Blessed | First Things First

It's so great to have you with us, I just want to invite y'all to stand up and join and sing this song together. Jesus! I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you worthy of all praise. I call you Jesus. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you.

I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. I call you. There things come alive, there things come alive, there things come alive in the name of Jesus. I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer. Risen and reigning in power, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior. Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer. Risen and reigning in power, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior. Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior. I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior. Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior. Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave.

Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior. Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior. Holy, you are lifted high. Holy, holy forever. If you've been forgiven, if you've been redeemed, we'll sing this song forever to you. If you walk in freedom, if you bear his name, we'll sing this song forever to you. We'll sing this song forever and amen and the angels cry. Holy, all creation cries. Holy, you are lifted high. Holy, holy forever. Hear your people sing, holy to the king of kings. Holy, you will always be. Holy, holy forever. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ No thrones and dominions ♪ All powers in positions ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ Your name ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ No throne ♪ No thrones and dominions ♪ All powers in positions ♪ Your name stands above them all

♪ And the angels cry ♪ Holy ♪ All creation cries ♪ Holy ♪ You are lifted high ♪ Holy ♪ Holy forever ♪ Hear your people sing ♪ Holy ♪ To the king of kings ♪ Holy ♪ You will always be ♪ Holy ♪ Holy forever ♪ Hear your people sing ♪ Holy ♪ To the king of kings ♪ Holy ♪ You will always be ♪ Holy ♪ Holy forever ♪ You will always be ♪ Holy ♪ Holy forever ♪ Amen ♪ Woo ♪ Yeah ♪ One, two, three ♪ One, two, three ♪ One, two, three

♪ One, two, three ♪ Ooh ♪ Ooh ♪ Ooh ♪ Ooh ♪ Words of people, prayers ♪ I just want to sit here at your feet ♪ And put up in this holy moment ♪ I never want to leave ♪ Ooh ♪ I'm not here for blessings, no ♪ Jesus, you don't owe me anything ♪ More than anything that you can do ♪ I just want you ♪ I put up in your presence ♪ I just want to sit here at your feet ♪ And put up in this holy moment ♪ I never want to leave ♪ Ooh ♪ I'm not here for blessings ♪ Jesus, you don't owe me anything More than anything, more than anything left for me to do, I just want you. I'm sorry when I'm just going through the motions. I'm sorry when I just sang another song. Take me back to where we started. I open up my heart to you. I'm sorry when I'm calm with my gender. I'm sorry when I forgot that you're enough. Take me back to where we started. I open up my heart to you.

I'm caught up in your presence. I just want to sit here at your feet. I'm caught up in this holy moment. Oh, I never want to leave. Oh, I'm not here for blessings, no. Jesus, you don't owe me anything. More than anything that you can do, I just want you. I just want you. And nothing else, nothing else, Jesus, nothing else will do. I just want you. And nothing else, nothing else, nothing else will do. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. I just want you. Nothing else. Nothing else, Jesus. Nothing else will do. I just want you. Nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else will do. I'm caught up in your presence. I just want to sit here at your feet. I'm caught up in this holy moment.

I never want to leave. I'm not here for blessings. Jesus, you don't owe me anything. More than anything that you can do. I just want you. I'm caught up in your presence. ♪ Yes, yes ♪ ♪ I just want to sit here at your feet ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make this holy open ♪ ♪ And never want to leave you alone ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ Jesus, you. Jesus, you and you alone. What a holy moment that you have created. I feel you stirring in the hearts of your sons and daughters right now. You're working, God. Holy Spirit, there is one minister and I feel you ministering right now. I feel you speaking directly to the hearts of your sons and daughters. And there are some of us that have been chasing a lot of things that is not you, God. And we've been moved in directions that is not of you, God. And we have been hunting some things down that is not of you. We have come with our own agenda. We have sang a sad song and another song as it is just a song, but this is not a song, God. This is worship to you, Lord.

Because you are enough and if we didn't receive not a single thing, God, I am fulfilled by you now. So be with us here in this place. Thank you for your presence, God. Thank you, Lord, for who you are. We lift you up, God. We give you glory, Lord. We give you praise, God. We give you honor, Lord. We thank you for who you are and all of God's people in the church that gave a mighty. Amen. You can have your seat. Say welcome, welcome, welcome to your neighbor. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome, welcome, welcome. God is good, isn't he? Amen. I said God is good, isn't he? Amen. How many of us are excited to be here this morning? Woo! You should be. You got up in the cold to do it. Not all of us rode here in that heated SUV. Some of us ain't got heat in that thing. Some of us hopped on that bus. Some of us crammed in with six other men and nine other women, all in one van to get here. And I don't think we came here to sit quiet, no.

