Honoring God Through the Principle of First Fruits
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burnt offerings of the altar and the Lord smelled a soothing aroma then he said in his heart I will never again curse the ground for man's sake although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth no will I again destroy every living thing as I have done while the earth remains sea time and harvest cold and heat winter and summer all day and all night shall not cease." [00:01:07]
"And so when you give the first fruits offering, you acknowledge that everything you receive comes from the Lord. And listen, and he was the creator, master, and owner. So when you think about the first fruits offering, it is a way to, where you say, I'm going to give the first fruits offering. And you say, God, you own everything. You are on everything and that you are the source. It is an acknowledgement that God is the source of everything. He creates everything and he is a provider." [00:17:08]
"Honor the Lord with your possessions so somebody says I do that I bring my tithe I do that Dr. Moody I bring an offering that's what I do it says this it doesn't say or it doesn't say if your possessions or doesn't just say your possessions which are the first fruits it says with your possessions and capitalize with the first fruits of your increase means that the first fruits is not the tithe the first fruit is not is not just your general offering it says with your possessions that means things you already have but now the first thing that comes out you give God back that honor him that where the honor literally means to make him heavy to make him important so that when I bring my first fruits what I say to God is you're heavy uh you're my priority you're very important to me." [00:20:04]
"First fruits was one of the three primary feasts of Israel. Israel had three primary feasts that they would travel each year. Exodus 23 14 says this, three times you shall keep a feast to me a year. So the Israelites had three primary feasts that they kept every year and you shall keep. Here's the first one, the feast of unleavened bread where they would eat unleavened bread for seven days at a time. So in that month they would stop doing whatever it is that they were doing. They would remember that God brought them out of Egypt and they would eat unleavened bread and they would consecrate to the Lord." [00:23:15]
"Should you donate to the homeless and the pet society and all these kind of things? Of course you should. But that's not your first fruits. Don't give them your first fruits. Where does your first fruit go? Your first fruit there to the house of the Lord. When we come to the first fruits, it was not just, just a suggestion, but when you came to a new land or a new, a new season, what would you do? You would always sow first fruits." [00:25:16]
"Now, if you don't like that and if you don't agree with that, then I want I want to challenge you a bit, a bit further. First Corinthians, First Corinthians, 15 and 20. See, listen, the reason why you enjoy watching what it is that we do here at the Rock is because you say, man, even if I want to argue it, he's arguing the point and it's making sense to me. Notice we talk about first fruits in the Old Testament. We talk about first fruits when they when they when they had religious reform. And now we talk about first fruits in the New Testament. And Paul talked about it. James talked about it. But get this. Paul uses the first fruits and he uses Christ as an example of the first. Fruit from this stuff." [00:40:23]
"So he says, so we send, when we saw, when we saw a first fruit, we let God know, I believe in you. And then God sends a signal back saying, okay, you believe in me. He says, let me tell you how this season is going to work. So seed, I'm going to keep blessing you. You can, you can count on a blessing coming from this seed. You can count on me meeting your need. You can count on it because this is how it works. As long as the seed, the earth remains seed time and harvest because Noah, you're the first and you're the first off the boat. You're the first, you're the first, you're the patriarch, you're the leader. And what do you do? You give the first fruits and that you set the principle and you set up the paradigm." [00:50:21]
"I haven't talked about the first fruit as a law issue because I haven't even dealt with Exodus yet. But you set the paradigm because of your heart. And now that principle there is set up forever. So when I talk about it in Exodus, when I talk about it in Leviticus, it's not because of the legalities of it. It's because we have a covenant. And the principle of the covenant, God says, I'm going to explain to y 'all how to keep the covenant that Noah established. Established before the law. I hope that this helps you. I hope that this bless you. I hope it enlightens you. Because I'm going to challenge you this morning to bring your first fruit. Why? Because new season. It's a new day. I want to send a signal to God. I want to make sure that I send it. I do it first. I prioritize it. And I want to make sure that I sow it." [00:51:06]
"Because when we talk about first fruits, it's an offering. It's the first crop that the soil yielded each growing season. So each season, when we talk about a first fruits offering, it's the first crop. It's the first thing. Now, you can imagine, once again, no one's been on the ship for this long. So you say, Dr. Moody, he didn't have, there was no crop. So clearly, it couldn't have been the first fruit. Well, it didn't say he gave an offering of every piece of wheat or everything else. So we know that it wasn't in terms of, it wasn't an agricultural thing, but the first fruit also dealt with livestock." [00:17:08]
"Then, not only that, in 1 Corinthians 16 and 15, he says this, I urge you, brethren, you know that the household of Cephas, that is, the first converts of Acadia, that they devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints, that you would submit such to everyone who works and labors among us. He says, listen, I'm talking to you about this household, and this household was the first fruits. Why? They were the first converts." [00:38:48]
"Because when was the first fruit to be given? The day after the Sabbath. So Noah waits seven days before he leaves the ark, and then God tells him after seven days, God tells him after seven days, Reggie, now you can leave. So he leaves the ark after the Sabbath, and on the day after the Sabbath, what's the very first thing that he does? He brings, he gives a burnt offering, or he gives an offering of the first fruit." [00:46:35]
