First Fruits - JJ Vasquez

I think we're ready to do this. I think we're ready to do this. Happy Sunday! Come on. It's Sunday! Journey Church Online, no better place to be than with Alister and me and if we haven't met, my name is JD. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for tuning in every Sunday. We're happy you're here with us. Right, and my name is Alister Yes, yes. And I'm an online host here as well, man. It's such an honor to be with you guys. Everybody that's tuning in online, watching from YouTube, wherever you're watching, we are glad you tuned in today with us. Yes. Let us know how you prepare for this Sunday morning in the chat. We want to get a little engagement going on. If you got the coffee emoji, if you want the hands up emoji, happy to worship, put the Bible emoji. If you actually brought your physical Bible with you, have it with you. Listen, it's May, April showers brought May flowers and we're here. I know. It's crazy. May has been such an amazing and just not just May, but this series alone being planted. You know, last week with Pastor Hector was such a touching message because so many times in my life I've been busy and I say I'm busy and then I forget to pray or I forget to be in my word. And God really convicted me last week.

He was like, no, I'm first in your life. Let me be your first fruit. And I just thought it was such a powerful message. What about you? No, I love the transparency. I love the fact that you should actually set that time and appreciate God, whether that's on your car ride, whether that's you taking a sip of that ice cold Coca-Cola, Lord knows I love soda. Coca-Cola. Yes. So basically tell us in the chat what you got from last week's message. If you haven't seen it yet, subscribe to our YouTube channel, that's where you can watch it. I'm going to turn it over to Shelly. Yeah. And also guys, don't be afraid to submit your prayer request today because we are praying. So we're turning it in to Shelly in the lobby. Shelly, take care guys. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, Journey Church. How are we today? Hello again. Thank you, JD and Alistair for that introduction. My name again is Shelly and I have the honor and privilege of being your lobby host today. How are we fam? Let's turn around and look at the family that we have behind here. You guys come on, look the lobby.

It's filling up. The people of God are here. They're ready to worship. They're ready to see what God has for them and what Pastor JJ is going to be telling them. I'm so excited. Speaking of that, actually, what I love to say is, listen, I know that we have those group chats. I know that we have those best friend group chats, those fam group chats. You guys, share the link. Send this YouTube. If God puts it in your heart to say, you know what? I have a word. I think they need to hear this. Stop hesitating. Send it to them. It takes two seconds to send that link to that TikTok, that emotional TikTok you want to put on your Instagram, okay? Let's go ahead and put something meaningful onto our stories so that people can know and understand and see the truth, the way, and the life. Thank you, God. Amen. Let's go ahead. Let's stretch. Let's get our morning started. Let's get our coffees, aka our cafecitos. It's so amazing, you guys. It's one of the things I love to actually keep in contact with our fam is our actual Journey Church app. If you go to our Google app or our actual Apple app, depending on what you have, Android

or Apple, go ahead and download our Journey Church app so that we can go ahead and get connected with you. Also, if you have any questions about conferences, anything that's coming up within the church, it'll be on our app within registries and more, you guys. I'm so excited for what Pastor JJ has to say to us today. You guys, again, let's get up. Let's get ready. We've got the fam in here. Let's start to sow. Let's go ahead and get it over to Manny in the studio. All right, Journey Church online. My name is Manny, and super, super excited to be here this morning. The sanctuary is filling up, and as it says right behind my shoulder here, it says this is your place, your people, and your purpose. So ladies and gentlemen, today is Pray First Sunday. So we're going to go ahead and ask that you continue to put your prayer requests in there. We're going to be praying for you more a little bit later. I mean, again, we're super, super excited that you are here. You could have been anywhere, but you chose to be here. So I just want to say real quick a quick word from my devotion this morning in 1 Peter. It talks about casting your care. You might have heard that before, but let me tell you, when you really dig into that verse and you really read it and you meditate on it, it's a very powerful verse because, you know what? Your knowledge has brought you to where you are, and when you're ready to make that breakthrough, that reset, that, hey, let me start over, try something better, that's when you cast your care. When you read his word, you really meditate on it and say, you know what? I've tried my way before. I'm going to lean on his understanding.

I am going to reset, and I'm going back. do what the Word says. That's so key and so vital. So we're super excited that you're here today. And if you're local, come on by. And if you know someone, maybe you have a chat group in your family, share this link so they can also benefit from the great Word. I'm going to go ahead and share with you a quick prayer request that we got from Samuel. He was online earlier. He said he's going to have a knee replaced, and they were asking for a prayer from God. If you feel comfortable, extend your hands and say, God, thank you so much. Please bless Samuel's, just surgeon's knee. Your Holy Spirit, guide him, guide them in their surgery so that that surgery can come out absolutely fantastic. And we claim healing upon his knee in the name of Jesus. So guys, keep putting in your requests in the chat, because we want to read every single one. We are family. You're online. You're online family. We love that you're here. Put them in. We'll pray more for you in a few minutes. And right now, we're getting ready for the worship. These guys have been here since 6.30 a.m. practicing. You're going to love this absolutely 100%. And I'm telling you, watch this here. This music starts. It is phenomenal. Feel it. Read the Word, guys. You're going to love it. Welcome home, Journey Church. Come on, who's excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning? Give it up to your Father. We love you. We worship you, Jesus. Come on, we sing, you've been good. You've been good, good for all my life. So nothing could ever change my mind. You never break a promise. You're constant in all you do. Yours is the way, the truth, the life that I will choose. Oh, I know that I know you won't ever let me go. Every low and every high, you are faithful all the time. Oh, I've tasted and I've seen, you've been so, so good to me. God, I know that I know you're faithful all the time. Oh, you're faithful all the time. Yes, you are. No, I won't look to the left or right. And I will keep heaven in my sight.

No, I will not be shaken. Nothing is moving me. And I got a faith that's sure of things I cannot see. Oh, I know that I know you won't ever let me go. Every low and every high, you are faithful all the time. Oh, I've tasted and I've seen, you've been so, so good to me. God, I know that I know you're faithful all the time. Oh, you're faithful all the time. Oh, you are. No, I won't stand on word of name. God, I stand on yours instead. All of my hope, all of my faith, all of it's in your name. And the world cannot deny all that you've done in my life. All of my days, all of my praise, I live Jesus. Come on, I won't stand on hands. I won't stand on word of name. God, I stand on yours instead. All of my hope, all of my faith, all of it's in your name. And the world cannot deny all that you've done in my life. All of my days, all of my praise, I live Jesus. All of my days, all of my praise, all of it's in your name. Oh, I know that I know you won't ever let me go. Every road and every high, you're faithful all the time. ♪ I know that I know you won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low, every high, you've been faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh, I've tasted, I've seen, you've been so, so good to me ♪ ♪ God, I know that I know you've been faithful all the time ♪ ♪ You're faithful all the time, oh ♪ ♪ You're faithful all the time ♪ ♪ You've been good, you've been true God ♪ ♪ You're faithful all the time, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Yes, you are, you're faithful all the time, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ All the time, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Come on, is anybody thankful for Jesus this morning? Come on, let's lift up our praise to him. Come on, he's worthy of all of our worship. Come on, we're gonna continue to press in, continue to lean in this morning. Father, there's nobody like you. Lord, we give you all of our attention, all of our worship. You are worthy. Come on, we sing together. ♪ And it took three long days to roll the stone away ♪ ♪ And it took Friday night for Sunday's empty grave ♪ ♪ I know that it might be dark now ♪ ♪ But dawn's about to break, just wait ♪ Come on, we sing. ♪ And just wait ♪ ♪ And watch him work all things together ♪ ♪ Like he said he would ♪ ♪ And watch him turn our trials and troubles ♪ ♪ Into something good, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ There's never been a moment wasted ♪ ♪ The waiting is the place where faith is ♪ ♪ So watch him work, watch him work ♪ Come on, we sing it out. ♪ So don't lose heart, my soul, the King is on the move ♪ Come on, we believe it. ♪ And lift your weary head, his breakthrough's coming soon ♪