So when I say are we excited to be here, I see you say. Now we ready. And we say welcome, welcome, welcome because you are welcome here. And we welcome you into a gathering. We welcome you here into a church where we believe that God is looking for unlikely people from overlooked places to do extraordinary things. And for the first time guests or the unbeliever that is here, we welcome you. You are the most important person in the room. It is not by happenstance that you are here. The invite that you received was not just a fluke, but it is because you have been prayed for. Entertainment for you. Segment in the worship through the word that is gonna be proclaimed in truth and in love that you would be stirred. And that stirring would cause you to respond. And that stirring would cause you to draw back to God. We shout out to the ones that are in the balcony right now. We welcome you. We welcome the ones that are in Pando right now watching in a prison cell. We say that you are seen and that you are loved and that you are heard. Tap your neighbor say you belong. You belong. Because you do belong.

And when Jesus had called his disciples. He did not call them to get cleaned up first. He called them exactly where they were at. So right where you are at in your life and what you are living in, you belong. Today is an important day, because today is what? The day of salvation. I said, today is a day of salvation. You don't mind if I read you a little scripture, do you? As I was studying this week, there's a little book in the New Testament tucked back away in the book of Titus. And in the third chapter, Paul's writing, and he says, we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various desires and pleasures, living in evil and envy, filled with hatred and hating each other. But? Somebody say, but. But. But. When the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared, here he is, not by the works of righteous which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Through what? The washing and rebirth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us. I testify to what I've just seen, amen? Abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior,

so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And that is a gospel summed up message in 180 seconds. Because that is what we pray as we pray for you, and we pray for your heart, and we pray for your salvation. Because we are reaching the one that is farthest from God. Boom, you've been reached. Boom, you've been reached. Boom, you've been reached. And then doing what? Helping them become a passionate follower of Jesus. Because personally, I do not want your life to be like the thief that was on the cross. Did he enter the kingdom of heaven and eternal life? Yes, he did. Why? Because Jesus said he did. But that man lived a miserable life. And we do not want that for you. We want you, while you are here on this earth, to know the love of Christ, which is found in Ephesians. And if I can read you some more text, and you're not dumbed down and bored yet, I will continue. And it says, for this reason, I bow my knees to the Father, our Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family, in heaven and earth, is named, that he would give you, according to the riches of his glory, power, somebody say power, to be strengthened by his spirit in the inner man. That's here.

And that Christ may dwell in your hearts, through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in, here's that word again, love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that yet you may be filled with, watch this, the fullness of God. And that is what discipleship is, is to walk you through a process so that you may experience the fullness of what God has for you here on this earth, and that you may be awakened in that, and you may be walking in that fullness. And part of that fullness is loving well. Part of it is serving well. Part of it is praying well, and gathering, and fellowship, and it is also giving well. So we pray that you walk in that full fullness. We will take up an offering. We will jump into a great word to be proclaimed. If I could get a couple ushers up here, please. God, we thank you. God, we thank you for who you are. It is not a cliche saying of just who you are, but actually who you are, God, because we are of a desire to come to know you better, Lord. You cannot change. You are the same, Lord, and we are thankful for that faithfulness, God.

Let us be a reflection of you. Let us have a desire to be a reflection of you. Let that faithfulness bounce back and press us in our life to be faithful in all areas, Lord. Let us come with the first and not the last, the first and not the second, the first and not the third. Lord, I do not want to give you my leftovers. So God, we thank you, Lord. We ask that you bless the gift. We ask you bless the recipient. In Jesus name, Amen. And we're so excited that we are taking a missions team to the Dream Center in LA this summer, June 1st through 6th. This trip is intended for anyone who is 15 years old and up. Based on the Dream Center and their requirements, there are a lot of activities and ministry opportunities that we will not be able to participate in unless we're at least 15 years old. Also, something to note is we need all registrations in by January 31st. That way, I'm able to communicate with the Dream Center and let them know exactly how many team members were going on this trip. We are so excited to partner with the Dream Center and be a part of this life-changing opportunity. Come and join our team. Get registered today. Come on, how many of us are excited for that? Anybody? I'm always expecting a better response every time I say that and I'm just maybe I'll just quit saying it and then maybe just should I just mellow it down a little bit like how many of us are excited for that? Anybody? Anybody? Anybody excited for that? Anybody? Come on, let's get this side over here. Come in. No, I'm just kidding. All right, well anyways, hey I am Pastor Adam and I am just so glad to have you here and we are just thankful that you are here today and we just want to welcome you home and just welcome you to be a part of everything that God is doing here and so we are just so excited for what he is doing and we're just glad that you are a part because I know this that we are me and my wife would just be up here just making a bunch of noise if we didn't have y'all. I did that during

