Speaker 1: We're going to read the scriptures now.
Speaker 1: I'm reading from Luke, chapter 2, verse 4 to verse 15.
Speaker 1: Look at me.
Speaker 1: I'm reading from the NIV version of the Bible.
Speaker 1: In those days, caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
Speaker 1: This was the first census that took place while Quirinias was governor of Syria, and everyone went to their own town to register.
Speaker 1: As you know, the Roman government was in charge of most of the world then and they were running an empire and there was a king who was Caesar Augustus.
Speaker 1: But then they had organized themselves in provinces and regions that were governed by governors and that is why you have a second name there Quirinias, who was governor of Syria, and the Jewish nation was under the Syria province or the Syria area.
Speaker 1: So verse 4,.
Speaker 1: So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house in line of David.
Speaker 1: So he went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
Speaker 1: While they were there, the time came.
Speaker 1: Tell somebody the time came.
Speaker 1: They appointed time, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn, her son.
Speaker 1: She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger A manger is a feeding trough for livestock because there was no guest room available for them and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks.
Speaker 1: At night, verse 9, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified.
Speaker 1: But the angel of the Lord, or the angel, said to them do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Speaker 1: Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you.
Speaker 1: He is the Messiah, the Lord.
Speaker 1: This will be assigned to you.
Speaker 1: You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger.
Speaker 1: Then, verse 13,.
Speaker 1: Suddenly, a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and saying glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests.
Speaker 1: When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another let's go to Bethlehem.
Speaker 1: See this thing that has happened, which the Lord told us about.
Speaker 1: This is God's word.
Speaker 1: We may have our seats.
Speaker 1: Father in heaven, I thank you for all of us who have come to this service.
Speaker 1: Thank you also for those who are following online.
Speaker 1: My God, we thank you for the word that I break and for us to share.
Speaker 1: I pray that you feel our hearts to the overflow and I pray that you may use this word to transform our lives.
Speaker 1: God lead us to the place where we shall apply it in our own personal journeys.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, we pray and we all say amen.
Speaker 1: Today we are having a family service and we have our children with us.
Speaker 1: Let me say to every child who is here you are blessed big time and if you are sitting next to a child, just stretch a hand on them and bless them, take that liberty to bless that child, proclaim a blessing, release a blessing upon those children that have joined us in the service today.
Speaker 1: We thank God for these young people and we know they have a bright future.
Speaker 1: The title of the message today is Born to be Great, and I just read the verses Luke, chapter 2, verse 4 to verse 15.
Speaker 1: Born to be great.
Speaker 1: Christmas season is a very refreshing time.
Speaker 1: It has always been, including the first Christmas when Jesus was born and God has a way of coming down and lighting up the world of people.
Speaker 1: And I know that during this season and time there is a way in which you have sensed an uplifting or an edification or an encouragement.
Speaker 1: There is a bracelet that has been released in your direction from heaven just to lift you up.
Speaker 1: And when you look at Christmas, at the beginning the shepherd's world was lit up.
Speaker 1: It was actually at night and they were watching their flock at night and suddenly angels showed up and there was so much light all over.
Speaker 1: God is in the business of lighting our nights and God is in the business of refreshing our lives and God is able to find us wherever we may be, even out there in the fields or maybe in the remotest parts of the world.
Speaker 1: God is able to find you there and God is able to light up your world.
Speaker 1: Let me say today that God is lighting up somebody's world Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: And God, by his own divine activity and discretion, is sending the light that casts out all shadows and casts out all darkness in your own life.
Speaker 1: I hope somebody is receiving that.
Speaker 1: God is sending that light that chases away darkness and begins to brighten up your world, and so Christmas is a very beautiful time when Jesus was actually born, and when he was born, heaven could not remain silent.
Speaker 1: Suddenly the heavens opened, angels came and it became such a bright place.
Speaker 1: My prayer is this, as a family, when you gather after this service and even tomorrow that in those gatherings, and even those who are following in the diaspora or all over Kenya, is that in those gatherings the light of God will show up.
Speaker 1: Is somebody catching me that the light of God will show up?
Speaker 1: Let me say the thing that will brighten your life is not money or having the best meal in that family gathering that you are about to have.
Speaker 1: What will bring light and glory and joy and peace and happiness is actually the light of God.
Speaker 1: You can set up a very nice party with everything that is needed, with the music and with the food and probably the right company, but without God releasing his light upon that meeting.
Speaker 1: I can tell you you'll have the food, you'll have the dance, you'll have the party, but then you will go to a very, very difficult dark space after that and you will feel that the heaviness and the darkness in your life has not even been lifted an inch.
Speaker 1: You thought the party would lift you, I want to say and from this text we know that the thing that lifts us is the light of God, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: And so the shepherds who are actually out in the night all of a sudden find that this God was able to reach the persons along the margins.
Speaker 1: Their sense is right to where they are and their world actually is turned around, and therefore God is able to reach anyone anywhere and is able to lift them from nothing to become something.
Speaker 1: And God is in the business of making us great.
Speaker 1: In fact, even as I'm speaking here, I know that God is already at work, especially in our children.
Speaker 1: God is already at work in lifting them up to become everything that he wants them to be, and that is why we celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 1: Jesus came to break into the darkness of this world, the darkness of sin, among other darknesses of death, of disease, of depression, all this darkness in the world.
Speaker 1: A ray of light comes from the heavens and pierces through the darkness and changes the whole story, and a place that was dark and difficult and depressed all of a sudden becomes lit up, and so every home I declare today in Jesus' name every family, every individual is going to experience the light of God's glory.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, let's give a hand to the Lord and because it's Jesus who did it, I think it's in order to sing a happy birthday song to him and pray.