Oh, I know. ♪ To see a miracle that only he can do, just wait ♪ Come on. ♪ And just wait ♪ ♪ And watch him work all things together ♪ ♪ Like he said he would ♪ ♪ And watch him turn our trials and troubles ♪ ♪ Into something good, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ There's never been a moment wasted ♪ ♪ The waiting is the place where faith is ♪ I believe. ♪ So watch him work, watch him work ♪ ♪ Oh, watch him work, oh, watch him work ♪ Come on, we declare. ♪ That he's good and we've seen it ♪ When he starts, he completes it. When he says, we believe it, we believe it, we believe it. And he's good. Come on. ♪ And we've seen it ♪ When he starts, he completes it. Come on, with faith. When he says, we believe it, we believe it, we believe it. And he's good. And we've seen it. When he starts, he completes it. When he says, we believe it, we believe it, we believe it. So watch him work all things together like he said he would. And watch him turn our trials and troubles into something good, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

There's never been a moment wasted. The waiting is the place where faith ends. So watch him work, watch him work, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And watch him work, watch him work, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And watch him work, watch him work, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. He's always working. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Watch him work, watch him work. We want to watch him work and see him work in your prayers today. Today is Pray First Sunday. Every first Sunday of the month, we were intentional about praying for you and with you. Please scan the QR code, submit your prayers in the chat. We have Manny standing by shortly who's gonna be interceding and praying for you. Interceding is just basically us lifting you up, agreeing with prayer that God's gonna do something amazing in your life. And if we haven't had the pleasure of meeting, my name is JD. I have the honor and privilege. serving on the online team. And my name is Alistair. I'm an online host as well here at Journey Church. Who are we gonna shout out today? FTG. FTG, but we also have an online community. We wanna shout you, we're gonna give a shout out to our Pando app.

Come on. Pando app, what is up? Thank you for tuning in from correctional facilities all over the US. We have our first time guest. First time guest, scan the QR code, let us know where you're watching from, how you found Journey. We wanna see you in the building. If you're local, come in. We wanna greet you with a hug and a free coffee. Like the way we say in New York City, free coffee. And we thank you again for tuning in. Scan the QR code or go to journeyorl.com forward slash connect. And if you're a first time guest or you've been coming to Journey, we wanna get you plugged in and serving today. Next steps is happening and we want you guys to join us for next steps. So if you wanna register and get signed up, you can go to journeyorl.com forward slash next steps to find that next step here at Journey Church. I know without that, I don't know where I would be in my walk with God and here plugged in Journey or serving online either. That's awesome. Thank you, Alistair. And we have our YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe. We have amazing things there.

We have our After Talk podcast with Pastor JJ and Pastor Liz. It's an awesome way to stay notified and connected with anything that's going live or anything that's about to go live. So definitely subscribe if you haven't yet. Right, and you know what's crazy? Guess what's happening? June 6th, Her Story Conference. Come on, ladies. If you do not know, this is not just an event, but it's an opportunity to step in to God's presence. June 6th, you're gonna be refreshed and walk away renewed, man. It's an opportunity you do not wanna miss. There's gonna be powerful worship, life-giving messages, and an opportunity to connect with real women and hear real-life stories. So if you want to find clarity, find healing, or just fill that void that you've been looking for, this is an opportunity you don't wanna miss. So scan the QR code below so you can get plugged in and join all the ladies here at Journey Church at Her Story Conference. That's awesome, bro. Love that, love that. Please scan and actually sign up. We have an awesome generosity story from one of our online leaders for the online small group. This past season, God has been doing something really special through, in one of our online small groups,

a Whittles journey led by Nilevi Snyder. Though each woman's story is different, they found a deep connection through shared experiences, creating a safe, supportive space where no one feels lost and alone in their grief. Through Journey Church, Whittles from different cities have been able to come through together, encourage one another, and account to Jesus in a meaningful way. Nilevi shared how grateful she is that God used Journey as the vessel to bring this group together and how honored she is with leading and pouring it to others. This summer, this summer, she's stepping into an exciting new season, discipling two widows into co-leadership as they prepare to lead and support others on their own journey. That's an awesome, and we love, we have so many, so many testimonies, so many emails. We get messages, written letters from people online because of people giving and supporting Journey Church and making Jesus accessible to anyone and everyone. You can scan the QR code below or you could go to Journey URL.com forward slash gift. And you know what's crazy? Because of your generosity, it's more than that. Because the one thing that we like to step into is prayer. And that's what today is, pray first Sunday. And because of that, we are a pray first church

and we don't make that our last resort. And I'm so happy that God comes through in the power of prayer. So we just ask that you submit your prayer request so we can pray with you. And we have Manny that is in the sanctuary that's going to pray for those prayer requests and us as well. We want to intercede on your behalf because we know what it's like to feel empty. We know what it's like to need God in this season. And we know that we all need God. You know, that's beautifully said, Alistair. The fact that we intercede and touch and agree with our online community, even if you're in-house and you're not in the house today and you're watching online, submit the prayers online. We want to pray with you. We want to worship with you. When we hear those success stories, when you message us and email us how God answered. Yes, yes, God is good. And God is going to answer these prayers. We're going to turn it over to Manny in the auditorium right now. He's going to pray for y'all. Be blessed. Amen. Amen, amen, amen. Thank you so much studio for passing it down.

We're back here in the sanctuary. And like we said, today's pray first Sunday. So please continue to put your prayer request in the app. That's why I got my phone here in front of me right now. I'm reading them live from our YouTube feed. So please continue to put your prayer requests in there. We're going to read every single one. And even if we don't pray live online here, we will pray for you. So I'm going to start off by praying for Rebecca Hessler. Hopefully I'm pronouncing that right. Rebecca, you asked for. Prayer for your father and we want to just come together if you feel comfortable extend your hand down and say God Thank you so much for the privilege It is to be able to come to you directly and we ask you this in the name of Jesus that Rebecca's dad Just has complete healing just have him feel your Holy Spirit Let's be able to just you know Just give it all to you God and for you to do what you do when you show up each and every time We're super grateful to have this opportunity and we want to lift him up in the name of Jesus. Amen We'll continue here and pick another one here before we finish Cindy Sturbridge She says my prayer request is for good results from the testing of my five cysts on my left kidney We definitely definitely want to pray for you Cindy Cindy in the name of Jesus we claim healing in the name of Jesus as your word says if we ask for it You shall provide God. We just thank you again for the privileges. Oh, we should just say God We're gonna just raise up Cindy and we're gonna say let your Holy Spirit take over. Let your will be done We claim healing we claim healing upon the body. We command her body to heal in the name of Jesus We command it to heal and again in the name of Jesus. We ask this. Amen. Amen Let's continue here asking for these prayers. I mean, there's so much coming in. Please continue to put your prayers in here. We have My Mottab Kabash, I'm hopefully I'm pronouncing that right much of it. Good morning