COVID and that was not fun, okay? Like I don't like preaching to an empty room and so I'm thankful that you guys are here and everything that God is doing and just we just believe the best is yet to come in all of your guys's lives and so we just love that you are here and just get connected and just we just believe in you and so we just want to welcome you here. Well hey we are in a series that that I have titled blessed and and it's kind of got a subtitle that is is blessed to be a blessing and I just really felt like the Lord had been stirring this on my heart really for a couple of years now and now is the time where I'm like you know what I've just got to respond I've got to be obedient because God I just felt like the Lord said you not doing it is is depriving somebody else from what I have called them to do and so I just felt this this beckoning and this call to just go into this this series called blessed and so today I have a title for the message that is first things first first things first like we've got to put first things first amen we need to put things in proper order where they are at and I honestly consider this probably one of the most important messages of this series and so if you're taking notes I encourage you to write some of these points down but today's message is first things first and so first things first I just want to jump in and just get to what it is because how many of us know that a lot of people look at God with this UPS like what can God do for you mindset amen you know like what can God do for you like I just need to be fed like this mindset I just need to be fed and and I need a word and I just what can God do for me and man I just really need God to do something and then oftentimes is what we do is when we don't receive a word from the Lord when we go to church and we don't receive a word from the pastor when when we don't hear exactly what God we say well what does this even have to offer why should I continue in this walk with God why should I keep doing because God doesn't care anyways and it's this mindset of this what I call a UPS mindset you know of what can God do for you but what if I told you what if I told you am I that boring okay I'm just kidding is what if I told you that this is a two-way relationship like what if I told you

this this whole thing is a two-way we receive because of what Jesus did on the cross for us but then he also asked us to take up our cross daily while we follow him he doesn't just want our affection he desires our entire lives it's deeper than just an affection it's deeper than seeking a feeling see that UPS mindset says hey what can I do man I just need to go to church that's Honestly, this is the thing that I don't like about church is so often we will come to church and we feel the Holy Spirit and then we come to church the next week and we don't. And then we base our relationship with God off of a feeling. And then if we don't feel the Holy Spirit moving, it's gotta be because Catherine didn't sing it in the right key, right? It's gotta be because there wasn't a drummer playing today, right? It's gotta be because all of these, the Holy Spirit must not have been there, right? It must mean all of these. No, the Holy Spirit is active and ready to move. He is moving in your life every single day. And when we come to church seeking a feeling, then we're basing a relationship with God off of a feeling. It's like basing a relationship with an individual off of lust. Because then once you're married and that lust begins to dissipate sometimes, then all of the sudden you're trying to figure out how do I spark this fire again? Well, I'll go to somebody else. I'll go to pornography.

I'll go to all of these different things. But when you make sure first things are first, when you put what in order needs to be put in order and we quit pursuing a relationship with Jesus off of feelings, off of things that we feel, then all of the sudden, because it's not built on affection, it's built around the desires of our life. And the Bible says that he will give you the desires of your life. Did you know that that doesn't mean he's gonna give you whatever you want? No. He's gonna give you new desires. When he gives you the desires of your heart, it means he gives you literally the new desires of your heart. Your desires should change. If you're walking closer with Jesus and your desires aren't changing, I would question how close we are actually walking with Jesus. This is why this is honestly such an important message for us to understand because if God is first, if we put him before everything else, everything else falls in order. Does that mean that we're not gonna have struggles or we're not gonna have hard times? Absolutely not. Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble.

You will have it, but would you rather go through life with troubles, with everything in order, or would you rather go through life with everything out of order? Come on, somebody. I've had enough of those days. I don't want to go through life with everything out of order anymore. I know what it's like. I know why it's like. I know what it's like. You know, we know what it's like to have everything out of order and then question everything in our life. I mean, some of us are trying to cast demons out of cars when we just need a new car. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the devil's just after me. No, you didn't change your oil in 30,000 miles. The devil does not want your vehicle. You know what I'm saying? Like, you just got to be more responsible. When we are seeking things out of order, if we put Jesus in the place that he's supposed to be, listen, if Jesus is first, everything else will fall in line.

Everything else will fall in line. If he's not, nothing in your life will come into order. Well, I need a better marriage. Put Jesus first. If I need my kids to do this, put Jesus first. I need a blessing in my finances, put Jesus first. Well, I can't afford to put him first. You better put him first. Because you can't ask God, don't come and ask me to pray for your finances if you ain't putting Jesus first in your finances. I'm going to start praying over you like God put a heart and conviction on their soul to start tithing, but I don't want them to just tithe and you look like, like, quit praying on me. You back up till my hand don't touch you no more. You're like, I don't want this prayer. Well, don't, I'm just saying like, you can't ask for blessing if we're not obedient. God cannot bless what you won't let go of. God also won't bless what you won't honor him with. It's contrary. It's contrary to who he really is. This is the principle literally that runs from Genesis to Revelation. You see it throughout every single book of the Bible. There are some important things that I think personally that will help us understand what God means when he says, put me first. Put me first.