Speaker 1: The angels also join us in a beautiful chorus and as we do so, that the deposit of peace, of God's love, of God's goodness, of God's favor, of God's brightness would just descend upon somebody who is feeling down, who has come to this service or following this service around the world, and feeling down as we sing this song.
Speaker 1: We wish you a happy birthday.
Speaker 1: We wish you will come later.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Let's try it together.
Speaker 1: Today's an acoustic service.
Speaker 1: The pianist is also taking a break there.
Speaker 1: Let me try.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, my son.
Speaker 1: God bless you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that, minister.
Speaker 1: Just give me a note.
Speaker 1: We see whether that works.
Speaker 2: Happy birthday to Jesus.
Speaker 2: We'll sing it all to him.
Speaker 2: Happy birthday, dear Jesus.
Speaker 2: Happy birthday, happy birthday.
Speaker 1: We'll do it just once more, just once more.
Speaker 1: I think Jesus has heard, but he needs to hear even much more.
Speaker 1: The second round, second round, is that note?
Speaker 1: Okay, for Sariq, that's all right.
Speaker 2: Happy birthday, dear Jesus.
Speaker 2: Happy birthday.
Speaker 2: Happy birthday, dear Jesus.
Speaker 1: Let's give a big hand clap for King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
Speaker 1: And so God, throughout history, has had a program of visitation among his people with the objective of lifting his people to the next level.
Speaker 1: And in the Bible we have many, many heavenly visitations or moments when God just simply showed up in a big way and just changed the narrative and changed the story.
Speaker 1: We know from John, chapter one and verse one in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.
Speaker 1: And then, in verse 14, this word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth.
Speaker 1: We have beheld his glory glorious of the only Son of God, and God had to come in flesh we call it the incarnation so that he could become like us, which is good strategy.
Speaker 1: God became a human being, and so if you want to change the world of what hogs, then become a what hog.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Become a what hog and begin to mix with it.
Speaker 1: You'll be accepted very quickly and very easily.
Speaker 1: They'll invite you into their holes and you can have fellowship in those holes and you can begin to change the world of what hogs.
Speaker 1: But for God, he so loved me that he gave his only bigot and son, that who so ever believes in him she not perish but have everlasting life.
Speaker 1: And God therefore, in his discretion and wisdom, had to become a human being.
Speaker 1: And the story you know how it it came about.
Speaker 1: It came through a visitation to a lady called Mary and she became expecting, carried a baby and Eventually, like the story we have just read here, the time actually came for that baby to be born.
Speaker 1: And that baby, his name, is Jesus, and you know how he lived then he died, he was buried, he rose on the third day and today he's alive, seated at the right hand of the father.
Speaker 1: Efficials to six tells us.
Speaker 1: He's seated, you know, and we are also seated.
Speaker 1: We are also seated together with him in the heavenly realms.
Speaker 1: God raised him up, but he has also raised us up.
Speaker 1: So we have had visitations that are divine and congregation this Christmas, today's service, just like it was during the time of of the birth of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Let us pray for divine visitations, because they are the only ones that can change families, change individuals, change cities, change nations and change continents.
Speaker 1: We can have the king of Britain visit Kenya, like he did, but he will come and leave.
Speaker 1: But let me tell you, when we pray heaven come down, kenya cannot be the same again.
Speaker 1: When we say Heaven come down, this family will not be the same again.
Speaker 1: And so you can do a simple prayer this Christmas and you say, yeah, jesus, I understand, you are born.
Speaker 1: I am praying for a real Visitation upon my family and upon my life, or upon one of your members of your family, and you just pray a visitation wherever they are.
Speaker 1: And God is able to visit the shepherds Wherever they are.
Speaker 1: He knows the shepherds address and he knows it's nighttime and God comes with this bright light upon them and changes their whole story.
Speaker 1: He pulls them from the back back tires and it brings them to the front line of his redemptive plan.
Speaker 1: And they were not even aware what was about to happen to them.
Speaker 1: May God do a sudden list something in your life.
Speaker 1: Let me say Jeremiah 29, 11 says God knows the plan.
Speaker 1: He has what for us.
Speaker 1: It's planned for good and not for evil.
Speaker 1: To do what?
Speaker 1: To give us a future, and I hope I am expecting a divine surprise.
Speaker 1: How many are expecting a divine surprise?
Speaker 1: I see many hands in the sanctuary, upstairs and downstairs, and I know also those who are following online.
Speaker 1: You have put up your hand and you say I am expecting a divine surprise this Christmas and this surprise continues a year 2024 and I'm going to walk in the light and the glory of God and I'm expecting that God will do something like he did for the shepherds.
Speaker 1: I'm be able to lift me from one level to another.
Speaker 1: We've had other visitations, like Pentecost.
Speaker 1: You know, pentecost, the Holy Spirit just came.
Speaker 1: Boom it was.
Speaker 1: They were all in a room, they were very, very scared, but all of a sudden, one thing changes the equation To the extent where Peter, who was so scared, all of a sudden becomes very, very bold.
Speaker 1: Remember, he denied Jesus three times, but this time he's the one who is lead, leading the team into Jerusalem to do evangelism and to preach the word of God.
Speaker 1: A visitation at Pentecost and Throughout history.
Speaker 1: Like I say, we have had visitations and it's important for us.
Speaker 1: If you can pray only one prayer, even the children who are with us here and I know God visits children angels in your dreams I'm a jee, yeah.
Speaker 1: When you're sleeping, then angels come, and they come.
Speaker 1: There's light around that.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: Those are nice Dreams, they are not nightmares.
Speaker 1: And if you're here and you've been having nightmares.
Speaker 1: I break those nightmares in the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, nice visitations, brightness and glory, and God is ready to visit again.
Speaker 1: God is ready to do a revival again.
