 Bradi and Sister in the Lord. Happy Sabbath. happi day. Thank you so much for choosing to come. Being holiday we want to take it easy and we could have chosen to follow this program from the comfort of your house And with whatever blessings that can be set on your table may be manching and enjoying a cup of something warm given that it is a bit cold this morning. But here you are. You have chosen to come. And so God bless you. Thanks for coming so that we are not few in the house of the Lord. You are welcome. Before I forget, let me tell you that I accompanied a group of youth, young professionals to Tanzania, specifically Dar eslam, and they went all the way to Sansibah, had been there before but had not reached Sansibah. These are some of the privileges of being a pastor or serving in a certain capacity. It is an encouragement for you because very soon you are going to be sent somewhere. Received greetings from our beloved church members at Makgomeni and especially from Dr. Poki, who was the speaker for most of the programs and sessions that we had. Do you receive them? May I see if we have any of the young professionals in the congregation is somewhere there or they are resting. Are you there? Anyone who was in Tanzania and Dar eslam with me, maybe they are tired after the long travel that they had or maybe they traveled to the village. But you were there with my family, my wife and children who were in the congregation. Please, may you wave from wherever you are. Pasta, my friend, Steve, Apola, thanks for coming home. Are you with anyone from your family? Please wave to us again. Please rise and wave. Thank you so much, man of God, for being our ambassador at the GC. Our friends and brethren, having done the necessary to bring those greetings, it's now my humble duty to speak on this topic that as we close the year, you and I know how this year has been, what frustrations you went through, what heartaches you had to endure, what trials came to your life as we come to the close this last Sabbath of the year. I want to invite us to go into this text that points us to the heart of God, to an invitation that is so unique, that is ironical in itself. I'm speaking about the grander's dwelling for the contrite and broken in spirit. As it has been read, and I want to read it again in our hearing. I say it has a way of presenting and showing Christ in every text or in most of His prophecy is pointing to this one man, the son of man, the man who is acquainted with sorrow and suffering, the one who bore our trials. You read chapter one all the way to the close. He has a way of both giving the people the message of warning, the perils that awaits those who remain in the way that is not right. But again he points out the hope and the joy of those that seek the Lord. He begins by a welcome in chapter one verse 18 saying, come let us risen together because even if your sins are as red as crimson, they shall be as white. It is an invitation. It is the gospel prophet of the Old Testament. And so as I was asked to speak at this closing Sabbath of the year, my heart was and my mind was led when I was impressed to speak on this very subject of the contrite and those who are broken in the spirit. One tells us a story that when you have got married, it's called a sec. When you got married you wanted to give something memorable to his wife. It was this theatre play by the Shakespeare. And so he wanted to buy a ticket on that very day of his wedding. So maybe because of the preparation, he didn't remember to send someone to buy him a ticket. So when the vows were exchanged, he was eager that it gets to an end. And immediately they exchanged the vows and everyone was there, they set out to go. And it was not like now when in the comfort of your phone, wherever you are you can buy anything. Those days you had to go. And so here with the bride, this osek ran and they did their best driving as fast as they could. And they got to this box outside the theatre and trying to purchase and they said tickets for two. But they were told unfortunately all the tickets were sold out. You can imagine appointment that they had after expecting to make their marriage, their wedding day a memorable thing. But while they were standing there in their disappointment, an elderly person came and he said, I have two tickets, I won't make it to go and watch the play. Is there anyone who wants? And he said yes, I could have it. How much do you want for it? And there he was told you can have it for free. You can imagine the joy that these newlyweds had. And so they went in the evening and they were looking for this place where the tickets numbers were but they could not. They went round, round, round and they could not trace until they asked the attendants, please can we be sure where these tickets and I suppose those who have these tickets are supposed to sit. They were prepared for the surprise because the attendant took them and they moved and they moved closer to the front and they came and they were surprised that in front at the center in the middle where they were able to see the best place possible. There were two seats that were placed there. And this was a surprise of how generous and gracious someone could be to give them what they desired most. You see my friend, in this life we yarn for the best. We have hopes. We wake up, we do that which we do. We work to make our families happy. We try to do our best even in the church so that we can have hope of eternal life. We do all that we do and like this couple especially the bridegroom who