First one, Exodus chapter 13. He says, consecrate to me all the first born. He didn't say the second born. Come on, we know how to second borns are, amen? Anybody got some second borns? Then it wasn't, you know, they willing to get in there and just throw hands and whatever, you know, he said, give the first born. I'm sorry, I got sidetracked, but y'all know what I'm talking about. If anybody got kids, y'all know what it is. Something about the first born, you know? And so, hey man, we just gonna ignore that, bro. I'm with you. right now I'm just kidding but he said consecrate to me all the firstborn whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel both man of beast it is mine now I wish I could explain how emphatic the language in the Hebrew the Hebrew language is different than what we've got and and and and you can't really explain how important and how serious this one statement it is mine is it says I'm just it's the only thing about Apple I don't like right now okay but it says literally it is so emphatic in the language here that it is literally God saying hey it is my property bring to me consecrate set apart the firstborn the first of everything set it apart because it belongs to me I am the owner I'm literally the owner is what it's saying and if you go down in Exodus 13 to verse 12 and 13 it says you shall set apart to the Lord all that opened the womb that is every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have the male shall be the Lord's but every firstborn of a donkey not now we'll talk about this in a second this is very important so if you're writing notes write this down but every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb and if you will not redeem it then you shall break its neck

in other words he says if you don't redeem it if you don't bring to God what belongs to God if you don't give him what he said to give him you're gonna lose it anyways he said if you don't bring the first part to me if you don't bring what I said to honor me with it's going out of your account anyways we talked about that last week whenever we looked at you know you just got paid and then you look at your bank app and you think you got scammed by somebody because you don't understand how you broke three days later and again we're rebuking the devil we're casting them out of all kinds of stuff and it's just bad management it's bad stewardship right it says if you don't redeem the first part you're gonna lose it anyway he said you shall redeem it with a lamb and if you will not redeem it then you shall break its neck watch this and all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem now I want to look at three principles of first that will change each of our lives forever okay from from scripture I want to look at three principles of first the first principle is this the firstborn must be sacrificed or redeemed the firstborn must be sacrificed or redeemed this is a principle that is brought up in the Old Testament and it's carried literally all throughout the Bible you see it and the firstborn must be sacrificed or be deemed or redeemed but how do we know which one to do well it's vital that we understand something about the principle of the firstborn it is actually a key to understanding our salvation and what Christ did for us check this out this is amazing according to Old Testament law the firstborn was to either be redeemed or sacrificed right there was no third option there wasn't a third option you either redeemed it or it was sacrificed and every one of your livestock animals delivered its firstborn you were to sacrifice it and if it was designated unclean like the donkey right you had to redeem it with a clean spotless lamb so if you had one of a donkey you had to sacrifice one of your unblemished sheep so that it would redeem the donkey and you could keep it otherwise you had to break the donkey's neck I'm glad that ain't how giving principles are still today a man we'd be in here like you know for new jitsu you know and and just getting it in but he said if it was

a designated unclean you had to redeem it with a clean spotless lamb and so the clean firstborn had to be sacrificed but the unclean firstborn had to be redeemed now think about this in the New Testament terms right where John the Baptist meets Jesus on the bank of the Jordan River and John was baptizing one day and looks at Jesus walking toward him and he cries out and he says behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world why because he's a lamb of God right there John perfectly defined the role Jesus has come to fulfill Jesus was God's firstborn Jesus was clean was perfect he was unblemished in every single way but on the other hand every single one of us was born unclean we were all born sinners with a fully active sin nature now think back to this principle in Exodus right remember the law stated if the firstborn animal was clean it was to be sacrificed but if the firstborn animal was unclean it was to be redeemed with a clean animal do you see the symbolic parallel here it's amazing when you're looking at Scripture God knew exactly what he was doing even way back then he was building a system not that he was going to defy but that he was going to fulfill and everything that the old system said he completed through Jesus through the perfect Lamb and every single one of us Jesus Christ was the firstborn of God he was born clean but every single one of us was born unclean so every one of us therefore Jesus was sacrificed to redeem us when he redeemed us by his sacrifice he literally bought us back for God you know what that means Jesus was literally God's first fruit blessing his first fruit offering is what it was in a very real sense Jesus was God's tithe and it bought us back and think about it God gave Jesus in faith before we ever even believed Romans 5 says this that God demonstrates his own love for us that why we were still sinners Christ died for us God asked us to give our firstfruits offering in much of the same way he asked us to give it we are called to give long before we ever see the blessing of God well when I when I can afford it I'll give no you won't no you won't because that's not what it is we are called to give in faith God gave Jesus in faith that he might be the firstborn among many brethren he might