Speaker 1: These things we read in the Bible Some people say some are dispensational.
Speaker 1: They happen.
Speaker 1: That is called dispensational theology.
Speaker 1: That says they happen that time.
Speaker 1: They cannot be repeated again.
Speaker 1: But I'm here as an old-school creature and say they will happen again and again and again.
Speaker 1: When God visited Mary, she became pregnant.
Speaker 1: When God visits you, something is gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Something is gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Something very beautiful, born to be great, number one, born according to God's will.
Speaker 1: Jesus was born according to God's will, and May I dare also say that you and I Were born according to God's will.
Speaker 1: There is nobody who is an accident.
Speaker 1: There is nobody who is just a statistic or a number to be added among numbers.
Speaker 1: And Especially now, when we're in the digital age and there are numbers about everything, we are going to be to end up in a place where your name even becomes insignificant and we are just going to be numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers.
Speaker 1: You know we're going to a place where we shall carry these numbers, even somewhere, put under your skin, maybe under one of the fingers, and all you need to do is walk around, put your finger somewhere and Computers will read everything and all your data will actually be realized and recognized.
Speaker 1: The human person is being diminished and Diminished by the programs of the world and by what is going on around us, and you reach somewhere where you begin to feel insignificant.
Speaker 1: I want to say that you are valuable.
Speaker 1: One verse that changed my life in Isaiah 45 is the one that says you are precious, you are honored and God loves you.
Speaker 1: And I want you to say I am precious, you say I Am honored and God loves me.
Speaker 1: I'm not a number, I'm not a statistic.
Speaker 1: I am born by God's will.
Speaker 1: I Thank God for that child, who is really saying it louder than everybody around here.
Speaker 1: And so when I look at you, the thing that gives you value is God.
Speaker 1: It is not any attachment.
Speaker 1: You see, I'm dressed the way I am dressed.
Speaker 1: I hope I'm looking good.
Speaker 1: I mean, how do I look from that side?
Speaker 1: I Looking good, thank you, and touch the person.
Speaker 1: Next.
Speaker 1: You tell them you're looking good, better than yesterday, and tomorrow you will shine.
Speaker 1: Metameter, uh-huh.
Speaker 1: Let's go, uh-huh, where she is, and I already have mine.
Speaker 1: What she makes Jesus great and I'm sharing three things that make us great one is God's will.
Speaker 1: What makes Jesus great is that he is born in the line of God's plan, in the line of God's program and in line with the wheel of heaven.
Speaker 1: It is God who makes us great, and he makes us great because he wills us.
Speaker 1: He wills us into being and for that reason no one is an accident.
Speaker 1: Let me repeat this for someone to hear me very, very clearly.
Speaker 1: You may be out there thinking that somehow you are happenstance, but I want to say to you that you are not an accident.
Speaker 1: It is by the will of God, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: You know, our youngest daughter was conceived in Berlin, germany, and together with my late wife, we had gone to do ministry in Germany, in Berlin, and we were at the time when we thought we had done with getting children.
Speaker 1: And no wonder there is a big gap between my last born, who just joined university, and the other children who have cleared university and they actually in the working world, and so we thought we had actually finished with the whole business of getting children.
Speaker 1: But you know, when you travel like that and you're just the two of you.
Speaker 1: You get a new honeymoon and you forget everything else.
Speaker 1: And things happen.
Speaker 1: A child shows up and you kind of find like she's been born off step.
Speaker 1: You know, we were not expecting this.
Speaker 1: Should we have had another baby?
Speaker 1: And you have all kinds of discussions and we have children here who are adults, yeah, who probably even in the whole plan of your family.
Speaker 1: You look and you want to have a baby In the whole plan of your family.
Speaker 1: You look and you wonder was I part of the proper plan here?
Speaker 1: Or how did I show up in this word?
Speaker 1: I Thank God for my daughter precious.
Speaker 1: We called her precious and she's the joy of my heart.
Speaker 1: She came in late, but she goes.
Speaker 1: Yesterday I went to Molo with her and we drove all the way in a guru to Molo, a place called Diary, and then, you know, came back and it's good to have a child like that, who has a ward in season and she's got so much wisdom.
Speaker 1: Can imagine, if she was not born, where will I be?
Speaker 1: If Jesus was not born, where would we be?
Speaker 1: Everyone is Born out of God's plan and God's will and there is nothing like an accident.
Speaker 1: There are those who teach that they are accidents, whichever way you look at it, but from God's side and from God's word.
Speaker 1: Look at the way Solomon was born and the circumstances around Solomon's birth.
Speaker 1: Look at many other cases in the Bible and how finally begins to work with and through some of these people that we may consider outliers With God.
Speaker 1: There is absolutely no accident and I want to tell you today that God knows, god knows that you are here.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah In verse one to seven.
Speaker 1: It just shows the circumstances of Jesus' birth.
Speaker 1: Look chapter two, verse one to seven.
Speaker 1: In those days, caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
Speaker 1: This was the first census that took place while Corinias was governor of Syria and everyone went to their own town to register.
Speaker 1: So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth to Galilee, to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
Speaker 1: He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
Speaker 1: While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to the firstborn, a son.
Speaker 1: She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available there.
Speaker 1: Joseph, although he doesn't fully understand how this baby has come about, one thing he knows is that this child has come from above.
Speaker 1: This child has come from God, and Joseph knows this child is not an accident, and I thank God for men like this who are able even to take charge and take responsibility, even in circumstances that may be complicated or circumstances they don't fully understand.
Speaker 1: But if you got the right attitude, the right mindset, the right theology, then you are able to look at that pregnancy and that child and begin to say thank you, jesus.