I need prayer for my stress and pain my debts That's a very common one nowadays with gas and food going up in price So we start to get nervous and that's when we really have to rely on him. So we're gonna ask for prayers here God Thank you so much. We're gonna ask for my top that he just feels that Holy Spirit He just sees your doors Opening wide and for his situation with his stress to just be relieved by your Holy Spirit We ask that you continue to bless him financially so that they continue to grow and always honor you with every dollar because we know It's from you Lord. We know it comes from you So we want to be extremely grateful have us be wise whenever we spend every dollar Have us use that money for growth for investments to be able to prosper as you see in your work God We thank you for always blessing us We ask that thing you take away that fear that anxiety and just haven't filled with your Holy Spirit and be able to go through these situations All right, so awesome, so we're gonna go ahead and start wrapping it up here, I mean this is We're gonna go ahead and just pray for the general general group Joy, be calm have the Holy Spirit fill you be able to make those breakthroughs trust in God Lean on his own understanding like first Peter says just let go and let God Because he's the one that's truly gonna just hug you with that Holy Spirit be able to help you rise up ladies and gentlemen You're gonna talk We really want to drive home the point about healing because you have to trust in him The doctors can only do so much and that's when he shows up So you ask him to intervene come forth just get involved right get involved with what I'm going through and help me through it Claim healing you don't just ask for you claim it you claim victory That's what you should do as you're going through this healing journey because he says Speak it and it shall be given so we want you to speak it ask him and he shall provide We're gonna make it through together always Really really things it's just we're gonna ask for everything now We're gonna ask for about anxiety and depression a lot of folks are getting anxious things are changing really fast What does the future hold one thing you could be sure of he's been here forever, and he will be here forever So if you need to lean in on God, that's what you should do to take that anxiety away

Say God help me through this season help me be able to just give it to you ask him for that And I want to give it to you I'm gonna let go and hand it over because this time of anxiety is the number one time you should lean in towards God And say God I need you to take over here grab the wheel Jesus and be able to let go That's the key the key to get through this is always praying as you see here. We have folks behind me They're asking for prayers like I said continue to put those you continue to put those prayer requests in the chat because we are a family and We were talking about first Peter casting your care, that's the key right now. They're casting their care They're asking for that prayer Why because we have to let go and let God when you read that verse really matter not meditate on it What does it mean to cast your care? It simply means that you have to rely on him you have to say again what I know brought me here Let's go to the next level. Let's ask our care. Let's say God you take it from here. You give me healing I claim healing in the name of Jesus. That's what we do each and every day We grow because we grow closer to him. How do we grow closer to him? We have to read his Word, it's a letter. Remember, you gotta crack it open and read it in order to get the message that he's trying to tell you. That's key, that's vital in order for us to be able to grow in our walk. It is not just a nice quote you wear on a T-shirt, it's actually digging into the Word, meditating and asking, what are you trying to tell me? One thing he's always trying to tell you is, pastorate care. Do not, do not forget that. So we're gonna go ahead and pray one last time. Lord, thank you so much for everything. Bless these folks as they're here. Have them hear the Word you want them to hear,

and in the name of Jesus, we claim this, amen. Amen. Come on, let's shout a shout of gratitude to him. Yeah! ♪ Cause I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord, come on ♪ ♪ And that's why, that's why, that's why, yeah ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust him, that's why I trust him ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust him, that's why I trust him ♪ ♪ I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, no he will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail, and I trust in God, my Savior, the one ♪ ♪ Who will never, ever fail, oh cause you're faithful ♪ ♪ Because you're faithful, and I sought the Lord ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trust him, that's why I trust him ♪ ♪ I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered ♪ ♪ He answered every need, he is my everything, oh I know it Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh I know it Jesus, oh I know it Jesus ♪ ♪ That's why I trust him, that's why I trust him God ♪ ♪ Oh that's why I trust him, that's why I trust him God ♪

Come on, make some noise if you know that you can trust the Lord. If you believe, you can trust him. You know, I was doing this word study in my Bible recently where I found out that the word believe in the Greek, it actually means trust. I think there are a lot of people who say they believe in Jesus but might hesitate when it comes to trusting Jesus. But the truth is, it's the same word. I'm not just believing that he's real, I'm believing that he can save me. I'm not just believing that he has power, I'm believing that he, I'm trusting that he cares for me. There are a lot of names for God. Healer, protector, provider, defender. But if you were to ask God what his name is, he wouldn't give you any one of those because if he gave you just one of those names, then you would limit him to his ability to only be that one thing in your life. But when Moses asked him, what is your name God, I'm here worshiping you, people are gonna ask you when I go back to you, he gave him two words. He said, I am. In other words, no matter your need, no matter your struggle, no matter your season, no matter your situation, God says, I am able to meet you where you are. I am able to resolve, I am able to heal,

I am able to defend. Come on, if you know that you serve a God that is able to be all things in every situation, why don't we lift our hands and just thank him. Thank you God, you are capable, you are able. Nothing is impossible for you, nothing is impossible. We put our trust in you, we don't just believe, we trust in the great I am. You are whatever, whoever, whenever, however, nothing is impossible for you. No problem too big, no sickness too severe, no debt too great. You're a father, you're a friend, you're a God. You're a fighter, you're everything, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, all over this room, we're just beginning to trust on the Lord. Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your faithfulness. God, we thank you that no matter the need, that no matter the situation, that you're able to fill every void and gap in our life. We don't just believe in you, we trust in you. Thank you, Jesus, not just for the cross 2,000 years ago, but for what you do in our life every day, every day. We love you. In your name we pray. Amen. Listen, before you take a seat, I want you to find three people you did not come to church with today. Give them a big old high five and tell them, yes, he can. Come on, yes, he can.

Yes, he can. Amen. Yes, he can. Amen. Well, who's excited to be in the house of God today? All right, man, we're excited that you're here. If we haven't met yet, my name is JJ, and alongside my wife Liz, we have the honor and the privilege of serving Journey Church as its lead pastors. And if you didn't know that, that means you are a first-time guest, and we're so glad that you chose to be with us today. If you're looking for a home church, look no further. We think you found it, not only because you're surrounded by the presence of God, but because I believe you are surrounded by some of the most amazing, honest, open, transparent people in all of Central Florida. Journey Church, will you put me right? Put your hands together and welcome all of our first-time guests. Thank you, God. Keep it going for Journey Church Online. What up, Journey Church Online? Keep it going for Journey East Orlando, meeting at University High School. Keep it going for Journey Kissimmee, meeting at Gateway High School. And finally, keep it going for all of those who are incarcerated, watching from jails and prisons throughout the United States through the Pando app. We're so glad you're with us. Technically, I guess you are incorporated too. We love you. We're glad that you're here. It's gonna be a good Sunday. Y'all excited to be at church, man? I'm so pumped up.

