you supply the needs of your people.

Somebody came to this church, somebody following online.

They need your hand in material provision.

You did it for Abraham.

Do it for somebody in the 21st century.

God, come through, and come through in a big way.

In a way it will be called overflow.

In a way, even neighbors will testify and say the Lord has intervened in the life of this person.

We knew they were finished, but look how they are now.

God has come through for them.

But finally, lord, I pray that even we may connect in terms of mission and purpose, that you will help us to know what our life is all about, so that, god, we may apply our every day to things that mark eternity, things that leave a legacy, that, god, we shall truly make a difference.

As I'm praying this prayer, I sense there is a brother, there is a sister who took a retreat, took a back seat from everything, and I sense you, my God, telling me to tell this brother, sister, come back to the place of your purpose, come back to the place of your mission.

Come back to the place of your mission.

Begin to function like God wanted you to function.

God made you for a purpose.

Arise and shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon my Father.

Thank you for the responses that are here today, and I know, because of today, nairobi will not remain the same again, kenya will not remain the same again and Africa will not remain the same again.

Indeed, the world will not remain the same again.

And so, father, I thank you and I bless you.

Now I call the rains of refreshment.

May those rains pour in Jesus' name, amen.