Speaker 1: Now you notice that during this time God orchestrates history, in a sense that the emperor has to call a census to happen all over the empire so that people could be listed for the purpose of taxation, and while he is doing that, he doesn't know that actually it's heaven that is in control so that a child would actually be born in the place that had been prophesied.
Speaker 1: When you read Genesis 49, verse 10, and also Micah, chapter 5, verse 2, regarding the prophecies regarding the, you know the birth of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Genesis 49, verse 10, maybe if I could have it on the screen it says the setter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until he, to whom it belongs, shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his Then in Micah, chapter 5, verse 2, so Judah is mentioned there and the second beat, micah, chapter 5, verse 2, but you, bethlehem, ephraah is the old name.
Speaker 1: That's the old name of Bethlehem.
Speaker 1: The same thing, but the old name.
Speaker 1: Though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel.
Speaker 1: God's will is propagated through his word and prophecy becomes that vieco that carries or encapsulates.
Speaker 1: It's like the seed of what is going to germinate.
Speaker 1: Prophecy is like something, it's like a seed in the soil, and when the time comes because God sends rain and God sends the right kind of environment and circumstances when the time comes that seed is unstoppable, because that seed is going to come up, and even now, as I'm talking, there are many seeds under the ground.
Speaker 1: You may not see them, but they are there and with the right circumstances, in the timing of the Lord, that seed will come up and it will lead itself all the way to a great harvest.
Speaker 1: And so Augustus, caesar, caesar Augustus thinks he is in charge.
Speaker 1: He is issuing a decree from that throne seat.
Speaker 1: He's exercising power and authority.
Speaker 1: He does he little?
Speaker 1: Does he know that he's just an instrument?
Speaker 1: And let me say to those people who wield power and who wield positions of authority you are just pegs within God's plan and you're just an instrument in God's hands.
Speaker 1: And sometimes the decisions you make you may not know, but those decisions end up facilitating what God is about to do.
Speaker 1: And so when he calls his senses, it is because a prophecy must be fulfilled.
Speaker 1: Let me quickly say here every one of God's word must be fulfilled.
Speaker 1: Every word of God never returns void.
Speaker 1: Even when we preach from here, like I'm preaching now, the thing that makes me preach is a conviction that every word you proclaim, the word of God everywhere you go, it never returns void.
Speaker 1: When I went to Molo and shared there, I spread seeds of God's word and I know there that will grow and harvest will come.
Speaker 1: I was in Mombasa earlier in the week and shared again and broadcast.
Speaker 1: You know the seeds of God's word and I know that that is going to find its place.
Speaker 1: And that's why, parents, when you're with children, give them God's word.
Speaker 1: You can give them everything else, but don't forget to take them through the scriptures.
Speaker 1: Take them, give them that word, just simply release the word of God in the life of the next generation.
Speaker 1: As a mentor and as a disciple maker, I have a conviction regarding this, this one here a conviction that all scripture is inspired by God and it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness.
Speaker 1: That every the man of God and woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work is a conviction.
Speaker 1: And because I have that conviction, I take time with my children and we actually go through the word every Christmas.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow I'm meeting my children, we will have a session and that session people have written, we have all written our thanksgiving for the whole year.
Speaker 1: You have a paper, every child has a paper thanksgiving for the whole year.
Speaker 1: But on the other side we also have another paper with prayers for the year 2024, that's part of the exercise we do every year.
Speaker 1: And then after that we have Holy Communion, lord's table, because God is our covenant, god keeping God, and we say God, because of your promises, we know you're going to move in this area.
Speaker 1: Then we read scriptures and we claim the word of God vis-a-vis what we have put before him.
Speaker 1: And there is one thing I have taught my children how to do a demand note based on scripture.
Speaker 1: Put a scripture against everyone of these prayers and thanksgivings and present it to God, because if there is anything God understands, it is his word, and every word God has spoken will never return void.
Speaker 1: It shall accomplish, it shall fulfill its purpose.
Speaker 1: Isaiah 55, verse 10 and 11.
Speaker 1: For those who are writing, and you go and read later, you will see when God's word goes forth, it never returns void.
Speaker 1: It's like rain coming down and begins to water the seeds, and then the seeds begin to sprout.
Speaker 1: Let us take the word of God seriously.
Speaker 1: Prophecy, the birth of Christ, came about because it was prophesied, and therefore Christmas is a fulfillment of prophecy.
Speaker 1: What does that mean, then?
Speaker 1: God's word is reliable.
Speaker 1: God's word is dependable.
Speaker 1: We can hold on to God's word and this Christmas, remember, god's will is encapsulated in his word and if you really want to know his will, then go into his word.
Speaker 1: Then you will know his will.
Speaker 1: All of us therefore have come about not as an accident, but as a direct result of God's will.
Speaker 1: In fact, in Psalms 139, there's a scripture that says that when we were formed in our mother's womb.
Speaker 1: The Lord was there and he knit the intricate parts of our bodies together.
Speaker 1: It's God who did it, and so, even when a baby is in fetus form, god is right there, involved in making sure that that baby, that baby, comes out the way he has actually desired.
Speaker 1: You're a product of the will of God and Jesus came out of a fulfillment of prophecy and therefore he is a product of God's will.
Speaker 1: Now, talking about the will of God, I want us to be reminded that God's will is good.
Speaker 1: God's will is perfect.
Speaker 1: God's will is what will bring us where God wants us to be.
Speaker 1: God is willing and God has willed connect with that will.
Speaker 1: There is somebody here who knows that they are outside God's will.
Speaker 1: I want you to know that your happiness is in God's will.
Speaker 1: Come back, align your life with God's will.
Speaker 1: Some people are in relationships that are not God's will and for that reason, a lot of struggles right there, because you're trying in your own strength to put things together.
Speaker 1: But God is saying just simply depend on me and trust me and I will lead you in an easy path, something that you will be happy about.