wanted to surprise the bride we get disappointed from time to time. But in God's hands, as much as this life may give us a lemon when we are expecting an orange, the Lord has a way of adding and making a lemonade out of the lemon experiences that we have. It is this that the children of Israel who were being warned that because of your choice to form alliances, to live a life away from the living God, it is this message that Isaiah wants to bring. To the children of Judah, those who remain in the southern kingdom who had forgotten that because of choosing idolatry, because of sliding and moving away from God, the northern kingdom had been taken captive and they were dispersed in many parts of the world. This did not serve as a lesson to the southern kingdom but Isaiah is repeatedly painting this picture of both warning that God would surely punish their sin but he would also restore them if they repended and turned back. My friend, maybe in your life as you are seated and listening to me today, you look back and you see some of the things that you have done and whatever has happened in your life, you may think it is the consequences of your sin, consequences of your wrong choices, consequences of the mistakes you have made in many of the areas of your life. But I want to tell you today that when we turn to God, despite our disappointments, God has a way of surprising us by His grace. Come with me and let's read again this text, put it in context, then make our points and be blessed by the living God. Chapter 47 of Isaiah, I request that we read from verse 14. Verse 13, the last part says, but he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain. Verse 14. And one shall say, Hip it up, prepare the way, take the stumbling blocks out of the way of my people. For that says the high and loved one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever nor will I always be angry for the spirit would fail before me. And the souls which I have met for the iniquity of his covetousness, I was angry and struck him. I hid and was angry and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will also lead him and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord. And I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. Whose waters cast out maya and dart. There is no peace, says the Lord for the wicked. The background of this prophecy, the background of this text is that it could be at the time when Manasseh had laid the whole nation and his family including him sacrificing his son to the idols, the gods of this surrounding nation. As I looked into these second chronicles 33 verse 3 and you read on, tells us how evil this king was and how as a king it influenced the entire nation. You know, like in our African countries, there is a suit that was worn and it is known that it belonged to one of the presidents in this country. Up to now everyone says this is a counter suit. And at times we had this fellow who went to study in UK and he came back as attorney general, used to dress like the whites and he had stripped suits. At times I met some elders and they tell me now you are dressed like a junior suit, you know, the stripped one. But there is a counter suit and this time we have one I think maybe to be called a router suit, one that is like it is. Leaders have a way of influencing people. People may choose, like you know Baba can choose to have any of the cups or hats that he puts on and you will see most of the people, those admirers and followers will follow having the Baba kind of hat. This was a king, a king not in a nation that did not know God and kings were supposed to lead people in seeking the Lord. Infact there were more influential than the priests and so by this king choosing to follow foreign gods and sacrifice his own sons in worship of this foreign god he led the entire nation. And as we see it it is implied in this text that God saw and he had to act and the way he acted was not to kill this evil king. But he says I will heal him, I will return him, I have observed and have seen that in as much as I punish he is not returning. In most cases in our passing, in our desire, in our heavy way of doing things we forget that we have to do and seek God, consult him and seek his guidance so that we do his will. And at times we put our desires, our plans ahead of God's will, ahead of God's instruction. We have his commandments with us, we know what we ought to do. As young people we know we ought not to give our lives and be yoked together with unbelievers. We know that even if we have those in the church who may not be that straight they are acting more like unbelievers yet because we desire to have a wedding. We desire to prove that something has happened. We want it to happen and we help God. In helping God we act ourselves, we move on and we go and our wrong choices leads to other cycles of wrong choices and consequences. God seems to be saying in this text that he is choosing to act on the heart of this backslide. He is choosing to act upon the heart by showing his mercy despite this headedness that this fellow. I friend, I will take illustration, we have seen the first illustration of Manas, of what God does to his nation. Him being faithful, being a covenant keeping God, although the nation went on almost entirely leaving a few remnants to follow the true God, the entire practice of the people was that of worshiping and seeking foreign gods. Yet God kept his covenant with the children of Israel until Christ would be born in the lineage of David. God did not abandon his people. Every