I'm excited because today is week five. We get to finally close out a collection, a series of talks and sermons that we've been in for five weeks since Easter called Planted. Planted. And I'm so pumped for this and closing this out really because I just want to celebrate with a lot of you guys. We've been talking about the things that God wants to do in your life, not just when you get saved, but after you get saved, the fruit that he wants to produce in your life. And we started this series five weeks ago on Easter Sunday, and people got saved, gave their lives to Jesus. People got baptized. Raise your hand if you're still here. You got baptized this year. Come on, you're still here. So many hands. I know there's hands in Kissimmee and Gateway, and I know there's hands in East Orlando. That's awesome. And this is what it's about. It's not about just allowing Christ in, but it's about staying in. It's about staying in. We've summarized this series Planted in one sentence, and it goes like this so that you can understand. We say, what gets planted must be tended to be rooted, or you'll never see the fruit of it. Come on, somebody say planted. Somebody say tended. Somebody say rooted. Somebody say fruit of it. Jesus does a lot, but he leaves a lot for you to do too. I think one of the greatest misunderstandings of salvation that we call being in relationship

with Christ is that it's free. And it's true that when Jesus died on the cross for you and for me, that part's free. You ain't got to do a thing to give your life to Jesus. But once you give your life to Jesus, if you want to produce fruit in your life, you have got to be rooted. And being rooted takes work. Being rooted takes routine. Being rooted takes discipline. And so in this series, we've been talking about the nine spiritual disciplines. A discipline is something that Jesus did in his life as a model for the way that we ought to live our life. And for five weeks, we've covered all of these disciplines, community, witness, prayer, scripture, fasting, Sabbath, solitude, service, generosity. So if somebody asked me, what is it? It mean to follow Jesus, I would say to do what Jesus did. To be with Jesus, to look like Jesus. But if somebody asked me, what did Jesus do? I would tell you, Jesus did these nine things. This is how we live this life. And so when you decide to follow Jesus, you're also deciding to practice these. And you can be a Christian and not practice these and it's gonna be hard to bear fruit. And so we've been breaking up these into different categories. And so when we had Baptism Sunday, we talked about community and witness because that's what baptism is. It's a witness and we're doing it in front of people because we're a community.

And then I talked about prayer, scripture, and fasting. And when I talked about that, I said that it was the most relevant for our culture because we had a lot of people going to get answers from easy places. And we really need to learn to go to God for answers. And then last week, Pastor Hector preached, give it up, Pastor Hector preached a great message, Sabbath, solitude, and service. And he said that was the most, probably the most counter-cultural because it is definitely the least practiced in our culture. Taking a break, rest. But I would say that the discipline that we are left with today to close out on, it's not necessarily maybe the most relevant or maybe to culture or maybe the most counter to culture. Here's how I would describe it. I would describe it as the most challenging for culture because today I wanna talk about generosity. Generosity is the last discipline we're gonna hit on. And it is extremely challenging for people, I think, to live out. And so if you've got a Bible, you can open up to the book of Exodus 34, verse 26. It's very relevant, just relevant in a different way. And it goes like this. If you don't have a Bible, then you can read along with this on the screen. Exodus 34, 26, bring the best of the firstfruits

of your soil to the house of the Lord, your God. Somebody say firstfruits. Firstfruits. Today we're gonna close out our sermon series, five weeks. Today all the green pretty stuff goes away. And the title of today's message is Firstfruits. Firstfruits. I think it's important to remind you that when I say disciplines, I've said this twice already now in the short time that we've had together, it is something that Jesus did in his life. It is the way that Jesus lived. It's important because depending on how you were first introduced to Jesus or introduced to God, you might only see God as someone who asks. God is someone who asks you for your obedience. He asks you for your allegiance. He asks you for your service. He asks you to be holy. He asks you to not hurt others. He asks you, and I think that's a problem because you have to also realize that before God ever asked, he gave. If I only see God as a God who asks me and I don't understand that before God, before Jesus, when he walked the earth, ever asked, he gave to us,

that he is a giving God way before he is ever, and asking God, if you don't understand that, listen, then you lose your motivation to give yourself. Again, it's always hard to preach on a Sunday because you don't know who's in the audience. You know if it's people who grew up in church or what kind of church that they grew up in or didn't grow up in church at all. I gotta kind of break that idea of the Lord first off, that God is asking a lot. Let's pause. He's giving a lot, and if you don't get that right, I'm gonna say it again, then it's gonna make the idea of generosity challenging for you. I love to give. I love to give, especially to my wife and my kids. I love to give to them, and my wife makes it really easy to give. She makes it easy to give because she's a very generous person, and so next Sunday is Mother's Day. Heads up, fellas, and we are gonna do as a family whatever Liz wants, which I already know is gonna be going shopping. Which means I'm gonna stand in the corner, and I'm gonna carry things, and I'm gonna carry them with a smile. Doesn't matter how long we walk. Doesn't matter how many stores we hit up.

I'm gonna be smiling because she's given so much to me. Remember when those moments when I get frustrated or when helping gets hard, that this is the same woman. I gotta remember this is the same woman who this morning chose to make me breakfast so that I could focus on this preaching and has done that for the last 18 years. I gotta remember that she's always been generous, Honeymoon, when we were out, supposed to have a good time, that even on our honeymoon. we spent a portion of our honeymoon checking out the Aztec ruins in Mexico, not because she likes history, she'd care less about history, but because I really like history. And so we saw these pyramids, and she smiled. And she asked questions, and she got engaged. She didn't have to do any of that, she chose to. And I have to remember those things, how much she gives me when I sit on the couch, and the moment I sit on the couch, she asks me for tea, or asks me to make her a snack, even though I was standing in the kitchen three minutes ago. And yes, it would have made more sense to ask me at that moment, but she asked me now, and I have to remember, if the urge inside me to be selfish, if the urge inside me to not help ever rises up,

I have to remember all that she's given me. And when I remember all that she's given me, I put the smile on. And it's not a forced thing, it's a easy thing, it comes because I realize how much I have received from her already. She makes it easy to give to her, because she's given so much to me. My kids don't always make it easy. In fact, sometimes the way they behave makes me wanna take things away, not give. But when I'm passing a donut shop, or when I'm passing an ice cream spot, or they're asking for that extra video game, I gotta remember that there are parents in this world who wish they had kids. And don't, and I do, and I gotta remember, oh no, they are the gift. The love that they give me, the joy that they give me, and I gotta get to that place, so that it gets easier to be able to bless them, because listen, this is what I'm trying to say, it is harder to give when you forget what you've been given. It's harder to give when you forget what you've been given. And I just feel like I gotta spend the first portion of this sermon to establish what ought to be a very universal, basic truth,

but I hope it gets inside your soul today, and that is that Jesus gave. Jesus gave, Jesus was a giver. And if you don't start with this, and if you don't understand this, the whole rug gets pulled out of generosity for your life. It gets pulled out. And I'm gonna tell you why it's important in a second, but you just gotta understand, Jesus gave. Jesus gave a lot. Jesus gave his time and attention. Jesus gave his time and attention. Jesus was a busy guy. He had three years to save the world. That was when his ministry started. He was 30, he knew 33 was gonna come to an end. He was always on the run, he was always on the go. And there's this verse in the scripture, when you understand that context that really ministers to me, he's on his way to Jerusalem, and this blind guy named Bartimaeus calls out to him, and he's like, son of David, stop, I wanna talk to you, help me, I'm blind. I need you, you can heal me, I believe. And here's Mark 10, 49. To me, these are two of the most powerful words in all of scripture. Mark 10, 49. Listen, then Jesus stopped.

Jesus, who had a lot on his plate. Jesus, who had a lot going on in his mind. The Bible says, Jesus stopped. And if that doesn't hit you, you missed it. You serve a God who is willing to stop, who is willing to pause, who is willing to hear you when you call, and give you his attention, and give you his time. I've honestly heard people tell me, no, I don't pray about that. I'm like, why don't you pray about that? They're like, well, it's not big enough to pray about. I don't wanna bother God. And I'm just like, I don't think you know the God that I know, because the God that I know stops. He listens to you whenever you call out, whenever you're going through a struggle, whenever you're going through a situation. He gives you his attention and his time. The creator of all the universe, who's got the galaxy spinning, when you say Jesus, looks at you. That's right, that's right. I mean, and if you're not really, really clapping, if you're not really excited, you just forgot how busy you are. Somebody can't even get ahold of you when they need you to. Jesus is out here running the whole universe. And when you call him up, he answers.