Speaker 1: Are you in God's will?
Speaker 1: But, secondly, born with a purpose.
Speaker 1: Greatness not only comes through God's will, but also through purpose.
Speaker 1: Born with a purpose, our greatness is commensurate to our purpose.
Speaker 1: And God put us together yes, according to his will, but he also made us for something.
Speaker 1: He put us together for something.
Speaker 1: Let me just read further the same texts from verse 8, luke, chapter 2.
Speaker 1: From verse 8 to 14,.
Speaker 1: And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks.
Speaker 1: At night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified.
Speaker 1: But the angels say to them do not be afraid.
Speaker 1: I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Speaker 1: Today, in the town of David, a savior has been born.
Speaker 1: Underline, a savior has been born to you.
Speaker 1: He is the Messiah, the Lord.
Speaker 1: This will be assigned to you.
Speaker 1: You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger.
Speaker 1: Suddenly, a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel praising God and saying glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom he favours his favourites.
Speaker 1: I don't know, like me, whether you, as I was reading, you have had purpose vibrating or just something about purpose as these angels came down and they began to say things and saying some words, you know, to these shepherds.
Speaker 1: Suddenly, the issue of the reason why Jesus came and that's why we say Christmas has a reason or the reason for Christmas, why Jesus came and why he was born, is clearly clarified right there.
Speaker 1: He came to solve the alienation between man and God, that divide that was there between man and God.
Speaker 1: Jesus was born that it would be solved.
Speaker 1: That's why he was actually, you know, born.
Speaker 1: People have put other purposes for Christmas and they have said it's party time and that's okay, it's good to have a good time, but it's good to remember that the reason Jesus came and was born is so that the hostility or the middle wall of partition between man and God would actually be demolished.
Speaker 1: If you give me on the screen Ephesians, chapter 2, ephesians chapter 2, verse 13 and verse 14, just to highlight and underline what I'm saying, the Bible says the following but now, in Christ Jesus, you who are once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.
Speaker 1: Jesus was born to become the Lamb of God.
Speaker 1: John, chapter 1, verse 29, where John said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Speaker 1: And therefore, every birth has a purpose.
Speaker 1: Every human being on planet earth has a purpose, is custom made for a specific purpose, and my prayer is this that, apart from the wheel alignment, there would be purpose alignment, especially in Africa, that we would be able to connect with the line of passion, the line of purpose, the thing we were made for, so that we become like fish in water.
Speaker 1: If you fish stays in water, functions very well in water, and you look at the waters and you're looking at fish moving, the grace, you know, and the movement is just amazing.
Speaker 1: But if you hold that fish from there, bring it on land, it doesn't matter how beautiful that fish looks and how active it was in the water, all of a sudden, because it wasn't designed to function outside the water, all of a sudden that fish will die.
Speaker 1: And there are many people who are dying alive because where they are working or where they are operating from, it is not their place of purpose, it is not their place of calling, it is not the place they were aligned for and God created them for, yes, they were born, but then now, in the line of purpose, they have not function or they have not progressed.
Speaker 1: And so you find very many unhappy people, very many unhappy people.
Speaker 1: I travel around and when I was in the US October that period and I met many Kenyans and we talked, and some of them in the counseling room.
Speaker 1: We just share some of those things and someone says what I'm doing here is not necessarily in line with my purpose, but I got to get the dollar and I got to get the money to be able to pay my bills.
Speaker 1: And you find people who just do what they do because they must pay the bills.
Speaker 1: The house rent has to be paid, transportation, the food, the clothing, education, maybe for the children, investments and buildings and things like that.
Speaker 1: They have to be done.
Speaker 1: And you find, you know, just living for that.
Speaker 1: But God is able to align your platform and the gifting that he has given you to work in the line with the purpose he has for your life and Jesus.
Speaker 1: Therefore.
Speaker 1: That's why he thrived, that's why he became great, that's why he prospered.
Speaker 1: He was fully aligned to God's purpose for His life and he would in barge and inch, jesus would in barge and inch from the place of purpose.
Speaker 1: No wonder when the devil came and tried him.
Speaker 1: Temptations Matthew, chapter 4, three kinds of temptations.
Speaker 1: The first one was about the stomach, that is, appetites.
Speaker 1: Turn this stone into bread.
Speaker 1: And he was tempted like we are, like we are all of us, through this gate called the stomach.
Speaker 1: He would in barge.
Speaker 1: And then the exercise of power drop yourself from here to there, those things that take so many people away.
Speaker 1: Jesus would in barge.
Speaker 1: And then the temptation of wealth.
Speaker 1: And the Satan is saying I'll give you all of these things and this kingdom.
Speaker 1: And no wonder when Satan is talking like that.
Speaker 1: He's a liar because Satan created nothing.
Speaker 1: I want to repeat that the offer from hell is a lie.
Speaker 1: The offer from hell is a lie.
Speaker 1: John 8, 34, john 8, 44 says the devil is a liar, he's a father of lies.
Speaker 1: He has lied from the beginning.
Speaker 1: John, chapter 8, verse 44.
Speaker 1: And can you imagine?
Speaker 1: A guy who created nothing is talking to the creator who created everything.
Speaker 1: I tell you, and he's saying look all over here, I will give you all of these things if only you worship me and you know that temptation.
Speaker 1: Jesus would not fall for it.
Speaker 1: He would in barge and inch, because what was the devil trying to do to remove him from the path of going to the cross?
Speaker 1: Jesus knew his mission.
Speaker 1: He understood why he was here.
Speaker 1: He covered it in three years only.
Speaker 1: In fact, he was a young man.
Speaker 1: When he died, he was only 33.
Speaker 1: Jesus was only 33.
Speaker 1: So you don't have to be 78 years to really make a mark and make a difference.