be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters that he would be the firstborn well why is that important because God gave Jesus first in faith why we were still sinners it isn't this I mean God didn't just wait for us let me let me ask us this question here are we willing to give God our tithe or our first in our life not just our finances are we willing to put God first place in every single thing not bills first then tithe not mortgage first then tithe not kids first then tithe not kids or not not marriage first then God not are we willing to put God at the center of everything are we it says a three-strand cord is not easily broken if you put God in the center of every single thing it is not as easy for it to be broken as it is you know what anyways I would rather be broke with Jesus first then rich without him it says what is a man if he has lost his soul but gained the entire world I don't want that but are we willing to take this step of faith and trust God to provide in every single area of our life including our finances including our finances see God said when your sheep has a lamb it takes faith to give the first one it takes faith because you don't know how the next ones are gonna turn out come on somebody I mean it you don't know if that sheep is even gonna have any you don't know if the mother sheep is gonna have any more but God didn't wait he didn't say hey wait till you have ten wait till you have ten sheep then give me one that way you can pick out the one that you don't like come on that's how we would have been let's be honest you know but but why didn't he do that because it doesn't take faith to give something that doesn't hurt it doesn't take faith to give something that doesn't cost us something I think sometimes we can get so focused on 10% even but honestly I don't personally think it's the 10% that fully brings the blessing I think it's the faith that enacts the blessing to give the first 10% hey man there's something behind it and so let's take a look at why tithes and first fruit are often even interchangeable because this principle of first fruits is significant to God it's significant to God why because God ensures that the first thing given to God is never lost it's never lost when it's given to God it can't be lost he keeps it he redeems it but we

are so we are also told that with what we will withhold will be lost if we withhold it it's gonna be lost anyways and so let me just let me just read the room and address it because here's the truth is so often when we have this conversation it brews offense So many people can't even believe that they came to church today to hear this. But why is it any different? Why is it any different whenever you're coming and trying to hear somebody tell you about how to manage your finances in a godly way than if you was trying to come and hope for salvation of your marriage? Because did you know that maybe the reason that our marriages are on the ropes is because we're not putting God first in our finances? Did you know that maybe some of the reasons, hey listen, I'm not here for your money, I'm here so that God can have your heart. We're here to make passionate followers of Jesus. And the truth of the matter is, is money is the most offendable topic to talk about in church settings. But if we talk about relationships, everybody brings their baby mamas and their cousins and their sisters and everybody, and they're trying to hope that maybe they could find somebody in growth track so that they could be forever with somebody that believes God because they found them at Reach, man, look. It don't work that way. Just like you coming to a relationship series at church is not going to find you a spouse means no different than you coming to church in a blessed giving series means that we're here for all of your money. It's no different. Just because you stand in a garage and say you're a car doesn't mean you're a car. I know it's the century of identification, but you can't identify as a car. If you do, go run down I-70. Don't do that. I'm not telling you to do that.

Somebody's like, pastor told me to kill myself. No I didn't. That's how crazy it sounds. You see what I'm saying? And yet this is honestly one of the hardest series to preach. That's why I've put it off for three years, four years actually, because when you talk about it, you can cut the room with a knife. The tension in the room, people that don't even typically attend is like, man, the tension in the room was so thick, but why? When we're talking about a principle that is actually applicable to every single one of our lives. I'll tell you why. Greed. Pride. These are the things that keep us from wanting to hear what somebody has to talk about because we have believed a lie about something that we have either manufactured or somebody has said about a ministry or a nonprofit that has misused finances, and rightfully so. But if we don't trust what God has told us to do, how can we say that God is first in our life? That's any principle, not even just money, but any principle. I mean, when you look at the children of Israel and they took the promised land, God said, hey, bring all the silver and gold from Jericho into the house of God. Now check this out. Jericho was actually the first city that they was to invade and take over when they was going into the promised land. So God said, hey, if you want the promised land to really be promised, I need you to sacrifice the first city that you have to take over. I need you to bring everything in. Notice, and it's always in the house of God where he says to bring it. But why didn't God say, hey, bring 10% of Jericho?