I don't know about you, but I'm at the stage in my life where I'd rather give somebody money than time. Somebody called me up the other day. It was a fundraiser, a golf fundraiser. They said, you wanna go play golf? We'll raise money for, it was like orphans or something like that. I was like, no. Well, number one, I don't like golf. Number two, you know how long golf takes? Number three, the place was like three hours away. I said, bro, send me the link. I'm just gonna give, I love the orphans. I'm gonna give, but don't make me play golf to give. I'd rather give you my money than give you my time. Jesus didn't have a lot of time and was still willing to help. Ready? Never be too busy to help. Never be too busy to help. Be like Jesus, who was willing not just to give his time and attention, he gave his food and his money. Remember that story about Jesus. in the 3,000, Jesus feeding the 5,000. On top of that, he also gave financially. If you didn't know, John chapter 13, verse 29. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival or to give something to the poor.

The reason why they assumed it was because he did it so regularly. I love it because Jesus didn't just provide financially then, he didn't just provide food then, he didn't just provide resources then. How many people know Jesus is still providing now? He's still putting food in our fridge. He's still putting a roof on our head. He's still putting shoes on our feet. He's still putting gas in our tank. God knows we need help with the gas right now. But he's doing it. That number keeps going up and God is still not meeting it. He's good. And a lot of people look at God and go, well, God has everything, so it's not really hard for him to give. Yes, but when he was a human, he modeled the way that we ought to be human. Even when he didn't have a lot to give. He gave when he was just a regular dude. Jesus quit his job as a carpenter, as a construction worker, to become a minister full-time, a teacher. And the way that they were paid was donations. This guy was living off of the charity of other people. And every time he received something, this is the beauty of it, he would actually put a little bit away to help another person in need.

Which teaches me this about generosity. Generosity has to do with what's in your heart, not your wallet. Well, I don't have money to give. That's not the question. What's in your heart? It's to wanna help others. Jesus also gave his energy and his gifts. He gave his energy. I don't think we know this about Jesus. There was one time when he was walking in a crowd and there was a woman who had an issue of blood. She suffered from a constant menstrual cycle. And so she was 12 years bleeding. The doctors could not help her. She went to all the doctors, spent all her money. She heard that Jesus was in town. And so she goes to meet Jesus. And the Bible says that she touches the hem of Jesus's garments and instantly she was healed. Because how many people know it just takes one touch, just one meeting, just one encounter with the Lord. Things that were plaguing you for decades are healed in an instant. On the inside, Luke 8, 44, she came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak. And immediately her bleeding stopped, praise the Lord. And Jesus said, who touched me? Jesus asked. Peter said, master, the people are crowding

and pressing against you. Everybody's touching you. And look at this. He goes, no, no, but someone touched me. And here's how I know. I know because when they touched me, power came out of me. This is something I never realized before until studying this. Every time Jesus performed a miracle, it cost him something. Every time Jesus preached a message, it cost him something. Every time Jesus fed a homeless person, it cost him something. Every time Jesus had to have a tough conversation with one of the disciples, it cost him something. Every time he had to get into an argument with a Pharisee, it cost him something. Every time he cared for a little child, it cost him something. I hope it ministered to you like it ministers to me because I realized I have a God who knows what it feels like to be exhausted. Because sometimes I'll be exhausted. And to know that I have a God who was exhausted, ready, and still gave, oh my God. Still served, still loved people, even though he was tired. Because I'd be tired sometimes. I remember when I became a pastor, I didn't know how to be a pastor because I had never been a pastor before.

Y'all got me now almost 10 years in. Year one, I think, I hope to see those people in heaven. You know, I didn't really know what I was doing. And even when it came to like scheduling my days off, like I was the only employee. I wasn't even an employee, wasn't even getting paid. I completely left my job too, but I knew I needed a day off. And so it made sense to me because the day off wasn't gonna be Sunday, I knew that. And I knew it wasn't gonna be Saturday because I'll be getting ready for Sunday. So I was like, Monday sounds like a good day to have off because you just preached and everything, you're probably really tired. And so I remember I made Monday my day off. It's not anymore, but I made it Monday. The reason why it's not anymore is because on Monday, I would take all my rest from the preaching, but I was so spent from Sunday that my kids would come and they'd wanna play with me. And I remember I couldn't play with them. Please catch this, not because I didn't have the time. It was my day off, but because I didn't have the energy. Have you ever been there? You got the time, you just ain't got the energy. How many people have ever had their phone ring and you see a name, a call ID? What's that? Show up on there and you can feel the Holy Spirit like,

this person needs you. And you hit the climb. And here's the thought that came into your mind. I just don't have the energy right now. Now because I know what this person is gonna be on the other side of this and I don't have the energy for you right now Listen but you have something That other people need Here's how I wrote it. You have too much to give to keep you to yourself You're too gifted. You're too talented. You're too wise. You're too anointed You're too special And you got to get to a place where you have that energy jesus practiced solitude he practiced sabbath so that he could have that Energy, but even when he had it, he never hoarded it. He poured it out on others When they needed it, I want you to get to that place And then finally, of course, we all know jesus gave not just his time and attention his food and his money his energy and his gifts but his body and his blood his body and his blood luke chapter 22 Jesus is having this dinner with his disciples his best friends And it's to last dinner before he goes to the cross He says this then he broke jesus Then he broke the bread in pieces and gave it gave it to the disciples saying this is my body which is given for who? for you Do this in remembrance of me remember that I gave this to you After supper, he took another cup of wine said this is the cup of the new covenant between god and his people in agreement confirmed With my blood which is poured out as a sacrifice for who for you He wants you to do this in remembrance. Remember that I gave you remember what I gave you Now jesus gives his body on the cross. He gives his blood on the cross But there was something that he did in this dinner right before he broke his bread right before his body broke

That gives me a little insight into his mentality at the time that allowed him to be so generous It was the way he was thinking look at verse 19 This is right before he breaks the bread and he took the bread look it and what did he do before he broke it He gave thanks for it What if the reason why he was able to give it was because first he gave thanks for it I think jesus was looking up at the father What to act like when we pray and he was saying lord, thank you for this bread But the bread is the symbol of his what? His body, so he's looking up at god going god. Thank you for this body This i'm here today on this earth because you sent me i've got to experience it Thank you for this life and it's easier to give life when you realize that life was the thing that was given to you And if jesus had to look at the father At what the father gave the son and notice so that he could give his life to us Maybe the secret behind us discovering the power of generosity and the motive of generosity is looking at the son And looking at all the things that the son gave us and you go man I wouldn't have any of this if it wasn't for you jesus And so I will gladly lay down my life for others knowing that you laid down your life for me I'm, just trying to get this into your head. You have got to understand what you have received You got to understand what you've been given in order for you to live in a way that you can give to others But even as i'm preaching about generosity, I can hear it inside you already hurting I can hear it inside of you already This is why I said it's the most challenging for this culture because as you're hearing about generosity, you're like, okay So you want me to give time, but i'm already busy You want me to give food and and money, but i'm already broke You want me to give my energy, but i'm already tired. You want to give me you want me to give my life But i'm struggling to live I thought these disciplines were supposed to produce something in me How can you ask me for something when you're trying to what i'm trying to what god's trying to produce I'm trying to produce and i'm telling you exactly they actually work together I know it sounds like taking I know it sounds like giving but I promise you when you practice generosity It's actually god giving you something. It's actually you receiving something and the way i'm going to explain it