Speaker 1: 33.
Speaker 1: And the last three years when you look at them, he is right there, moving the path of Papas and achieving making everyday count in that particular direction and eventually he becomes a lamb of God.
Speaker 1: And today you are here, I am here, the church is all over the world, just because he lived out his mission and his purpose and he was so focused.
Speaker 1: When you read John chapter four John chapter four, verse 34, I believe if I could have it on the screen John chapter four, verse 34.
Speaker 1: Why don't we read this one together?
Speaker 1: Let's read it together.
Speaker 1: My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Speaker 1: That is how focused he was.
Speaker 1: He calls Papa's food to do that which God designed him for.
Speaker 1: And if you want to find great people and happy people.
Speaker 1: It's those people who are living out their mission and actually living out their purpose.
Speaker 1: And so the angels announced this mission and purpose and the shepherds had it very, very clearly.
Speaker 1: There was no mistaking.
Speaker 1: And then there was a chorus.
Speaker 1: A heavenly choir began to sing, amplifying the same thing and praising God, and they were saying glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests.
Speaker 1: Born with a purpose, before I go to the next point, let me just read something very important here Jeremiah chapter one, verse four to eight.
Speaker 1: I'll just read it quickly here.
Speaker 1: Jeremiah chapter one, verse four to eight the word of the Lord came to me saying before I formed you in the womb, I knew you Before you were born.
Speaker 1: I set you apart, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations, a last sovereign Lord.
Speaker 1: I said I do not know how to speak, I am too young.
Speaker 1: But the Lord said to me do not say I am too young, you must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever.
Speaker 1: I command you.
Speaker 1: And then, in verse 8, do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.
Speaker 1: Papas, and so our children who are in the service today.
Speaker 1: I want you to know that God has.
Speaker 1: You are born according to God's will and, secondly, there's something special inside you.
Speaker 1: You must fulfill it, you must release it in its entirety and you must not allow anything.
Speaker 1: Temptation or?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 1: These days we have drugs, people are taking drugs.
Speaker 1: I go to rehabs and I share with some of them and, by the way, one of the centers I go to, I met this guy about three, four years ago and he wasn't looking like he was going to be anything and I prophesied over his life and I said you, you are going to in the IT world, you are going to design an application and it's going to make things you know, change things around.
Speaker 1: Do you know he has done something that's been recognized worldwide?
Speaker 1: He sent me a text, a long text.
Speaker 1: One of these days I read it here and he is so, so, so grateful.
Speaker 1: I see God sending a text to somebody here and saying I created you.
Speaker 1: You're not an accident.
Speaker 1: But second, I have wired you for something.
Speaker 1: I have put you together for, for something.
Speaker 1: The second question of the day is this do you know your purpose?
Speaker 1: Do you know what you are wired for?
Speaker 1: Are you in line with your mission and with your calling?
Speaker 1: Are you in the place where God actually desired for you to be?
Speaker 1: One of these days I'll share my testimony where I started and how I end up where I am.
Speaker 1: Pastor Ambrose knows it.
Speaker 1: I also know his story.
Speaker 1: So we know each other's story and I know once in a while he tells a little you know about me.
Speaker 1: I'll soon also tell some a little little about him.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, like the keyhole story.
Speaker 1: You remember that and how I would be hiding from being followed up and discipled.
Speaker 1: And the person who was following me up one day came and I really didn't want them to come into my room for Bible study.
Speaker 1: I was a student then and I locked, pulled out the key and I hid and the guy, apparently on the other side, kept looking.
Speaker 1: Then I thought it's long enough, he has gone and I go to the keyhole to check whether he's gone and he's also on the other side checking and we met eyeball to eyeball.
Speaker 1: The Lord found me From that day.
Speaker 1: I said I'm not running like Jonah, I'm not quitting.
Speaker 1: God said I go to Nineveh and his word was very clear about Nineveh and he told me to do something in Nineveh.
Speaker 1: But look, I'm going to tashish in a commercial boat and some of us rationalize and try to justify, but something in you keep saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: It's a voice inside.
Speaker 1: But then we argue with that voice, like in Jonah's case.
Speaker 1: I was found the whale, mine was a keyhole and I got into this whale, back to where God wanted me to be, and today I am here.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, let's give a hand clap for Jesus.
Speaker 1: God is good, wired for purpose.
Speaker 1: How does God find us Sometimes when we lack peace?
Speaker 1: You lack peace completely.
Speaker 1: You have everything else around you, everything else, and you wonder why am I not happy?
Speaker 1: Why am I not peaceful?
Speaker 1: And God uses that to begin to recalibrate your life.
Speaker 1: And Christmas is about finding our purpose, because Jesus was born to a purpose and therefore he becomes great, but finally, of course, born to be celebrated.
Speaker 1: And the shepherd, therefore, from verse 15, as I close verse 15 to end, the says when the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.
Speaker 1: So they heard it off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger.
Speaker 1: When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them by this child and all about them, about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to them.
Speaker 1: But then it goes on to say Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her heart.
Speaker 1: The shepherd returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had hadn't seen, which were just as they had been told.
Speaker 1: I want to say that everyone is a celebrity.
Speaker 1: You begin by celebrating yourself, because if, if you don't celebrate yourself, no one else Celebrated.
Speaker 1: Begins with me, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: And so Christmas is about us remembering we are a celebrity.
Speaker 1: Jesus is born.
Speaker 1: The nations must come and see this baby.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: This baby is a celebrity and shepherds are coming from everywhere and they're coming to see the baby.
Speaker 1: Isaiah 60, verse 3, and you know it.
Speaker 1: It says nations will come to your light and kings to the rising of your dune.
Speaker 1: I would like us to read it together.