time they turned back to him realizing that they were following ways of falling God was there to receive and bless them. And so Manase was restored. The other illustration that I want us to see even as we check these words that are there dwelling and then the contrite and the broken in spirit. If we can see the heart of God, understand how he operates, how he treats even those who have sinned against his holiness, then we can learn to turn to God and serve him because of his grace, because of his mercy. And because there is forgiveness with the Lord, men learn to fear and worship him in truth and in spirit. It is not the fear of his punishment that creates repentance, but it is the revelation of his grace and the conviction of his spirit who follows even an adulterer like David. It is his spirit, his grace that follows even a prostitute who runs away and goes to practice prostitution because of being cheated, being persuaded by this priest. This teacher who was with him Arabai. And so when Simon lied and as a teacher connived and made Mary Magdalene to get into this temptation and by that conceived and she had to run away, she went to Magdala. But in her life, in Magdala, we see his brother Lazarus and his sister, mother praying and pleading, telling Jesus about their sister who had run away. In her backsliding, in her running away from her country, she was possessed of demons, she was possessed of spirit and Mary Magdalene is the other example we are looking at. In chapter 26 of the book of Matthew, verses 3, 6, 8, 9, this is what we read, Matthew 26, verses 3, it says this then the chief priest and the scribes and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest who was called Kayafas and plotted to take Jesus by treachery and kill him. Verse 6, and when Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil and she poured it on his head and he sat at the table. But when his disciples saw it, they were indignant saying why this waste for this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor. But Jesus, in rebuking them, told them that they have the poor, they should let this woman alone because she was doing something important. Verse 12, for in pouring this fragrant oil on my body she did it for my burial. A shorty I say to you whenever this gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. Bretheren, I'm bringing this story because in many ways we could have acted by persuasion by whichever way or by being driven by our bodies desires we may have entered into these intimacies and therefore had our own relationship with God and family. Mary Magdalene had to be followed by Jesus and seven spirits were cast out of her like Manasseh whom God did not give up on him despite leading the entire nation into idolatry yet after he was tortured and he repented, God still maintained him as a king. God still kept him for several years. He did not kill him when he was leading the nation into idolatry. He waited and by his grace by his spirit he demonstrated how kind and gracious he is and sending his spirit tirelessly pursuing us. The Lord Jesus pursued Mary Magdalene and when Mary Magdalene finally when she was commanded go and see no more when she had been persuaded and taken to trap Jesus by the leaders of the church in those days Mary Magdalene became a victim of the wickedness of man one who was a teacher, a teacher of the law, a private teacher who was hired by the family and trusted with helping this young girl yet you see how she put her in trouble but these circumstances of life Jesus looked beyond the sins and this woman who now had no way of surviving except by choosing to go the way she went until it became habitual a way of life yet we see Jesus pursuing and calling until this girl came back home yet when she came back home people who were wicked sought her services by cheating and persuading her and taking her in the very act so that they could bring her before Jesus and say it is written such like ought to be stoned yet Jesus looking at her and looking at these people said whoever has no sin let him be the first one to pick a stone and throw the first stone on her none, not even the priests themselves and the lawyers who brought this who were trapping Jesus could stand this because all were seen as the Bible says we have all seen and fallen short of the glory of God friend this morning with this illustration with this example of Mary Magdalene Jesus is telling us and the Bible is showing us that like Manasseh whom God did not give up when God and Jesus pursued Mary Magdalene when she came back she gave all her earning for the service and to prepare the body of Jesus for Barrio my friend it took repentance for Manasseh it took repentance because of the pursuit of grace the perseverance by the conviction the spirit of God it finally meant that when this woman who was supposed to be stoned when he was left with Jesus and Jesus asked where are those who accused you she could not find any and she said there is no one there is no one it was only Jesus who could accuse who could condemn but Jesus says neither will I accuse or condemn go and sin no more this is the voice of God that we need this is the humility that the text is speaking about it is in this place where God is saying I am high and lofty I inhabit eternity I am the creator of all things but as a creator of all things high and lofty and inhabiting eternity stay in this lofty place with him who chooses to be humble to repent who chooses to be contrite and broken in spirit to seek the Lord and so he says he who seeks me shall