It's through a car analogy Um, I want to see all my mechanics in the room If you if you know cars then you'll know what this is Go ahead and put a picture up of this shout it out if you know what that is Alternator good job if you didn't know don't feel bad. I had to google it This is an alternator and although I don't know what it looked like I am very familiar with this Because I got bad news from the vasquez household. Um this week My car went to be with the lord Yeah, it's in car heaven Or maybe car hell i'm not sure After the way it treated me these past couple of months. It might be in hell. Okay, i'm not really sure But what was happening with my car was this situation with the alternator? We switched it out like four times And we still had the same issue. So it wasn't just the alternator It was things around all day But I became very familiar with this alternator and what this does in your car And I don't know if you know this you might think that a that a car battery is what runs a car But that's actually not true You might be surprised to know that our car battery actually just starts the car. But once the car starts, the alternator is what actually keeps the car running. See, the way the alternator works is, once the car starts, then you drive the car. As the car drives, the motion that the car is creating actually sends energy through the alternator, which sends power to the battery and to the car. It seems counterintuitive that moving would give energy. But ready, parked cars die faster than moving ones. I'm preaching, preaching, preaching. I don't know if you got it.

I said a parked car will actually die faster than a moving one because the motion actually recharges the battery. Some of y'all are dying of exhaustion, dying of financial depletion, and it's because you're in your garage. But when you actually start moving, God has a way, when you actually start giving, and this ain't just me, this is the Bible. Proverbs 11, 25, a generous person will prosper. Ready, whoever refreshes others will be what? But it don't make sense, because by the world's math, whoever refreshes others will be tired. Whoever refreshes others will have less. Whoever gives to others will be poor and broke. And God says, actually, it's the reverse. Look how Jesus said it in Acts 20, 35. You should remember his words. The Lord Jesus, it is more blessed to give than to receive. More blessed to give than to receive. When he says it's more blessed, more blessed for who? Because you might read that and go, well, the person who's receiving. No, if that was it, Jesus wouldn't have said it, because that's obvious. Jesus is saying it's actually more blessed for you, the giver, to give, because there are things that get poured back into you. You're not gonna learn this in Bible college, but I call it alternator theology.

It's alternator theology. And God knew that being generous would be hard, so God actually instituted a tool. He instituted a tool for us to be able to incorporate generosity as a habit in our life, to be able to practice it even when we don't feel like it. And that tool is called first fruits. Someone say first fruits. Second Chronicles chapter 31, verse five. As soon as the order went out, the Israelites gave generously their first fruits, the first fruits of their grain, their new wine, their olive oil, their honey, and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount. This is what you might know first fruits as if you've ever been in church, a tithe of everything. Now, don't be intimidated by the word tithe. The word tithe literally just means 10th, 1 10th. And the way it would work, that they would practice back in biblical times, is that they would have a harvest. When harvest season would happen. And if they harvested 100 apples, then what they would do is that they would take the first 10 apples. Now, people always ask me how that works. And I just say, it's not like when the first apple came out, they were like, that one's the Lord's. Second apple, that one's the Lord's.

They would wait till the end of the harvest, and when the harvest happened, they go, okay, we harvested 100, 10 of these apples before we eat an apple, 10 of these apples go to the Lord. If they had a really good harvest and they had a thousand apples, a hundred of these apples go to the Lord. Now in today's day and age, we still practice first fruits and we still practice the tithe, but you know, not many of us out here going apples. Most of us spend our time at work earning money. And so we take the first 10% and before we pay our bills and before we, we say, this belongs to the Lord. It's our way of recognizing that he was the one who produced all of that in us. It's not just us saying thank you, it's a recognition that we wouldn't have it if it wasn't for him. Now, before I continue, I just wanna pause because I like to read people's minds and I know there's some people in church who kind of salt here on the topic of generosity and tithing and they're like, here goes another pastor just preaching on tithing. And if you're brand new to this church, to Journey Church, you should know two things. Number one, you would know if you come here often, I only preach on tithing once a year. And this is the Sunday. And so the better question is not, and you can look at the YouTube and check the results.

I only preach on tithing once a year. So the better question is not, why am I preaching on tithing? The better question is, out of all the Sundays, that you could have came to church, God picked this Sunday for you to be here. So maybe, I don't know, maybe he's trying to tell you something. Same thing I would say, because a lot of people who already tithe and give, they go, yeah, everybody already knows this message. Well, actually, by our numbers, only 40% of our church tithes. And I'm not mad at nobody. I'm not upset with nobody. I'm just, I just wanna, I wanna invite. I wanna invite the 60% of us who have not stepped into this yet to experience what I think. it's gonna be one of the greatest blessings in your life. And I can preach this with such confidence because I've lived it and I've seen God do it in my life. And to those, and so let me read, and so by the way, to the 40%, let me say two things. To the 40% who already tithed, you need to hear this message again. Because if you're not careful, look at what can happen. Luke 11, 42, you are careful to tithe, Jesus is speaking to those who are practicing tithing, giving the first 10% of their income, but you ignore justice and the love, the love of God.

You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Jesus was surrounded by people who practiced tithing, but whose hearts were disconnected from the practice. And I think it's very cool that you put your tithe on auto payment, that's awesome. But if you're gonna put your tithe on auto payment, which is great, make sure you don't put your heart on autopilot. Make sure it doesn't become such a routine that this becomes a religious thing and not a like, no, like I recognize who is first in my life thing, and this is, and I love him and he loves me. And to the 60% who have not jumped in yet, let me invite you and encourage you. A lot of you are here because I say give God one year of your life. But when I say give God one year of your life, I meant go all in for one year. And this is a part of what all in looks like. And so I wanna challenge you, if you wanna give God a chance, do all the things he said for one year and see what God does in your life. All right, let me really help you. And by the way, there was a guy who came to our church, I had dinner with him recently, and he said, man, I heard that tithing sermon twice for the last two years that I've been coming to Journey, and I finally decided to jump in after two years.

And that guy is getting married in Europe next week, so it's working, praise the Lord. All right. All right, here's why I wanna teach you this, because I feel like you're low on some things. And remember, alternative theology, this spiritual discipline of generosity is gonna turn some things around. So if you came to church today and you're really busy and you're short on time, if you're short on time, let me teach you how firstfruits can bless if you're short on time. If you're short on time, first off, the bad news is God can't make more time. He only made 24 hours. And he's not gonna make 25 for you. Everybody got 24. That's all you got to raise your kids, to work on your career, and to go to the gym. 24 hours, that's all you got. All right, and to watch a show. That's all you got, 24 hours. But here's what God can do, and here's what you can do. Here's what firstfruits do. Firstfruits reorder your priorities. Here's why that's important. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 23. The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God where? First in your lives.