"Then the first fruit sets up the standard for the next season. So God, I believe in you still. I believe in you still. God smelled the aroma and then it says, and the Lord said in his heart, he says, man, after all you've been through, we still love me like that. And God says, yes, I still love me like that. He says, you never again destroy the earth like that." [00:50:21]
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"And so when you give the first fruits offering, you acknowledge that everything you receive comes from the Lord. And listen, and he was the creator, master, and owner. So when you think about the first fruits offering, it is a way to, where you say, I'm going to give the first fruits offering. And you say, God, you own everything. You are on everything and that you are the source. It is an acknowledgement that God is the source of everything. He creates everything and he is a provider." [00:17:08]
"Honor the Lord with your possessions so somebody says I do that I bring my tithe I do that Dr. Moody I bring an offering that's what I do it says this it doesn't say or it doesn't say if your possessions or doesn't just say your possessions which are the first fruits it says with your possessions and capitalize with the first fruits of your increase means that the first fruits is not the tithe the first fruit is not is not just your general offering it says with your possessions that means things you already have but now the first thing that comes out you give God back that honor him that where the honor literally means to make him heavy to make him important so that when I bring my first fruits what I say to God is you're heavy uh you're my priority you're very important to me." [00:20:04]
"First fruits was one of the three primary feasts of Israel. Israel had three primary feasts that they would travel each year. Exodus 23 14 says this, three times you shall keep a feast to me a year. So the Israelites had three primary feasts that they kept every year and you shall keep. Here's the first one, the feast of unleavened bread where they would eat unleavened bread for seven days at a time. So in that month they would stop doing whatever it is that they were doing. They would remember that God brought them out of Egypt and they would eat unleavened bread and they would consecrate to the Lord." [00:23:15]
"Should you donate to the homeless and the pet society and all these kind of things? Of course you should. But that's not your first fruits. Don't give them your first fruits. Where does your first fruit go? Your first fruit there to the house of the Lord. When we come to the first fruits, it was not just, just a suggestion, but when you came to a new land or a new, a new season, what would you do? You would always sow first fruits." [00:25:16]
"Now, if you don't like that and if you don't agree with that, then I want I want to challenge you a bit, a bit further. First Corinthians, First Corinthians, 15 and 20. See, listen, the reason why you enjoy watching what it is that we do here at the Rock is because you say, man, even if I want to argue it, he's arguing the point and it's making sense to me. Notice we talk about first fruits in the Old Testament. We talk about first fruits when they when they when they had religious reform. And now we talk about first fruits in the New Testament. And Paul talked about it. James talked about it. But get this. Paul uses the first fruits and he uses Christ as an example of the first. Fruit from this stuff." [00:40:23]
"So he says, so we send, when we saw, when we saw a first fruit, we let God know, I believe in you. And then God sends a signal back saying, okay, you believe in me. He says, let me tell you how this season is going to work. So seed, I'm going to keep blessing you. You can, you can count on a blessing coming from this seed. You can count on me meeting your need. You can count on it because this is how it works. As long as the seed, the earth remains seed time and harvest because Noah, you're the first and you're the first off the boat. You're the first, you're the first, you're the patriarch, you're the leader. And what do you do? You give the first fruits and that you set the principle and you set up the paradigm." [00:50:21]
"I haven't talked about the first fruit as a law issue because I haven't even dealt with Exodus yet. But you set the paradigm because of your heart. And now that principle there is set up forever. So when I talk about it in Exodus, when I talk about it in Leviticus, it's not because of the legalities of it. It's because we have a covenant. And the principle of the covenant, God says, I'm going to explain to y 'all how to keep the covenant that Noah established. Established before the law. I hope that this helps you. I hope that this bless you. I hope it enlightens you. Because I'm going to challenge you this morning to bring your first fruit. Why? Because new season. It's a new day. I want to send a signal to God. I want to make sure that I send it. I do it first. I prioritize it. And I want to make sure that I sow it." [00:51:06]
"Because when we talk about first fruits, it's an offering. It's the first crop that the soil yielded each growing season. So each season, when we talk about a first fruits offering, it's the first crop. It's the first thing. Now, you can imagine, once again, no one's been on the ship for this long. So you say, Dr. Moody, he didn't have, there was no crop. So clearly, it couldn't have been the first fruit. Well, it didn't say he gave an offering of every piece of wheat or everything else. So we know that it wasn't in terms of, it wasn't an agricultural thing, but the first fruit also dealt with livestock." [00:17:08]
"Then, not only that, in 1 Corinthians 16 and 15, he says this, I urge you, brethren, you know that the household of Cephas, that is, the first converts of Acadia, that they devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints, that you would submit such to everyone who works and labors among us. He says, listen, I'm talking to you about this household, and this household was the first fruits. Why? They were the first converts." [00:38:48]
"Because when was the first fruit to be given? The day after the Sabbath. So Noah waits seven days before he leaves the ark, and then God tells him after seven days, God tells him after seven days, Reggie, now you can leave. So he leaves the ark after the Sabbath, and on the day after the Sabbath, what's the very first thing that he does? He brings, he gives a burnt offering, or he gives an offering of the first fruit." [00:46:35]
"Then the first fruit sets up the standard for the next season. So God, I believe in you still. I believe in you still. God smelled the aroma and then it says, and the Lord said in his heart, he says, man, after all you've been through, we still love me like that. And God says, yes, I still love me like that. He says, you never again destroy the earth like that." [00:50:21]
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