Why didn't he say just give 10% of what you get from Jericho? Well, it's easy because it's the first city. It had to be redeemed. If the rest of it was to be redeemed, he said, bring it into the house of the Lord and the rest of the promised land will be redeemed. You see, the first portion is the redemptive portion. Give God first and the rest is redeemed. Here's the second principle of first. I know you guys were waiting on this one. It gets even better, watch. Here we go. The first fruits must be, everybody say must be. Must be offered. I want to key on in this phrase must be real quick. Watch this, Proverbs 3. He said, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all of your increase. Say all of your increase. No, let's, hold on, hold on. Take that back. Say all of my increase. See, I thought she was going to say mine. Y'all are getting it. Y'all are going. And he said this, he says, hey, on everything, all of your possessions with the first fruits of all of your increase, you know what that means? That means bonuses and everything. I say that because I know people who have failed to tithe on bonuses or other income. the regular paycheck gets easy. Why? Because you can set up recurring giving on the app. You forgot all about it and then all of a sudden when you got that new that new increase or or you sold that or you did this and and all of the sudden you came in and and it does this watch

this Proverbs 3. He says honor the Lord with all your possessions and with the firstfruits of all your increase so that your barns will be filled with plenty and that your vats will overflow with new new wine. So he says honor the Lord with the first of your increase. Now quick note this verse is not the law. This was something that was after the law. They say that it's actually being communicated as a principle or a rule in general life. So let me show you another passage real quick. Exodus 23 he said the first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord. Well isn't that crazy because in other passages we've seen that that was actually considered the tithe right and we see that last week Malachi that we bring tithes into the what the storehouse that tithes always come in to the church. You don't get to designate your tithe for other things. That's an offering. It starts in the church. Now here's the reason follow me follow me. See this is why the ones that left earlier and slammed the door they missed this moment right here. I think they slammed it on purpose when they walked out. I was like I ain't listening to this but here why. The reason God uses the word bring instead of give when it comes to tithing is because you can't give something that don't belong to you. You can't and according to scripture you got two choices. You can either bring it or you can steal it. You can bring it or you can steal it. Remember when God said bring all your silver and gold from Jericho. Bring it all. Well is what we didn't talk about is a man named Achan. Oh there's a man named Achan. Who's Achan? Well it's a guy that went in and he started shoving stuff in his belt and he had people carrying stuff out of Jericho that God said to redeem. That God said to sacrifice so that he could redeem the rest and is what happened is they didn't even win the next battle because they was keeping what God said to give to them. They went off track and they kept losing the battle until they brought it back and in Joshua 6 God calls the tithe consecrated which means it's set apart and it's the same thing that he said about the first born right but in chapter 7 he says hey when Achan took some of the first fruits he actually stole it from me and they were cursed until they brought it back. Listen it is consecrated and redeemed when you bring it to the house of God. It is cursed when we keep it for ourselves. Not every principle is comforting to hear. It's really not but one of the earliest stories in scriptures here hear me on this one one of the earliest scriptures stories in scripture is of two brothers named Cain and Abel. We've all heard about him right we've probably heard the famous conclusion of this story when one brother kills the other but there was something that preceded

this famous act of violence that a lot of us overlooked and the Lord asked him and his brother to bring a sacrifice and here's what it said Genesis 4 he said and in the process of time so he says after a while after a while not at first it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground of the Lord. Now notice it does not say that he brought his first fruits right Abel also brought but check this out he brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat and the Lord respected Abel and his offering but he did not respect Cain and his offering. Now why do you think the distinction in the offering? Because one eventually gave an offering while the other offered the firstborn or his first fruit. It's clear and it said God accepted one and rejected the other. Now I'm going to take it even a step further and suggest that God not only wouldn't accept Cain's offer but that he couldn't. Did you know that there are some things that God can't do? Whoa somebody somebody just said he's preaching heresy you don't even know what heresy means and you said I'm preaching heresy like you don't even like you just heard somebody else say that now all of a sudden you think but God can't do some things hear me out God cannot act outside of himself God can't he cannot act outside of himself he can't act outside of his own character God does not break character he cannot break his own character let me give a few examples of what God can't do God can't change because if he could then he would get better but how do you get better when you're God you're already perfect you can't get any better so God can't change he's already perfect the second thing that God do is that God can't do is he can't think the way that we think scripture says let me clarify this for a second the Bible talks about the thoughts of God so I know that but but it also says that his thoughts are higher than our thoughts the reason that God can't think the way that we think is because he's omniscient which means that he has all knowledge God can't think the way that we think because we're trying to figure things out God ain't trying to figure anything out I don't think that I've ever heard him say let me say it like this nothing has ever occurred to God God never said you know what I just thought of no God never said that because God knows everything God can't think the same way that we think in Isaiah it says my thoughts are not your thoughts I don't think the way that you think because as the heavens are above