Here's the deal, God can't make more time, but if you put God first in your time, God can do more with your time than you can. Did you catch it? If you put God first in your time, God can do more with your time than you can. Nehemiah chapter six, verse 15 and 16. I wanna tell you this story. The Israelites were coming back home to their city. Their city had been completely destroyed by the Babylonians. They finally come back home, and look what happens. On October 2nd, the wall, the wall around Jerusalem to defend them was rebuilt. It was finished just 52 days after they started. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized that this work had been done with the help of who? Of our God. This wall should have taken over a year to build. Come on, we're gonna start renovating this church? I'm praying for this kind of anointing right here. 52 days, it'll all get done. And it should have taken over a year. You know why they were able to do it so fast? The Bible says because the Lord was with them, but why was the Lord with them? Because when they came back from exile, the first thing that they decided to build wasn't the walls. The first thing they decided to build

wasn't even their homes. Look at the first thing that they decided to build in Ezra, which is the book right before Nehemiah, so that's how you know it happened first, even though not every book in the Bible is in chronological order. In this case, it is. Ezra three, two through three. Then the leaders began to build, look at the first thing they built when they came back home. The altar of the God of Israel. To sacrifice burnt offerings on it. They said, God comes first, y'all. And if we put God first, everything else is gonna come after. Listen to me, you will get more done by honing your priorities than by hacking your productivity. And I love me a good productivity hack. I love it. I got a thing on my keyboard. I hit this and that, and it opens up that, and I love the productivity hacks. But you're gonna get a lot more done by changing your priorities. When you put God first, things move fast. Before I write this paper, I'm gonna put God first. Before I have this conversation, I'm gonna put God first. Before I build this business, I'm gonna put God first in this business and watch God build in 52 days

what takes other businesses to build in two or three years. God can do it faster, quicker, because I'm putting him first in my life. Listen to me, if you're stressed out about money, if you're stressed out about money, somebody say amen. Amen. First fruits remind you who the source is. Remind you who the source is. Deuteronomy 26, 10, and now I bring the first fruits of the soil that you, Lord, have what? Have what? Have given me. It reminds you of where it comes from. You know, we have a luxury being Americans that we don't really talk about a lot, and that luxury is never having to worry about water. Other countries, other nations, water is a valuable resource. People will walk a mile to fill up a bucket of water and come back to their homes. But in America, you've never woken up one day in your life thinking about, I wonder if I have water today. And you know why you don't worry about water? Because you know where the sink is, because you know what the faucet is, because you know what the shower head looks like. In other words, because you know where it comes from and that you have access to it. When you know who the source is, when you know where it comes from, you treat the way you look at it differently.

We had a family in our church recently, like this week, give a very generous gift to the church. And so I sat down with them, and I said, hey, thank you so much for your generosity. I said, how can we pray for you? And you know what they said? They said, actually, if you could pray for us, we're going through some financial struggles right now. So I was like, explain. Because God just made this gift, and so I don't understand. Explain what's going on. And she goes, well, you know, the business is actually going really tough right now, and we really could use the money. But the reason why we gave this gift and the only reason we were able to give it is because we just sold our home, and this is a tithe of our home sale. And it belongs to God. And so we're giving it to the Lord. We're putting him first. And I'm just like, wow. And she's doing all the talking at this point, so I start looking at the husband. I'm like, hey, man, how are you, man? And he starts to cry about all the things that God has done in his life. He said, I grew up Catholic. He said, I'm just glad I get to go to a church where I finally understand the Bible. And what God is doing in our life, he goes, this is new for me, but I'm excited to do it.

I'm happy to do it. It was hard, but I'm glad to do it. And I looked at her, and she was like, it was easy for me. And without knowing anything about her story, I said, I bet you've seen God do something in your life before, haven't you? She goes, yep, when I was born in Puerto Rico. I thought she was gonna throw it back to like 10 years ago. She said, from when I was a baby. In Puerto Rico, I was born two months premature. Doctors didn't think I would make it. My mom went to church. The pastor prayed for me. The next day, doctor called her up, said, take your baby home. She's fine. I've seen God move in my life. I know he'll move again. Can I tell you, most people don't have money problems. They got memory problems. They got a memory problem. They forget what God has done in their life. They forget how God has worked in their life. You're not stressed about money. You just forgot that you know the source, and he has never let you down, and he has never let you go. You cannot point to one season of your life, one moment in your life where he has failed you. You are here today because he has come through for you time and time again, and if he came through before, isn't he gonna come through again? We just forget.

We just forget, and I'm here to remind you, your God is able. Your God is able. He can do it. You can trust in him. If you don't have the energy, if you're tired, you came to church exhausted, you know what firstfruits will do? Firstfruits refill your purpose. They refill your purpose. Exodus 34, 26, bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the where? To the house of the who? Of the Lord your God. This is a very important teaching moment. I'm gonna say something that's gonna get misconstrued as manipulation, but I don't care because I'm just preaching the Bible. You don't tithe to your hospital, and you don't tithe to the homeless shelter. You tithe to the house of God, to the local church, to God through the house, and I'm saying that not because I want something from you. I'm saying that because I want you to be able to see your work in a different light. See, most people come back from work exhausted inside and outside, and by the way, you're gonna be exhausted no matter what you do. I've heard people work 70 hours. I'm exhausted. I've heard people work 40 hours. I'm exhausted.

My kid came to me four hours after doing homework. I'm exhausted. I said, boy, what I would give to be algebra exhausted again. What I would give to be algebra exhausted. I've had people watch Netflix all day be exhausted. You're gonna be exhausted no matter what you do on the outside. The question is, how are you gonna feel on the inside at the end? When you understand, and this might be a revelation for you, but this, the This is what keeps the local church running Like I hope you know that and cuz someone once told me they were like, oh, I saw you selling hats in the lobby I'm like, bro. You think we're paying the light with hats with merch sales. Oh Man, this this place runs because of faithful people because because 40% of us Time that's why this place runs and operates and I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad or guilty I'm actually trying to get you excited because when you come home from selling shoes and You look at what God's doing You realize I'm not just selling shoes I'm preaching the gospel when you're out there analyzing data and you see life change Happening and here and people getting baptized and and all of that. You got to understand. That's not you're not just analyzing data You're you're helping people get to heaven when you hear stories about people's marriages being restored And people's kids finding Jesus and people being healed from cancer and God I'm just trying to add eternal purpose to your nine-to-five The tithe connects you to what we're doing here. This is why we do baptism Sunday the day after Easter Y'all don't know It's for me. I Mean also because people give their life to Jesus on Easter and we want to make that next step versus baptism It's the next day, but you know, I do it Cuz I'm so tired

And so exhausted. I Know saying about me, but it's a hard week for me But when I see people sharing their stories Coming in and out of the water tears on their face. Give my life to Jesus It's like I needed to see it and I go that's why That's why That's why That's why and so every story that comes out of that tub I'm like a more and more breath more and more energy listen because sometimes we need rest But sometimes we need a reason to run You get your wind back when you understand that you're a part of something bigger I'll give you this last one really quickly. It's simple. And if you just don't want to be generous If you just hear he's like those are great points pastor. Amen I'll see you next Sunday That's you. Hey, no problem. I just I just got one last thing firstfruits Put it on the screen firstfruits reject your leader your Lordship in other words If you make Jesus Lord and Savior of your life, you don't get to decide According to Jesus because it's not yours Look at first Corinthians 6 19 and 20. You do not belong to yourself For God bought you with a high price Everything I have and everything I am belongs to God every breath every step Every cent every dollar It all is the Lord's that he has entrusted to me and I got to recognize that it's all his so I got to live Life his way when I was a kid. My dad used to tell me my house my rules How many people's parents same thing my house as long as you're living under this roof You can have these rules and and now that I'm older I understand what he was saying He was saying you can't receive my provision and at the same time reject my regulations