Speaker 1: Let's read this one together Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dune.
Speaker 1: We do it first person.
Speaker 1: We have done it before we do it again.
Speaker 1: Make it about yourself.
Speaker 1: Let us prophesy to ourselves Nations will come to my light and kings to the brightness of my dune.
Speaker 1: I want you to say I am a celebrity.
Speaker 1: I will be celebrated, not tolerated, so that people don't begin to feed it every time you show up somewhere and they wish you take off.
Speaker 1: Some of the fathers sometimes tolerated, like my father.
Speaker 1: When I was growing up.
Speaker 1: He was an alcoholic and every time he would be coming home, all the kids would disappear, and I know some.
Speaker 1: It rings true.
Speaker 1: Some of you listening to me are saying that's my story as well.
Speaker 1: He is coming instead of us celebrating him, and he's coming home.
Speaker 1: We all take off.
Speaker 1: Mom is the one who has to bear the brunt of everything and all the commands you know and everything else given around that time.
Speaker 1: She's hard, but I want to say for all of us who are here we are celebrities.
Speaker 1: We shall be celebrated.
Speaker 1: People will be looking for us.
Speaker 1: I prophesy sometimes five jobs will follow you, even with the current economy as it is.
Speaker 1: I prophesy again Five jobs and more will pursue you.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, they will pursue you Because the Bible says surely goodness and master shall do or shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: And so we are changing the paradigm and saying, instead of you struggling to pursue and run after things and you get so tired and even as you run, some places are like mountains you reach a place you cannot walk anymore, you just sit because it's just been a big struggle, the paradigm is shifting.
Speaker 1: You are a celebrity.
Speaker 1: You will be celebrated.
Speaker 1: Now things will pursue you.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in Matthew, chapter 6, verse 33 I believe seek first there kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things shall be added unto you.
Speaker 1: There's nothing good as good as to know God, and then all these other things are also following you.
Speaker 1: That's the only way you can really enjoy these things.
Speaker 1: But if things come before you know and God behind, then you can't really enjoy these things.
Speaker 1: You will be celebrated.
Speaker 1: The shepherds go looking until they find the manger and they find the baby Jesus.
Speaker 1: This is the king of kings, the Lord of lords.
Speaker 1: God has put greatness in you and they will come looking for you and they'll want you around them and they begin to praise and to worship.
Speaker 1: Worship him.
Speaker 1: They had a powerful, beautiful experience.
Speaker 1: And I want to say, and I pray that for me, when young people come around me, they shall be influenced positively, hallelujah, and I pray for you also, when young people come around you, they shall be influenced positively.
Speaker 1: Then they have something they can come looking for.
Speaker 1: They say a tree that has fruits is the one the boys throw stones at.
Speaker 1: And you remember those stories in the villages.
Speaker 1: You're going home from school and there is a tree in the neighbor's place which has fruits.
Speaker 1: You throw stones so that the trees can actually I mean the fruits can actually come down, but the tree without fruits, they just walk home as if nothing actually exists.
Speaker 1: And so I pray this is that we shall be so attractive, so magnetic, so influential that the nations will have no choice but to come to us, and kings will come to the rising of our doom.
Speaker 1: Jesus is a baby.
Speaker 1: He will rise to be an adult.
Speaker 1: He will leave his full mission.
Speaker 1: The nations will gather around him and eventually, in Revelation 7, verse 9, the end vision, the end picture is that the nations will be gathered around Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And so John saw it and he said I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from every tribe, from every people, from every language.
Speaker 1: Standing before the throne and before the lamb, though, are wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands, and you can read on and on.
Speaker 1: This is my prayer for me that you know a celebrity, somebody who has something to offer, magnetic and is able to bring families and nations and neighborhoods like where you leave.
Speaker 1: That neighborhood, all those neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: This is, christmas, is about one rice, somebody rising and then drawing like a magnet.
Speaker 1: So begin to draw like a magnet.
Speaker 1: Even shepherds, the most lowly people, are able to come and begin to celebrate.
Speaker 1: Africa shall be celebrated, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: I want to repeat that Africa shall be celebrated.
Speaker 1: God has put a gift in Africa, and this gift will find its place.
Speaker 1: This gift will be aligned to God's will.
Speaker 1: This gift will flourish and serve the nations, and, because of the gift that is in Africa, nations will come, and they have started coming.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, this is Africa's hour, this is Africa's day.
Speaker 1: The time has come for Africa, and when we say Africa, arise, africa, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about every one of us here.
Speaker 1: It is your hour, it is your time.
Speaker 1: You are a celebrity, you are a magnet and jobs will come pursuing you, resources will come pursuing you.
Speaker 1: For the glory and honor of his name, let's give a big hand clap to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Glory to God.
Speaker 1: So, in summary, just three things.
Speaker 1: I shared that we are born to be great.
Speaker 1: Greatness comes through the line of God's will, greatness comes through the line of purpose, but also greatness comes in the line of influence.
Speaker 1: As we leave that influence, then we become celebrities and the nations are actually drawn to us.
Speaker 1: Today, as we remember Jesus, one who was born according to God's will.
Speaker 1: He lived his purpose, he attracted the nations to himself I think we have a mirror to reflect on our own personal lives.
Speaker 1: Do you know that you're born by God's will?
Speaker 1: Do you know that God has wired a purpose within you?
Speaker 1: Are you within that purpose?
Speaker 1: Are you living God's will?
Speaker 1: Are you in line with the divine purpose and have you started celebrating yourself?
Speaker 1: Because that's how actually become a celebrity?
Speaker 1: And then the nations, even those who look for to do jobs, start seeing you?
Speaker 1: That confidence you know that comes from the Lord.
Speaker 1: Are you living like a celebrity?
Speaker 1: As we leave this place.