the earth my thoughts are higher than your thoughts so there are some things that God can't do let me tell you how this relates to our teaching today God cannot be second God takes no back seats he takes nothing from anybody he says nope I am first this is just how it is this is actually called the preeminence of God you would learn that in a theology class it's a character trait of God it's the preeminence of God God is not only first of all he is before all he is higher than all he is above all God is literally first now in our walk with God's we talk about putting God first which is super important but we have to realize this even if we don't put God first he is first like whether we like it or not we have to realize this you don't rearrange his order in the universe you know God you're taking second no God is first whether you recognize it or not God cannot be second he couldn't accept Cain's offering because God is first and Cain didn't bring a first offering think about it God said hey I'm sorry but I can't accept the second place offering it's incompatible with me it's incompatible with who I am so for Cain God actually told him Cain your heart is not in the right place sin is crouching at your door and it desires control and you must learn to master those desires you've got to get some of that stuff under control because those desires when you read about it were based on greed and jealousy which will always happen when money is involved every single time you're gonna either be jealous that somebody's got more than you or you're gonna be greedy that you got more than them it's stuff that just happens those desires it was just taking control of now we can think about this in relation to our giving or our first fruits remember when I said Jesus was literally the tithe of God and how I said last week about how giving to the Bride of Christ it is tithing it might be more personal to God than we think check this out our first fruits represent who is first in our lives every single time so much so that if I was to look at your bank app I could tell you what was important to you if you was to show me I mean you would think I was prophetic if you was to bring me your app right now and I was to go down through it I would say you need to get rid of the spirit of

eating at restaurants you'd be like I don't have a spirit I just like to eat at restaurants and I'm like I know you don't have the spirit because you don't give nowhere in there and if we did hello and if we did if we did have the spirit it would be recognized because you would be able to see it our first fruits represent who is first in our lives every single time the third principle of first is this the tithe must be first it must be first Leviticus 27 says this and all the tithe of the land whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree is the Lord's it is holy to the Lord when it says holy here it means that it is set apart for God it is set apart for him that's why it's so it's so accurate to call it stealing when we take it because God set it aside for himself and he owns it so if we're gonna return what God gave us we have to bring it to him first It's just a leftover, let's say you get paid on Thursday, right, and immediately you pay all your bills, then buy groceries, and then write your tithe check before going to church. Have you, have you tithed the first part of your increase? No. It is possible to literally give a full 10% tithe and still not be tithing according to God's principle. Because this is just, you see, a lot of people, here's what they do, they say, let me set some for this, and let me set aside some for this, and then you get to the end and say, shoot, there ain't enough left over for you, God. Can I nicely and firmly say something? He wouldn't accept it anyway because he doesn't accept leftovers. God is not a leftover God. God is first place, whether we recognize it or not. See, this is how you know I'm not preaching this for money. I've offended like 18 people in first service, like 50 in second. And we think, well, he's just out of my mind. I'm making you not want to give. And this says God wouldn't accept your offering anyways.

And it's crazy because he says in Malachi that you bring me blind and lame animals and I do not accept them. He said, you bring me half-hearted offerings. You give what you want, not what I've asked. He said, you can't continue to bring me these lame animals. I've told you for hundreds and thousands of years that I want the first born, I want the first fruit, and if it's unclean, break its neck and bring me something that is supposed to be redeemed because this is what I want. I don't want this thing that doesn't even look. So how does this work in my life? Well, I'll tell you how it works in my life because there is a moment in my life where it was really difficult for me because my pay would fluctuate daily. So once I deposited a check is what I would do is I would get on the app and I would tithe on my business increase. Remember, he says all of your increase. That's what he said. Now, now I get paid a direct deposit on the 15th and the 28th of every month. You can check my bank app and see if I'm lying. When my bank app goes off on the 15th, I don't even roll out of bed. I grab my phone, I say, God, I'm going to honor you with this. Even though I know that I could probably use it in other areas, but I'm going to honor you with this because I want to give you the first fruit. Because I know that if I give you this right now, you're going to redeem the rest of it. I know that you will. I know that you will, will do this. And the reality is, you know, somebody said, well, what if, what if you rush, right? What if you rush to do something after you deposit your check? And what if I, I got paid and I, I didn't, I didn't have time. I knew I had to stop at the grocery store and I had to get food because I have these kids and, and I had to feed them all and, and, and, and before I even got home with

the groceries, you know, I, or my wife bought all these groceries and I didn't get a chance to tithe. And then I got home and I seen that we had all this and I was like, no, God's going to curse everything because I, I, we bought groceries before we tithe. No, that's legalistic. God's not legalistic. That's not what it is. That's not how it is. God is not a legalistic person. He says, where is your heart? One last scripture for you. This will tie it with a bow in Exodus 13. We looked at 13 a minute ago, verse 13, and here's what it says in 14 and 15. He says, so it shall be when your son asked you in time to come saying, what is this that you shall say to him by strength of hand? The Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and it came to pass when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. There's a whole nother sermon in this. He said both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Why? Because he said, if you ain't going to give it, I'm going to take it. And he said, therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. Now, let me think of this in terms of today real quick. There is a son that is being trained to take over the family business, and he's digging into the finances of the business, and for the very first time he looks him over and one day he is sitting there with the books in front of him and dad walks into the office from the field and and the son says dad could I have you sit down with me for just a moment you asked me to look over the