You can't be all God is good. Thank you for every gift. And then I'm gonna go do what I want to do If you want to do what you want to do, then you can go ahead and leave the house But it's gonna be a lot harder to live on your own That it is under the provision of the provision and the protection of God now as much as I appreciated my dad's rules I also made me as a kid. Maybe you want to push back, you know Like I'd be forced to do it. And now that I'm a dad And I tell my kids the same thing When they don't want to do what I want to do, you know, it actually I never know this But now being it it actually breaks my heart to see them respond the way that they respond I mean, they'll do it because if not, you know No, I'm saying so they'll do it They'll do it but they do it stomping their feet They'll do it And they'll do it and I'm not happy Because the response I really want from them ready is I want them to look around at the life I've given them and I want them to look at their shoes And I want them to feel their full belly And I want them to think about our vacation to Hawaii and I want them to think about all those things and go Of course, I'll clean my room It's the least I could do To the one who has provided everything for me Like it would be unreasonable to not After all that I've done Come on, can I tell you God is the same way? God doesn't want you to be generous or tithe and then fine if he makes me if he gonna send me to hell Fine God's like no, no chill keep it. I Want you to realize first Corinthians 15 20 but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead

the first, the what? Christ is the what? of those who have fallen asleep I don't know if you understand or catch this listen, but Jesus was the Father's first fruit He was the Father's first fruit now what are you gonna do? if someone gave you a million dollars, million dollars and you might think that would never happen but just like imagine like a like a distant family member relative you never met died and left you an inheritance for a million dollars what would be a reasonable response to receiving a million dollars? like I think it would be reasonable I don't think it would be unreasonable to use that million dollars, buy a house and then find the biggest frame you can find get whatever picture of that family member you never met blow that photo up in the living room of that new house and when everybody walks in the house you'll be like, yeah he bought it it's a gift it's a flex to be honest I don't think that's unreasonable I don't think it's unreasonable if you got a kid and that person leaves you all that money and you name that kid

after that person who gave you that money to me, that's not unreasonable because when he goes to college I'm gonna be like, he's the one who paid for it that's why your name's Rich because it was great great uncle Rich who paid for your tuition that would not be unreasonable would that be unreasonable? I don't think that'd be crazy I think that'd be fine so here's my question what happens now if someone gave you something that money could never buy? what if someone gave you a family? child? legs? breath? how about this what if someone gave you their only son so that you could live and not die? can I ask this question and then we'll close what is a reasonable response to the generosity of God? what is reasonable? when I tell people I tithe and they call me crazy I'm like, I'm crazy and then my eyes do get a little big

so I can see why they would think that I'm crazy do you not know what you've been given? do you not know what you do you not know that every bread that you have is a gift from the Lord? do you not know that you being born in this country is a gift from the Lord? I'm crazy you're crazy it would be unreasonable it would be unreasonable to receive all that I have from Jesus and not give Him that? and not help a person out? what? it'd be unreasonable so I'm gonna do two prayers the first is for those 60% of us who don't tithe or have never tithed before or never tested or tried out I want you to look at the screen there's gonna be a QR code that comes on the bottom we do this once a year and this is a 90 day tithing challenge could you put that on the bottom for me and if you've never tithed before

if you've been thinking about it if you're like my friend who's been coming for two years has heard this sermon two times and is like, I think I'm gonna try this year I want you to scan this QR code and something is gonna pop up on your phone and you're gonna be able to sign up and then here's what you're gonna do I said God give God a year of your life give tithing 90 days of your life and see what God does you're gonna get resources you're gonna get training you're gonna get Bible devotionals over these next 90 days emailed to you and I'm just telling you and if you don't feel like God came through in the way that you were hoping for Him to come through at the end of the 90 days we'll refund everything that you gave us cause for us it was never about your money it was always about your blessing and your obedience we wanna see you be blessed we wanna see you be generous we wanna see you help others we wanna see God do that in your life and so there's the QR codes out at the front too

if you missed this one but that's for you I really hope you would pray about joining us because you get to be a part of this which is pretty cool and pretty special lastly, listen, I just wanna pray we all bow our heads and close our eyes if you're here today listen, you came to church stressed out worried about money worried about energy worried about your schedule worried about your to-do list can we just all put that in the hands of the God who can do all things provide all things answer all things solve all things heal all things I know it's not always easy but remember what I said when I started it's not about belief it's about trust and this is what this first fruit is about putting your trust in Jesus to everybody who came to church burnt, spent out and tired and exhausted today we put our trust in Jesus, Lord it is your house

it is your money those are your kids this is your marriage this is your spouse this is the gift you gave me all of this comes from you and so you know what? I've been trying to carry it all along all alone all along but today I recognize you as the owner you as the provider you as the giver I through my first fruit practice I remind myself this is yours Lord God not mine and you're gonna take care of it and you're gonna steward it you're gonna steward this baby you're gonna steward this marriage you're gonna steward this business you're gonna steward this investment this is yours God and all I'm gonna do is be faithful to bless others through it I'm gonna be generous like Jesus was generous giving his time giving his energy giving his resources and yes Lord giving his life have your way and on that note if you're in this room today and you have not given Jesus your life yet today is the day of salvation give Jesus your life listen because the best thing Jesus ever gives is when he forgives the best thing Jesus ever gave was what he forgave and if you came to church with the debt of bad decisions following you all the way into your life until this point I got a God who can pay off your debt today he can undo the decision he can heal he can restore he can prepare a place in heaven for you and him for eternity so that we would not die but live forever that's what happens when we put our trust in Jesus if that's you today and you're online or you're watching and from home or you're at our locations if you're in Kansas City if you're in University if you're East Orlando if you're in this room listen Jesus is calling you come home on the count of three if that's you would you raise your right hand high Jesus I need you all over this room one two three right now all over this raise that right hand high if you're ready to give your life to Jesus come on I see so many hands all over the room all over

the room so many hands can't even count them all I know they're at our other locations whether you raise your hand or not let's pray this prayer out loud somebody say father God you are Lord you are Savior today I trust in you I give you it all I put you first in my life I follow you prepare a place for me I give you my past I give you my sin I give you my choices today I decide to not only believe in you but to trust in you in Jesus name we pray amen and amen come on let's put our hands together and welcome to the family of God everybody who raised their hand and made a decision to follow Jesus today amen amen was that a not a fantastic word well we want to make sure that if you made that decision to just give your life to Christ we want to first say thank you that's a huge step you're part of the family please scan that QR code let us know who you are so we can go ahead and reach out to you all right let's pass it back to the studio so we can wrap this thing up man that was such a word such an awesome word what a word Alistair what did you get from it what stood out to you yeah you know one of the thing is about hoarding your gift you know there's a verse that comes to me says let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven we can't shine if we put our gifts under a box and I feel like that is so powerful in ministry as well and as a kingdom as a body we need to share that and spread that light you know I love that and if you want to watch this message again subscribe to our youtube channel we're going to turn it over to Shelly in the lobby Shelly take over thank you y'all praise God praise God thank you guys so much for being here again I have the dog Vaughn what's up what's up how you doing today listen Vaughn I actually have a question for you and my fam on cam listen are you getting how are you getting your alternator ready okay for what God is going to do through you let's go 30 seconds what God's gonna do through me is just I'm a leader in production so it's just leading others to just follow Jesus more but also how to use the cameras but also just love on them just you know show them how the way the hope and the light and just be there for them but they can also pour into me too it just goes both ways amen I love that Vaughn get out of here you're so amazing thank you guys so much for being here fam at Journey Church let's go ahead and see what God is going to do with your alternator and see what he's going to do through you guys thank you guys