Speaker 1: I am commissioning us into God's divine will.
Speaker 1: I am commissioning us, this Christmas, into God's divine purpose.
Speaker 1: I am commissioning us to the place of being magnetic and attractive that we shall be sought after.
Speaker 1: And so, as I pray, I'm praying along those three areas.
Speaker 1: You know which area where there is a deficit in your own life.
Speaker 1: As you think about Jesus, you think about the Luke chapter 2 story, the Christmas story, just think through it, mirror your life where there is a deficit.
Speaker 1: As I pray, you say God, I commit myself in that particular area, the three areas I just mentioned.
Speaker 1: Let this be your portion as you pray today.
Speaker 1: And I want to assure us, as we pray, god will work with that prayer and that this Christmas will be like no other.
Speaker 1: You will have a good time.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah, and then year 2024, like I said the other day here, is going to be a great year for all of us.
Speaker 1: Let me pray, father in heaven.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you so much for this great and wonderful congregation gathered here and also, lord, those who are following online around the world.
Speaker 1: My God, I thank you that I've shared the Christmas story from the perspective, all the platforms, your will, your purpose and your celebration and God within that framework.
Speaker 1: Lord, I have made an invitation here that we would all reflect along.
Speaker 1: The three areas are concerning our own personal lives.
Speaker 1: My God, I'm praying with and for someone who has reflected around the question of your will for their life, whether you are a person or not.
Speaker 1: I pray for that person, that God, as they mirror with your will, that God, they'll be ready and willing to adjust accordingly and to recalibrate their lives.
Speaker 1: For somebody here, it might be that you need to confess some sin.
Speaker 1: For someone it might be that you need to accept Jesus as Lord and savior.
Speaker 1: For someone here, it might be that you move from where you are to somewhere else where God wants you to be.
Speaker 1: For someone here, it may be that you may have to drop a habit or a routine that doesn't own a God.
Speaker 1: But God is saying this Christmas is a time of knowing and refreshing on God's will.
Speaker 1: But secondly, lord, I pray for somebody who is not in line with your purpose.
Speaker 1: They know and they can tell from inside what you are doing.
Speaker 1: On that path, my God, I pray, enable them, resource them, encourage them, work with them and, god, move them to the center of your purpose that they may truly know joy, like Jesus was and lived your purpose while he was here.
Speaker 1: But finally, lord, the celebration.
Speaker 1: I know you made everyone here to be celebrated and I pray that this will ring through this Christmas and the celebration with that which makes the whole world come looking for us.
Speaker 1: And God, I know it is not a long shot what I have prophesied before that, god, you are able to bless a nation to the extent that nations look for that nation.
Speaker 1: It becomes a celebrity nation, a celebrity family, a celebrity individual, a celebrity neighborhood and God, they somebody who has lived below this level.
Speaker 1: They have just been in a pain and they seem not to be loved or wanted.
Speaker 1: God, you're turning that wheel in the name of Jesus and I pray that, god, by your grace and by your power, lord, turn them into a celebrity so that shepherds can come by night from far looking for their address and they connect and they're happy.
Speaker 1: So, father, thank you, and so, lord, I release there for this message.
Speaker 1: I pray that you would use it greatly for your glory, and I've prayed this prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and we all say let's give a big hand clap to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Let me just say I love you, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: I want to repeat it I love you.
Speaker 1: That is from the church of the church of Deacon Wayrago and up here, all the way up there and at the back and also down here.
Speaker 1: I know the ones who are also online.
Speaker 1: We're seeing each other.
Speaker 1: I love you too.
Speaker 1: God bless you.
Speaker 1: And across here, and I'm seeing wonderful people with a wonderful future who are going to carry God's mission to the ends of the earth.
Speaker 1: Let me say once again doors are opening for you, visas are going to be stamped.
Speaker 1: They will never imagine and this is going to happen quickly.
Speaker 1: Did somebody catch that?
Speaker 1: It's going to happen quickly.
Speaker 1: Year 2024, even as Pastor Ambrose shared the theme vision.
Speaker 1: It's going to be that year of just openings and open space and God will lead us to places we've never imagined.
Speaker 1: There is somebody somewhere here who never, who thought that year of the year 2024.
Speaker 1: Are you receiving it?
Speaker 1: Yes, you are living Kenya and God is taking you to a very nice place.
Speaker 1: It's coming through for you.
Speaker 1: Glory to God.
Speaker 1: Now, next week, I'll prophesy about the other spaces.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 1: Last time I did it, I covered here and here and then I stopped and the people are also here.
Speaker 1: Later the people in the other places came to me and say Parsi, how would you do that?
Speaker 1: And it's such an anointing in the house.
Speaker 1: So anyway, our next Sunday we shall God, hallelujah, one service at 10 30 am, right here.
Speaker 1: Come with a friend, let's all stand up for the benediction.
Speaker 1: We could lift our hands to God.
Speaker 1: And now the Lord bless you.
Speaker 1: The Lord is standing upon you.
Speaker 1: The Lord turned his face toward you.
Speaker 1: May the Lord give you peace.
Speaker 1: May surely his goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.
Speaker 1: You are blessed on Monday, blessed on Tuesday, blessed on Wednesday, blessed on Thursday, blessed on Friday, blessed on Saturday, and you come back next Sunday with a blessing Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: Before we say the grace, let me say I wish you a Merry Christmas and those who are not coming next Sunday are blessed.
Speaker 1: Twenty, twenty-four.
Speaker 1: You can turn to the person next to you, say the same words yeah, these are good time for us to do that.
Speaker 1: Glory to god, amen, hallelujah, amen, hallelujah.
Speaker 1: And now, with the grace of our lord Jesus Christ, and the love of god and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore.
Speaker 1: Amen, thank.