business books and I have and I want to ask you about something and talk for just a moment because you might not even know that you do this this is not an accusation we all have blind spots dad but as I look at the numbers I see that every time one of your animals has a firstborn you seem to somehow always kill it and dad I think it's getting out of hand because last year we killed 72 animals and to put it bluntly this is seriously cutting into our business profits so why do you keep doing that said son I need to tell you something about our family I need to tell you something that you may not know because we were not always in the ranching business son we didn't own animals we didn't own land we were actually slaves we were slaves to bondage but God with a mighty hand has redeemed us and gave us everything that we have now and therefore we gladly give to God the firstborn of all of our increase now this was written 4,000 years ago but imagine this with me for a second your daughter or your son crawls up and they go in or you're getting into your finances and they're old enough to understand the concept of numbers and what it means and and you're paying the bills one day and and you write a tithe check and you set it aside and then you go on paying the rest of the bills by the way for the young people there used to be a form of currency that you would write on on it's a piece of paper and it was called a check and anyways you can look it up and Google it maybe or AI at chat GPT or something but and so you're paying your bills and your son or daughter comes in and you're watching them out of the corner of your eye and they stop and look at the check and their eyes get real big and they say daddy how come you give so much money to the church and in that moment you remember this passage in Exodus 13 verses 14 and 15 and you take your daughter or son and you set them on your lap and you say baby let me tell you something daddy hasn't always had what you see see daddy used to be a very bad guy daddy used to take stuff from people daddy used to be a slave to bondage he was a slave to addiction daddy was a slave to a lot of things that did not honor God but we didn't have all of this

stuff but with God and his mighty hand he has redeemed your daddy and baby he has gave us everything that you see he's given us this business he's given us this church he's given us this house baby he's given us everything he's given us every single pair of shoes that your daddy has he's given us everything baby let me tell you something but see here's the trick somebody could say well how are you honoring God with all of that money when you're buying this and this and that because when you look in my finances I always always give God first always if I buy a pair of shoes after I honor God that's my business I'm gonna walk as a redeemed child in a brand new pair of Jordans and I wonder if the story could be the same for many of us when we share our story with the mighty hand of God how he gave us everything that we have and how he gave us everything that we pursue and and we have our children maybe you don't have your children but we could be working towards something so that one day when we have them we can set them on our lap and say baby here's what I'm doing in my life I'm putting first things first and the first thing that daddy will always honor the first thing that mommy will always honor is God in every area of our life it doesn't matter what it is because I have been redeemed I have been set free God has taken everything away from me and I have given it to him I have sacrificed I believe that God is who he says that he is and I'm not going to continue to live this life that I don't honor him because thank of the testimony that it will be literally after all that I have been through after all that I have been set free from how could I not let me ask you this is God first in every single area of your life? Is he first in every single area of your life? Just think about the stories that you could tell your kids. Why do you give so much? Because Jesus set me free. I was a hopeless addict chasing things that I didn't need to be chasing, doing things that I didn't need to be doing, but now I've been set free. How many people in here can say that I have been redeemed from something? That God has set me free? That God has done something extravagant in my life? How many unlikely people from overlooked

places is in here that says, hey, I want to do some extraordinary things in my life, and if that means that I got to honor God with my finances, if I got to honor God with my marriage, then that is what we will do. Come on, if I got some redeemed people in the house, could we stand to our feet and just believe in this moment that God is going to redeem the rest of it? That I'm going to give some. Maybe there are some in here that don't have a personal relationship with God, and you want to lay it down. You want to make first things first. Guess what? This message is for the believer, and if you are in here today and you say, man, I want to put first things first. I want to give God my entire life. Could I just have you throw your hand up? If you've given Him to Him, if you've never given it, or maybe it's been a long time since you've done it, can I just get you to throw your hand up? Come on, if that was you, can I get you to come down here? Could I just have you, could I just boldly ask you, come on, are you wanting to put first things first? Are you wanting to make God the first of you? Come on, I've seen about four hands. Either you was worshiping, and if you was, you're giving your life to the Lord again today. Come on. Hi, thanks for watching us. We're so grateful that you've been a part of our church. We don't take it lightly that God is using unlikely people from overlooked places to do extraordinary things for the kingdom of God, and you are a part of that.