find peace true peace my friend arms from knowing how weak we are and with our weakness we run to him who can give us his strength sorry excuse me in chapter 31 of the book of Jeremiah God is promising that I will I will give you a new heart I am making a new covenant with you I will give you a new heart and I will put my spirit in you friends seeing the goodness of God seeing how the spirit of God works seeing how God treated those who wronged him most Isaiah 42 verses 1 to 4 Isaiah points to the servant of the Lord and even in 57 you will realize that it's almost clear and implied that Jesus is the one who is removed and people do not consider he says this verses verses 1 to 4 behold my servant whom I uphold my elect one in whom my soul delights I have put my spirit upon him he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles he will not cry out nor raise his voice nor cause his voice to be heard in the street a bruised reed he will not break and a smoking flask he will not quench he will bring forth justice for truth he will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth thus says the God the Lord who created the heavens and the earth and stretched them out who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who work on it I the Lord have called you in righteousness and I will hold your hand I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the Gentiles praise the Lord although this text speaks about Jesus Christ and the promise that God gives to him that I will hold your hand I will give you as a light to the covenant but it is also implied that those who covenant those who come in union with Christ those who receive the revelation of God's love in Christ Jesus they too shall become the light in the nations they too shall be a people who will live and do things according to the spirit of God my friend when we look at this text we realize that repentance required and repentance is not only a deep sorrow because of what we see it is not regretting but it is understanding that inside us our own nature is wrong and we need not new resolution but we need a reworking we need a new spirit we need a new heart within us and the heart is not this organ that pumps but it is our mind how we look at God how we think how we know what God says that when we feel our thoughts with the promises of God and realize how tender and massive fully is my friend that will mark the end and the death of sinning and sinful heart it will be a renewal it will be the point where when we see Christ being crucified upon the cross we know that he was pierced because of our inequities the chastisemen of our peace was upon him he is acquainted with our sorrows and by his tribes we are healed friends the heart of God the spirit of God that which he did to Manasseh what Jesus did by pursuing a prostitute who had given herself to make this a way of life pursued this woman and when they repented what a blessing there were this woman did not want to buy a huge block of property with the money that she had but she wanted to keep and raise the past memories by powering all her earnings upon Jesus Christ it matters what it is that informs our decision who is the one that guides our thoughts it is until we have received this revelation that we can be blessed and that is why the gospel was preached by Peter in Acts 2 38 people were preached why? because the disciples themselves had confessed to their rivalry hatred and now they were ready and they were filled by the Holy Spirit they were at peace with each other and that is when they were ready to preach the gospel and when Peter preached 3000 souls were preached in their hearts and they said what shall we do and they were told repent and receive Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you will have remission of your sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit shall come upon you and for your children childrens for generations and generations friend God intends that when we have a changed heart when we are filled with the spirit of God we will become a blessing to those around us in this our generation in the generation of our children and they will follow and live following this sincere heart conversion Hallelujah my friend I want you to see that Matthew Matthew remembers when Peter narrated when Jesus was beginning his ministry John Baptist was his forerun and he says repent and bear fruit that is commensurate to the grace that you have received bear fruit that is desired of God otherwise as a nation the act has been laid on the root and this tree that is the tree of the nation of Israel would fall so that God would set up people he did not know he would call them and the gentiles would be the people to preach the gospel up to now the nation of Israel have not accepted Jesus Christ up to now the nations that brought the gospel to us have gone back into folly it is upon you in Nairobi central church in Africa we who still maintain and follow the Bible to show the world when we have LGBTQ being a human right when we are confronted with all sorts of rights including pop himself declaring that they can bless same sex unions where are the foundations for the church it has to be you and I in the remnant church who will stand who will having the spirit of God will leave and follow the right and show the world the way to go my friend although people were told to repent I am glad that in that when we read in Acts chapter 5 verse 30 31, 30 and 32 Acts chapter 5 verse 30 to 32 Peter when he was taken before the Sanhedrin when they were asked not to preach when they were told to stop preaching he told them this Christ who you murdered has been exalted and he is exalted so that he can give repentance to Israel true repentance is not something that you walk out your heart true repentance is a revelation of how merciful how gracious God is by sending his son by coming into our room so that he can take our place and heal us the gospel is not the gospel or the preaching is not the preaching because of accusing and condemning there is nothing new you are informing people when you talk about their sins and how evil those sins are they know it is not trying harder no it is realizing how loving and caring God is and when that is revealed in fullness when we see him who was pierced then we will be convicted this is a product of God working upon our hearts and giving us a true clear realization of where these sins will take us and what God desires for us when this is clear in our thoughts when this is clear in our minds when we read scripture accepted and know that it is not by strength no by might but by the spirit of God says the Lord when we understand that we have to understand how God operates that is when we can respond well I want to conclude by reminding you and I that Jesus said I am the vine and you are the branches abiding me and I knew so that you can bear much fruit so that the Lord can and as the gardener prun and make us bear much fruit it was after Jesus rose and with the prophecy in Psalms 23 or from 22 and 23 verse 24 is telling us that Jesus rose and when he rose the question is who may stand and dwell in the holy place of the most high in the mountain of the Lord and then there was an answer open the gates of the doors to heaven so that a holy nation may enter so that a people of the Lord may go and sit and dwell with the Lord who may dwell it is him who has understood the price paid the grace that is offered for every sinner in Christ Jesus so that you and I have this hope hope that the coming saviour is not coming as our enemy because we have united our souls and we have chosen to belong to him my brother and my sister as we are here you ought to remember that we are to keep the bond of peace because we have one baptism one spirit we belong together we have God walking through and in us and because of this unity we are to be truly sincerely fellowshiping with one another it is when we unite and live in our home in this sincere living faith where our life shows that we know whom we believe that we can be a blessing to the world my brother Paul adds the Ephesians chapter 4 and so in this highway that the Lord is saying hip up and it said in chapter 40 a highway shall be made the road shall be lifted the high shall be lowered so that the Lord can go through it is a highway to the most high place of the living God it is a highway to the welling place and high the holy one is calling us to live in holiness to relate well to know how to act you see the disciples when Mary Magdalene broke this alabaster oil flask they were complaints why this waste why they were used to receiving it for their own benefit did they care about the Lord although they had left everything as they said but the truth is they wanted positions the truth is they were following Jesus for what they would get from him that is what attracted them and so when this oil was broken by one who appreciated who Jesus was who had received revelation of what was going to happen they were not happy we could be in that church where most of what we spend is only for our good and not for the fatherance of the gospel it could be what is motivating us is not what we can do for Jesus but what we can gain from Jesus so we are in those categories have we understood the heart of God the second category is Judas Judas was landed Judas was rich he gave but at times he could take from the books the treasury that he had he also wanted to gain from Jesus although he was there serving but Judas finally showed that he did not understand who Jesus was and what the way of the Lord was Mary Magdalene tells us that we ought to know the heart of God and when we understand when we repent when we come to God in repentance upon his terms he transforms us and we become ministers of his goodness bear us of his grace Mary Magdalene was transformed to such are we going to be instruments which God will use are we in this time ready to be like Mary Mary Magdalene who understood consecration that it need to be blended with revelation without this brother without this my sister we may be maintaining what we think is right but we may be failing to fulfill the mission we may be failing to be a blessing in our own families we may be failing to move the church to where it ought to be as leaders if we want to maintain what has been held up for years the tradition and culture however good it is without embracing what is new and what the Lord is revealing to us friends we may fail to accomplish that which God desire us of us we might be like Judas or the disciples who complain but when we are like Manasseh and when we are the beneficiaries of grace I invite my daughters when we are beneficiaries of grace and mercy when we understand what God has done and to what lens He has gone to redeem us we will work for the salvation of all regardless of where they are we will spend because of the gospel and so as we end this year the way of peace is the way of knowing the heart of God and there is hope for you God is inviting us to know Him and to abide with Him in humility and in contrition so that we understand revelation and be saved